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Post by braveheart on Aug 29, 2021 3:51:36 GMT -6
Minty is very strong in the cold. I never really under stand people that want super skunk smell in a lure. I want skunk to push a smell but not that straight skunk hit in a lure. It has it's place a strong skunk smell but for the most part I don't want it. Like winter cold and drifting snow and you are trying to drag a coyote to a open wind blown area or pull a cat to a set yes.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2021 6:06:47 GMT -6
I like a little skunk at most every set whether it’s in the lure or bait but I’m not talking about the LDC-type skunk strong. Since I’ve been adding skunk I’ve seen a seriously large drop in trash plugging traps and what I feel is an uptick to my coyote catch. One of my favorite lures are two O’G’s that I mix 1/2 &1/2 and the one is quite skunky and the other what you guys could call sweet. I used both lures separately and they tested well and caught coyotes well but when I tested them as a mix things really popped!! From watching coyote reactions under the cameras to lures with skunk in them is why I decided to start adding it in small amounts, the drop in trash animals was an added benefit.
I found out recently that one of the big names out east only uses 2 lures and adds skunk to both with the same results on canines in the east or out west. Maybe that’s a commonly known fact but I don’t follow or travel in those circles but was told this by the lure maker.
I will add that I’ve only occasionally used a LDC-type lure. I know the last one I used was Stef’s and it was really strong and that was well before he sold out. In my type of territory I have little problem with being on location in the dead of winter so I don’t need to “pull” the coyotes with a LDC. Maybe trail sets would be a better substitute then a lured set and trying to pull to a bare spot? Don’t know your territory so I certainly can’t make any kind of judgement.
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Post by trappnman on Aug 29, 2021 7:33:15 GMT -6
I first started using what I call the sweet/sour setup when I started having success with the walkthrough. I used 2 lures, 1 each in 2 small wobble holes.
I continued to use 2 lures and also baits when I became more of a dirthole man. I don't mix them per se, but both go in the hole and scraped off on the upper side of the hole, so in effect they are mixed.
We are in the process now, of reducing the number of lures we use down to say 6 lures- and then all the various combinations. Add in a gopher and a commercial bait, and the combinations are at least for me "endless".
I like skunk. Blow me away skunk. The louder the better. I can't say that loud skunk won't spook a coyote somewhere, but I have to say if its occurring, I don't see it. So I want a LDC as my #1 lure. I won't leave a location without it.
Up until a few years ago, I always put my lures down the hole. but I started to use a high up call, and I have to say anecdotal evidence tells me over last few years, I'm catching more coyotes at "poke and hope" locations.
One thing I don't like about farm country, is because of farming practices its not always possible to get to where you want, and to set where you know you should. So what to do? Some would say drive on by- and trust me I do that all too often as "I know coyotes here, but just no place to set". But I want to trap coyotes- so I do need to set up these locations whereever I can. so that brings in visuals, and call lures.
So a good call lure in say a high fence post (nice cracks so you can smear it in on a couple sides) is going to get that odor out there, and combined with the visual is going to get him to mill around (same as having a carcass there) at a location he might only give a cursory glance.
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Post by braveheart on Aug 30, 2021 4:13:06 GMT -6
I believe in the visual big cow hip bone or skull for sure. A lot of times a big hunk of sod flipped up side down. The real civit will make a coyote give it up and cats as well. Seldom I have row crop setting in Iowa but in Ks. a lot of wide open spaces. I don't think bones have a big factor down there bones all over. But both Iowa an Ks. if you have cattle you have coyotes.
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Post by trappnman on Aug 30, 2021 7:16:10 GMT -6
Badger remakes are as sure a thing as I can get. Talk about a visual!
I remake it into a walkthrough set with the walkthrough going right over the top of te mound, with a small lure hole right on top at a pinch point. Deadly.
While on badgers, caught 3 at the same set over a week- never had that happen before
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2021 7:46:20 GMT -6
Badger remakes are as sure a thing as I can get. Talk about a visual! Absolutely the opposite here! From my experience, coyote AVOID a badger catch circle no matter what you do it it if anything! A few years ago this badger remake thing came up on another forum and one of "those who say it to the greatest magnitude" said- Not in Michigan they don't, badgers avoid badger catch circles there. I have found that to be exactly right!
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Post by trappnman on Aug 30, 2021 7:56:51 GMT -6
I find that amazing. Here, the coyotes and badgers hunt the same fields, and both eat gophers out of my sets. Its very common to see badger diggings along side fresh canine tracks.
99% of the time, I don't even need to move the trap. Always, they dig in a donut circle, and the stake is solid in the middle. so I just take my shovel, fill in the worst of the digging, and then make a path directly across the top of the mound. At the top, a small wobble hole in the dirt, with a fresh shot of a skunky lure. I catch 8-10 badgers a season, and on most of those remakes every year, its a coyote. 3 years ago, had a badger, and then 3 nights in a row a coyote (that is NOT typical).
Ed Schnieder told me the same, he could never catch a badger in a remake- BUT he was not remaking it into a walkthrough, he was trying to remake the original set.
PS- WY coyotes don't mind badger remakes either.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2021 8:36:24 GMT -6
I never set catch circles but always set off them and do that with the few badger I catch, maybe 1 every 3-4 years but I've found it a waste of time and I pull.
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Post by trappnman on Aug 30, 2021 8:48:10 GMT -6
I've found this, and after 2 years of testing, take it as fact for me. I've read about always having a fresh set if all sets have caught a coyote. So for 2 seasons, everytime we had all sets catching a coyote, would put in a fresh set. and the amount of coyotes we caught on the fresh sets vs the worn out remakes was so small, it simply wasn't worth the bother.
Best I did on one location last year was 2 sets, 1 week, 7 coyotes. 4 and 3.
only time I put in a fresh set and not a remake at a location, is if the set is so liquid mud it can't be reset.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2021 9:02:23 GMT -6
I've found this, and after 2 years of testing, take it as fact for me. I've read about always having a fresh set if all sets have caught a coyote. So for 2 seasons, everytime we had all sets catching a coyote, would put in a fresh set. and the amount of coyotes we caught on the fresh sets vs the worn out remakes was so small, it simply wasn't worth the bother. Best I did on one location last year was 2 sets, 1 week, 7 coyotes. 4 and 3. only time I put in a fresh set and not a remake at a location, is if the set is so liquid mud it can't be reset. Not even in the same ballpark! I quit recording if remakes caught another coyote because none did! As is said, snow doesn't lie and I've never had a problem with making a new set and when I had coyotes I'd have built a set of Olympic rings and NO TRACKS in any of the catch circles and that is a fact also! It's got to be a population influenced thing! It also amazes me how different experiences can be just like the territory and the population that can't be ignored. I think it's a big mistake to assume everybody's coyote trapping is the same and paint it all with the same wide brush.
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Post by trappnman on Aug 30, 2021 9:04:06 GMT -6
or a mindset thing.........
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2021 9:10:54 GMT -6
or a mindset thing......... Could be but not when we're both catching additional coyotes at that location.
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Post by trappnman on Aug 30, 2021 9:54:33 GMT -6
but is the mindset of the next coyote, the same as the 1st?
in other words, first come no other coyote activity- but 2nd- plenty coyote smell. If in a more comfortable location, perhaps he wouldn't be so spooked of another coyotes scent? local vs tavelling?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2021 10:35:57 GMT -6
I’m not so sure it’s a coyote scent thing. yes, I tested coyote gland lures that scared coyotes but others didn’t at all. I always figured it was a visual-thing, like when I used a piece of stick that wasn’t there before. The stick had gland lure either on it or on the grass clump it was stuck into. Oh, the stick didn’t make them run off but it made them leary. They’d get within about 6’ and sniff & sniff, they wouldn’t circle but they made like a 1/2 moon curvature around the stick and then left. Remove the stick and if they ;liked the lure would approach and pee, if they didn’t like it they’d sniff and sort of step off to the side and leave.
The original set attracted and caught a coyote, whatever that set was and it could have been made with urine or gland lure, bait, or a call lure, ,makes no difference. After that, a catch circle was made that is the first real difference to the location because it wasn’t there previously, it’s all new and stands out boldly compared to the original.
So when I saw where the coyotes would return and come to the remade set their tracks made them appear tentative and would skirt the catch circle. The set location was sound becsuse I caught 1 and another showed-up so I put another set, another walk-thru set where the 2nd coyote walked around the catch circle which was close to it. It all was pretty much what has been described many times.
I continued to do this but quit remaking any set, all fresh sets within 1’-3’ of each catch circle.
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Post by flathead40 on Aug 30, 2021 21:07:59 GMT -6
Seldom, do you find coyote sign in or on a badger hole? I'm pretty confident that if I have badgers, I'm going to catch some coyotes. I'll even set right at the hole, same with a badger remake. I try to shovel the dirt flat as possible and remake the set.
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Post by braveheart on Aug 31, 2021 4:16:32 GMT -6
If you catch a badger here in Iowa a coyote will be there real quick to check it out. I usually pull trap to the edge of the mound for best results. Most of the time swivels an chain is kind of out of commission from deep dirt mounding
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2021 5:00:43 GMT -6
Seldom, do you find coyote sign in or on a badger hole? I'm pretty confident that if I have badgers, I'm going to catch some coyotes. I'll even set right at the hole, same with a badger remake. I try to shovel the dirt flat as possible and remake the set. Nope or even near a badger hole! We have few badgers in my territory so finding a hole is almost rare. I think we can only catch 1 badger a year if I remember correctly. BTW, it was Mark June who made the badger catch circle comment I mentioned previously. He trapped the southern 1/4-1/3 of the LP of MI. South of me anyway. I need to quantify my statement. I checked my records (I keep dang good records btw) and I found that I've only caught 3 badger since 1970 when I started trapping canines.I may be shooting in the dark but I'd guess you folks have a few more badgers in your trapping territory than I do! Aren't all coyote trapping territories the same? LOL
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Post by trappnman on Aug 31, 2021 8:19:48 GMT -6
on the mindset on your catch circles-
the only gland lure that would smell like a coyote, would be if you took the glands from a fresh killed coyote, and immediately used them on another set------and even that would very quickly loose the real live coyote smell as it decomposes. I think gland helps a lure, but as a "gland lure" not a fan.
the point I was trying to make, was would that 2nd coyote, be afraid of coyote smells from a familiar coyote? I can't think that it would- he would be used to strong odor residue in any place the 1st coyote hung out. So strong smells of that coyote surely wouldn't spook another of the same social circle. or be afraid of a bare spot with a hole in the ground. If anything, wouldn't that trigger a more bold approach?
But if the coyotes coming through are true travelers or nomads- then I could understand reluctance to enter that area. If the location of the remake was a pass through area- an area where defenses were on alert- he might well be reluctant to work it.
but in a location in a place he spends time....wouldn't all that change? In my opinion, for sure.
Two questions I'd love the answer to:
How many coyotes that should be aware of my sets, are.
and
How many that are aware of the sets, work them.
Wish I knew
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2021 9:56:25 GMT -6
Two questions I'd love the answer to: How many coyotes that should be aware of my sets, are. and How many that are aware of the sets, work them. Wish I knew You need to buy a couple of good cameras that record quality videos! And spend a lot more time in the snow! LOL
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Post by trappnman on Aug 31, 2021 10:13:45 GMT -6
I've been....lucky to have too much snow last few years. And it does give me some clues, for sure.
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