The thing I find that causes more missed fox than any other single item has to be improper bedding of traps. Traps have to have the soil, or other material packed in solid, and the trap should be very solid itself, that is to say, nothing should move but the pan. A wobbly jaw usually means a flipped trap, so it behooves us to make the extra effort to get the trap solid. If you use a trappers cap, or other similiar item it can certainly help. One idea that I had never come across until I read O'Gorman's material is the idea of a pan cover that does more than cover the pan! O'Gorman uses screen wire covers that fit inside and under the jaws of the trap itself with a notch being cut for the dog. The idea behind this is to increase the potential firing area within the jaws of the trap. If done properly, any fox (or other furbearer) that steps within the jaws will fire the trap, even if they actually miss the pan since the screen wire cover will force the pan down, whereas wax paper would not. It is an excellent pan cover, does not retain moisture, and will actually help prevent the jaws from freezing to the ground if used properly. I like to think of the center of the trap pan as the vertex of every set, everything revolves around this central element, and if you can't get the animal to put his foot on that pan, then you are wasting your time. Due to this fact, we have to take every tendency of the animal into consideration. We know that we prefer to step on solid footing ourselves, rather than on objects like rocks or logs that may cause us to twist an ankle, and fox basically react in the same fashion, only on a much smaller scale. Fox have small feet and they will certainly step on solid dirt before they step on a rock half the size of a golfball. This is what we have to keep in mind when we visualize a fox coming into the set area...make the "vertex" (the pan) the most appealing place for the fox to put his foot as he approaches the hole, or the urine post, or even if it is a trail set. We can't make it terribly obvious, but we can certainly make it attractive. It is like a chair in your living room that would attract any guest in your home.

One of the most difficult things I ever tried to pick up on as a trapper was the idea of "location." It is almost impossible to describe to someone, and some guys probably will never get the feel for it, but location is certainly one of the keys for successful fox trapping, that is the ability to pick productive locations. In picking locations I try to keep in mind the habitat needs of a specific furbearer, and I focus a lot on "paths of least resistance." Fox will travel the easiest route through any given habitat for the most part, just like most other animals, but this doesn't mean that it would be easy traveling for a human. It might be right through the middle of a nasty blackberry thicket, but if it is, there will be a path that is suitable for a fox to navigate, and this is what you are looking for. Keep in mind that animals do not hike about the woods like humans do, that is they are not out for entertaiment, usually they are occupied with the eternal quest for food, and during the breeding season it will be the eternal quest for a mate. Fox tend to travel more during the mating season, and I think it is safe to say that the males specifically will travel the most at this time of year. The rest of the year it appears they are pretty localized and occupy a relatively small home range. Look for those edges, where the woods meet the open grass, or a brushline meets a hay field, along the streams edge, or a fence row. Gas line right of ways in my part of the country provide a lot of edge effect for fox, and they are quite often a hot spot to look for sign. Remember, nothing beats fresh sign, but once you get comfortable judging hot spots for fox you will not be dependent upon sign. It is always nice to have, but I can look at a lot of places and know with a pretty good degree of accuracy that fox should be there.

This gray was caught on a rather wide right of way for the gas company.