Talking Snow in July

[Deleted]

I've never made any bones about liking to trap in snow, especially deep snow.   Last winter gave me everything I'd asked for plus some darn cold days.  So here is an overview of late last winter when I was able to use my sled to my advantage allowing me to access areas that under normal fall and early winter conditions are always unaccessable.  It isn't just the deep snow that makes some of my large tracts of public land inaccessible, it's illegal to run atv's(quads, etc) and full size vehicles on the semi-blocked old logging trails BUT it's perfectly legal to run a sled on them!

The use of my sled and pull-behind sled as well as my deep-snow coyote trapping greatly exceeded my expectations.  

Next season I'll have a Go-Pro camera .  It's hard to be looking through a little pocket camera videoing and talking and not getting a good look at the coyotes while you're doing it.  Hind-sight says I shouldn't have said anything but it was my first time and it was a learning experience.


click to play video-

click to play video-

click to play video-



Unloaded at a farmer's  property.

[musher]

I prefer the snow to this heat. Coupled with the heavy fly year we are having, it isn't a whole lot of fun.

The dogs agree with me.

Is that a chainsaw bar case sticking out of the back of your skidoo box? I'm figuring that you are using scent posts on the trail or blind sets in the middle of the trail? How about antifreeze etc.? Large bait nearby?

Thanks.

[Deleted]

What you're seeing Musher is in fact a built-in scabbard for the chainsaw's bar. Easy in-easy out.



Once the snow depth is 6" or better in the timber/brush I stop using scents and use only trail blind sets using the same principles as snaring but applied to the coyote's feet. I don't set on my sled's trail but rather where the coyote's trails cross mine. On private property from where most of the photos came from last year I stood in the pull-behind and made sets and as I'd make catches, I'd have to move further back in away from the catch circles. On public lands I don't set tight to my sled's trail but set further back in , far enough back so that standing on the sled I can see if I have a catch.

No large baits but I do know favored routes to & from one swamp/hunting area to the next. There are places where the coyote, pairs, or groups get tight and places where they spread out. knowing that and where those occur I then look for consistency. I need to see repetitive use but twice can be enough, otherwise I won't set. That principle worked great for me when I snared and it's no different using footholds.

I use nothing for antifreeze. There have been times when I only had about 2" of snow but I'd found trails that begged me to set them. When that happens I've used a foundation of peat after pounding in a bed and a peat cover than dusted with snow. This worked very well where the coyotes were using old, iced-over beaver runs through the tag alders.  With any other depth of snow I use foam snow pads & pan covers.

[musher]

Tell me about these foam snow pads.

The coyotes are just traveling your trail because it's easier going. Is there an agricultural food source or are they feeding off bush food?

[Deleted]

I make the pads from 1/16" , non-absorbent foam I get from Uline and I cut them roughly the shape of the trap and one other to act as the pan cover. The one thing that I've found to very important is that the snow be packed under the trap. I've found that if the snow isn't packed when you bed the trap your chances of forcing snow up inside the trap frame and under the pan are quite great and can be bad news.(a "learned" experience over the years!) You'd think you were going a great job bedding the trap but really you're liable to be screwing yourself.
Yup, the "packers"!!


The coyote do not per say follow my sled's trail. My sled's trail crosses they're line of travel rather than them following me.

Where I'm trapping everything is "bush food", deer and bunnies, mostly deer even in the brush off the ag ground rather than the ag!! I have a lot of high-bush huckleberry swamps and a heck of a lot of of tag-alder swamps, all with ridges in between. Find the entrances and exits to the swamps and you have set locations with no concern about stall-outs. Stall-outs are not what I look for during this time of year, I want'em on the move!!!

[musher]

Interesting about the snow packing. It can be tough to pack down snow here because you'll have one heck of a depression. That is why setting on the trail is a must. If off the trail, boughs can give your trap more of a footprint to keep it firm. Again it is tough to hide until another snowfall does it for you.

The foam pads are interesting. The hassle with placing your trap in a plastic bag and covering with snow is, at times, the bag traps the snow used to cover the trap and hinders it. Your way avoids that problem.

Your coyote trapping sounds a little like wolf trapping in that location is the trails they hunt as they cut through the bush. Since bush food isn't as reliable as farm food those trails can go cold after a few successful hunts.

Thanks for the info and the pix. You've got me thinking!

[Deleted]

I only pack to the depth of the coyote's track, not deeper. When I bed the trap the snow still has enough yield that it "snugs" with the pad.

I've not had a problem with coyotes using up the prey base in such a manner they quit using a trail during the time period I've been trapping. Maybe if the draw was only a big bait and it get finished-off but in my area, every night whether it's 5 acre swamp or 40-60 acre swamp there will always be deer in them sometime during every 24hr period.  The coyotes will quit using a trail once I've killed the majority of those using that particular trail and that'll occur with too many catch circles. If there are any more coyotes that had been using the trail I've found that they will make secondary trails which once they've used them more than once, I set them. Remember, this style of trapping is no different than snaring. What works with cable DOES WORK with footholds. That's why I say I use the same principles.