Higher ground for K9's?

[yotechoker]

Do K9's tend to shun sets made in lower spots and prefer high ground along travelways? Or would you put scent posts high, and dirt holes low???

[Steve Gappa]

no, not at all.

But I do believe that coyotes hunt looking uphill if not flat terrian, and I feel a set made on a higher spot will be noticed by more coyotes.

[bobwendt]

no difference I can see. it`s where they are at, you know, you are where you are. we know saddles are hot spots for travelors, probably hunters too as the lower elevations have more cover. east or west

[shagnasty]

i believe being within a few feet of their line of travel is far more important than most other things.

[irnhdmike]

Being in areas they frequent is most important. I believe they also have rendezvous points and these are generally on high ground. At least around here anyhow. I believe these areas become more important as breeding season approaches.

[GUTPYLZ]

I've been hitting all mine down low using flat sets. That is the only place I've been setting my Yote sets though.

[trappnman]

a few feet from their line of travel? LOL

for canines?

guess your coyote system is 100% different from mine.

[shagnasty]

i dont trap coyotes. being within a few feet of a fox is what i was taught. kinda narrows it down when you are right where they will be!

[bobwendt]

where ever the track is. why would anyone purposely not set on a track? like the sportsmans fly swatter, lol, one with big holes in it? nope, I like the no sport at all ones, like right on a track.

[bobwendt]

I have this mental picture of a 110 over a rat den. the rat can stay in and starve, or come out and die. his choice, that must be the sport in it. not much different for other animals. you set on a coon, coyote, fox, mink, cat, whatever track, and we all know he will be back about 99% of the time. a proven trusted method of setting and smells ,and he will be caught. only question is what day?

[Steve Gappa]

sure- we would all like to set on tracks and still warm pee.

But I have specific areas and I set them- and visuals and set location- vis a vis yote awareness- is important to me.

I don't HAVE to set on his track- and neither does anyone else- when a centrally located set- can cover a LOT of tracks....

[17HMR]

Steve, next time our paths cross we need to talk about your methods, or I should say you talk and Ill listen, with out a track im lost unless Im cat trapping.

[GUTPYLZ]

I'm no expert by all means, but I try to think like the animals I try to catch. Where I trap, you don't hardly ever see track. The ground is just to hard and rocky. I do know that most animals like to take the path of least resistance. I trap both sides and sometimes center of bottlenecks, saddles, ridges, wash edges, but that is for the terrain I trap. I figure you can be a little off location anyway, with how good a Yotes nose is.

[shagnasty]

if no tracks or shiz, then no one is home, period. i set on sign most of the time. sometimes i will take a pie in the sky approach but i always get back to setting on sign.

[GUTPYLZ]

Thats ok, what ever works for you. This is just an open discussion to where we can all learn from each other. I'm not trying to change your trapping style. Heck, your probably twice the Trapper I am. I'm just letting you know what is working for me.

BTW, look at my photo up top and look at the ground and tell me how your going to see track? I do look for scat, and I didn't see hardly any in there.

[Steve Gappa]

GUTPYLZ- I agree with you 100%.

17- be more than happy too- maybe next year at NE.

no tracks or scat? Hard ground, grasslands, constantly traveld field roads, not a stopping point (for scat)

Windy, rainy weather- tracks gone overnight. Scat can disappear in days during summer.

I use my coyote knowledge to set where they are going to be if they are there- and it works for me. And in good coyote range- habitat trumps. Set on the habitiat in farm country- and I don't care where they walk or poop on their way- they will show up in a day or two.

[GUTPYLZ]

GUTPYLZ- I agree with you 100%.

You mean him being twice the trapper I am? ;D

[Steve Gappa]

LOL

[Freak( Jim V.)]

I personally rely heavily on experince when making sets. But also when ground conditions permit ,rely on sign to confirm my insticts.Just because to me they should be using a certain run , does not maen that animal has read my trapping manual 101. And sometimes they just flat out do what they awnna do regardless if it goes against everything I have ever believed and thought as far as animal movements go.
When dealing with low population areas , sign is an absolute necessity to making good catches. In high populations , second to good location setting. But then again , this is just my opinion. LOL

[walkercoonhunter(Aaron L.)]

i was just a ''sign'' and ''visual'' setter untill this year...i had freak come ride along with me on my line last summer and he showed me things about high spots,low spots,travel ways,hunting grounds,alot more than he knows he showed me...lol and i set accordingly this year and i got my eyes opened....i set places i would have never set because there wasnt any ''sign'' there and it was a definite BONUS to the outcome......we dont have a high number of fox here in central pa but there is a farm i trap on that has a big dip in this property that runs for probually 5 miles...i have caught about 10 fox there so far this year....traps has been set since first week so figure about 50 days or so....its right by my house and easy to check....if he wouldnt have said something about it i would have just set 2 weeks and pulled......
So thanks to some expierence teaching i have learned to set good spots weather there is sign there or not and it has helped my catch....
But can i say that i wouldnt have caught those same animals in the spots i had sets...NO but for the guys like me that only has a couple weeks to trap hard it did help to catch those animals faster......so i think for the time constricted trapper it pays to set all spots that "could be" good...or in other words gang set a farm and go....thanks again freak for the knowledge you passed on