Waxing Traps?

[Lookin4Walter]

I'm new at this trapping thing. We have soo many coyotes in my area and they are very educated to calls. I bought some traps, dye and wax. I know how to dye the traps but not sure on how to wax. Do I put the wax into boiling water? How long? Any tips on how to make a set? Thanks!

[lichen fox]

If you're doing all your traps in one batch, just boil them in the die for about half an hour....leave them in and add the wax to the boiling water...when it's melted, slowly pull the traps through the melted wax and hang them up to dry...Before you begin...be sure you have a decent coating of rust on your traps to hold the die...and also I always liked to open the jaws and insert the chain in them to hold the jaws open so all parts get a good coat of die & wax....If you'll be doing them in several batches....die em all up first and let them dry and then put the wax in the water until it melts....drop your traps in and be sure to let them warm up good before you pull them slowly through the wax...if they are to cold, the wax will not stick good and you may get excess flaking...

[mn_archer]

What Linchen described will work, but it is not the best, most efficent way of doing it.

Land traps do not need to be dyed, but I do dye mine. I clean them up from the last season, then hang them in lots of 6 till they develop a small scale of rust. Nothing serious, just a tad.

Then, i get my tank of water boiling and mix in logwood dye till dissolved. I use a 55 gallon drum cut in 1/2 lengthwise and have supports welded on each end. I can do 4 dozen mink/coon traaps at a time.Put them in the tank, get it to a mild boil and leave for 30 min. Take out and hang up for a few days. I do all my traps in stages. Get them cleaned is stem 1, bundle in groups of 6 is step 2, then hang to rust, dye, then wax.

Once all my traps are dyed, I then wax. I have a 30 gallon aluminum tub with about 30 lbs of pure trap wax, NO WATER. Heat the wax up till it is all melted and starts smoking. If you are doing a lot of traps the steel will cool it enough that I leave it at this temp b ut if you only have a few dozen traps back your heat off a tad. Be careful as it can burst into flames if it gets too hot. In other words, don't do it on your wifes cook stove!

Ok, now that the wax is hot enough slowly sit your traps in the wax. They should be completly dry and do not do this if it is going to rain, even a little. If there is any water on the traps they will spatter till the water is evaporated. Ok, now that you have your traps in the wax, the key is waiting till they are heated up the same temp as the wax. If you pull them out too soon you will have a very thick layer of wax. You want the thinest layer of wax possible. They should look wet when done properly. i wax 6 at a time and leave them in about 3-4 minutes. Lift them out of the wax and shake off, then hang them up and put the next batch in the wax. I then go back and shake the previously waxed traps again, shaking off any excess wax. It is best to wax traps in cool weather so they cool off as soon as possible.

No matter how you do it you'll still have a small buildup of wax as it runs off. After all my traps are waxed I then put them in tubs in my garage and pull them out one at a time and clean all the wax off the very end of the dog and file the pan notch a tiny bit so the wax is all gone.

This is the proper way of doing it and I do hundreds every year with no problem. I did about 600 traps in the past couple weeks. Do not wax dogproof traps or conibears either.

Good luck!

I am mainly a mink/coon trapper, but I set 8 coyote traps yestrday and nailed a small pup this am.

michael