I think I-35 is kind of a boundary line for those rosettes. I catch them on occasion east of 35 (along the Red), but catch more west of 35 (I only get as far as Montague county though). Sure are pretty though, beats a rabbit back anyday.lol

This thread reminded me I need to pay my dues, thank you gentlemen.

Cope23,

Good morning sir. As far as that coyote, we did not catch him in 13 days. I saw his track 6 times during that 13 days in a 640 acre fenced ranch that has real good dirt for finding sign. He's the laziest coyote I may have ever gone after. At least while I was there, he didn't kill anything, but the day I pulled traps, he killed a Rhea bird in a hay meadow.

It was a tough go. There was also another trapper there during my stay. His traps were not routinely checked, so most were snapped and laying atop the ground. Talk about telling the lazy efficient coyote what was going on!

I tried a bunch of methods and a number of off the wall smells, but he just wasn't moving. We had game cameras in all major corridors and we'd pick him up from about 2am until 5am only. He was sticking to heavy brush also which was rough on a trapper.

I tried snaring him a bit, with 285# break aways but because the ranch has 1,000's of grazing exotics and whitetails (it has more animals per square mile than anywhere I've ever been) the critters routinely hit the snared spots first and messed them up.

I haven't had a coyote that I couldn't catch until this one. I was straight up honest with the owner and he paid me with a hearty "thank you" for trying. I may go back and try again for this lazy booger if I get a chance... no charge. But I think it's a lone old dog that doesn't care about territorial because nothing else his species is in the mile, and who doesn't work hard because things to eat are grazing past him all week and who is really on to trappers because the hired man has # 3 Bridgers set everywhere and this other trapper has MB 650's set willy nilly also.

But I gave it 110% and me and that coyote kinda know each others name now.
I call him LAZY.

Mark

great to see you guys back at it mark ,hope today catch is good , lots of pic. please , for us guys that can get out right now

Roger dodger TD.
How you holding up? Hope all is pretty well anyway. Happy New Year!

It's 41 here in south Texas this morning, which is just about the temperature I like for hammering both cats and dogs. We have 80 sets out so we should have a good day. I've been picking up most of the coyotes and I don't post my pictures. This thread is just to have some fun show casing the Mrs. She'll catch a couple doggies today I'm sure. She hadn't set traps in a major way since we lived in Michigan which was 2004 and prior. She used to sometimes run the line by herself if I had lure orders to get to, so she is used to the grind of a daily trap line.

But she's back in the saddle now. Just these last couple days putting in sets on this ranch has her hitting her old stride and I'd say even some better. She watches me and learns really quick too as she really wants to load the critters in the buggy so we can have fun with our rancher telling this Texas fella that "yep, a lady can get 'er done!"

I'll post later after the check and getting more traps out. Oh... and skinning!
I've got to get Donna doing that as I rehydrate!

Mark

Awesome pictures and Thread

Today was fun. Multiple doubles on coyotes and it's kinda cool.... no, it's pretty darn cool when the hubby and wife catch one a piece at locations. We are just setting up this ranch, but they know the new sheriff (Ms. Donna) is in town now for sure. Heck, she even had me keep the gun in the front instead of tucked in the back as we just got into them today.

The glands on turds are whooping doggies, more than baited sets so far, but it's day two (early). Often times, new smells (turds) get investigated right off the get go.
The turds came from 100 miles north. The lures came from us and Blackie. Donna has always done well with Carroll's lures and we use them with confidence along with our own stuff.

Couple more big Toms today also, plus we got about 35 more sets out today, so we earned our $$$$. It was a long hard day, that was a bunch of trapping FUN!

Looks like fun, I spent the day in the woods with snow rain mix. Did a lot of walking scouting and setting for the first time in a few weeks. Had a blast in the snow here although I like the looks of your trapping condition better. Rain, snow mix here in Michigan today. With Donna doing so well I was wondering if she would be giving instructions and you cooking at next session? Lol.

Got a bit too warm at 78 degrees early afternoon yesterday, so we had to bring the coyotes back and drop them off after lunch even though we were still checking traps. The rancher requires we show them ALL animals caught (except raccoons). It's a booger to have to do that mid-day while still checking the line, but the darn things get to smelling "different" after a couple hours in the full sun if we don't get them under a mesquite for shade.

Donna is posing with her stack of dogs, while I'm putting bobcats in the cooler to keep till skinning time. When you're in a buggy in this weather, 35-45 at dawn and 70-80 in the afternoon, the clothes are layered for a reason! Because we ran 65 miles on the buggy yesterday, the wind chill in the am requires a nice gator to keep the wind from finding your underwear .

Because the dirt here is crusty and dry, we can't auger a dirt hole, so we use flat sets and turds sets of various kinds. We don't use just a couple simple sets but rather we vary up the presentation. High fence ranches are much different than a low fence or no fence effort as the dogs get wise real quick as you catch some of them, and they move on you...
to areas you may not have traps in. Quiet zones so to speak. They don't like us and try to get away from us as best they can without leaving the ranch. We have the perimeter set with a couple snares, but there are no holes on the perimeter to speak of, but we monitor to see that every now and again a coyote on the "inside" will try and dig out and get away from the trapper.

Makes you wonder how many times on a fur line, they just get away from us for a bit, and come back when the trapper leaves.

The MB550's are doing all that what we ask them to do; most often full pad catches and lightening fast for the light footed bobcats. Thanks you MTP for a wonderful working machine.
The previous crew of 4 from other states that trapped this ranch before I got a call, was asked to pack up and leave asap, as they were using bigger #3's and #4's that were catching (and holding) high dollar deer above the hooves. Not good. The type and size trap you use must fit the overall situation, not just the animal you're trapping. If it were just us and the coyotes, heck I'd use a #8! Food for thought.

Catching the guys domestics is not a good outcome.

great pic keep them coming , thanks for your nice comment, I have been falling alone every post

TD,
Society tells us to spend quality time together. We're not exactly sure what that means? Sounds attractive, doesn't it.
We say, as a married couple, that we try to spend time, (any time) with each other in a world that distracts us all from purpose and each other.
How better to do that than on a trap line in an area where cell phones don't work - the weather can be brutal (boy, those Comanches were rugged) - and the time Donna and I spend together is good for both of us as man and wife.

Here's the line we're checking today. We've spent three full days, dawn until dusk, getting the line out and now the fun begins. Christmas every turn in the road kinda stuff. You're a trapper. I'm preaching to the choir! Gonna be a good day.

The parenthesis are around the sets where Donna and I both have traps
Each night I sit and write out the line so we can drive it in the most efficient manner possible.
It varies as we set and pull and set and pull traps each day in response to where the coyotes are - and are not.

looks like a busy day ,I will check later to see what the catch was , stay safe

Mark, do you mark those traps on a map as well as the list?

8117Steve,

Yessir. I use a Garmin 64ST and log them every time. All these roads look so similar here that you can't visually remember them all the time.
In the years gone by, we flagged them, but every wonder why you sometimes find an old trappers traps still out and about?
He or she forgot where they were.

Modern technology is a good thing when it comes to GPS units and what we do. I had my unit fizzle one time on me during the trap line and it was rough. Thankfully I could remember where those 160 traps where!!

Mark

We find native points in catch circles, so we almost prefer hind foot catches. Almost.

Looks like you two are having a great time. Nice finds on the points!!! What percentage of dirt holes do you usually run when ground conditions warrant it. There have also been a lot of post on urine and urine quality on other threads. Your thoughts please. Thanks

Pawnee,

I use about 50% dirt holes when I can but honestly each area and each population of coyotes seems to have a preference and that can change with the seasons. I keep notes on all sets and go "more" with what's working after a few days and a bunch of coyotes harvested. On this project I drill holes about 2-5% of the time because the dirt caves in terribly. We can't use visual attractants too much because the Mexican eagles are notorious for working a dirt hole! The multitude of rodents (rats) haul off our turds and the ants never stop working the baits. So, it's not easy as pie. We are using flat sets and small punch sets and as many turd sets as the rats and eagles will allow to work. We're forever freshening up sets but that's the biz we're in!

Urine - that's a whole other thread brother. We use good quality urines collected from the multitudes and we're not opposed to single animal anything, but I've caught 1,000's of coyotes over my 40 years. 1,000's. And I can count on two hands and two feet the number of coyotes I've had to use single coyote urine on. But perhaps I'd have done better if I had? Not sure. But those who've ridden along with me can tell you not many keep notes on sets like I do. It's a disease but a good affliction, because it helps me to adjust as necessary in a game where that helps most often.

Today, Ms. Donna caught a dandy as the sun was coming up and ended the day with a mean bogger on a main road that hired hands had been riding by all day. T-bone set with bait and a touch of FF, and the the other set was a turd with PF on it.

I caught an interesting one today that leaped into a trap and because we don't catch many in remakes here... Donna and I each caught a coyote as a double on Saturday at a spot.
Then we pulled traps and went east and west of those two circles in opposite directions to see if others would come back (we cut tracks leaving the double catch) and I caught another coyote down the road 30 feet east of the two circles yesterday. I pulled that set and went another 30 feet further east of that and today.... bang another coyote by both front feet. I pulled that set, and remade a set another 30 feet further east yet. The ranchers hired hand asked what in blue blazes was going on over a "Q" road as they call it. We'll see what tomorrow brings!

Ain't trapping fun!

Thanks for the response mark

The types of Quality time together changes sa we Age

Thats pretty cool...odds were definitely against you....its gunna be interesting to see how you fair when you match wits with him again..good luck