Establishing Sets

[The Woodsman]

I have been out scouting some old strip jobs/ gas well roads and have been coming across some coyote scat. One place fairly frequently. My question is does it make sense to establish some sets at these places now? I am not talking dirtholes, but for flat/scent post sets.

If so, what are you using? Any lure at all or just pee?

Thanks,
Denny

[Nightwish (Catpaw)]

For fox down here....its not a bad idea...even if its just a fews squirts of urine or lure. Bait is a waste....

Its a little early for any of that, but come early oct.....its actually a great idea. A K9s memory is suberb and they will return to areas where "something happened"

[bobwendt]

waste of time. either thay are there or not come fall. if say they are feeding on berries now, and maybe apples 5 miles away come october, they aren`t coming back to no berriesto smell your pee or lure. not happening. just go back when trapping time gets here and set. if they are there you`ll get them. it`s cheaper to let the sets prospect for you rather than running around now. plus you`ll know when you go set. they still poop and walk then. run asharp pencil if you even want to try to show in the plus column. that vehicle is the biggest trapping expense you have.

[The Woodsman]

And my F350 with V10 is a killer.

[bobwendt]

make everey mile count. I`m changing my operation this fall, deleting some (more) far outs, more gang setting for fast catch a git, leaving the last one, not getting sucked in by a cat track, ignoring any competition( I usually pillage all game with in 5 miles of the other interloper), cutting dead head runs. sharpening the pencil to a needle. I`ll be the last one standing. I`ll quit when I`m dead. I can say that because only way I won`t be trapping is I am dead. I`ll find or make my markets if fur is done. done it before, can do it again.

[blackhammer]

A true trapper and business man.The question for me is how cheap a coon can I still make money on.

[The Woodsman]

When I am out and about I am definitely looking for a round trip with as little wasted travel as possible. I used to really focus on the fields and just looked in the fields where I wanted to put my sets, like I said I am learning, now I find myself looking at the lay of the land and seeing what features seem to draw my eye to it. Be it a funnel or pinch point, powerline crossing a ridge top and such. This is something I guess that needs to be learned, I know Bob and other knowledgeable trappers could just drive around my area and say "There and there and there" I can't do that yet but will get there in time.

[bobwendt]

denny, you will get there, faster than you think. this may surprise you, but along with that my major choice of location reason is can I drive to it? ( lane, or farmer alllows field driving) getting an atv 25 years ago opened up new options, but always easier riding in a big warm truck than a atv and dragging a trailor. hammer, about 10 years ago I kept track of milage and stolen gear, heat and electricity for the fur shed, pro rated out stretchers, everything. it was the last year I seriously trapped coon. fuel was lots cheaper then, as was everything else. MY cost ( and I`m no slouch catching) to have a coon laying on the auction table was $7 and change. about 90% of that was this 4 wheel drive cadilac I drive, but even a volkswagon would have been half cost. that year the coon avg about $12 up there, so $11 net. I wouldn`t skin and scrape the sob`s for $4 profit. and havn`t ever since. my "guess" is now costs have doubled to maybe $14 and avgs prices are down to $8 net for most of the world. maybe some guys are better trappers, better populations, better whatever, but imo no one can make a true profit anymore. it`s gone. anyone else want to argue over who can work cheaper/cheapest and still be standing, knock your self out jesus manuel rodriguiz. but if you get caught you have to go back to mexico.

[bobwendt]

and, drum roll, I pay federal and state and social security to the tune of roughly 40%. so that $4 profit 10 yerars ago, nope. spendable income $2.40 a coon. why I never trapped on purpose or hard for them ever since. only exception was for a week late 2 years ago when we had a brief $40 market. and I made about 5 grand that week, late jan after the mkt developed. this year, back to the same o same o. but I have the geer and the knowledge if a market develops on short notice again. coons are no thrill for me, but I know which side my bread is butter on.

[trappnman]

I can make good money, on an honest $10 green coon.

talked ot a guy from here at the UP, he sold all his coon but 7, at the Feb sale for a $28 (before commissions) average, and sold 6 of those 7 in May for a $24 average-
so thats encouraging personally- that even with all the cheap coon, quality is still in demand.

Talked to a fur buyer yesterday, and he thinks the same, that the big, good colored coon, will have a decent market, esp at auction next year.

I 'm really not too worried about the coon- I think, again for me here, they will be good enoughed price to trap.

As will rats. Mink I'll trap along the coon/rat line so thats just a bonus such as it is-

canines are what worry me now- if too low, will forgo and trap coon almost exclusively, with a canine trap here and there for S & G.

as for your question, Im not one to believe in pre baitng, etc- as Bob says, things change way too much during fall and harvest time-

if you want to make some scent stations just for fun, you can get a general idea of whats what- but rain puddles will do the same thing.

[bobwendt]

you are like the s.e. pa gyuuys and their fox. you have to realize about 95% of the rest of the country has no good coons by present day grading. so for 95% of trappers, coon are loss.

[Steve Gappa]

yes, I do-

but also you need to factor in, if we wouldn't have the quality of coon we do, I probably wouldn't have tried to make trapping my profession as well as my advocation.

coon for sure year in and year out are my bread and butter

[bobwendt]

I seriously doubt you`ll see averages anywhere near that this year, without a major surprise no one is expecting.

[trappnman]

you mean $20 averages? no, I don't think so either-

but I do think, those big 2x> nice colored coon, will average in the 20s at auction, and mid to upper teens local in the grease.

Its the other 75% of the coon you get that hurts you.......... and this year, I've heard from a couple of people, sell them for what you can get, don't bother shipping.

[bobwendt]

if you figure a way to only catch big selects in the same numbers as the random catch of lesser ones too, with the same effort and expense, be sure to let us know!

[trappnman]

I did! but theose who didn't trap coon but knew better, took that away-

trap the hills earlty to mid October- the % of big good colored coon is very high-

[bobwendt]

yes , hill/woods trapping will garner a higher % big ones, but you can`t production line the numbers of a river or road line

[bobafett]

Bob,
With prices below the cost of production have you ever considered buying a few thousand coon (or any fur) for speculative purposes?

[walkercoonhunter(Aaron L.)]

denny the way i look at first b4 going into a area is get on google earth and look for the "circle" routes on the map......then look at the topographical maps on google to see whats the best travel ways and such...then the next step is to go ride that loop and get permissions from the land owners that you have picked out on the maps.......you can save a pile of gas and mileage if you do it this way.....

[mtcbrlatrap]

I was looking over my averages based on grade the last two years on my eastern WI coons. I have 24 that have not sold from last year. The 2xl and up number 1s and selects that were 2-3 colored have average right around $40 for the those that sold. Out of 220 over those two years about 40 or 20% made that cut, grade or price. The other 170 coons have barely averaged $15 for both years and about $9 last year. (That is with my smallest and poorest coons in the mix both years). I guy could save alot ot of shed time by grading on the line which would be wasteful of the fur or animal but sure would make ones time spent more valuable. If transportation is the largest cost then utilizing all the fur makes some sense for travel costs but not for time and labor management. Sort of similar to slaughtering buffalo for the hides and the tongues and leaving the rest lay.
I was planning to do some extensive rat trapping this fall but if the rain does not come soon and in some heavy volume we won't have many rats to trap here. Most sloughs and wet ditches were full after or good recharge this winter. Nice rat reproduction this spring with no big early floods. Now with the very dry weather many rats laying on the roads as they move to the rivers and ponds.
I picked up a lake as a potential tapping place due to dock and frontage damage. The marsh adjacent to the lake is drying up and the rats are coming to the lake very early this year.

Bryce