I set a hole set at edge of field/woods and caught a coyote. Reset trap as a walk thru set. Next morning the mesh pan cover was lying about a foot away from trap, which was still covered with peat moss. My wife, who was with me checking sets, said it must have been jerked out by a critters toenail. Ok there were a couple of scratch marks in trail but I don't know. So I put a dirt hole set about 10 feet from this set. Two days later, dirt hole was sprung and walk thru had pan cover sitting on top of trap, which was still covered in peat moss. Reset all again and caught a coyote at dirt hole set. I'm thinking aliens jerked that pan cover out and was playing tricks on me. Reinholt said Penn/Teller could use an assistant or I'm just getting senile. What's your guess??

Coons love fiddling around in peat and loose dirt. That could be the culprit. Are you putting a final cover of dirt over your pan cover or just leaving it peat? When I did use peat, I found if I didn't put a pretty good layer of dirt over it, the peat and screen simply blew off. Or it could be Reinhold coming in there messing with you! I'd put a trail cam on it!!!

BTW- A walkthrough in, or at the edge of a catch circle after a catch is a great re-make!

It looked like someone removed the cover, covered the trap back up, and then just laid the pan cover directly over the top of the set. I've accused my raccoon hunting neighbor but he swears he didn't do it. I think there were crop circles in the field....