Recently, I've had 5 digups at my canine sets. Not normally the trap is slightly uncovered and I'm trying to figure out what the problem is. Originally, I thought it was poor bedding so I made new sets and power bedded with nails but still experienced digups. I keep my bait separate from my traps. I dyed and waxed my traps and dipped some in FMJ, both were dug up. They were all briefly stored in tubs in my basement. I bed in peat moss and dried it out in my basement as well. I'm trying to figure out if the traps are contaminated, the peat is contaminated, or if they are digging in the peat around the jaws because it is loose and I need to try and pack it tighter. I question contamination because I try my best to be careful with keeping traps away from things that can contaminate them. This is also my first year using peat instead of waxed dirt for the ease but I seem to have more digups now. Any ideas?

Are all the sets some what close to each other?

Two were on a separate property and the sets were there for about 2 weeks before they were worked. The other three were on a different property and were within a few hundred yards of each other.

Are you getting bait or lure on your hands then setting the next trap inadvertently getting smells on the trap?

Can you see tracks? Are there K9 tracks? I do have problems around here using peat moss. Some coyotes work the set, but some scratch out the bed. Not my favorite bedding material. Put in a set not using it and see if that changes results.

I use different gloves for setting and baiting in different buckets. The tracks around the sets were red fox.

Are they bedded solid? Waxed dirt? Traps waxed?

I power bedded with nails and the traps don't budge. I wonder though if they would still dig if the peat and the natural dirt covering over the trap itself isn't packed really tight.

Yes that could cause them to dig. Did you wax the traps? Wax can absorb odder. Most wax sits with in a few feet of lure at supply houses. What do you smell when you walk in a supply house?

I buy all my stuff from F and T and Minnesota trapline, but it makes sense that the wax could absorb odor. They dug up traps dipped in Full Metal Jacket though as well. If I try remaking the sets in that location with waxed dirt to see if the peat moss is the problem, would it be better to bed a new trap behind the trap they were digging or make new sets nearby with just waxed dirt?

Red fox and raccoons are notorious for digging at soft, fresh dirt.

Female red fox ,they are telling you the problem . Make a set with no trap and see if they dig that .

I catch mostly reds on my home line. I use peat moss for bedding, nothing else. I don't pack it, just throw it in and level it off. Peat doesn't really pack.

I get very little digging.

It does sound like you've narrowed it down to a peat problem though. You're bedding is solid, you're careful with scent control and cross-contamination.




Bedding a new trap with waxed dirt behind where they've been digging might catch the diggers but it won't give you an answer about what the problem is.

I would make new sets nearby with waxed dirt and no peat. That should show whether or not peat is the issue.

What brand of peat are you using? I've used some in the past that had a strong odor about it. I've been using Premier brand for a long time now. It doesn't have much smell and it's readily available in big box stores as well as local hardware stores.

Move over to the side about 4 -6 inches and place another trap. Bet it's a red fox. It will be waiting for you the next morning.....

Could try creating a larger pattern with your loose peat, they can satisfy there curiosity with the loose soil before the get to the actual trap bed.

I get a digger now and then and i'm convinced some get wise to the peat. I used to just put it inside the jaws for a pan cover , now if i use it i make sure to cover a larger area so they can't pinpoint it. I have better luck when i only use on site coverings, big leaves for a pan cover, dry grass underneath and i get dry dirt from under bridges. Change up your set but leave the peat in the same trap bed, move the trap and don't use peat in that bed and see if that makes a difference, good luck

If it's a fox or yotes it is weird. But since I've been told to look at this. Every single digger that comes back day after day and you eventually get em. Always female

They have to get lucky every time. you only have to get lucky once.

Would it be better to move the trap and make a new set or put a new trap behind the old set to catch the digger?

My first move to get a slippery completely blended in 2nd trap in where she's digging from.