new to trapping need some advise

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OK I love calling yotes in with a call but I need to put a little more dent in the heard so I ordered some 650 traps and cable stakes and some scents so I no nothing about trapping so what all scents,baits do you all use and what are so key things I need to do when setting traps?

 

[BlountArrow]

Did you buy padded (cushion hold) traps?
I'd get on YouTube and start getting educated.

 

[fishboy1]

Here are some good places to get started.

youtube wolfernation then look at the side bar and see what other videos come up. Do a search for trapping coyotes.

For bait I use whatever meat I have handy. Road kill, deer trimmings, beaver bits, mice....

A bit of fox pee for curiosity around the set.

My neighbor has a dead cow in a brush pile and its bringing in about 12-15 yotes daily. Going to heavy set snares on the approach to try and wipe out that pack as best I can. Varmints are trying to kill newborn calves and are after our chickens.

 

[reloadxx]

Thanks yea I bought the padded traps

 

[JAD]

MB 650 are a good choice. Check youtube and learn some basic dirthole sets. A good dirthole, secure trap, and lure/bait down the hole, and you're in business. Mark June's coyote trapping book is good, plenty of other good learning material is available.

 

[Coyote Slayer]

3/32" cable snares work awesome...learned everything i needed from youtube....been working great....as long as the neighbors dog dont wonder into them.

 

[fishboy1]

Caught my neighbors dog 3x in snares at my old place.

Dummy was just sitting there waggin its tail waiting on me.

MOST domestic dogs will not fight a snare. They will sit and wait for somebody to come let them off the "leash".
Just use a relaxing lock and not one of those cam locks.

 

[jeff ll]

Not even a beginner here. Why the relax lock and not the cam?

 

[pressfit]

the relax lock lets the pressure off the noose after the animal quits pulling against it.. the cam will lock on and choke a yote out... you dont want to choke out the neighbors dog.. a dirt hole set will catch just about every yote that walks.. set your pan tension tight enough that you dont catch possums and skunks.. join trapperman.com also..be sure to cross stake the traps... a yote will jack a single stake right out of the ground..

 

[Coyote Slayer]

U can make your own snares for less than a quarter a piece

 

[Bodine270]

Pick up a book about trapping. Lots of good ones out there. There are lots of little things like boiling or dyeing your traps for odor control. Small tweaks on the trap pan screws and trigger will result in more catches too. I really like pcsoutdoors.com. Lots of great supplies and info.

 

[Dean Parisian]

I don't know if you bought the MB-650's from my good friend (and client) Tim Caven at MTP but I would heartily suggest you go on the Minnesota Trapline Products web site and review all of the great instructional books and video's. Buy one, buy two, buy three. Whatever fits your wallet. I can heartily suggest anything by Matt Jones, Mark June, Kyle Kaatz, John Graham, heck the list is forever when it comes to getting great beginners advice from such seasoned trappers. Coyotes have a great memory and rather than "educate" them early why not catch them and do your deer herd a favor? Good luck. Here is the link.

www.minntrapprod.com/‎

 

[matt_brown]

I agree with thw majority. The only thing that I have noticed about the you tube videos is that nobody shows you the whole process. there are a lot of things that the videos don't show you.

For starters boil and dye your traps. Boil the traps the get rid of the scent dye them to make them black . Once you boil them pour the water out do not pull the traps out of the water (oil rises to the top) after dumping the water out hang the traps to dry but do not touch them without some type of rubber or nylon gloves. Remember, your trying ro catch something that has rhe best nose in the woods I have noticed a lot of the trapping videos do not express the importance of scent control is. A lot of these guys are using there bare hands.

I boil and dye my traps wear rubber boots, a rubber blanket for my knees and rubber gloves.

I use grey fox pee for my scent. I think that coyote pee will catch coyotes but scare off foxes. I may be wrong but that's my theory.

I will dig through the freezer and find something freezer burnt and use it as bait, But a fresh rabbit leg is hard to beat.

Main thing is scent, and location. Dont be surprised if you make a set and when you check it the thing will be set off . Well my friend its because the animal smelled you and dug your trap up. I've had them set my traps off and crap on them. That's like slapping you in the face.

Its going to be aggravating but its all trial and error. Good luck

 

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i did buy the 650 from MTP. went and checked my trap today and i think im getting schooled by these yotes i check my tap and it was cover up and blended in great. wore rubber boots and rubber gloves never touched the ground with my clothes im using deer liver that i saved from the deer i killed this season and using yote scent glands trap was boiled and dyed and what i found at my bait site was a trap that has been uncovered so should i leave it be or move it? and how long do you leave a trap in one spot and not get nothing?

 

[TnHoss]

I have a question about waxing and dyeing cushion hold traps, can you use speed dip on the cushion hold traps to dye them and do you wax cushion hold with the pads on the trap or is it best to remove the pads before doing both.

 

[fishboy1]

i did buy the 650 from MTP. went and checked my trap today and i think im getting schooled by these yotes i check my tap and it was cover up and blended in great. wore rubber boots and rubber gloves never touched the ground with my clothes im using deer liver that i saved from the deer i killed this season and using yote scent glands trap was boiled and dyed and what i found at my bait site was a trap that has been uncovered so should i leave it be or move it? and how long do you leave a trap in one spot and not get nothing?

What did you bed the trap with?
Dirt?
Peatmoss?

Coons and stinkers (skunks) like the smell of fresh dirt and will some times carefully dig a trap out the bed. Coon got me twice without even setting the trap off. Finally nailed him by digging a shallow bed and leaving it empty for a week, then going back, setting/bedding a trap and sifting dry grass clippings over the trap. Just enough to camo it.

This was about 12" back from normal set bedded with peatmoss and blended well.

Also be careful not to contaminate your traps with bait or other smells. I was having trouble with dig outs. Pulled half my traps and had them laying on the driveway to be boiled. My dog walked by, locked up the brakes and spent about 2 minutes sniffing 3 of my traps. Obviously they had been contaminated with something interesting.

 

[reloadxx]

i did buy the 650 from MTP. went and checked my trap today and i think im getting schooled by these yotes i check my tap and it was cover up and blended in great. wore rubber boots and rubber gloves never touched the ground with my clothes im using deer liver that i saved from the deer i killed this season and using yote scent glands trap was boiled and dyed and what i found at my bait site was a trap that has been uncovered so should i leave it be or move it? and how long do you leave a trap in one spot and not get nothing?

What did you bed the trap with?
Dirt?
Peatmoss?

Coons and stinkers (skunks) like the smell of fresh dirt and will some times carefully dig a trap out the bed. Coon got me twice without even setting the trap off. Finally nailed him by digging a shallow bed and leaving it empty for a week, then going back, setting/bedding a trap and sifting dry grass clippings over the trap. Just enough to camo it.

This was about 12" back from normal set bedded with peatmoss and blended well.

Also be careful not to contaminate your traps with bait or other smells. I was having trouble with dig outs. Pulled half my traps and had them laying on the driveway to be boiled. My dog walked by, locked up the brakes and spent about 2 minutes sniffing 3 of my traps. Obviously they had been contaminated with something interesting.

I am using dry dirt watched on youtube about the peatmoss about attracting skunks and don't want no part of that lol. When I went to check it it was dug up and flipped upside down what do you think would have dug it up and flipped it upside down? I do yous the same rubber gloves to bait with but I first set the trap and cover it good only thing I can think off is when I baited I drop some blood on the ground where the trap was covered don't no if that had anything to do with them digging it up

 

[matt_brown]

If it was flipped i would say that a yote or fox just welcomed you to trapping.

Something you can do is reset that trap and put it just like you had it. Come back about 18 in and set 2 more. I call this the v pattern. While he is busy digging up the one that is there you will catch him by the back foot. I had done this and when I came to check them all 3 were flipped and some nice coyote crap right in the middle. he might as well have been standing there flipping me the bird. if the rest of your traps are flipped then you know that they are contaminated

The peat moss is good especially right now where the ground is so wet but try to use as much of the dirt that is there as possible.

 

[matt_brown]

Also set your pan tension just a little tight. so a skunk doesn't set it off

 

[pass-thru]

Don't listen to everything you hear on youtube! Peat Moss is the bomb, I use it exclusively! I don't need a pancover with Peat and it can repel a few inches of water and keep the set active. By keeping water out it also helps with freeze proofing.

A flipped trap is almost always a bedding issue. If your trap is not bedded properly and a critter steps on a jaw or lever, and the trap wobbles....they know something is not right. They swipe it with there paw and flip it out of the bed. Fix your bedding, your traps won't get flipped!

This is what a scent problem looks like:



Do you see how the yote pushed the peat exactly off the pan, very carefully, then took a turd next to the trap, then off he went! Busted!!! I know what the problem was there. Last year right before the season I treated a couple dozen traps with full metal jacket dip. For what ever reason, they were contaminated. This exact scenario played out a few times the first few night I had traps out, but only with FMJ traps. So I pulled them from the line. A couple months later I ran out of clean traps, so I put out another FMJ trap and this shows what happened.

As far as scent control goes....they're always going to know that you were there. I powerwash, dye and wax my traps. I generally don't reset a trap that's caught something at a different location without treating. I don't use bait gloves to handle traps, and vice versa. I use either a kneeling pad or my hip waders when putting in a set. I also always wear rubber boots. But, I do handle traps barehanded at times and don't worry about it. Last year I caught a yote in a 650. Everything was frozen. I was quickly doing the remake and grabbed a clot of mudd to wipe blood off the jaw. Only after wiping did I realize the "mud" was from the dugout hole and it was actually a piece of rancid skunky beaver meat I had used for bait. Had another yote a couple days later anyway, despite the trap having been wiped down with rotten bait!

 

[reloadxx]

Thanks for all the help I pulled my traps today going to boil them and look into getting some peatmoss also I adjusted the pan tension it was real stiff so hope this might work