I just started targeting K9's for the first time this year. I was a little late to the party, so to speak. I caught myself scrambling for wax dirt, property permission, traps, baits, lures, etc.
Now I've got a line started with approximately a dozen traps at a handful of different locations. I'm just looking to reach out to the community of seasoned veterans here and get some tips, tricks and general advice on starting out. I have followed the forums here for a while and just decided to start contributing, I love all the great advice everyone has to share!
Just so everyone has an idea of what Im dealing with:
Location: NE Iowa
Traps: MB 550's (dyed but not waxed)
Anchors: Wolf Fangs and Berkshires
Currently using waxed dirt we made for setting now that temps are lowering
Thanks in advance

Not experienced enough to offer anything, but I will say this: That first one is special and afterwards they seem to come a little (teeny tiny) bit easier as you learn. Good luck!

1) Proper equipment. Looks like you are set up there. Next year you’ll be more prepared and can get them waxed. Not waxing them is not a deal killer so don’t sweat it.

2) Location. There have been some pretty good post on here the last few days about location, so do some reading. I would add always keep in mind where you are setting and the potential of non target animals.

3) Don’t overthink your sets. Start with simple dirt hole and flat sets and go from there. Good luck.

Good advice so far. I do wax my traps in Full Metal Jacket. Some do and some don’t. It’s a personal choice.

Being on location helps a lot. Tracks and scat tell you they’ve at least walked thru the property. In that vicinity, set near something low but which stands out to you, when you walk into the area. If you notice a grass tuft that stands out, use it for your backing. Now, get your trap into the ground. Pack it in so it doesn’t move. I like to pound whatever soil is there towards the jaws of the trap. But before doing so, add your antifreeze and peat moss, waxed dirt or what ever, then pound with your hammer to keep it from moving.

This year, I was forced to use pipe dream sets due to extreme rain and just plain muddy situations. This meant using stiff screens for pan covers and grass over the screens. To get pipes in now will require a 1-inch drilled hole to break the frost. But it’s doable if I want to have working traps in the ground.

I’ve only been after this a few years so not a seasoned veteran by any definition of the word, but I came on here without any trapping experience and now do good enough to run a trapping service on the side. I’ll pitch in my opinion.
1) You’ve got fine equipment, and you’ve said you have gotten permission so you’re off to a great start. As said by others, location is probably you’re biggest friend. Although finding sign in the form of tracks or scat is a goldmine, sometimes that just doesn’t happen. I really like to look at places where terrain changes. I’ve only been to Iowa once, but places where cut corn meets a fence row are sometimes killer k9 locations for me. Even better, where 3 terrains come together (such as a corncrop, unfarmed field, and a fence row) always get a set.
2) Make sure to limit your exposure to a set once you’ve got it in. I usually check mine by binoculars or riding by it with a truck. If I can’t see anything wrong with it, no need to get close to it. It was very easy for me to go up and change something every time a coyote stepped here and not there when I first started, but after I just trusted that I’d made a good set and let it do it’s thing, my catches went up drastically.
3) The archives on here are your friend, but if you’ve been on the site for a while, you’ve probably already been through them. If not, there’s a wealth of info from some of the best trappers in the country on there.
4) I had a tendency to want to overcrowd my coyote sets with guiding when I started out. I had gotten used to basically forcing coons to put there paw in places, and for k9s that seems to be a big turnoff for them. Just a simple dirt cold or split corn stubble seems to do the trick for me.
5) Probably a big piece of advice would be not to get discouraged if you don’t get one at first. It took me almost a whole season to get my first dog, and when I did it was so mangy I think he just wanted someone to do him a favor. Have fun with it, and before to long you’ll be looking at fields when you’re driving down the road, planning on where’d you would put a set it.

Thanks to everyone for your help!
I caught my first K9 over the weekend, a red fox, which is fairly rare here. I was ecstatic!
Luckily for the fox, the catch leg was undamaged with the OS Jaw so he was released.
Been battling a lot of rain here lately, hopefully my luck increases!
Thanks again

Wax will save your traps while in the ground. Ask a lot of questions and read. See if you can go with someone that IS catching fur. After that, find your own places.

TJ103,

Coyote trapping is an interesting endeavor. You have to have confidence, yet humility all in the same trapping bag. Most furbearer, you just find more ground, set more sets the same, and keep rolling. To be a solid wolfer, you need to catch animals that get tougher to catch in an area as you cull their kin and neighbors. Thus, they get trickier to catch. So, to maximize, you either get enough ground to roll always into new areas throughout the trapping period or you get better at catching those dogs you "bump" first few days you set up an area. There's a big difference.

Good luck and learn as you go!
Blessings,
Mark

Well said Mark!

Thanks JustinEllis. Not too many talk about how the coyotes in Dodge City don't like it when the new sheriff rides into town. A few goofy ones get shoot or thrown in jail, but many ride out and come back later.

Mark

Mark don't know me from Adam, but I bought "Coyote Trapping" and two dozen MB 550 offsets 7 years ago from him. Turned me on to the dogs.

Thanks Backbreaker. You know those dogs you caught and the many more you're going to catch in the future, wish we'd never met.
Have fun out there and Merry Christmas!

Mark