Second year trapper here. Having trouble with foot holds on coyotes. I caught a double last year on a pipe dream set, but the sets had been there for over 5 weeks. I never re-lured so the stuff seems to last. I have done well with snares, as long as there is plenty of snow, which is not the case this year. I currently have 10 traps out, set on heavy sign. I have them set in pairs, so 5 sets, all are on some sort of road crossing, such as where a two track goes across a draw and there is a culvert, one set is on a road that crosses a small creek. This is land that I grew up on, I know where the coyotes travel and I m confident in my locations. I am also confident in my sets. They are a combination of dirt hole and pipe dream sets, and traps are bedded rock solid. Last night, we had a skiff of snow, just enough to make a track. I had two locations in which a coyote was within 50 feet of my traps and just passed on by. Another location 2 coyotes passed within 20 feet without hesitation. I had this same problem last year. I am having fun trying to figure these guys out, but getting my arse kicked! I am using Powder River paste bait down the hole/pipe,...Yodel Dog or Violator 7 at the lip of the hole/back of the pipe, and fox urine on the backing. I figured if it was a scent problem they would at least visit my trap or dig it up, but I am lost. Would like to hear some thoughts from more experienced trappers. Thanks.

Waiting weeks is common when dealing with coyotes. Expectially this time of year.
Bildsets and cable will always outperform bait and lure if you truly know where they are traveling.
I have had coyotes wind me when calling at a lazer range of over 600 yards many times.
If they can smell me at that far. It is safe to say they can smell your baits and lures within seeing distance.
Blindsets on coyote trails is about the only way to speed up a catch.
Also don’t think coyotes don’t like cover! They love it... They are also more comfortable in cover. It’s proven it’s self over and over with bait piles. Piles out in the open are no lt used nearly as much as ones placed in cover.

God Bless

Dustin

In funnel areas where a blind set would work, I use snares and have had good luck in the past, but haven't connected there yet either. Missed one that went over a snare, my fault. Another I saw tracks going around a snare. I have had this stuff out 2 weeks for some sets, 3 weeks for others. Maybe there is some scent that I am leaving there that is causing them to avoid the sets? Hard to imagine they are that close and don't stop, if for no other reason just out of curiosity.

sounds exactly like my start to the 2017 season.

After two weeks of frustration and coyote tracks all around same kind of sets as you, I got on F&T fur and ordered some baits and lures I’ve never tried.
I pulled my sets and relocated (some I just moved to the other side of trail intersection)
At these new sets I used a very small amount of fresh bait in my pipes along with a small amount of good fresh lure. Buy small amount of bait, I used one q-tip swab of fresh bait wiped on sheep wool and stuffed down the pipe.

Made all the difference in the world, caught the first night and after that first catch circle in the area, it got easier.
I’m not so sure I started catching because of the particular brand bait and lures I tried, but more because what I used was something different and fresh.

Welcome to coyote trapping!
Swap out the snares with foot holds

Use a simple set like this and try not to over think it! The video is geared towards coon but I have caught lots of coyotes, fox and cats with it.




God Bless

Dustin

I think it's not how far the scent will travel, but how far the target will travel. 2-3 yards from a trail/intersection/funnel is as far as I would make set.

How much powder river are you using ? This is one of my favorite baits but a little bit goes a long way. A BB size amount in warmer weather and a pea sized amount in the coldest of weather . Any more than this and they don’t need to get any closer than 20’ to satisfy their curiosity.

Good luck !

Geez i think im using way too much bait/lure. I had 4 sets this year with tracks about 6 inches back from the trap. I was only out for 5 days. Guess i should stop watching all these videos by guys who sell lure and bait.

Had yotes pass within 5' of sets without even looking at them. Always heard fox are harder to catch since they work the set different.

Third year trapping, 4 reds 4 greys and only one yote. That is the total for 3 years. Second year was a bit of a bust since I mainly let for coon.

Keep with it, I am.

Two words. Wind direction. It matters. A lot.

Seriously just a pea size amount? Is this for most of the lures out on market or just powder river?

This pic is of a hay set now under snow I put out for fox. Almost two and a half months later coyotes were working the set. A tablespoon of Hiawatha Valley buried in the stubble.

Yep, tablespoon is plenty bait. I like a small pea size call lure up about 2-3' about 5-10' from the set. That draws them in. They'll smell the lured set. Dont need more than a hint of whats down the hole. Put a curousity lure off to the side of the bait hole a few inches.
Set construction plays a part in lure usage also. If your bait hole is dug at an angle, they can see whats in there aways back.

You have a number of factors you are not considering. Wind Direction has been mentioned, but there is also the factor of hi and lo pressure, including morning thermals. Sometimes scent rises and carries up and over like a U shape. Sometimes it pools. Watch a smoking fire over different conditions of a bright sunny day or a cool foggy evening, and you will see how air currents behave.
You are basing your sets on location which is the number one necessity, but that is the haystack, and you have to trigger in your animals more than one sense in smell. Put it this way, you have location. You have scent which is not working for whatever reason. You need to trigger something else in your target which you have on the haystack to find the needle. That is eye appeal. It is why sets are made with a deer hoof visible or a skunk tail. It triggers in canines a reaction not so much as food, but stealing something buried that some other predator has hid.
You need to consider that you have O'Gorman's bait which is what coats Montana and Wyoming like a second skin. Your coyotes may have had a mama that shooed them off that from earlier experience family members disappear when that scent is around.
Take the advice and hang some cable, but reinvent your thought process about being attached to snow. If you can make a yote work a flat set walk through, you can make them hang up in a snare. Just transplant some of the vegetable matter for subtle lanes and that visual.

A real eye opener for me was after the season was over and we had a few feet of snow down I snowshoed in with my chocolate lab and he found and investigated every location I had a dirt hole set. If he could find a few months old set with a few feet of snow over it i’m sure the coyotes could smell it fresh with no snow. They know it’s there.

Thanks for all the tips. From what is written above, what I am seeing is not that unusual. Still confident in my set locations and bedding. And yes, I do consider prevailing wind direction. I am using about a tablespoon of PR bait, and it has crossed my mind that maybe this area has been saturated with that bait. I tried visual attractors last year, it didn't seem to make a difference. In fact, I had two traps along a narrow gravel road, right outside of the tire track area. Kind of a two track gravel road. I used bones from a dead cow as backings for two sets. Two coyotes came down that road on the side where my sets were, and they changed lanes at both sets. I left them there and they never connected, but it seemed like having something unfamiliar put them off a bit, at least at first. The traps are gone but the bones are still there and the set areas have not been disturbed. The trap that they were within 20 feet have a rock at one and a burnt piece of wood at the other. One thing said above was to use fresh bait and lure. I am using leftovers from last year, but it seemed fine, still good and stinky.
I am lucky in that we have all kinds of land here, hills with sparse trees, creek bottoms, hay fields, and sagebrush flats, so I get to experiment a lot. We have 1300 acres and the neighbors let me trap as well. By rights if I wanted to be really successful I should be setting 100 traps, not 10.

One gentleman on here that traps in snow regularly and seems to know what he's doing said a awhile back that if you caught something like one out of 5 or 7 (cant remember) that walked by your set you were doing pretty good. Im sure population and pressure play a role in it but point is not every coyote will work a set everytime by. Human scent / presence can have a negative affect on coyotes working a set. How much affect I think varies from coyote to coyote. I spent about 3 months this fall testing lures and baits and it regularly seemed after about 4 or 5 visits by me (and my visits were anywhere from 4 days to a week apart) into the area the coyotes would kind of shut down working mock sets. They were still in the area but just kind of put the caution level at a higher level it seemed. I'm sure some may have different experiences but this is what happened for me.

Makes sense. I use my ranger to run my canine sets; i wonder what the impact of that is? Probably less then walking

Like said welcome to coyote trapping. Snow will humble even the best trapper, without snow you never really know how many yotes you are missing. When I get a walk by , I think in terms of when I want a Big Mac I drive past the Burger King and the smell of Whoppers because today I WANT a Big Mac. Next week I may want a Whopper and McDonalds doesn't interest me that day. If you ever have had dogs you know they have different personalities and are complex thinkers, much like people. Deer are dumb, coons are dumb, K9s are not.

A tablespoon of powder river will last me more than a year, lol . I was lucky enough to be told by a guy that had used it for years that what you can get on the end of a tooth pick was plenty, I would still be trying to figure it out ( thanks Mike ) . Don’t worry about the age either as mine got older the skunk smell went away and I think it actually got better. When I think of fresh lure or bait ( bait especially) I think of fresh ground venison or beaver or whatever meat you want to use without being tainted . Maybe a little of this or that to make it what you think it should be, I use canning salt to stop it from getting too ripe and a little molasses. Coyotes around here seem to like it !
Good luck !