Good morning all.

I'm new to the form and new to trapping in general. I have hunted and fished all my life, but have never had a need to trap until now. My hunt club has seen an explosion in the coyote population and we have had not luck in hunting them. The coyotes will not respond to calling, and 90% of the time they are nocturnal. We are on 2500 acres in central VA, and I have 8 trail cameras running 24/7/356, so I have been able to pattern the coyotes, or at least when they are passing my cameras. I've done all the "school work" about trapping; I've read 3 different books and watched countless tutorial videos from trappers all over the country, but I have no real world experience yet nor anyone to ask, so I'm here to try and fill in the answers to the questions that the research has not answered. I am going to run both dirt-hole and flat sets with K-9 extreme and MB 550 4 coil traps AFTER turkey season is over. ( see which trap I like the best ) We can trap coyotes year round in Virginia, so there is no time crunch on me.

The 1st question that I have is:

how long do you wait to reuse a location? ex. I have a coyote trapped. After the animal is dispatched what do you do with the location? Set another trap outside the catch circle.......pull the trap and come back in a week.....a month......? I guess I'm asking what kind of impact that trapped coyote has on the production of that location.

#2

If a free coyote see's his brother in a foot trap, will he avoid the area? Do they associate their trapped kin and the spot as a place of danger to stay away from?

thanks for any help in advance. I look forward to learning from your experience.

The goal is to catch them all as they come thru and leave no survivors.

The area I trap in is a small sample compared to the rest of the country, you will need to figure for your self as to your next move. In my area I remake with the same trap right back in the same trap bed. If I see a single set of tracks avoiding the catch circle I will sometimes ad a trap to the out side of the catch circle. I typically have at least two traps per location anywhere from 10’ to 40’ apart, if I had started with only two traps I will most always add a third.

I have read many times on here that in some parts of the country folks can’t get a coyote to set foot inside a catch circle. That being said you will need to find out how they respond in you part of the world.

As to your second question coyotes are not super natural they don’t know why their litter mate won’t leave that spot. Just have it remade for when brother or sister returns.

After a catch, just remake the original set unless circumstance say otherwise. With time comes experience and with experience comes knowledge, you will figure this out as you go. Listen to Golf ball, very good advice. Usually if you catch the alpha, the rest won't enter the catch circle. A second set close by would be a wide choice as it also increases your odds of a double.

Seeing another coyote in a set can work to you advantage. Curiosity can make them hang around long enough to find your second set increasing your odds of a double.

You can read a lot or watch a lot of YouTube videos but in the end your best bet is just to get out there and learn. But remember, just because you read about how to catch these guys doesn't mean the coyote has read the same books. Sounds like your on the right track. Good luck!

I think you can use snares in Virginia. I would pick up a dozen just to try it. It’s a good tool to have and will give a different perspective on setting. And snares usually don’t get ruined by foul weather.
Snaring locations are much more effective after a catch.

Welcome! Sounds like before you start a good viewing of a dvd from Mark June's "coyote trapping: reducing the numbers" would be a good reference.
Practice setting techniques before you get to the field, avoid educating them as much as possible.

That’s some good advice right there ( practice setting) ! I know you said you can trap coyotes year round but setting foot holds this time of year can be tough to connect. They may respond to gland and urine as they are somewhat territorial this time of year . You may be better off practicing bedding traps now and coming back and setting in the early fall when the pups start hunting .
Good luck !

Ps. You may want to plan to attend the FTA convention in Virginia this summer , will be some good demo’s and good guys there to help you out !

You would be wise to join the Virginia Trapper‘s Association, Google it. And go to the website and join the forum to speak to many of us members. Then you will learn of the huge convention in June in Harrisonburg this summer. And make sure to come to the October convention in Bland so I can give you free skinning knives and free Lure. Attend all the free trappers Ed classes you can which you can see on the VTA site This will shorten your learning curve by decades. You should also ask for a local mentor to write along with and learn from once on the state forum.

I really appreciate everyone's input. I had never thought about practice setting, that is an excellent idea. Our turkey season starts April 13th and ends May 18th, so I will have traps in the ground the following week. I am also going to check out the Va trappers Association and plan on attending the conventions in June and October.

Thanks again everyone and if I think of anything else I will be back ( a certainty because my mind is always moving ) I will try and such the forum before asking so as not to cover something that has already been discussed.

Be safe out there and good luck.

ask anyway, every trapping topic has been discussed many times on this forum but not today- doesn't hurt to give them another discussion.

I agree

If we didn't ask the same questions over and over again, this site (and all others) would have been shut down a long time ago! Not to mention, new ideas and tactics are invented daily. Think of your computer. It was originally HUGE, then someone thought of making a "desktop", then the idea of a laptop, then on your phone, then on your watch......something else is in the works now, I'm sure of it.
Ask away.

Here is the link to the VTA http://virginiatrappers.com/


Here is about your state snare laws you will find it as another tool that will work where footholds will not

No deadfall traps may be used. Snares set on land must have loops 12 inches or less in diameter with the bottom of the snare loop no more than 12 inches above ground level. Snares with the top of the snare loop set higher than 12 inches above ground level must include a single-piece lock that is not power-assisted, a cable stop that prevents the snare loop from closing smaller than 2½ inches in diameter, and a break-away device that has been tested to break or disassemble at no more than 285 pounds pull. Land snares may only be used with written permission of the landowner.

Thanks for that info Coydog. I will get to researching snares; at this point in time my main focus has been foot-hold traps. I pulled my camera cards yesterday ( looking at them once a week now to scout out our turkey flock ) and the trends are holding true. I have just as many photos of coyotes as turkeys or deer. At the beginning of the new year I got a large desk calendar from office max and I began writing down day, time and which camera ( for location, the property covers about 3 miles by road ) the coyotes are getting photoed. I started this to try and get some sort of pattern for their movement cycle. I have found that depending on the location it may be as short as every 2-3 days, or as long as every 2 weeks. The plan was to be in the right place at the right time to get a shot; but that has not worked out because 80% of the photos are between 11 PM and 2 AM. FLIR scopes are awesome, but also terribly expensive. As much as I love to hunt and shoot, a trap is on the job 24-7 and once I start making sets there will be 12 of them vs. 1 or 2 guys sitting and waiting.

Guys I really appreciate your help.

Welcome to trapping, it can become an obsession. I agree with the
earlier posts. I always set the trap back after a catch but I like to keep a fresh set close by as well. Practice setting paying particular attention to bedding the trap so it is rock solid. Be sure to keep us posted and good luck turkey hunting.

use snares exclusively for coyotes and love them. Have mine set up with the Senneker kill spring and fine them very effective, minimum disturbance at the site and seems to put the animal down quick. Run 5/64 cable with a 285 breakaway on them. Have some I set in area's where there are potentially dogs and have snares set-up without the kill springs on them. Also know guys who use deer stops in those situations. 90% of dogs if caught in a snare just sit there until you let them out but its my biggest concern. Reading the post above looks like you could snare with a breakaway and deer stop.

Biggest reason I went with snares was the cost. I can make a snare for way under one foot hold trap. As well in my area it does not put me in the 24 Hr check timeline and allows some flexibility on running different areas.

Either way it helps with the game animals and gets you out in the field more as well. Welcome to the obsession.