Alright my name says it. I “wanna be” a coyote trapper, but all I can catch are coon and cats. Don’t get me wrong, extremely thankful for even a possum, but man there’s nothing like riding/walking up to a coyote in the trap. I just feel sorta second rate unless I can catch them. There’s some of y’all on here that make it look so easy.

I’m on a new piece of property and the owner made it sound like he was loaded with predators. I go out and look it over and find one set of coyote tracks on each of the roads throughout the property except one that had a set coming and going. I joked with a buddy later that it looked like the coyote walked the property and went back the same way he had come in.
I saw one set of cat tracks near the creek drainage and one set of possum tracks. Well I set last Saturday. I have to check way before daylight due to work, so I always do a ride through after work to remake any sets tripped by deer or catches. That Monday evening I caught a coon (pictured). Remade the set and had to get creative. Caught the coon on a flat set and remade into a dirt hole with logs as a V and covered it in grass from along the roads through the pines. Tuesday morning I had the bobcat in that set. Had a coon in another dirt hole set.
It rained like crazy Tuesday evening and turned off cold for here. Wednesday morning/evening and nothing. Not even a track anywhere. This morning a possum in a flat set.
So basically 5 days and 4 critters on 12 footholds and 6 DP’s (which haven’t been touched)
I went with more flat sets here due to the amount of deer. This place is crazy covered with deer. Probably 35-40PSM in this area.
Guess my question is where are the coyotes? And why can I catch everything else but them? What can I do different?

Off hand I would say your doing fine, just hang in there. Most of my sets sit for weeks without any action and then one day it happens. Most landowners will swear there's hundreds of coyotes on their property when in reality it may only be a few. The higher density of coyotes increases your odds of making a catch. Around here the coyotes make a loop taking a week or two to make the circuit. If you can figure out there route you can pick them off one by one. The signs will tell you and all you can do is just be paitiant and keep trying. Oh, I've been trying for two years to catch a cat and you've crossed that one off your list like it was a piece of cake! Keep at it!

Same here our coyotes have around a 7-8 day cycle, Usually the day I set it looks great and then you can't buy a track. Just hang in there and keep checking

Don't take it to hard. You can expect the unexpected when setting coyote sets. I personally hope to be a better coyote trapper. There is some years it seems like they fall into my sets and then the next year seems they stay as far as they can away from them. Just keep at it and be patient. If there is that many deer in your area the coyotes might be hard to get. Here if it is nice out and no snow they have plenty to eat it takes a coyote longer to work a set. This is what I see here.

That cat looks mighty angery about its new ankle jewelry.

Wanna Be, you're doing great. This was my first full season as I only started last January/February trapping. I caught my first yote last February and was hooked. This year? Well, I started laying steel on the first day allowed due to the fact that I needed to get out there and learn. And boy I'm still getting an education. I didn't catch SQUAT from October 20 until January 26 when I caught the one and only animal of my season. I couldn't even buy a grinner in one of my sets. I'd have been happy getting one of them.

Don't get my wrong, the fisher that I caught was amazing. Of course it cost me $750 to get a life size mount and the skull done but I'm still grateful.

Don't give up. Be discouraged, I know the feeling and of course I too am discouraged. But I still can't keep myself out of the Trap Shed and keep stocking up on stuff that I probably don't need because I somehow think that next year I'll be longlining and making a living out of trapping. LOL

I pulled my traps on New Year's Day. Of course it was due to being discouraged, not having caught anything, wasting resources, and the fact that fur was starting to decline. Not that I KNOW that it was starting to decline, just what I've read and heard. LOL Again this off season I will read all that I can, watch tons of movies and YouTube videos of the pros, and continually think back to what happened this past season so that I may begin to understand the lessons that were taught to me by the animals themselves.

Good luck to you Brother. I should change my name to Wanna Be 2.

Think landowners down here expect catches every day and lots of them.
Before this property I trapped a little 30ac place and did ok. I trapped until there was no sign of any predator. Ended up with 1 coyote, 3 cats, 3 fox, 4 coons, and 3 possums. Felt pretty good. Get over here to this place that looks like something you see on TV, manicured green fields, nice roads, feeders everywhere, just a deer meca...and not a lot of critters, lol.
I just get impatient I guess. An area I was told had “lots” of critters just doesn’t seem to have them or either it’s something I’m doing wrong. I’ll just keep doing my ride through and waiting impatiently.

If they have feeders in use then you have an area that’s been prebaited for you, may as well break out the dp’s And catch the coon while your waiting for the coyote to return. You may as well have some fun and trapping is trapping ! The more critters you catch the more fun you will have and will gain confidence in the process.

I suggest you set out a few trail cams. This will remove doubt and you can show the land owner what is or is not there. A few howling coyotes can sound like hundreds in your back yard when in reality they are miles away. The camera may also show you what you need to to, if anything. Keep at it!

Got a camera out and all I’m getting are deer. I swear next year I’m going to dig a hole, throw some bait down it, and give a squirt of either bobcat, fox or coyote urine and hang my climber. Deer come out of nowhere to check out a set.

Try bacon grease in the hole. Lol

Where you at in sw ga?

Worth Co

Actually have a jar of bacon grease. I use on the lip of some of my DP’s.

im not sure that its a possibility for you but I notice your catching lots of coons can you get farther from timber? when im setting close to cover my coon and grinner catch rise considerabley. I try and stay several hundred yards from heavy cover. But your terrain might not allow this. Yiur sets are doing there job so id have to reconsider location. But you did better then me I could'nt buy cat action this season!Again location is my down fall

This is basically a pine plantation with hardwood drainages mixed in. I have traps set on just about all intersections and field edges. I have DP’s set along the bottoms. Caught another possum this morning on a pipe set at an intersection right next to a green field. For some reason they are ignoring my DP’s. Did catch 2 nontargets last night early enough that I was able to take care of and reset. Landowner saw them on a ride through and sent me pics. I’ll probably pull next week sometime unless things really pick up. Our weather forecast this week shows rain and really warm temps, maybe I can at least pick up a few more possums. Starting to question the tracks I saw initially were that of nontargets instead of coyote.

If you and the landowner are checking traps the sudden spike of activety might of displaced the local yotes till things calm back down! Id ask him nicely to ride with you instead of without you. Explain that yotes are very wary of human activety. lol if he wants them gone he should understand

Traps are set thoughout the farm along the roads. His son was out working at the other end of the property and was riding through. Just about every plantation/farm down here gets worked. Sorta glad they did, wouldn’t want the “critters” sitting that long in the trap anyways.