Stopping Coyotes

[Aaron.F]

I have been paying trying to pay attention to many of the conversations going on regarding catching coyotes. i feel I am now at a point where I can catch some coyotes, but I am not maximizing my set ups. I have been trying to determine where coyotes are stopping, milling, stalling or whatever you want to call it, but having difficulty. I remember from 1080's post a couple of years ago about "bait em up", well most my property owners won't allow it. I am curious to what you guys are doing to get coyotes to slow down and check stuff out. Some of this was touched on a little bit in Never's posts and he is trail setting to help catch those coyotes. I know I am never going to get all to stop, but maybe some pointers. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

[trappnman]

1080 once aid- if a property owner doesn't want you to trap coyotes, or severely restricts you in do so- move on, he doesn't have enough coyotes to worry about.

I've found this to more or less be true

So as far as the owner not wanting bait- I'd have to ask why? I do some baiting with calves, but more often my "baiting" is a carcass or two- and with our raptor population, its not weeks but days before its cleaned up- maybe if you promised to take any remaining bait with you?

One thing I have found to work for me, is to give them a new visual. While a coyote might be neophobic about the visual itself, one placed near the sets seems to work. It attracts their attention, and I THINK that in checking out the visual, with their attention on that, that they will work the sets, since they are stalling in that area. I've had enough success making poor locations into fair or even good ones simply by adding a skull, that if others think this is bogus so be it. I use more and more visuals each season, mainly skulls and large rib bones and this is in addition to a carcass or two if not a compost or dead pile.

[Aaron.F]

Jan 27, 2016 11:33:57 GMT -6 trappnman said:

1080 once aid- if a property owner doesn't want you to trap coyotes, or severely restricts you in do so- move on, he doesn't have enough coyotes to worry about.

I've found this to more or less be true

So as far as the owner not wanting bait- I'd have to ask why? I do some baiting with calves, but more often my "baiting" is a carcass or two- and with our raptor population, its not weeks but days before its cleaned up- maybe if you promised to take any remaining bait with you?

Around here coyote trapping is a distant second to deer hunting, so everything has to accommodate deer hunting. Many farmers and property owners believe that by placing baits it will increase coyotes and thus reducing deer numbers. Additionally in my area you would be lucky to find a farm with more than 10 cows or sheep within 15 miles. Now one would probably say that I need to go farther, well I normally only have about 2 hours in the morning to trap, so I need to keep it mostly local.


The adding skulls and bones is exactly what i am talking about, not necessarily turning a poor location into fair, but fair into good.

[Deleted]

Hey!  Wasn't there a big to-do a few years ago when June came up with his idea of sitting out a stack of white buckets.  I think he left them out for the coyote to see for a while, how long I don't remember.  Then he removed them and set the location with the theory that once the buckets were gone, the coyotes came to the vacant location, milled around looking for the change and found the sets.


Sorry but I'm not into stacking buckets!

[Aaron.F]

I remember hear him talking about something like that at a demo, but I believe it originally came from a government study. Nor am I into stacking buckets.

When Slim was here we tried out something similar, but it was to create curiosity and catch them in the general area, but not at the actual spot. We put a rock in a trash bag and put it out in a field and I had traps about 30-40 yards away. Didn't have enough time to try it out but I think it was roughly the same idea.

[RdFx]

I have achieved the same results in getting yotes to check an area by spiking a quart oil can in middle of pasture field.... i was surprised with results. Same thing can be done with skulls, bones.. and as you mentioned garbage bag with stone in ! Always keep an open mind.

[trappnman]

small baits aren't going to draw coyotes....but if you can't, you can't.

you can also put call lure up high to make them mill around some


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I think the govt study was with cones- that placing cones in an area causes neophobic reactions and avoidance, but when those objects are removed, the coyotes investigate where they were.

[Aaron.F]

Jan 28, 2016 10:25:35 GMT -6 trappnman said:

I think the govt study was with cones- that placing cones in an area causes neophobic reactions and avoidance, but when those objects are removed, the coyotes investigate where they were.

Yup, that's the one.

[RdFx]

Speaking of call lure many years ago Russ Carman mentioned taking a soda bottle cutting bottom off, drilling hole in bottle cap. Taking a cotton ball or womans tampon, soak in call lure, cut length of wire 18 inches or so, put soaked item on end of wire, string other end of wire up inside bottle thru bottle cap, pull wire up so item is inside bottle, go hang on tree, bush upwind of where you want canines to investigate. Works very well and weather doesnt weaken scent as inside bottle and rain doesnt affect it...

[Aaron.F]

I believe I read in Ray Milligan's coyote book that he talked about rotting eggs and spreading to draw coyotes over to an area. My intent is to create some type of attractor that will cause a milling effect, as I believe I am already on location.

[trappnman]

let me give you something to ponder-

if you were on location, would you need to CAUSE a stall out effect? meaning, the right location wil lbe the stall out points. or do you mean coyotes are in the general area and passing through?

I'd really be interested in a video or even pics of your location-

when I use visuals, or high scent its because I'm not where I want to be

[Aaron.F]

Jan 30, 2016 12:41:07 GMT -6 trappnman said:

if you were on location, would you need to CAUSE a stall out effect? meaning, the right location wil lbe the stall out points. or do you mean coyotes are in the general area and passing through?

I think that is part of the problem I am not on the stall out point. The area I am in is where a 160 acre farm is fairly big, so what I am needing to do is turn a location with good sign that is not a stall out point into an area I can catch them in. The coyotes are in the area but as you said they are mostly passing through.

Unfortunately I am no longer trapping so I have no pictures other than those of catches.

[Deleted]

Jan 30, 2016 18:48:21 GMT -6 Aaron.F said:

Jan 30, 2016 12:41:07 GMT -6 trappnman said:

if you were on location, would you need to CAUSE a stall out effect? meaning, the right location wil lbe the stall out points. or do you mean coyotes are in the general area and passing through?

I think that is part of the problem I am not on the stall out point. The area I am in is where a 160 acre farm is fairly big, so what I am needing to do is turn a location with good sign that is not a stall out point into an area I can catch them in. The coyotes are in the area but as you said they are mostly passing through.

Unfortunately I am no longer trapping so I have no pictures other than those of catches.

Those are exactly my observations as well!  Also, 160 acres is actually quite large for me, I'm in the 20/40-80 acre parcel range and usually few, very OPEN FARM FIELDS, by choice though!  Aaron stated, see "travel/pass-thru sign but very difficult to find a stall-out IF THERE IS EVEN ONE ON THAT PROPERTY!  With all of 1080's best intentions a few years ago , my country is NOT even remotely Indiana except the sun comes up in the east and sets in the west!!  

I sometimes seriously wonder about the differences in coyote populations from one State or region to another. interrelation to discussions.  I read where folks are picking up coyote scat as if they need several 5 gallon pails.   I'm out on the properties I have permission to trap ALL YEAR around and if I am able to gather-up to quart baggie, two at the most of turds, I'm going really good!!

[trappnman]

whether there is a true stall out or not- I have to believe that somewhere on that 160 acres, is a location where coyotes spend more time that at other places on that farm.

treeline?

weed patch?

brushpiles?

manure pile?

if not- then the ONLY reason they are there, is because they are using a travel lane through that farm.

I think the 2 things above, MUST be mutually exclusive in you can have one, but not the other.

if there IS no reason to be there, and they are just passing on through, not stopping at all just blowing on by- then I'd personally look to see either where they are coming from, or where they are going- ideally, both.

[Deleted]

I think when I find sign along woods/field edges, tractor lanes between plowed fields, fence rows between plowed fields, ditches, etc, I am dealing with travel lanes.  That's the other half of the reason I trap wooded country, any farm ground is plowed because the farm ground is cash crop.  Plowed ground holds no prey so think of this example that my cousin, who was a renowned fox trapper in his time but couldn't catch a coyote if his life depended on it(LOL), related to me last week.-

He was driving through my trapping territory and as we all do, was eye-balling the fields.  He noticed a coyote that looked to be just entering the end of a plowed long 80 so he pulled over and watched that coyote follow a fence row across the back of the 80 and continued across the back of an adjacent long 40.  The coyote never stopped, just kept on truckin from one woods to another.

Now I've caught coyote at similar fence rows BUT I've had more just do as that coyote did, just truck on through!  In fact, what my cousin didn't know is that two years in a row, several years ago when I had permission to trap that farm, I did set that very same fence row and had during a 10 night period, two instances of coyote do exactly what the one he watched do, trucked right on by my sets.  I set on sign of course both years an looking back my real mistake was repeating my 1st year's mistake of setting the fence row!

[trappnman]

I think what you just described happens fairly often.

I think when I find sign along woods/field edges, tractor lanes between plowed fields, fence rows between plowed fields, ditches, etc, I am dealing with travel lanes. That's the other half of the reason I trap wooded country, any farm ground is plowed because the farm ground is cash crop. Plowed ground holds no prey

Could not agree more. It always comes down to food for a predator. If there isn't food, or the POSSIBILITY of food, there is no reason to linger. The exception might be curiosity- but that just gets their attention which might be good or bad. I think curiosity only works if they are already comfortable with a general area.

in other words- around a CRP area- they will be here, there, all around- the whole area is familiar, and there extras help.

2 questions we always ask on new setups or potential setups-

1) why would a coyote want to be here
2) where would he feel the most at ease

on my big operations (flat ground which means few pastures, lots of crops) travelways/fencerows are poor setups
on my small ones (hilly/rough ground, small operations, more pasture, mixed crops, CRP) they often are

and the key is that the waterways contain lots of hunting areas, lots of prey

[Deleted]

I totally agree!