Hi all, about halfway through the deer season this year here in Indiana I thought I’d try my hand at some trapping. So far I’ve caught two raccoons and a coyote which I have hung up and am going to try tanning. In mid October the first deer I processed I ignorantly threw the remains in the creek behind my house. Coyotes had a field day with this and drug it all over behind the barn. The few deer I processed after that I threw remains in the trash can because I have three dogs and would prefer not to draw coyotes to my house. I don’t worry too much because we have a Rottweiler, Doberman, and black lab in a fenced in area between the house and barn but still wasn’t looking for it to ever be an issue. Anyways, I’ve only been trapping raccoons in my creek and coyotes at my parents and my girlfriends grandfathers house. Well yesterday I was checking the traps and a dog proof had been set off but there was no animal. The cable was wrapped around a bunch of small trees and branches so I figured maybe the raccoon had somehow escaped. I rebaited and went about my way. Today I went out to check the traps and two dog proof traps had been set off and one had some blood around it. Both were wrapped around and you could tell something had been in them. My guess is I had caught something and coyotes may have dragged them out. Now I’m feeling bad because an animal down a leg and unable to flee probably got attacked by coyotes. So I pulled all my coon traps because today was the last day for trapping coons here in Indiana. On my way back to the house I noticed a rabbit leg that was chewed up in the back yard. Now im definitely assuming coyotes so I went and yanked all my coyote traps from my parents and girlfriends grandparents and set them up where it looked like a traffic area.(were allowed to trap coyotes til March) So I guess my question is am I making the right assumptions? Or do I have really strong raccoons? Has anyone else ever ran into anything like this? All advice is very much appreciated. Thanks!

I've had coon caught in traps killed and dragged off by coyotes twice. The coon is pretty much defenseless and can't get away. In both cases, it was more than one coyote I was pretty sure.

Depending on the dog proof trap, most will hold even the biggest coon. If you have blood on or around the trap and the coon is gone, I would guess something pulled the coon from the trap. I've never had a coon's leg get bloody from any of my dog proofs. I've released smaller coon and even a few house cats. Both had no damage to their foot and ran away no problem.

to add what trapper7 said, sometimes they somehow get the dp spring depressed enough to get out. doesn't happen often but can pull out. like said above, if there is blood most likely killed by something and drug off

The coons are getting leverage and pulling out. Stake them in the ground not around trees.