pan covers

I have used many different pan covers over the years. I keep going back to waxed paper because its cheap and I've built a setup to quickly make lots of them to the size I prefer. Curious what the rest of you prefer, why you like it and if you have a fast method of making them?

Going more and more to wax paper. Cut roll in half, smash flat so it fits in pocket and doesn't roll around. Plus the flat sides make it easy to measure how much to tear of for trap. Don't pre cut. Too easy to just pull out of pocket, turn so I have 3 sides worth, tear off and put on trap. Probably faster than if you had to get a precut one out of a bag or container. Doesn't have to fit perfectly just cover pan. Use to use poly fill but moving away from that.

Same as Yes sir in every respect. However, when it rains, wax paper sags under the weight of the dirt and if it then gets any frost, you're in trouble. After about December 1 I use pan covers made from fiberglass landscaping fabric. The black fabric works well, but has an odor that puts off some coyotes. I take my pre-cut pan covers and put them in a gallon bucket with a weight on them. Then add water and a half a pound of table salt. Agitate and let soak for a while. Then I take them out and dry them real well. There will be some salt residue in and on the fabric pan covers. It cuts down on some of the odor and it also provides some freeze-proofing.

For cats, I use Wild River enlarged pans welded to the existing pans on my MB 550's. Cover the enlarged pan with industrial glue, sprinkle on some corn cob grit and you have a "pan cover" for basically the life of the trap.

I use poly batten that I cut to pan size. Better than a wad of polyfil under the pan.

pipe insulation under pan, the kind without odor------ wax paper, easy using hamburger patty sheets-- cheap and easy, dispenses out of its own box-----I do not use poly or insulation type material where pack rats, sand rats or kangaroo rats live-- they will wreck your sets

Fiberglass screen mesh. I use a razor knife to cut it into lengths and then squares. I also have a pair of large old sewing shears of my grandmother's that work well. Doesn't take long to measure out and cut in to squares I usually stack them 5 high then cut

I use wax paper and paper cupcake wrappers.

Been using wax paper hamburger patty papers, 5x5, but just wasn't quite satisfied with them using 100% peat to bed and cover my traps, so started experimenting with no pan cover at all, just peat moss, and did not seem to have any issues. If I bed in dirt or wax dirt then I still use wax paper.

x2

x3, no pan cover with peat moss. Maybe some pipe insulation under the pan if I remember it, if not no big deal

How much do you all think soil conditions on out trapline affect our long term choice of pan covers? The area I trap in Nebraska I have not had success with peat moss. I cannot get a firm trap pattern around the jaws when using peat.
My preferred bedding material is waxed sand. Even before freezing soil conditions the trap beds rock solid in the waxed sand but definitely don't want the sand under the pan so my waxed paper pan cover is very large.

I've bedded plenty of traps in sand with the use of fiberglass pan covers with no issues.

I've had issues using wax paper and fiberglass screen while using peat moss. The peat does not pack tight enough to hold the pan cover down tight allowing it to "slide" if the critter doesn't step right down on it, and can also bubble up as the peat doesn't have enough weight to hold it down. In normal soil conditions I haven't had these issues. If one feels they absolutely need a pan cover while using peat, from my experience, unscented toilet paper would work best. I don't like toilet paper though as it will absorb every little bit of moisture and fall apart allowing dirt under the pan. I have not used landscape fabric yet although it's an idea that has been intriguing me.

We use screen on some traps and coffee filters also.
Wax paper for snow sets.

Am liking the coffee filters, fit on a lot of different Trap's.

So what brands pipe insulation do you prefer, or avoid, for odor concern?

I like the idea of filter fabric also. Especially since I have a lot on hand, and it is the thicker grade.

I have tried about everything imaginable, all the regular stuff and a few not so regular (landscape fabric, latex gloves - a lot cheaper than cut latex, Zonolite, styrofoam beads etc.etc,) but I always go back to waxed paper for our soil and moisture conditions here. Described as above, its cheap, convenient, holds up in our weather AND no prep time to speak of........................................ the mike

lol good question---- its yellow and in rolls about 5 inches wide-- just cut it to length with scissors has foil on back I get it at lumber box type store, I dont know the brand name---- the pink stuff seems to have an odor

I use pipe insulation under the pan in the fall, sandwich bag when it starts freezing the ground

I use the blue shop towels. Tear off s towel and go.

I use the pink pipe insulation, without a backing, under the pan. I just cut it into squares and keep them stuffed in a ziplock. I also use aluminum door screen wire over the pan.

I have to premise this by saying I don't set a trap for coyotes until the last week in November or around December 1st. So the soil and weather conditions can really vary from then until the last of February when I pull them. When I set a coyote trap I expect it to function during tough weather conditions and have a catch. Why do folks use material that will absorb and/or hold water (then have the potential to freeze)? Paper towels, coffee filters, fiberglass insulation, even pillow batting have all proved (to me) that in wet, freeze/thaw soil conditions that they are not dependable. IN early fall, warm weather or little moisture areas where the soil does not wick H2O into those materials it will work, but not here. The only item not susceptible to ice/rock hard formation (in our climate) around or under the pan is AIR. A void under any dog or dogless pan is the only dependable "undercover medium" I want. You can use synthetic covers to drape over the pan (Latex, nitril, nylon, plastic bag(s), etc.), use synthetics under the pan or use some natural material under or over the pan (grass/vegetation, wax paper, screen above and sawdust, peat moss etc. below) to fill space or get the void. I am prone to use natural material that is inexpensive, needs no retrieval after the trap is pulled and has little or NO prep time so its wax paper rolls, cut, folded and placed outside a few days before use for me. Have caught coyotes, coons, fox, mink, dogs and feral cats in traps that were set and received rain, freeze, snow, thaw, refreeze, thaw, re-refreeze, rain, freeze during and through more cycles than I can count with wax paper. I have caught coyotes consistently with no trap bed care 60 days after such a period using AIR as the substance under the trap pan with both wax paper and trimmed plastic bag covers. Wax paper wins in the long run for me. ..........................the mike

I use stiff screen. I make a 'slip-on' pan cover. The pocket, I use window screen, then staple pocket to stiff screen.
With stiff, heavy screen I don't have my covering sagging when using weeds, chopped leaves or haylage.
Covering stays in place after heavy rains or wet snow, keeping a natural look.

wetdog (member here) made me a mold to form stiff screen into a pan cover.
Works great.

For coon, mink, and rats i still use the old leaf trick.
For canines i use fiberglass screen

Cool thread. I use Polyfil--however you spell pillow stuffing.

It's easy and I have used it since I started trapping 15 or so years ago. Is there a reason not to use it?

Pack rats love the polyfil here in tx...js

Yep. I have switched over to = Aliuminum screen wire on some traps here in West Texas.

Probably not in Oklahoma, but here that polyfil will get full of water from rain or melting snow and freeze hard.