The Dirt Hole Set for Fox and Coyote

Why the dirt hole works

The dirt hole imitates another animal's food cache. Fox and coyote are curious and a little greedy, and a hole that smells of food and another canine draws them in to investigate. It's simple, it works in most conditions, and every land trapper should be able to make one well.

Where to put it

Location matters more than any lure. Look for spots along travel routes where canines naturally pause:

• Field edges, especially corners and where a fence line meets the woods
• Raised spots in a field, like a small knoll or old fence pile
• Near trail junctions and repeat scat
• Along farm lanes and the edges of hay fields

Make the set a few metres (10 feet or so) off the travel route, upwind of where the animal will approach, so the scent drifts across their path. Pick a spot with a natural backing, like a clump of grass, a rock or a small stump, so the animal has to approach from the front.

Building it

Use clean gloves and keep your scent down. Work from a kneeling pad.

1. 1Dig the hole. Make it about 7–10 cm (3–4 in) wide and 15–25 cm (6–10 in) deep, angled slightly back under the backing. Pile the dirt you take out on your sifter or pad, not on the ground around the set.
2. 2Dig the trap bed. In front of the hole, dig a shallow bed the shape of your trap, deep enough that the jaws sit just below ground level once covered. The pan should end up roughly 15–20 cm (6–8 in) in front of the hole, slightly off to one side so the animal's foot lands on it while its nose is in the hole.
3. 3Anchor it. Drive your stake or cable stake in the bottom of the trap bed so the anchor is hidden. Use a swivel and a shock spring. Coyotes are strong, so use the anchoring your regulations and trap supplier recommend for them.
4. 4Bed the trap. Set the trap in the bed and work dirt around and under the jaws until it doesn't rock at all, even when you press on the jaws. A trap that wobbles warns the animal off. This step is the one most new trappers rush.
5. 5Cover the pan. Use a pan cover (wax paper, a cloth square, or a commercial cover) so dirt can't get under the pan and stop it firing.
6. 6Blend it. Sift dry dirt over the trap until it disappears, a few millimetres deep over the jaws and pan. The finished set should look like the ground around it.
7. 7Bait and lure. Drop a small amount of bait in the bottom of the hole, a little lure on the back wall of the hole, and a squirt of urine on the backing. Don't overdo any of it.
8. 8Clean up. Scatter the leftover dirt away from the set and leave the area looking untouched.

Pan tension

Setting pan tension so it takes a few pounds of pressure to fire helps avoid catching small non-target animals like squirrels, rabbits and birds. Many modern traps have adjustable pan tension. Use it.

Keeping it working

Freeze-thaw cycles can lock a trap in the ground. In freezing weather, many trappers bed traps in dry, treated dirt, a layer of peat moss, or use a commercial antifreeze bedding. After rain or snow, check that the trap will still fire and remake the set if needed.

Log it

Record the set type, lure and bait for every dirt hole in Sprung Trapline. By the end of the season you'll see which locations and lures actually produced, and which ones just used up trap nights.

Check your regulations for legal trap types and sizes for fox and coyote, check intervals, and any setback rules before making land sets.