Some good pics. And amazing examples of what you can look for. The land always tells a story.

Great thread and pics, sir!
I have no idea why I am not using more blind sets either. When I do use them I'm generally happy I put them in, catches were good. I dont recall any toe catches in blind sets, an animal walking with no clue what lies beneath is generally committing it's full weight to each step.
I've had a number of surprises at blind sets too. Fox, cats, coyotes, coon, and of all things a front foot caught beaver at a coon trail crossover on backside of a pond dam.
One year we had good luck blind setting cow trails along fence row inside a pasture. A few well positioned cow pies got the coyotes to step in between them and on third or fourth position like that "wham" the blind set trap had them. Made me feel like a real trapper to take a few dogs without bait or lure just getting them to step in the right spot on that worn cow trail.
Will be following this thread for sure.
Jim.

Thanks Jim,
I've used the guide sticks in trails that Dustin Drews pointed out a few years ago which really seems to center the foot on the pan. I also can't say I've had much in the way of toe catches. Those pond dam sets sure do produce. The cow trails have always been something I've thought about in the past. Maybe this year I can just do it. Always found myself dropping some lure in for a flat set or simply digging a dirthole on those trails.

Do you notice any change in the time frame between catches. Blindest and scented that is.

I’d say depends on your population more than anything. I’ve never really targeted coyotes with just blind to make a comparison. Raccoons I think on dry land it’s a quicker producer. Coons will walk by baited sets at times but aren’t afraid to step on barely covered traps. I have picked up pairs of fox faster on blinds. I’ve often caught the second of the pair the next day on lured sets/remakes.

A well placed blind set should catch the first critter down the trail, while as mentioned some animals will pass a lure or bait by- perhaps the wind was blowing the wrong way. To get from point to point the feet must follow the path and stepping spots can be predicted or guided, air currents won't affect that.
Red makes a good point in that to be successful at blind sets you need to know the animal and where it will step. once you understand the animals the lured sets are easier. To much emphasis is placed on method sets rather than knowledge sets.

True that. Knowledge sets are tricky for the novice. So we fall on the textbook method. However I will take all your knowledge. Lol

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Wider trails can be a pain with smaller traps I learned

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Also has anyone elese seen grey fox hugging the sides of trails? Seems cats and yotes usually hit straight down unless theirs alot of mud or water but the fox seem to like to hug the side.of the trail. In thinking it's a hunting tactic.

On that wide trail or two track, place a bushy tree limb as though it has fallen and let it block most of the trail leaving just a place for a set. Limbs fall every day and that small change won't spook the animals. Or place the blocking limb diagonally and let it make two set spots at the ends.

The old adage Is. It's not how many you catch It's how many you miss. And I'm betting the miss to catch ratio Is pretty high when It comes to a foothold In a trail.

You may say the mafia set Isn't a true blind set and that may be true but In my opinion It will up the odds In those wide open trails like cow trails. Once you start adding stuff as guides to that trail you have raised a red flag to any passing critter. You have to keep things as natural as possible.

The pictures shown are great but If your trapping coon In those trails why mess with setting blind foot hold sets when the use of a BG or a snare would be a lot easier and a lot more productive.
Same goes for fox and coyotes and cats In certain trails, use a snare. Non targets will In most cases go under a snare and that leaves It ready for your target animal.

I got 2or3 set variations for cow trail I might show in a different thread some day.

Great thread. Thanks WadeRyan and all that contributed.
Mac

Just a few thoughts... A very wise trapper ounce told me "all I need is a coyote track on a trail, he'll be back and step right in the same track" . So I put that to good use, same with fox.. if you know the animal a pattern will emerge and placement becomes instinctual. Theirs's always THE spot if you look! The less dirt you dig for the bed the better, pound the bed with your hammer and use a setting cloth to control the fresh dirt. Study track patterns in snow or sand so you can visualize the track on the trail.

I for one don't miss many with blind trail sets with traps, I've even started using smaller jaw spread traps on purpose so I don't disturb the trail as much. Even 1.5s as Ryan does.

Boy I tell ya Beav I am just not a fan of snares here. Deer knock them over make them worthless. If they don't the first cottontail does a front back flip into a loop 10 inches off the ground. I've had them as high as 12-14 inches and had coons hip caught that wanted to jump for whatever reason. A hip caught coon here isn't worth much of anything, and ones I catch in footholds still have monetary value (I know I'll hear all about how people snare coon after coon by the head). I don't.

Bodygrips I just avoid so I don't have to deal with dogs here. Bird hunters, greyhound coyote hunters, rabbit hunters, coon dogs, the list goes on and on. When I say guiding I'm talking maybe an inch or two stick in an X like Drews pointed out a few years back. Tree branches fall all the time here it's nothing out of the ordinary for them. I catch coyotes every year on sets that aren't supposed to catch coyotes, and I am not even targeting them. My thought in all of this was.....what if I did target them? You do bring up good points as always though Beav makes a guy think.

Red why another thread throw those puppies on here. Not going to hurt anything. Gary good post. The same can be said about bobcats in our area. It might take them a while, but more often than not they'll come right down that same trail.

Do it! Their are years a 3rd of my yotes,fox come from blinds in combination with lured sets. Especially later in the season...

Is that all LOL..

Had a real good trail from woods to corn. Not hoofed up bad but the dang deer snaps.
Made it so I could see tracks for a few days/week. Showed me that the deer stepped over a low spot while targets stepped down into it. Adjusted and game on, no more deer trouble. This worked for several seasons until it changed. No lure or bait. I like lure as much as anyone, and will avoid it when I can.
I did not learn this from a book or movie. You need to read sign and behavior..

I like blind sets, some lure salesmen hate em, or so they say.
Snares and bgs not legal here, so we learn to adjust.

In Wolfdogs pics, the first one that shows on my device, that turn in trail to left, looks potential.
As for hugging the side, try guiding to the INside.

NEXT lol.

Oh and we are allowed to set trails in more than one location, traps in truck bed....

James Lucerao (speling) wrote an excellent coyote trapping book (also wrote a snaring book) back in the 80s I think. He discussed blind sets in the book. In the book he showed a picture of a big dude with small pick up truck just chucker block full of coyote pelts that he said the guy took in only blind sets. Granted that country. he was in lent itself to trail sets but it was a pretty cool picture.

All I'm saying Is there are more effective sets then blind sets except maybe for mink.

I'm betting that a trapper with 50 BGs placed in trails will catch more coon then a trapper setting 50 foot hold blind trail sets. The same goes for the snare. I'm betting the east cost boys and those trappers from Iowa are experts In catching coon In Snares.
And I'm willing to bet that a good flat set or dirt hole will out preform a blind set.
And those hard packed trails aren't going to show you any prints so saying your not missing any critters Is a bit far fetched. The way to tell the tale Is to mount a trail cam and see how many misses occur

Not saying trail sets don't work but for a numbers game the other sets will out preform a blind trail set.

Wade you ever catch any rabbits In blind sets? Do all these hunting dogs ignore all these critter trails?