Flat thoughts????

[hotandry]

Possum,

To answer your "overwhelming" question about getting the coyote to step on the pan in a flat set, don't worry about it. Set it and they will come. And step. And donate their hides to your cause.

Joel said it, use a good stink and they will stomp around enough to not luck out. Kind of a leap of faith if you are a dirt hole man and think the dirt hole is the reason that coyotes step right on the pan for you 80% of the time.

Coyotes are the opposite of cats in this regard, don't guide them at all. Give them every opportunity not to step in the trap, i.e. no guiding at all, and they will be waiting for you at check time.

Guide them a hair too much or use too much backing, and a high percentage will be spooked. Leave it wide open, small backing, and a small dob of something stinky or urine, and voila, its like magic.

[Sage Dog]

For coyote (not fox) I use far more flat sets than dirt holes. A piece of fake fur wired to a bush just above the ground, dirt/trash raked up against it to suggest a burried bait, lure, urine, a few guide pebbles, and I'm done. For scent sets I use droppings plus urine, not posts.

[rionueces]

I set on locations down here, and if the soil is too hard or rocky (at least 50% of the time), I will use a flat set.

I like using baited peep holes or pieces of bait stashed underneath a stack of thorny brush or in a clump of grass. Throw a bunch of feathers on top and a few guiding sticks and you have a set that will work for coyotes and cats....

[mostinterestingmanintheworld]

Guide them a hair too much or use too much backing, and a high percentage will be spooked. Leave it wide open, small backing, and a small dob of something stinky or urine, and voila, its like magic.

I with you on that, I see a lot of demos and print saying to use clods, rocks, sticks, and stuff like that to guide feet on flat sets.

Not me. I make it "flat" no clods, no sticks, none of that stuff. Looks like the same surface all around.

Misses are rare, I've seen more misses from a dirthole where I do use some of that stuff sometimes.

[rionueces]

Joel,

I will give the open approach a try this year.

It seems like I don't get many refusals down here since coyotes are used to poking their noses into heavy brush to get food.