I am asking for advice on how to treat/lubricate/preserve my leg traps now that they have been pulled for the season. Should I just wash off dirt and hang them or should I spray them down with some form of rust preventative and then boil them off before next season?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Wash 'em down and hang them in an open shed, until you dye/dip/wax before next season.
Mine get washed, adjusted if needed, dyed and waxed all before off season storage, I store in a plastic tote and they are ready to set when the time comes.
Wash 'em down and hang them in an open shed, until you dye/dip/wax before next season.
This^^^^^^^^^^^
The only thing I can add is there's no such thing as "leg traps"......did you mean foot holds?
When I pull a set that has caught something, that trap does not get set again until it has been spraywashed, boiled clean, then boiled again with dye, then waxed.
The spray gets most of the dirt off. The first boil gets off the rest of the dirt, kills odor, and gets off the rest of the wax.
The 2nd boil with logwood dye treats the rust to neutralize and protect against odors until the next catch. Wax is further protective and also keeps trap in good working order.
A final note....I have a set that never connects, I will often use the trap again next year without retreating. But I don't spray down my trap bed with urine. And I still keep those traps separate from fresh treated traps.
Every one has their own ideas but I can tell you for positive that I catch multiple animals in the same set on a regular basis.
Matter of fact I caught four Cats and Four Coyotes in two sets one year.
Hell...I caught a Cat in a trap that I left chained down all summer last year......I'm trapping on my own property so I sprung the trap at the end of the season in Feb thinking I'd pull it when it warmed up but I never got around to it so I reset it in Dec and caught a Cat a couple weeks later.....
I leave the same trap at the set until the set is pulled, but I am not resetting it elsewhere until after it has been cleaned.
I leave the same trap at the set until the set is pulled, but I am not resetting it elsewhere until after it has been cleaned.
Gotcha.....I do the same thing.....well until last year when I got lazy.... that trap was getting pretty rusty when I snapped it this year.though....I doubt it would fire again without a clean&wax but ya gotta admit two years is is good site life. HA
Thanks for all of the information.