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Post by cdr on Aug 19, 2011 10:37:41 GMT -5
IMO...lol just wanted to start out with that....
Didnt want to hyjack Scott R.'s thread so I decided to do my own "IMO".
IMO... There are no aboslutes in trapping! Period! I hear of guys bedding traps bare handed for yotes and making great catch numbers. I hear of guys wearing their everyday boots and making good catches. Thats great folks! If it works for you, why change it!! Myself, I take some precautions. Now wether they help or not, who knows? Just what I do.... A songdog will always know you have been there no matter how careful you are, no matter what you do for scent control, no matter what!! Do I smell like cigarett smoke, heck yes... probably 24/7..365 dyas a year!! If a nonsmoker can smell it on you, you can be darn sure that a yote can from a long ways off!!! I just choose to not smoke at my sets (dont know if it makes a dif or not, just what I do). I drive to within a few yards/feet of most of my yote sets. Does the odor from my pickup cause some avoidance, I dont know... but farmers drive all over these pastures in their trucks and farm machinery so I dont worry about it. After a set is made, I do my best to check it from a distance...just what I feel is best for me. I dont treat my traps (dipping/waxing/ and such); however, I do paint them. I dont use snares here because they are against the law. I very seriously doubt I would use them here anyway..... (will not state why in the open forum as it would be fuel to an anti's fire). I do not belittle those of you that use them as they are just another tool option to get the job done. I know that some of you guys pour heart and soul into trapping and are very successful at it, my hats' off to you! Almost all of the above is about yotes. When I set for cats, its a whole dif story! Oh, they use their nose more than you would think by reading the info listed on most trapping sites and in most books; however, I dont think they are swayed away by human odor that much.. at least it doesnt seem so for me. I have set cat traps bare handed, wore everyday shoes, put out a smoke out right there, spit, drank coffee at a set, heck.. you name it! All in all, I think location is the most imortant part of trapping! Scott touched on this in his thread and I feel that he is correct in what he said. Sign isnt always going to be easily seen!! As much as a "small timer" as I am, location is a fundamental basic that gets my attention first at every trapping area!! Knowing the animal that your after makes a world of dif!! Yotes and cats (along with other animals) will teach you if you will pay attention (even the ones you catch will give ya some info). With all this said, I just trap for fun and am a hobby trapper so you may have wasted your time by reading this. It doesnt take long to figure out who knows what they are talking about and who does not. What I do on the trapline works for me; however, I am always implementing something new to see if it will improve my system. There are no absolutes in trapping, no guarantees, no promises, no magic bait/lure.... just a lot of tried and true methods that work for each of us!
Okay, fire up the torches.... lol
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Post by dtraper on Aug 19, 2011 12:22:40 GMT -5
cdr-got to agree with your post,it is what works for you ,no 2 trappers trap alike,no one skins alike[almost]everyone has their own preferance on baits/lures-read alot on how in order to catch yotes,foxes and how durn hard they are to catch,how clean ,dyed,waxed your traps have to be,lets not forget sent free[yours]in my way of thinkin its a bunch of BS,think there about the easiest there is to trap--I will be the first to admit them dern mink give me fits,but then I aint no pro trapper,only been doing this for 45+yrs and Im still lookin for that majack bait,but someday just someday Im gonna be one of them that can do everything right,catch 100% on every trap set,catch 150+ coons per day,and skin blindfolded,lets not forget that majack bait-D-
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Post by ScottRainbolt on Aug 19, 2011 12:56:09 GMT -5
wheres my dang lighter when i need it. cdr now there are times on an adc job going after that old top dog thats on to me i will wear gloves and hip boots and a couple of other little tricks that work for me. but you said it right it works for me you could come out here and spend sometime letting me teach you and your catch would drop when you learn something in trapping your not tring to copy what you learned your tring to blend it in with your style . i find thats where alot of kids and guys just getting started mess up they try to drop there style and copy what they see then they see a new one and they drop the last one and try to copy the new one so they stay in a learning curve they never reach the leavel there after. if you watched me make a set you would see a couple of dif. guys styles in my meathod. and cdr you say your just a hobbie trapper well ol boy i been watching your post for awhile now and your just a couple of steps from it not beeing a hobbie anymore and if i was a betting man i would say you have already checked on what it would take to get your adc permit
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Post by Law Dog on Aug 19, 2011 13:38:38 GMT -5
Hobby trapper, that's like Bill Gates saying he has a few investments! LOL Its a well covered post and many things differ in sets, weather conditions(humidity), animal habits and cover! I use gloves to set/sift and bare hands to lure/urine and never worry about my boots within reason. We have chickens, dogs, cats and a possum around all the time so you cannot walk a straight line without stepping in something. But its all animal smells so it seems like no big deal to the critters here. I do think 1 trip in and out makes a big different then 5-8 trips when setting so a guy should be organized with set making tools that are ready to go and has everything to get the job done the 1st time! IMHO
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Post by cdr on Aug 19, 2011 13:51:22 GMT -5
Oh Scott... you know I have checked on the adc license... lol If I could find a way to "consistantly" catch badgers, I could make a killing in the "alfalfa field protection program" I have going... lol Very well said about the "blending" of info that one gains!!
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Post by mark572 on Aug 19, 2011 14:05:27 GMT -5
Awesome post by all here IMO i would be lost trapping under most guys conditions ,Don't get me wrong i would have the bottom line knowledge of the critter I'm trapping sure would be a humbling experience trapping prairies and large farm land.
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Post by cdr on Aug 20, 2011 9:22:50 GMT -5
44 views and no torches have been lit!!
Songdogs.... I hear some folks talk about setting a trap 12 inches from a hole/lured area and others say 8 inches. I prefer 8 inches away from a dirt hole as a general rule of thumb but have varied that at times when terrain has dictated it (have found that some dogs dictate trap placement also). This may not be the best way to do it but it works for me. As far as trap size goes, I would not rely on a 1.5 to hold a yote. I'm not saying they wont, just saying that is not my method. I have held them in Duke 1 3/4 just fine but prefer a #2 or larger. If I was to get serious about yote trapping, I think I would go with the larger trap options out there (#3, #4, MB 550 and so on). I really dont think that yotes spend much time at a urine post at all. They can identify all the info they need to in a breif "wiff" when just urine is used....once agin, this is my opinion and not gosphel. This is why I feel a good gland lure is a "plus" at a urine post as I think it will add a little more curiosity to the atmosphere. One could argue that urine from another area 20 miles away would arouse some curiousity, but in my opinion, the dog will just pee to establish its presence/rank and go on. Now with the yote working a urine set that fast, I think you have to be "spot on" for a good catch. As far as time spent at a dirthole, I have seen by the proof in the dirt that more time was spent using a certain "lure" than others. And it is my experience that yotes have dug out a few of my dirtholes like they were wanting to get rice from China when I used certain lures/baits. I think that a walk through type of set is great especially right after a bobcat catch has been made there!! I like to lay two logs/limbs (4 to 8 inches in diameter) parallel with the yotes line of travel very close to cow trails (against the law to set in those trails here). I space these two limbs/logs about 18 to 24 inches apart. I add a little lure to a cottonball and place it under one of the limbs about in the middle.... may not work for you, but it adds fur to my stretchers. I think a blind set with a T bone (or other cow bones) is deadly and a must have on my line. I place a hint of bait/lure in a crack or hole in the bone and bed a trap on the baited/lured side at an angle to the bone......this works for me. I had one encounter with a yote last year that would approach the bone set from behind... ended up placing a trap on the opposite side of the bait/lure and got him. Once again, this shows that adaptation to the animal and trying a little something dif does pay off. All of these sets work for me but if I wasnt on "location" then I might as well just lay my traps on top of the ground and pray for a blind howler to stumble into one....... Secret tactics.... I have none. Everything I know is out of books, been typed and read online, advise over the phone, and learned on my own in the field. If animals were so easy to trap and everyone was a pro at it, we wouldnt have any left.... Just some thoughts and opinions of mine......
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Post by ScottRainbolt on Aug 20, 2011 11:04:34 GMT -5
i set mine 9 to 10 offset 2 to 3 to the right
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Post by cdr on Aug 20, 2011 11:07:23 GMT -5
Scott, I forgot to add the "offset" part... lol I do the same.... most of the time to the right but once in a while to the left
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Post by Law Dog on Aug 20, 2011 11:18:26 GMT -5
Man has been trying to put the hurt on the yote for over 100 years with every method known to us and they just adapt and have bigger litters it seems! Read in an ADC book that areas have been killed off by every way possible by ADC crews every way an animal can be taken and 6 months later the area holds the same amount of critters again! Renewable resource for sure!!! Loss of habitat seems to be a bigger threat then any of us humble trappers!
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Post by ScottRainbolt on Aug 20, 2011 11:26:08 GMT -5
dog loss of habitat dont hurt them much here in the east i live right in town and have taken em in the back yard
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Post by kskoons on Aug 20, 2011 16:25:03 GMT -5
Only absolute I can think of, your traps wont catch anything in the back of your truck!
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Post by dtraper on Aug 20, 2011 23:21:53 GMT -5
Scatt-now be truthfull,has there ever been a yote/fox outsmart ya-just what I thought AINT GONNA HAPPEN,might take a wlile,had a digger fox one time took a week,been my hardest-what yours?
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Post by mark572 on Aug 20, 2011 23:48:56 GMT -5
Never been a super hard yote for me !But now i had a very trap smart bigole red fox really drive me nuts 1st night took bait crapped in hole and uncorvered the pan rebaited put a big peice of tar in hole wedged in pretty good next check tar chunck is in middle of highway trap complety uncorvered changed trap redid the bait and put cross stixs stuck across the hole next check tar and sticks on road the new trap uncorverd!! now this happend 3 or 4 more times so i added 1 more trap back about 16" and burried pretty deep wasent to worryed about the depth i was set in a good open beach sand patch well i finally caught him in the 2nd trap!!! No there wasent another trapper doing this tome either lmaooo I think the final tallys of fox craps in my bait hole was 7 lol just shows how smart them critters can be!!
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Post by ScottRainbolt on Aug 21, 2011 5:49:22 GMT -5
o yea d i chased a black yote one time for about 3 years i swear that old dog new ever trick in the book
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Post by rustysprings2 on Aug 21, 2011 11:49:19 GMT -5
I had a pardner once whose bowels always wanted to move around 10am while we we checking, or setting. He would relieve himself in the middle of the road each time, and when we returned the next day the dump was always gone, and yote tracks there. I threatened on more than one occasion to set a trap at one of his dump sites. I wore rubber boots, and he wore leather. We both caught coyotes. I think mostly because the yotes we were trapping were accustomed to human scent/activity in the area year round. I use cotton gloves to set, rubber to lure, or bait with , and keep them seperated. I feel that a well bedded/blended trap free of lure or bait odors is a must unless you want to be dug up.,and I focus heavily on that , as well as being on location of course. However, no matter what there always seems to be one that don't know where he is supposed to step.
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Post by lyonch on Aug 22, 2011 9:57:24 GMT -5
In the fall season, i am a fur trappers first and formost!! I KISS and move to the next piece of fur. If i get an educated animal i tip my hat to them and say thanks for the education and i will get your ace next season! I want fur not headaches when i am in trapping season. Come spring or summer and i get a farmer that wants them DEAD ASAP, well then it is time to really look at the micro items and really focus on getting them the first time, and not let them try to educate you! Every coyote job i have come across, i always call first and set traps second. Locating them before calling can really let you know where the core area is. I am not a fulltime ADC worker, so i take only the jobs that i don't mind messing with, and go about them a little differently.
Here is one for you ADC guys to talk about LOL. When you come to a coyote complaint call, how frustrating is it when the landowner tells you he shot at them, tried trapping them, and also had a friend in their to help? I know what goes through my mind when they tell me that, as i just had a call the other night and can't help but think thanks for making this tougher than it needs to be LOL. I don't have as many tricks like a lot of you fulltime guys do, so i spend more time scratching my thin haired head and try to make it more bald LOL.
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Post by ScottRainbolt on Aug 22, 2011 11:59:12 GMT -5
i dont mind them shooting and calling but if there has been a trap set the price goes up
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Post by dtraper on Aug 22, 2011 12:10:24 GMT -5
You are so right Scott just hate to follow somebody trappin after they scared the bjesus out of them[beav/yotes]usally wait a wk. and hit it if their still spooked and Im not catchin it aint worth my time..
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Post by rustysprings2 on Aug 22, 2011 14:33:21 GMT -5
I had a job several years back one of my pardners didn't want to fool with. The complaint was yotes killing a old woman's goats. Four trappers had been on the small property in a two year period, and the old woman said all they caught was coons, grey fox, and possums. I got a call from her the day she saw them, I went that afternoon, she described the color of the two, one normal straw color, the other black. I set four traps before sundown. I had the two yotes the next day. My secret was that I knew the coyotes were freshly in the area, and wanting some goat. I also knew two of the other trappers, and their habits so I threw them a change-up. I got the big straw colored (female) in a flat set with a grab&die stick with a couple of drops of a Russ Carman lure, and a small squirt of urine on a dropping I brought from another area. I got the big old black male at a big hole set with about a quart of rotten deer liver down the hole, and a shot of urine outside. I had one very mild set, and one one loud. One of the other sets also held a grey. I just changed things up, and gave them a different smell, and they were still around the property.
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Post by dtraper on Aug 22, 2011 15:03:33 GMT -5
Qustion-you go in throw everything[change-ups] and they just quit moving,in other words spooked again-so what do you do?yap had it happen
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Post by ScottRainbolt on Aug 22, 2011 16:11:44 GMT -5
well blended snares and a lot of them
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Post by rustysprings2 on Aug 23, 2011 2:43:37 GMT -5
I would use just a strange turd with urine. He will be back, the turd may be white by then, but what can you say. I know everyone who has ever trapped them much knows how they wander, sometimes here today, and seemingly gone tomorrow. I can't speak for other areas, but it is not uncommon to wait on one to return on the same route two to three days or more. Especially if it happens to be a male marking the boundaries of his territory. I am not going to stick my foot in my mouth about what a coyote will, and will not do because I don't think they read the same books we do. My parder once told me a beefed up #1 victor coil wouldn't hold a yote. I laminated one, baseplated, and center swiveled it, and changed the springs to 1 1/2 springs. Now mind you I wouldn't normally do this, but I figured if I had the pan in the right spot, and the yote did his part, we would find out. The set was a post with a little gland lure on one side, and a turd with urine on the other. I was figuring for a front foot catch, but turned out to be a big female, and she backed up. It had a good pad catch on a back foot when we got her out the next day. Now, I was as surprised that it worked as my pard was to see I had done it. I haven't trapped any other states, just the ole piney woods of Georgia, but one thing I have learned is a coyote will go anywhere he pleases at any time. All I can do is set on sign, make the best sets I can, and if I get him/her I get the satisfaction of knowing I did something right, OR they screwed up. We want to take the credit though right?
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Post by minifoxer on Aug 23, 2011 7:23:28 GMT -5
Very good thread and posts! Very informitive!! Me? Well, i don't have to many tips and tricks under my belt for catching those trap shy k9s, as the only trap shy critter i had was a red, and a gray. Never did catch the gray...better that way however, maybe will reproduce some nice grays in the area...sure could use some more in the area!
The red I did take the time, and catch him, after about a week or so of stolen bait, droppings right at the set and un-covered traps, i finally got smart for once, and made a midfication of a step down dirt hole. The modification was very different then any other step down i have ever seen, but it did work.
For me at an reasenbly un-expericenced level at this trapping game, when I happen to run into a trap shy critter, i like to "waste" my time and try to catch it. Weather i succeed or not, i ALWAYS learn a very large amount from those trap shy guys!! It really speeds up the learning curves for me. Thats why i am hoping I'll run into some trap shy critters this yr LOL
Not to mention the satisfactory of when i do catch that smart one!! Thats always a bonus too. But like rustysprings said...either I did something right, or they screwed up!! I like that.
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Post by Law Dog on Aug 23, 2011 7:43:03 GMT -5
I like to go to blind sets if the critter is playing with my sets, with beaver I open the dam and set off to the side were he will start to fix it, with K-9s I look to were he may come and go from and put a blind set in (NO baits,lure or urines) to tip him off. Its is better to move on and forget about the smart ones, but man its WAR! LOL
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Post by dtraper on Aug 23, 2011 7:44:06 GMT -5
Not saying trap shy critters cant be caught and yes Ive maybe caught 1 or 2 in 47yrs of trappin the point is if your on a ADC job your getting paid X amount per beaver/yote someone comes in scares the poop out of them you are left with a headache-during season Im going for the numbers per traps set if IM not catching them within the first week/week and a half this old boy is movin and not stickin around for one smart critter,you have just so much time in a season before weather/fur quailty goes to [whatever]-D-
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Post by rustysprings2 on Aug 23, 2011 10:56:52 GMT -5
Good points guys. I don't have the fur thing to worry about down here D unless the market changes, and prices jump up. Nobody will be hanging around too long for a smart one then I suspect. Every man has to make his own decisions in this trapping game, and with fuel prices bumping four bucks per gallon a bunch of folks won't be playing too much. You have to make it pay for you the best way you can. Now, let another fur boom bust out, and everybody from eight to eighty will be slingin' steel. Maybe Obama should have used some of that stimulus money to jump start the next fur boom. LOL. JMHO.
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Post by possumskinner on Aug 23, 2011 11:54:08 GMT -5
dang, read this entire thread and actually enjoyed it
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Post by ScottRainbolt on Aug 23, 2011 13:30:40 GMT -5
see pskinny i told you the meds would help lol
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Post by cdr on Aug 23, 2011 18:51:28 GMT -5
I dont try to get every yote, just the dumb unlucky ones. After about 7 days, I move on.......
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