Look at the first picture posted. In the background you can see what looks like a harvested bean field. That two track enters it. On the right at the end of the two track you can see some brushy leafless little trees. That point made by the two track the bean field and that brush all coming together likely has another set.

I know not a real good picture. I took it to send my grandson as he was there to make the set. But it shows the outside corner of a fence. That fence is actually a right angle even though its hard to see. Just like your dog every coyote going by there will pee on that corner post. Not inside the fence the outside of it.


What I said first is true. You really have to get out there and set traps. Some will hit and some wont. Every year you get better at picking the ones that will.

Experience gained over the years built upon a humility that one can always learn more = a mighty fine coyote trapper in later years.

We live in a time when all would be super duper at the front end of a career and so they gather the expertise from others as best they can.
Problem is = coyotes are survivalists and come in two-sees and three-sees a lot. So when the good trapper catches one or two, we falsely assume we're on to 'em. We got a couple or maybe more than a couple if theres more than a couple in the population that season. But how many bump and go over the hill and wait us out and come back when our traps are pulled?

Those are my favorites. Love those grizzled boogers.
That's what the next level of coyote gathering looks like.
Getting those that are easy... then shifting gears and catching those survivors.
First ones come easy, then the game begins!
When I trapped muskrats, mink, raccoons, and such the game is just work and roll, work hard and roll more. Works like that for a species that is not a survivalist by nature.
That ain't coyotes. More of them you catch, the more they tighten the hatches. Sorta like getting that last beaver in the lodge.

Most solid coyote trappers lines start out well, but how is it going after 3 weeks? A month? two months?
The goal should be to consistently catch them day 20, day 40, day 60 just like day 1.
Because only transitioning animals appear in your traps most times in those sweet pinch points day 10 after you reeled in 2 cousins at that spot. Survivors run from you.
Like I mentioned, the humble confident wolfer realizes all this and adjusts based on experience. Others leave traps out at great looking spots and sees what happens.

My eyes were opened at FTA College in a marvelous way by Odon Corr years ago when I was an assistant instructor and he was lead instructor. I was already catching 100 dogs a year in the early 1980's, not done by many at that time, so I figured I was pretty much on point. We'd go to the Indiana fields each day and his choice of locations would not have always been what I would set, so I listened intently as he spoke about what he'd set day #1 and then where he'd be day #10. Might be the same, might not. Fascinating stuff.
Next year after applying his thoughts to my backyard, my catch went up 35 dogs. Nice bonus on the same ground.

Always strive to improve in the world of coyote- getting!

Mark

Think "edge" and look for long running edges especially if one end leads to timber, or a pond, some other great cover.

Edges can be the "edge" between a mowed hayfield and a corn or other crop field, like this...



Or and edge can be that line between a mowed hayfield and some tall grass or timber, like this...



Also, consider that weedy ditch or fencerow that runs way out through the middle of a flat picked bean field. Not much cover except for this long running weedy ditch feature. We set bot sides of these...



Any weedy fencerow that is long running through a field, hit those outside corners. This is on outside corner of one...


Anyway, once you find long running edges, look for sign. Dont set too tightly to the edge but a little ways back...about where they are traveling.

I love pond dams in middle of fields, edges between two crops, long running fences especially where two intersect. Cow trails in low grazed pastures, brush piles in middle of nowhere, etc. You get the point.

Jim

yepper on the pond dams. i set every one. a bonus is those huge pasture coons that show up along with the coyotes.

FEED LOTS.

This is a picture from Google maps showing some of the little area I trap I'm mostly hitting funnels in these fields and where a road cuts through the field and goes into the woods

Old round bales, pond dams, washouts, heads of drainages, cattle trails, outside corner posts etc. If you really want to up your game, take instruction from a reputable wolfer. A few years ago Slim had 3 or 4 days between instructions, so he stayed with me. Having him ride on my line was a real eye opener. It wasn’t how I made sets, or how I used bait, lure etc. Just how he looked at a piece of ground and how he could describe how a coyote would work through it. It’s when I first learned about washouts. I thought I was a good coyote trapper, but his subtle way of explaining things really opened my eyes to what was possible.

Definitely edges/transition areas. I do very well at outside corners, especially if it is sheep/net/high fence. I also walk a lot of cattle trails looking for sign. Anywhere around arroyos, or at the intersection of a ranch road, l and. a game trail.

Stock tanks &cattle trail should not be ignored

A ridge leading out of a stumble field should be looked at with before driving by also

Farm road intersection, had a set on each side of intersection



farm road right where it makes a 90 degree turn - like setting the points



2 track at drainage at edge of field - the yotes run both



deer carcass set - set is a uphill and downwind of bait, about 200 feet away (50 yard setback law from exposed bait).

Nice pics. Location, location, location.

So what do you guys all think of this location? Has two different farm roads joining one to the south goes to a cattle feed lot and the one to the North goes over the only bridge for a few miles and has two different fields on the sides and a sheep pasture to the South. Blue dots are were I dump my left over carcasses and the red dots are my yote sets. Would love to see what you all think this spot has been stumping me for a year or two now

Ponds in the middle of fields - high hilltops in pastures - little points of woods that jut out into a pasture or hay field - around any round bales left in a field - around piles of bush or where a tree was cut up - etc, etc.

Dry Gravity fed irrigation ditch running the top of a pasture hay field

I am facing northeast.
Ditch and woods to my left. Open fish ponds behind and to my right.
Trees behind me are the edge of the bayou(slow moving river). Coyote in pic was caught where the drop pin is. (Green spaces are fish ponds)

Good advice.
As mentioned, some areas do not show much sign.
Think of places the canines would want to hunt and how they might get there.

I know it is scoffed at by today's hot shoe trappers, but there is a good, yet old fashioned way to figure things out. Pre-baiting with a fresh edible bait will at times be quite helpful in determining
if a location is used. As Trappergbus stated, in time a pattern will become evident. But if you want to know for sure if there are critters are around, might want to go old school.
I guess if I lived in sandy country or heavy agricultural, I might never have learned about this

One tip I would suggest is have a good dog. Mine find sign that I miss.

Another shot for location. I'm facing south. Pine plantation west. Weedy field to east. Old weedy RR bed right behind me. Pin is where coyote was caught. River is 3/4 mile to the west.