Snaring Coyotes in Michigan for the first time. Have four large bait sites going with about three dozen snares set at trails that Coyotes have used coming to the bait. In over two weeks of checking snares I have had only one site where a coyote has reused a previous used trail. He nocked down the snare with no catch. I have noticed a few set where the tracks have stopped in the trail and avoided the snare. All snares are set with maximum size loop of about 12 inches. So far this has been exciting because I know that all these snares will work in our deep snow conditions unlike the traps that I have used in the past. Coyote activity is spotty with site visits at 5 to 6 day intervals. I am hopeful that activity will pick up later in the winter. I keep checking my snares and putting out new Dakota Michigan made snares each day. I thought that the Coyotes did not see the snares when I started, unsure now. I will keep plodding along and see what happens until it stops being fun.

PM

Take some pictures.Sounds like a lot of fun.

I'm getting ready to try my hand at cables for the first time too, and it just snowed here in PA.

Good stuff and please do photograph your sets I'm definitely interested. I'll probably photograph mine too so I can get feedback.

Seems to me you're getting good feedback from the coyotes, not the kind we want but lessons none the less.

Good luck!

I have noticed a few set where the tracks have stopped in the trail and avoided the snare. All snares are set with maximum size loop of about 12 inches.

BET!

You waled up to the snare and turned around and walked back. Or walked around the snare.
So did the coyote. When set'n and tend'n Step over the snare. STAY IN THE TRAIL.
Put a chin lifter ( Ext. a 3-4" pine neddle)of the bottom of the snare loop

Agree with "Newt's" assessment and would also suggest no blocking unless very subtle.

What Newt and bctomcat said. Also, if conditions permit, place snares near bends in trails so coyote coming around a bend have only a few steps to see them.

I have been trying my hand at a short snare line too. I’ve had coyotes come up to the loop and stop short. But I’ve been approaching the trail from the side. I’ll try stepping over like Newt suggested. Also,I’ve been using snares that were lightly sprayed black from the manufacturer. I don’t know if it’s really an issue, but it seems to contrast with the snow pretty bad. I have some homemade ones that are bare metal left outside to dull up so I’ll try those and see if that makes a difference. Otsego county area does have quite a bit more than most areas right now. Thiss weekend should add some more for sure.

No black or white, these colors contrast with the background bush as seen from the coyotes perspective. A dull gray or green color is much better.

Thanks for all the helpful information. I don't walk down the Coyote trails. I circle the bait piles until I hit a Coyote track and I follow it from a distance to the side. If I decide to hang a snare, I approach the track from the side and hang the snare then back out. Only had one Coyote follow the same track twice. When you start hanging snares you return and see the thousands of other places that they can go. Their doesn't seem to be any well defined trails in the snow. They go everywhere. I think that the activity is increasing as the snow is starting to get deeper. We have 2 feet now. I hope the action picks up and some regular defined trails in the snow show up. Waiting for the Coyotes to get hungry as the winter go on.

instead of trying to catch them approaching the bait, perhaps, look for where they are circling it, and set the snares to catch as they parallel it

WRONG! Set up snares from the side of trail YES. But, do not walk around or make set and turn around and go back. Either follow thru on the trail or cross over and depart the area in a different location than your entry point. When checking snares walk thru the same route each check.

I guess that I don't understand why it would be better to walk across the tracks. I smooth out all of my tracks in the snow near the sets. That won't eliminate what ever sent that I leave at the site but it does elimates my prints visually. There is no evidence of any coyotes following my tracks. The sites are soon snowed over. I don't question your advice, you know more about this than I do. I just don't understand the reasoning behind you advice. Thanks for your time to help me to improve my snareng.

I do follow the same route checking my snare. I stay as far away as I can and still see the snares. Coyotes seem to approach the bait from different directions. It is snowing hard out side right now and I know that some of my snares will have the bottoms of the loop covered with snow. Should I go to the set and move the loop higher or just leave it as is?

Because stopping and turning around peaks their attention more so than just passing through. IMHO smoothing out your tracks is just another activity that peaks their attention also.

Leave your snares alone until the snow has settled down then adjust them if necessary.

In Wi we can't use dryland snares but we can use cable restraints. Our CR's bottom loop has to be so many inches off the top of the snow I believe. You may want to ensure you don't have a similar law.

Unless you are running cable extensions and extra long supports, it'll be hard to just keep raising them up as the snow piles up each storm. What will you do then, just remove snow under the loop?

We have C.R.'s in Michigan as well; they don't usually treat coyotes necks very kindly in my experience.

It sounds like you are not loaded up with big numbers of coyotes.
You mentioned that they seem not to use the same trail twice. Welcome to the world of random coyotes.
Having had to trap a single, individual coyote on an island made of mostly sand where you can see just about every track which it made every night, I says to myself, "This is going to be easy!"
"Wrongo Fathead", I retorted to myself many weeks later. This coyote did not seem to use the same trail twice. Maybe that is why they are not extinct.

52Carl that is my feeling exactly. It is great to hear this from another trapper. In setting up my bait sites I tried to anticipate where the Coyotes would be in Jan and Feb, our snaring season. So I put them in locations where deer would be yarding. Up until a couple of weeks ago, we had very mild weather and little snow. Since then the snow has piled up and I am hopeful the Coyote numbers will increase at the bait sites and their appearance will be more regular. Your comments give me encouragement. All these years of trapping coyotes, my main problem was to get a Coyote to my set, not catching them when they got there. I would read all the comments from all the coyotes trappers around the country and beat myself up for not catching bigger numbers of Coyotes. Your comments will make and old man sleep better at night. Although I say snaring, I do use cable restraints here in Michigan. I prefer the term snaring.

We have C.R.'s in Michigan as well; they don't usually treat coyotes necks very kindly in my experience.
John Graham mentioned this during Coyote Days last summer. States that mandate cable restraints are making a mistake. You want a dead coyote in your snare when you check. Too many other things can go wrong with CR's.

"Plodding along"is exactly what you do under Michigan rules.When I go back to deep snow trapping I'll go back to the footholds,the odds are about the same.

I had two nock offs today by Coyotes. Snow is 2.5 feet deep now and it is starting to effect my snares. I had two reversals also. I wonder is having the additional swivel located on the top of the cable restraint when it is set gets the Coyotes attention where a normal snare would not be noticed. I am starting to put a little camouflage at my snare sets. Not sure if this the thing to do but I will try and hide them better

I doubt the additional swivel is the problem; as from a coyotes perspective I would think it would appear to be just another piece of bush junk. Do you have a picture of the set up?

UPoldman, I wonder if you got a bunch of unwanted odor on your cables or supports

That is aways a possibility but I have been using Dakota cable restraints called Ghost Rider Snares that are cleaned, dyed, and loaded and shipped in a plastic bag. I have been setting them right out of the package.

I doubt odors your problem.Welcome to the land of the Northern Michigan coyote.Everything you mentioned I've been there.Skittish,spooky,here today,gone tomorrow,possibly for weeks,etc.The northern Michigan coyote in the winter

My guess is they are seeing your CRs. You need to set them in tall weeds, small brush etc... and set a bunch of them. If you go set only 12, you're going to be lucky to catch one coyote every few days. I don't know all your regulations but there has to be a way to legally set your snares where they will be blended in. If you were snaring fox it would be MUCH less important but coyotes you need them blended in and without transplanting the weeds and sticks to new locations. Fox will walk right through a loop over a trail in the wide open with the 3/32 cable. You'll be hard pressed to get coyotes to do that. You need to set them where the coyotes are squeezing through tight stuff for your best results. I know this will tough with your entanglement rules but your hands are tied, much like the 4+" stop makes snaring fox basically impossible.

FWIW, I come in from the side of the trail to make my sets, I don't walk on the trail and don't mash down the cover to the sides of the trails.

I will try and take some pictures. I am snaring in cedar swamp. Nor much grass cover there. I have tried to use some fine dead cedar limbs for cover but as of now I can't say if they helped or not. As of today I have 48 CR's set on 4 bait locations and will be hanging more as sets appear.

There is nothing bin our regulations about entanglement except a fence or tree limbs lower than I believe it says 5 ft that may suspend animal with 2 feet on ground. You guys are making this much harder than it needs to be. If you set a cable in small trees, brush I will almost guarantee there will be no small stuff left after a catch because they will chewer off anything within reach. I posted a picture of a catch in a cable and got lashed by everyone that read it I think. Funny thing is the DNR never came and arrested me for it. I set by the rules. I keep the regulations on my phone so I can reference them if ever in question.

Unless there is more to the regulations than S2X posted, here's what I would use in MI.

44" of 1x19 1/16" cable for the LOADED loop end. micro lock with a 285 BAD J hook, mini deer stop set exactly at the 4.25" mark, a real 1/16"x9ga metal wammy, inline #6 barrel swivel, 3' of 7x19 3/32 cable with a #9 ga end swivel. I'd use a 5' piece of 1/2" rebar with a 24" piece of #9 annealed wire wrapped and welded to the top (leaving the tag end stick out to keep the swivel from sliding off the top) driven 30" into the ground for my anchor and support. I'd drive that pole in beside some weeds or something to blend it in 18-20" off the side of the trail and reach my #9 support out to the edge on the trail with the 12" CR loop hanging 12" off the surface, centered in the trail. I'd come in from the side and not get any closer to the trail than I had to.

The fact that these are on bait may be the issue for what believe you are seeing as refusals. I find that to successfully be on a bait, the further away the snare the better the success. Along those lines, thick grass or tighter pinch points would be much more productive.

Picking an effective bait location is extremely important and not as easy as a lot of people think. Just my opinion, and I learned that the hard way many times.

I also walk in from the side in snow and make every effort to hide those foot prints as well.

Set a bunch on non baited sets and see if your results change

That is all of the regulations. All on one page. The only one you missed is a relaxing lock. Can't use micros. I was using 10 " loop 6 to 8" of trail. I am setting my baits this weekend. I may try a few bigger loops higher.

Rule of thumb for snaring, the size of your loop is the same as it's height of the ground, but not for beavers.

I looked and can not see where it says micros are non-relaxing locks. I know from experience that they are relaxing locks whether or not they say it anywhere.

EDIT: However Blackdog Lopro Snare Locks are listed as relaxing at Dakota line and they would be just the same IMO if I couldn't use Micro Locks.

This is pretty close and a good starting point. You can tweek it a little as needed. For example I use a 6-7" loop for coons, but run them up to 9" high if I'm targeting just the biggest coons down the trail. I'l also adjust my loop height and size on coyotes if I think deer are likely to be using the trail or if I think there's a good chance at a bobcat in the same trail. But like Mousey said that's a good rule of thumb to get you started.

My mistake, I was thinking micro locks were a cam lock system. They may be legal. It used to read washer style locks. They obviously changed wording a bit this year. Even with the download in my phone I still miss some stuff.

What kind of bait draws the most predator attention...a deer, beaver?

Trying to send photos but I can not figure out how to get my photos on to the thread. If anyone can explain to an old man how to do this I will post my pictures.

Use that button with the blue up arrow.

U probly need to crop the photo down. I do. Making it black & white helps too

This is a refusal by a Coyote.

snare

I caught a Coyote in the snare to the right today but it got away. Is that suppose to happen. Are these CR that we have to use in Michigan designed so poorly that they won't hold a coyote or is this the exception and not the rule.

How does a Coyote do this ? Can they walk through a CR. Did the CR not fire because it was frozen in the snow ?

Yes and also it's hanging to low. The snare bottom should be 12-14 inches above foot print impression.

This coyote walked up to my snare and turned left. I did not know that each set had to be totally blocked off. I was afraid to modify the set to much or I would scare the Coyote, but it appear that he knows where it is anyway.

To date we have had an average snow fall, 80 inches so far. The position of this CR is because of that snow.

Deep powder is tough. I've found its better to wait until it crusts to both call and trap.

That being said, those cables are missing because of two reasons, in my opinion. As mentioned, they are way too low....its also really hard to estimate coyote print depth in powder.

I would also suggest trying to get a line of sight on the set (without disturbing the snow in a way that would alter their path) and checking to see how it would look at coyote height. In your pics, it sure looks like there might be sticks and branches that are impacting your set far more than the cable is.

I started to catch more coyotes as I hung them higher and tighter. We have loop restriction and height regs here too, but big low loops just don't produce.

These are just things that have helped me.

The last furbearer biologist(not the current)told me according to their studies they found a 60% success rate with the current rules.He told me "I can live with that".

I appreciate your suggestions. I find that after I started hanging snares, I feel that I got better and faster quickly. Most of my sets are staked to the ground with extensions on most. Then I wire from a tree or limb to hang the snare. Your observation that there may be sticks or other debris in the line of sight of the snare I set is more a case of the angle of the picture and less of actual obstructions in the way of the snare. I have hung snares over the fresh tracks that the Coyotes have made thinking that they are walking where the feel comfortable and then thinking that when they came through again they would use the same line. Now I think that I need to box the snare in more and give them fewer options. I realize that some of my snares are getting low to the ground as our snow goes up in depth. The debate that I was having with myself is how long do I let it go and not disturb the set or should try and always have it at the recommended height and disturb the set more often. Between the Coyotes on my line and you guys I am learning a lot. Thanks

I am curious how far from your bait you are hanging your snares. When coyotes travel to a bait station they tend to move at a pretty good clip until they are within a hundred yards or so then they slow down and move cautiously. I catch lots of coyotes 4 to 5 hundred yards from my bait.

I'm not sure where you got those CRs you are using UPoldman but they look like they have slim locks which are listed as non-relaxing,,, the locks are hard to see so I could be wrong on that but they are still illegal as the stop is set for a 2 1/2" deer stop and not a 4.25 stop like your regulations state. I'd delete the pictures and pull those CRs before you get fined.

Thanks ADC. My CR's are from F & T here in Michigan. They are Dakota CR's and are made and sold as Michigan legal CR. I have noticed that in two different orders of CR's from F & T I have received two different locks. Last winter a Conservation officer said that they were legal.

I have finally gotten into the swing of snaring coyotes only to discover that the cable restraints trappers are required to be used in Michigan don't hold coyotes. At a bait site in which I had captured two coyotes, as I walked up to the first one with pistol in hand to put it down, it pulled out and ran away. This makes me sick after all the time, money, and effort put in to catch these coyotes only to have two third of the pull out. Michigans DNR needs to either redesign these cable restraints before next season or let us use real snares with a quick lethal kills. I am so disappointed by this experience, I am pulling all cable restraints.

Cable restraints sure aren't ideal, but they'll hold MOST coyotes that walk through. What exactly failed? Where was it caught?

I have had 7 CRs fail out of 14 coyotes that have been caught. The 350 LB BADs failed In all cases that shouldn't happen. But I did catch and hold a coyote today so.

I can't see how these snares are called cable restraints when they are used In entanglement. I wish we could use entanglement life would be so much easier.

One of the biggest obstacles with our regs is the requirement that they can't close tighter than 41/4".I'm no snare expert but I had far better luck when it was 21/2".I had too many instances where I'd caught them and apparently they got those hind legs working and worked the cable over the ears and away they went.I realize they probably can't do that if they're into it at the base of the neck,I had one on a snowmobile line that chewed thru the cable and ran off.About 2 miles away a coyote jumped on my snow machine track dragging a cable.He followed my track then jumped off and followed him thinking He'd get hung up somewhere.He didn't.Thats when I pulled all of mine and never set another one.

M.Magis The Coyote that got away today was caught around its neck. The other pull outs were on the ground when I got there. All of the Coyotes that I have captured were by the neck.

Are loaded CRs less likely to open up, just curious. I didn’t realize MI stops had to be set at 4.5”, no wonder you guys are having problems.

No. The lock you use will determine how easy they open back up.

If you're having BAD failures I'd go with as short of a CR as I can possibly use and still get my loop size and height correct. The longer run they get the harder they hit the end popping the BADs if the locks won't lock to dispatch them or the stop won't allow the loop to close tight enough to. Also if your anchor has some give to it it'll absorb some of that shock too. I'd use a 3/8" 5' rod to anchor and support the CRs and leave it 24" out of the ground with your CR attached to the top.

My snaring season is over. I just pull all of my sets. The last day I caught 3 coyotes. One was dead in the CR, one broke the CR's cable, the third one pulled out.

I plan on taking my disappointment and funneling it towards the Michigan DNR Commission. I guess that I am a dreamer but I want to see what I can do change this situation around and get our DNR to allow using regular lethal snares. In Michigan one of the restrictions for using snares is that it is restricted to private land only. This restriction should protect the trapper and landowner from any fault if hunting dogs or pets get in the snares that are legaly set. Unfortunately, I am afraid that our DNR is more influenced by public opinion rather than the legal situation. Dog owners are required to have their dogs under control. If their dogs are not under control and go on to land where they have no permission to enter, they will held responsible for situation. I am afraid that the DNR will not allow lethal snares to avoid being put in a uncomfortable position. They would prefer to restrict trappers from the use of these snares legally set than deal with a public relations problem where the complainants are the ones in the wrong.

My hope is for this change to happen soon. I had a blast in my first time setting snares / CRs. All that I can think about right now is correcting my mistakes and catching more coyotes. But it is going to have to happen soon because I am getting old and my trapping days a numbered.

Bottom Line...? Your dealing with the hunting dog lobby and the DNR commision. Working and hunting dogs have free run in Michigan. Pet's are to be on a 6ft. Leash. Our old snare (CR) law was much better than the current one is.

I've been down that road with the DNR,they don't care.The fact the cr's are on private property means nothing to them either,dogs in this state are protected by "recreational trespass",which means if they're hunting and end up on private property and get caught its on the landowner,not the dog or its owner.If anybody has any ideas on how to handle our regs with success I'm all ears.When they became legal I got into them big time,I was on a learning curve and had a lot to learn but was successful on coyotes and fox and gained alot of confidence.Then they required the 41/4"loop and checking seemed to be a nightmare,more - than +.I'm no expert on their use,but I can't get pass the success ratio,60% or less on coyotes,fox forget it.I had better success using footholds in the snow.

I am contacting MTPCA to see is anyone is working on this. My interest is to put my disappointment towards positive action for Michigan becoming a lethal snaring state. I know some hounds-men and will talk with them. It would be a lot of fun to just be able to set snares. I have to try, will probably get discouraged but who knows. I have had a little taste of talking to Lansing DNR, they are experts at blowing you off.

States that are near us use kill snares.

Anybody trying to change our regs for the better I wish you luck,and I'm not being sarcastic.Maybe I should get up and try again.I felt like I ran into a stonewall that wouldn't budge and the attitude seemed to be "your lucky we allow you to use anything".When the regs said we could use 21/2"loops we had a downstate couple come on our local radio station that had an outdoor show every saturday morning with their tale of woe about their two dogs,some type of registered breed that was worth thousands of dollars I guess.They were trying to petition the DNR to outlaw CR's,had alot of pictures of their dogs,romping with the family,then they took pictures of them in the CR's,dead.They got the host all worked up,him saying if this happened to his dogs he'd beat somebody like a red headed step child,etc.Not one word about how the trapper was 100% in the right,that the landowner went to bat for the trapper,telling the local media and the DNR he had the trapper on his property and the dogs had no business being there,that the owner had a habit of letting his dogs run anywhere,anytime.So I called in and started asking the owner about it,he wouldn't comment about none of it,the host tried asking and he wouldn't answer to the charges.He did say he had it on good authority from sources within the Dept.that the DNR was going to make changes in the regs,and he was taking full credit for those changes,altho he actually wanted them banned out right.Shortly after we got the rules we have today.And I gave up.

Ttt