After reading Charlie's book for the 200th time and watching the video once again I'm motivated to make a post and leave it open for you guys to add your pictorals or tutorials or howto's on your favorite variations of the dirthole set.



Here's my version of the stepdown dirthole that a lot of your better fox trappers are using. I've seen variations of this set by Phil Brown, Russ Carmen, and the Leggett's modified trench set is very similar.


Here we go....tools of the trade: Any combination of hammer and trowel (I use a groundhog but was playing with other tools during these pictures), Peat moss, sifter, lure, and a well modified Monty 1.5...





The trench I dig is about 5-6 inches deep and around 14 inches long...I will tighten this up a bit depending on my mood and the situation...




The hole in this set is dug in a manner that MAKES the fox step into the hole to determine what is in that hole. Notice the angle of my trowel:




When bedding my trap, I'm about 4-6 inches back from the hole. IF this were a normal dirthole my trap would be against the hole...



Here's the trap bedded and covered in peat moss. I use peat after the temps really start to drop. I usually use toilet paper or wax paper for a pan cover. Notice my pan at this point:




This picture shows that you may have to dig out the sides a bit to make room for your trap...that's perfectly fine as we want this trench to be as tight as possible:



Here's the finished set, I will finish with a layer of fresh dirt over the set and lure with my favorite fox lure....Notice that the walls of this trench are sloped down...The lowest part of this trench is the area over the pan. This almost guarantees that the fox will place his paw on the bottom of the trench to see what's in the hole.



Now I add my favorite fox/coon lure...Fox Potion #9

That one orta look familiar!

Bunch of these worthless things...



You can't see the trap but I swear that's one of the ones I bought from you a couple years back.

Here's another critter in them...

We call it "Gentle"

The "whompin stick".Old peacemaker lol.Rehabilitation stick.

Still waiting on the secret possum set thread!

Just make the most perfect on location coyote set and boom possum.

Just for you Eric...when I get back around the holidays I'll have you a possum set

Nice post.

Does that type of set take just as many coyotes? Or, given the fact the coyote is "taller", do you find that they avoid stepping closer to get a better "look" at bait/hole like a fox would?

Chris

Nice post!

Chris, I've spoken with a few folks that do use it with great success but I cannot attest to its effectiveness for Coyotes. We don't have a whole lot of Coyotes where I trap, and I don't change my sets to nab them.

Thanks BlueRidge!!

So, it appears that this hole is, for the most part, fairly horizontal, with a slight slight downward angle?

I have so much water in my trap areas right now, that I think this set might be just the ticket I am looking for.

I have another question if you don't mind--I really dont see the peat moss. How do you get the peat not to refuse mixing with the dirt? Just the way the set is fairly flat? I always seem to get the peat to where the dirt rolls off the sides, and then the small pieces of dirt lye rite on the pan.

Thanks,
Chris

Nice post BRT, thanks for sharing.

Here is a pic of a big dirthole variation that I use. Its hard to keep a fox out of a good coyote set anyway.

Chris, the idea of the hole is to get it as horizontal as possible...if it's too vertical the fox won't be as apt to step into the hole to see what's in the hole.

The peat I just pile up on each side of the trench, that way it keeps the dirt out and it creates a "V" encouraging the fox to step on the pan.

cool, I will try that

nice post

great post