# Coyote trapper in need of HELP



## foot hold 1 (Feb 13, 2009)

New to trapping this year, Read & watched many videos on coyote trapping. I am using dyed & waxed duke # 3 coil spring. I am very scent cautious. All my equiptment has been descented and is kept in a large bin in my truck with local pine branches in the bin. My rubber boots & clothing is in the bin with my equiptment.I am making dirt hole sets in this manner. I am trapping in an area loaded with coyotes on farm land corn fields. I firs set out a large garbage bag, I keep all my tools & myself on the bag. I dig out a hole for the trap, add non iodised salt because its cold in PA, set my trap in the hole, stake in ground. I use a screen pan cover and cover the trap with peat moss due to everything is frozen. I then dig my dirt hole about 12 inches in front of the trap. I use sticks on each side of the trap to guide them onto the pan. I remove all my equiptment and remove my rubber gloves. I spray coyote urin on a nearby log or brush and glob som gland urine in the dirt hole. I also am using goose parts in the dirt hole as bait. I have been trapping non stop for 2 months and only got 2 opposums I lost a trap today, The rebar stake was there laying on the ground but my trap was GONE>>> HELP


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## beever trapper (Jan 21, 2009)

Leg hold,

Sounds like you're on the right track. First suggestion, i would have is to make sure that your guide sticks are not to aggressive, if youve got good lure and urine, and have a good back stop ( clump of grass, stump log, etc.)guide sticks are not always that necessary. Something as subtle as a corn cob can do it or a small rock. Make sure your upwind of the approach of the coyote. With yotes I usually set 9 inches back offset to one side or the other 3 or 4. Also you could set in series, two traps at each set. As for your rebar stake, if you're staking through the drowner lock on your duke, the bumps on the rebar stake can act like a ratchet allowing the yote to eventuallly jump enough times to get the stake out. i also use only short chains with 3 swivels so they cant twist up, nor get a run at it. i use #2 dukes. Try smooth rod stakes or double stake. not much out there can pull two.

If you're certain there are coyotes in your area, and are havin trouble getin em close, try switchin up lures, get some new urine, new bait. just switch it up. maybe leave one of the items out at a couple different sets, maybe one with just urine, or one with two.

Or switch sets, do some flat sets or scent post sets. Or in the right situation, a blind set(careful, deer use some of the same trails).

Some of this might be review, i apoligize, hopefully some might help.

Good luck.


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## ND trapper (Nov 14, 2006)

Welcome to the forum foot hold! I will start off by saying that I am impressed at the great lengths you have gone to make your trapping as successful as possible. You kinda remind me of myself when I started out. I was a scent control freak. I worried about it so much that it actually controlled me. You have to remember that you are a human being and are smarter then any other animal on this planet. It's good to be cautious about equipment contamination just don't let it consume you.



foot hold 1 said:


> My rubber boots & clothing is in the bin with my equiptment.


So your clothes and boots are in the same bin as your traps? If so then I would change that. Your clothes will obviously contain human scent and if left in the same bin can cause unwanted lingering odors on your equipment. Keep your clothes out of any gas, oil, or chemicals and just hang them up in the garage or shed when you get home. Just make sure your garage doesn't smell like a auto body shop. As far as traps go, I dye and wax my traps and then place them in plastic totes with lids. I don't place any dirt, grass leaves or anything else in there. I want my traps "scent free" and by placing things like leaves and pine branches in there your traps wax will take on the smell.



foot hold 1 said:


> I spray coyote urin on a nearby log or brush and glob som gland urine in the dirt hole. I also am using goose parts in the dirt hole as bait.


I like to keep all urine, bait and lure in one place and that is at the set. A lot of books will tell you to go place some call lure 15 or 20 feet from the set. Why? I don't want the coyote 15 or 20 feet from my set, I want him at my set. They say the reasoning for this is because call lures are strong and can overpower a coyote at the set. Okay, well then don't use so much call lure at your set. I use Cave's "Gusto" which is a very strong call lure at the bottom of my dirt holes and have had no problems. Just dip a twig in the bottle, that's all you need. And if someone needs to use a big glob of call lure to get the coyotes attention from a long distance then he is obviously no where near being on location for the animal he is trying to trap.

Waterfowl parts work great in the early season and I use them as well but late in the season I have much better luck with a loud bait. I like using O'gorman's "Powder River", Caven's "Hiawatha", and RK's "Predator Plus".
It sounds like you have the mind set to succeed and if you learn from your mistakes you will be catching good numbers of fur in short order. If you are having trouble trying to find locations to set traps on a certain piece of land you can take some pictures of the area and post them up and we would be happy to show you where the best possible locations would be. Any more questions don't hesitate to ask.


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## foot hold 1 (Feb 13, 2009)

Thanks again for all the input. I do not keep my traps in the bin with my clothes & equiptment, I leave my traps out in the bed of my truck or hanging outside. I switched up my bait yesterday and used some old deer scraps from deer season. I checked the trap this morn. and had a pull out  But there was some brown & grey hair in the trap. I made a reset about 15 feet away. I also changed up the chains, added a d ring on the end and now am using two stakes crossed. We shall see...


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## Bud Guidry (Feb 7, 2009)

i'm also new at this and went the same route as you did, the exact same route, watched vids on youtube to learn how to do sets, i used dirt hole sets. i also had three pulls using one trap only the first two days, i reset the same spots using two, three and four trap sets. i got two yotes my first week, using deer scraps as bait. didn't use any scent on any of the sets but i did make my sets in areas i was seeing lots of sign. the only route i took for illiminating my scent was wearing gloves and kneeling on a small piece of plywood where i made the sets. had the same tennis shoes i wear everyday on. i caught these two dogs last week and we had alot of rain come thru here yesterday, today i went to the spots i had my sets and theres more fresh yote tracks everywheres. even in the same mounds of dirt the two i caught dug up. i'm wondering if the others smell the ones i caught, possibly their urine? maybe someone here with more experience could give some insight on this, can you catch more than one at the same site? just a few days apart?

my next goal is bobcat, i made three visual sightings and see lots of tracks, i'll try the feather trick.

i'm in south lousiana here, really far south, 5 or 6 miles from the gulf in bayou lafourche, town of galliano


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## ND trapper (Nov 14, 2006)

Bud Guidry said:


> i'm wondering if the others smell the ones i caught, possibly their urine? maybe someone here with more experience could give some insight on this, can you catch more than one at the same site? just a few days apart?


Hey Bud welcome to the forum! Absolutely they can smell the scent and urine from the other catches. Sometimes a set will will become more productive after the first catch. Some coyotes will go into a catch circle while others will not. It seems that usually the older coyotes will stay out of them and the younger one's don't seem to get their feet dirty as much. Out of a seven day stretch I have caught five coyotes out of the same set using the same trap so it does happen. Most if not all of those coyotes were young and/or female.


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## foot hold 1 (Feb 13, 2009)

Hello all, I guess with every thing in life we learn from our mistakes. I appreciate all the input from everyone. Our season for trapping ends on sunday in PA, I guess it is time to get the lights & rifles out.
I moved all my traps to a virgin location today, while out in the field i found a lot of coyote sign, I can only hope for a good outcome in the am.


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## Bud Guidry (Feb 7, 2009)

thanks for the welcome ND trapper.

this was my first go at dogs but i've trapped before for fur bearers, nutria, otter, *****, muskrats. the marcshes here are overcrowded with these little demons,

foot hold 1, i'm not in any position to give you advise on this but my only recommendation would be patience. lots and lots of patience and never give up. we often learn thru our errors, i can only speak for myself on this, seems like the more i make mistakes, the smarter i get, :lol:

my limited time here has been valuble, seems like a great forum with a bunch of good people. i look forward to spending time here and possibly becoming one of the " GUYS"

Bud


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## rangeman (Dec 7, 2006)

Try the cable anchors that are on the market. I use Berkshire. They are light weight and will work good in most soils. I left a few in the ground last year to see if the would rust up or not. They looked almost like new. I use those or drags. to anchor with.......


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## bdmick (Nov 7, 2010)

Finally found a use for big head carp get a trash can with a lid place it way away from your house get enough carp to fill it you should gut them though fill the can up put the lid on wait about a year then skim the oil off put it in gallon milk jugs mix with any type of other oils i use a little skunk some castor glands never have to buy lures again and the fish oil keeps for ever i think its best the second year or third


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## bdmick (Nov 7, 2010)

Finally found a use for big head carp get a trash can with a lid place it way away from your house get enough carp to fill it you should gut them though fill the can up put the lid on wait about a year then skim the oil off put it in gallon milk jugs mix with any type of other oils i use a little skunk some castor glands never have to buy lures again and the fish oil keeps for ever i think its best the second year or third


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