The short trapline seemed like it couldn’t miss. A few days prior I had made hay sets, dirt holes and scent-mark sets on a farm that was littered with fox and coyote sign. The snow was only a few inches deep but the ground was frozen, requiring a hatchet to chop out each trap bed. It took some hard work to get the line out, and I left in high hopes.
Every morning while checking the sets in the cold glare of a flashlight, I continued to grow more frustrated. One morning there would be a fox print squarely on the pan, but the trap had frozen down despite my use of peat moss. Another morning a deer sprung a hay set, pawing through the wheat stalks out of curiosity. Finally, after a week of diminishing expectations, I pulled the traps. There had to be a better way
