Well if your trapping in an area where pets could be a problem I would just stick to the live traps, but #2 foot traps work nicely for coons, just bait with peanut butter or fish,or try to find out what their eating and use that, there are many ways to set up foot traps mostly its a matter of setting the area up to put the animal in the most likely position to step on your nicely concealed trap covered up in a shallow hole as to make it even with the ground. just trial and error is the best way to learn