Small Traps for Coyotes

[trappnman]

(Reprinted from October 2003 T & PC)

Small Traps on Coyotes by Steve Gappa




Over the years through writing a few articles and talking to trappers at conventions, I find that I am becoming known as an advocate for small traps on coyotes. Well, judge- “I will plead guilty with extenuating circumstances”. Guilty in that I do use small traps for coyotes, but with an explanation. I live in an area that time forgot. Like some of you, I live in a rural small town area, with the vast majority made up of small family owned farms. Our country is rolling hills and valleys (one reason many Swiss settled here- it reminded them of home) and the farms are still primarily dairy and working farms. This means domestic animals all over the place. Every farmer has a dog or two or three- plus barn cats are a wanted commodity. And all have the run of the land.
To trap in these areas, I needed a trap that would hold coyotes yet be gentle on cats and dogs. Not to mention I wanted the coon and fox incidentals. When I first started to set traps for coyotes, I had no sources to rely on for advice. F-F-G was the only trapping magazine I knew about- and coyotes simply weren’t mentioned much. I did understand I needed a big trap- so I went out and set my big unmodified beaver double long springs on long chains and my old Triumph #33 with their big square jaws. And I caught some coyotes. And I lost some coyotes- maybe a few more than I was getting. And I was having traps blown apart- those unmodified beaver traps didn’t stand a chance on a staked 3 foot chain. And I was finding these old traps weren’t the answer to the incidental problem.
So I decided I needed a smaller trap. While I know some use a modified 1.5 on coyotes, based on my observations, I felt this trap was a little too small for overall coyote work. I had some old square jaw #2 but I could see they wouldn’t be any better than the traps I had been using. About this time someone gave me a Trapper & Predator Caller, and I read through the ads and decided that (since this coyote trapping was just going to fill in a few weeks before REAL trapping in the water began) I really wasn’t going to be trapping a whole lot of coyotes, I would try a few dozen of the “new” 1.75 size, simply because I was judging the #2 by what I had on hand, my old square jaws. I bought several dozen of the 1.75s and have been using them every since.
I should point out a couple of things here. I am not by nature a tinker. I want to pull a trap out of the box, treat it and use it. So when I first got my new 1.75, I did no modifications to them. As I began to use the traps, I found out that to me the number one drawback was the slack in the dog and pan. That is- there was such a long drop involved to snap the trap- and messing around with trying to set it on “hair trigger” to eliminate this creep was not the solution. Putting these traps on hair trigger was giving me very light tension- and this was giving me misses and snapped traps. A lot of snapped traps. But the good thing was that the traps held coyotes. About this time I had read about the nite latch trigger system, so decided on a variation of that. The true nite latch is actually a two-stage system, and I could see no value or gain in doing it that way for what I needed. I simply took my dremel tool and ground off the trigger on the pan until it was less than 1/8 of an inch long. I then squared up the end of the dog. It then took a pliers on the dog post to bend the post slightly upwards so that the pan now set level. This modification now made the trap fire crisply- no creep. How important is this modification? Some say why bother, and they could be right. I just know that my catch increased dramatically after doing just this one adjustment and from one season to the next- my number of snapped traps and “pull outs” was reduced considerably. I’ll continue to do it to all my new traps. One bit of advice- carry a small 3-cornered file with you when in the field- you will find that after a catch you occasionally will have to touch this notch up so it will engage. And that’s it. That’s about the only modification I do to my 1.75s. I don’t believe that other modifications are needed whether to hold the coyote or to provide for his welfare. The BMP data backs this up- showing no significant difference in test results between unmodified 1.75s and the same traps that are offset or laminated. This really isn’t surprising when you consider the size of a coyote’s foot in relation to the size of the trap. Now I am not saying that laminations, offsets, etc aren’t worthwhile on other size traps- they are. The BMP shows dramatic results in the larger sizes between modified and unmodified traps. I am speaking only of the smaller sized traps- say traps with jaw spreads of less than 5 ½ inches or so.
Concerning chains and fastenings, I believe in short chains for smaller traps. A short chain from about 18 inches on down- I like a foot or so of chain- will help keep the coyote in the trap and prevent damage to incidentals at the same time by cutting down on lunging. Lunging simply is running the length of the chain from end to end- being stopped only by the length of chain. Longer chains can cause the coyote to come to the end with a head of stream, causing pullouts and trap problems (jaws popping, baseplate bending) with the smaller traps. A shock spring on the chain can damper some of the lunging effects. One problem with short chains is you will have trouble holding coyotes with 1 stake. A coyote will work the stake up and down with the leverage granted by a short chain, and will literally be able to pump the stake entirely out of the ground. To prevent this- I use crossed rebar stakes. I prefer a double coupler, which is an angled butterfly shaped addition to the end of the chain allowing you to easily cross stakes. Many that use short chains use one of the many types of ”disposable” ground anchoring systems with good results. I have never tried them any of them, so can only talk about rebar. Just make sure your angle is crossed well and double rebar will hold any coyote. With this system, I can honestly say I have never lost a coyote because of trap failure. I have had a couple that straightened out the J-hook and escaped- but I now use heavier J-hooks and check them well after every catch. If you want to be even more secure- close off each hook by welding the ends. I also like a fairly strong tension. I tighten the pan bolt so that the pan is stiff, tighten the dog, and that seems to give me the correct tension. I do it by feel, but when I have checked tension, it is seems to be between 3-4 lbs.
When it comes to setting and bedding the trap, I have come to the conclusion that there are several things you can do to increase your catches and to cut down or eliminate your pullouts whe3n using these traps. Now let me stress- as any trapper should while explaining his methods- this is what works for me. I’m not saying it is the best system or the only system- I am simply stating that this method of using small traps for coyotes works very well for me. The first thing to keep in mind is that small traps are different from big traps. Yes, I know this sounds redundant, but it is an important distinction. Based on the size of a coyote’s foot compared to the trap size, you can see that a coyote’s foot can easily be ½ out of the trap and still standing on the edge of the pan. This is an important thing to keep in mind. All the trap bedding I do is based on this. For this reason, I do not believe in using screens or indeed any pan cover. Let me explain.

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[Steve Gappa]

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Adding a screen or pan cover does a couple of things. First of all, it keeps sand and loose dirt from going under the pan, esp. during rains, and keeps the trap ready to fire at all times. A secondary purpose is that a screen extends the “kill area” of the trap way beyond the pan- it increases the kill area to the edges of the trap (the width of the screen). While this might be good for bigger coyote traps- it is a big disadvantage when using smaller traps. The use of a screen allows the trap to be fired in many cases with a majority of the coyotes foot outside the jaws- and that my friends leads to light catches and pullouts- not to mention the “unexplained” snapped traps.
Since I do want the protection to keep dirt out from under the pan but not use the screen- I went to using something under the pan to accomplish the same purpose. You can use anything from a small ball of grass to a sponge to a cotton ball. I have used them all and others off and on over the years- but found flaws in all of them. Most attracted moisture and/or odors. This past year I tried a bag of Polyfil fiber ($2 for a ton of it from your local craft store) and found it resists moisture fairly well and above all has no scent or other attraction for coyotes. It comes in the bag like cotton candy- just pull off a piece as needed. Roll it up and put it under the pan. So that takes care of under the pan. Now comes (to me) the most important step in bedding your trap. Not only do we not want to use a screen to increase the kill area, we want to make it darn near impossible for the coyote to fire the trap without being just about smack dab in them middle of the pan. And the best way to do this is a trappers cap. This is a small device that is placed over the pan of a set trap, and allows you to firmly pack the dirt hard inside the jaws. The idea is to get this dirt so hard-packed, that it has no spring or give to it. To begin with, I like a small trap bed- just big enough to fit the trap. After placing the trap, give it a little twist- this firms it up nicely. Pack dirt around the outside of the trap so that it doesn’t move when pressing on it. Now take the trappers cap and carefully place it over the pan. Wiggle it down until it is flush to the bottom of the trap. Now take one hand and firmly hold the top of the trappers cap- above the place where the trap jaws would meet if the trap were snapped- for obvious reasons. Then take your other hand and start packing dirt down solid inside the jaws. You will have to sift in additional dirt several times while you are doing this, but keep doing it until the dirt is up to the base of the cap. Don’t pack dirt down hard too hard on the jaws- just pack a thin layer of dirt over the jaws when you do your final sifting. After the inside of the jaws is packed down to the base of the cap, carefully wiggle the cap off the pan. You should now have nothing but the trap pan showing, with a 1/8 of an inch of dirt above it on all sides. I now reverse the cap, and holding it by the base, push these ridges over and onto the pan. This leaves a little bit of the pan either uncovered or barely covered. Now take your sifter and blend the final covering over your trap and pattern. I like to have the total covering of dirt no more than ½ inch- less in heavy soils.
So what we now have done by packing the trap tight on both sides of the jaws, is to reduce the chances of a coyote firing the trap by brushing or being on the edge of the pan (again, resulting in misses or pullouts if the trap fires). We have in effect reduced the “kill area” needed to fire the trap to just about the center of the pan. And if the coyote stands on the center of the pan in a good trap- be it 1.75 or #3- he’s going to be there in the morning. But by doing so we have created somewhat of a problem for ourselves- by reducing the kill area, we have also increased the need for proper direction and guiding of the canine.
Guiding is important with coyotes no matter what trap you use- but I feel with smaller traps needing a precise foot placement, guiding is even more important and until you learn good guiding methods, you are going to have pullouts and misses. The first step in guiding is to use the terrain you are trapping in as general guides. Use fencerows, field changes, ledges- whatever is available- to cut down the potential direction in which a coyote could work your set. This gets them coming in the direction I want them to- and this lets them see things in the perspective I want. So by getting them to come in from a certain side, I can direct my other guides based on this. I like crop edges and grass clumps- in fact, I often choose a set location based on bare areas in relation to grass clumps. By setting the trap tight to one clump, I can eliminate a least 1 direction. I usually put the dog of the trap up against this clump. If I don’t do that, then I guard the dog side with a small rock, a dropping or even a squeezed together clump of dirt. In addition to my dog guide, I then use whatever is natural to the area to finish off the guiding. I like to use small clods to “suggest” to the coyote where he should put his feet. Don’t overdo it however- you don’t want the trap to look boxed in. I can’t stress it enough to keep in mind where the coyote’s feet will be when his nose is at your hole. All is based on hole angle and the theory that “a coyotes feet follow his nose”.
So there you have it. My system for using smaller traps on coyotes successfully. These traps aren’t right for every situation and for every coyote trapline- but they are a good coyote trap that can and does hold coyotes. The farmers aren’t intimidated by them and they have been the key to opening up many otherwise untrappable areas to me. If you trap in populated areas, give 1.75s a try. They are people friendly, animal friendly and they hold coyotes.