Been Trapping for the last 5 years for canines. Just a hobby trapper and have permission on 3 farms, caught a decent number of fox and a few yotes,and feel pretty confident in my sets. I also feel like a struggle to find "the spot" to set a trap. I can find a good general location but i do think you can be a few feet off and have very different results. Any advice, I'm sure this was probably beat to death already, just nice to be able to ask questions. Thanks

I'm right there with ya, in my 3rd season on canines. Caught a lot my 1st year, since then not much luck. It's a lot of trial and error so far.... very humbling hobby, but enjoy it. still have a lot to learn

Both of you guys check your PM boxs

Hey mousetrap trapper I am in the same boat send me a pm

Experience is the teacher .
Paying attention to tracks and things after the initial setting to refine it .
Hard to give an answer without seeing the situation .

I'm right in there with you guys.

I'm 2 weeks into my first season. I'll be paying close attention to this.

Hey mousey trapper I would like a pm also if you can help me. THANK YOU

I figure if I'm within 10 feet or so of were I think the coyotes will be traveling and they can smell my lure or bait and they can get to my set without any trouble I'm good enough. What I think is more important is finding good natural blocking and guiding for a set.

Look it over good and put in 2 or 3 sets in the area if you feel led. You’ll either have multiple catches at times or learn the preferences of target critters. I have found it to be worth the time if you have the equipment.

Snow is one of the very best teachers of location, tracks .

That's what I've been doing and kind of know my spots on the farms I been Trapping now but I want to get away from setting say 20 traps and maybe get down to 10 with the same results. Thanks for your input.

Yea I agree, but I don't want to wait for snow at a new spot I want to be able to look a spot over and know almost every fox is coming to this spot. Just always hear location,location,location but nobody elaborates more than general location. Hard to explain but thanks for your input

Snow is a great teacher. There is no way to hide from it. Another great teacher is technology. With today's trail cameras and a little scouting there is no reason you can't keep track of animals year round if you wanted. I had a spot before snow that had 3 sets. The middle set caught most of the fox there with a straggler in the outer traps a couple times. The sets we're only 30 yards space. I set cameras to see what was going on. I highly recommend setting cameras before setting traps. If you don't get them on camera you won't get them in traps and you don't have to check the cameras daily. This is my experience. I am sure not everyone has cameras laying around but I do and I use them. They are relatively inexpensive now days.

Mousey trapper doesn't want to share secrets with the public....lol

I have a hard time explaining thing on line.

No such thing as a shortcut when it comes to location ! It’s been touched upon many times here in these pages,but I will elaborate for you just a little. Your looking for the spot with the highest concentration of tracks ! You may think I’m being a smart arse but I’m serious as a heart attack ! You want to find that spot with new tracks , old tracks, tracks going both directions and we can’t tell you where to find them on your ground. Boots on the ground is the only sure way to know ! You can look at maps to help narrow your search, maybe find a few natural funnels. But it comes down to you doing the work , leg work that is.
When you do find those SWEET spots set them up with enough traps to cover your most consistent wind direction and then your most common wind change. I like to use a different smell at each set and some guys like multiple smells at each set. Do it your way or try someone else’s method but getting started with the right location IS the key !

I can't tell you how many times I've been with a trapper. We hop out of the truck, I say "You pick first." And he picks a great spot but in the predominantly wrong wind direction.

Wind changes often, but if it doesn't, you want that wind to take the smell to where the target will be.

Also, remember that as it gets colder at night, smell goes down with the air currents. Look at your set and determine where "down" is.

I think we can also reverse engineer good spots by looking st bad spots. There are also great locations that lack sign. A spot that screams for a trap or three. But there is no sign. Zero. Nada. Try to take that location and use it to teach you why there isn't sign there.

Just the opposite of finding a great spot and figuring why it's a great spot.

Sometimes we find funnels or obstructions that either encourage or discourage use of a particular area.

Lack of sign because they ain’t no coyotes there John ,lol ! Walked right into that one !

But to quit being a smart arse and help the OP I would advise when you look at a spot that should be outstanding and it’s not , look around. Maybe something has happened to change a coyotes travel. A field that’s always been grass or alfalfa just got plowed under ( happened to me this year ) an over grown ditch or rail road R.O.W. that the farmer cleared off ( happened to me last year) or any number of things could have happened to change the land scape .

Golf ball said a mouthful there. Not if but when it IS going to change.
So when you find it set, because it will change. Deer same way.

I have learned new things by taking friends on my line. Two heads better than one even if one's a cabbage head lol. What County are you in 1989?

I'm not sure we trappers realize how much the wind changes. I documented the temp, and wind direction, and any major weather events (snow, and inch of rain ect) this year in the morning before I pulled out of my driveway.

I was amazed at the directions I recorded. Talk to any trapper around here and the predominant wind is North West, and I have always set accordingly. The wind varied that much, that next year I am going to intentionally set a few sets in other directions, and see what happens.

I'm in Lancaster county, you?

Butler

You can only catch what is there. Hard to catch 50 coyotes if the areas carrying compacity is only 10.

If you see sign of animals, tracks and scat where your making sets....then your in the right place.

I have only been trapping 6 yrs on my land. Something that really helped me is what others have hit on.. Taking advantage of the predominant wind direction. I’m down in a valley so to speak, which makes wind direction difficult to predict, so I started setting multiple traps in what I think to be good locations, to ensure the critters smell one of my sets no matter the direction of wind. I know you stated you would like to minimize the amount of traps but this helped me.


As far as location, Something which helped me pick good locations was boots on the ground. I would (and still do) pick up tracks in the snow and follow them. Try to understand why the coyote went this direction or that direction. Some I just could not understand why they walked the way they did, however, most of the tracks I follow almost always led to areas where multiple habitat features or travel corridors intersect.

Because of the ever changing wind direction, I try to make 2 sets at each stop. I make One set on each side of the path so I have it covered when the wind shifts.

patrapper1989, am from Pa. too.
Make more then one set per location.

Here's a few locations, in my area, that produce each season. Hope this helps.

Location is where the point of the brushy ravine stops, dead ends in field. There is also a swale in field, running from brushy point to left.
Two sets located 25'-30' from point.


Same set, different year. Bingo


I think this location is what folks call funnels.
Am standing in funnel neck, high fields on both sides, brushy below.
2 sets on crop change left, 2 sets at tractor path between trees.
Once in awhile there will be 2-3-4 critters waiting.


High, high atop an open field, in the middle of nowhere. Why? Why?
This location, I liken it to a Beaver dam crossover.
Woods & Brush 80 yds. to right, Woods & Brush 100 yds. to left. Fox/Coyote 'crossover' right here.


The Lone Tree location.
Lone Tree = fur



Brushy Hollow dead ends into a field. Swale running up hill to diversion ditch (left, not in pic)
2 traps 20' from brush, 2 traps at top of swale, on diversion ditch (not in pic)


Good location is the longest crop change or fence line in your area.
Corn field runs for 2 miles with ole canal on right. Tractor lane next to brushy canal.
Long travel way.


Another long travel way.
Crop change, property line runs down hill, then up hill to woodlot. (same view behind me, not in pic) Longest crop change in the area.


Same location on long travel way.
Forgotten fence post is the spot


Hope those pictures help you patrapper1989. When you find some locations and get the hang of it...
I'll tell you how to catch Fox/Coyote in the Corn fields.

Hern that is some beautiful country you trap.

Hern, thank you for posting that!

Awesome pictures Hern, I would never think to set out there in the middle unless it was a crop change. That is awesome.

X2

Thank you guys.
Am sure these locations are in everyone's area here in the east.
I trap all private property. Rural area.
Open field trapping one has to read the terrain.

This property butts up against our local Mall. Only property I've have not caught a Coyote.
Here's an open field behind the Mall Movie Theatre.
600 yds. open field behind me, no tractor lane. Groundhog hole was the attractor at this location.
In Pa. we must legally set 5' from a land den, so I put sets 6' from hole, on each side. GH hole is between Fox.
(If you look close, the farmer spread manure & saw the Fox. I pulled those sets so he could finish manure the next day.)


Same set
Better view of terrain in open field. Slight change in terrain, swale with GH hole, let's set some traps.

Hern a GH hole is my go location for fox. Following fox tracks in the snow will lead you to almost every GH hole in their range. And following tracks in the snow can teach you more about location than any book can. IMO

Thought this might be a good thread to ask the question in.

Have been trying to branch out and try new things this year - and in hindsight it probably wasn't the best idea as my season has been pretty quiet - but one thing I'm trying to learn is how to better set natural scent posts. I think the foxes at my site are wary of my flat and dirt hole sets at this point of the season as they've come close, but not committed. At the farm, the foxes always run the edges of the Ag fields along narrow wooded/scrubby strips and in the snow, their peeing behavior is obvious. They are usually about 2-3 feet away from the edge then suddenly move closer and pee on a spot. Go back to 3-ish feet away, walk a ways, and do it again. Based on the prints and the area where the snow is stained, I believe they are males.

Long winded preface to the question, but will these males urinate on the same location over and over or because their markings are frequent that they just pee where they feel like on any given day? My hope is these natural scent post locations may be enough to convince them to remark their territory, but not think much of the disturbance and overall lack of lure/bait scent at the sets.

Used some info from books and other threads on this forum, have some sets where the pan is directly under where an old track was and have nothing more than fox urine on the marking location. Or am I thinking about this all wrong?

Yes palogan. Approach the pee post from the back side and put a trap on a drag with 10' of chain in the footprints where it was standing when it urinated. They show you where to place the trap. Dont track up the place. Walk away in the same footprints you made. The less disturbance the better.