I've never posted on here before, so I thought I would start by posting a summertime nuisance coyote post in hopes that I do it right!
For the past couple years, I've been trapping a high fence whitetail ranch here in Wisconsin, and this rancher gets a particularly high amount of coyote depredation towards the end of the winter, when his deer are weakened from the cold, and right about now, when his fawns are dropping. This ranch is pretty small, so it's like shooting fish in a barrel for those coyotes.
I trap here in the winter as well, but because of the high population, I make sure to trap here year round to help him out and guarantee that I can come back to trap the next winter. The only downfall is that we can't use cable restraints for nuisance work here in Wisconsin, only Dec-Feb, but hoping that changes in the coming years, as that would make things alot easier at this property.
Below are a few of the coyotes I've caught in the hot months that I was able to get good pictures of my sets beforehand. For obvious reasons, I don't use bait in the hot months, and focus more on curiosity lures and territorial urines and gland urines. Call lures work super in these hot months as well, but you also have those non-target coons and skunks that would normally be denned up. I use all modified, laminated, offsets traps, so the release is quick for those critters.
So far the combos that I've used successfully include skunky call lure down a dirthole with a different pack scat backing, flat sets using urines, different pack scat, and different species gland lure (bobcat, mink, etc.), and even scat from my housecat's litter box with a call lure down the hole.
The hides never go to waste because I usually freeze the critter whole and use them as an educational piece at a trapping demo or youth trapping class, which generally happens in the summer, and I'll give the glands and other organs to a lure maker who sends me product in return, and then the hides I'll either sell for someone to practice fur handling or tanning, or another use here in the Northwoods is for training coyote hounds/pups during the summer, so hound hunters are always looking to use hides for training, but I wouldn't dare sell them one of my prime winter hides, so it works out well. Last season's auction, I had some pelts go $135/each, and this year, though I sent most in to be tanned, I had one go $122, so coyotes are still high dollar if you put the time into them.
