Greeting from middle of the mitten. I set out coyote traps two years ago and caught 8 red and a grey many possum, coon, deer, Tom turkey and skunk. I caught fox on first night traps were out so I'm confident scent and trap prep is ok. Now I can't catch anything but house cats coon deer and skunk. I have fox and yotes walk right by traps and show no interest. Weather was bad and I ran out of dry sand. I went to pipe dream and now nothing. One thing I know I did wrong is use same bait at almost all sets. I tried tainted cat. Then some really stinky tainted cotton tail. My yote scents are 2yrs old as is urine. I vented off ammonia smell but nothing. Do yotes like fresh bait over stuff to roll in? Also I put sets next to 2 track that I drive to ck traps. Is that a problem? I can pull up pipes to change bait and scents. I changed telling people I was trapping yotes to trapping everything but yotes. Thanks. PS weather has been 30,s highs and 20,s lows lately.

I can think of several things to do but my opinion may not have as much meaning for you as what you’ll get from Michigan guys. Look up Mousey Trapper. He’s a Michigan guy and his posts have steered me toward things I’d never considered.

General recommendations that can work anywhere:

1. Set near coyote tracks. Location location location.
2. If you’ve caught fox before, it means (to me) that you should set back a few more inches. Fox work close but coyote traps do better if the pan is back 10-12 (or more) inches from the attractor.
3. Use just a couple drops of urine at one set and 1/2-3/4 of an ounce at another set 10-20 away. Sometimes subtle is better. Other times it’s not
4. If using pipe dream set up, only have 1 1/2 to 2 inches sticking out of the ground and angled towards trap. Any bait is fine. You want them shuffling their feet as they try to pull that pipe out of the ground.
5. You might want to try the compass set. Bury trap and then north south east and west of it put in 4 different smells (bait, urine, bacon grease, jack Mack or fish oil). Again, you’re looking for foot traffic.
6. Have patience. Coyotes aren’t there every night. I’ve caught coyotes 1 day after setting (surprised the heck out of me) and up to 3 weeks after setting. I kept driving past it thinking I’d pull it when I pulled the rest of the area. A reset there got another one several days later. Go figure!
7. Get off the deer trails!

Thanks Teacher; I'm not getting them to come in. Too many deer on property. They might tear up set even if they don't spring trap. Does old sent and urine hurt? I still struggle getting screen flat on pan too.

Just to spitball a few ideas: Try some subtle sets with some gland lure and urine only, like a post set or simple flat set. Canines whee you are located may have already been exposed to a lot of dirthole sets this time of year, seen their buddies get caught with some strange smells coming out of a hole (so associate it as bad), so as Teacher said sublet sets might be better. Your urine should be fine, as long as it was good when you bought it. Make sure your sets are on the upwind side of their travel way.

Blind sets on that 2 track you drive on.
Simple fast and effective
Set right in your tire tracks, and check from a distance
Good luck

Check your mail box

Is this thread for real?

I’ve gotten away from using urine. But the guy trying for 1,000 coyotes this year (Bob Waddell) has been kicking butt with urine, so what do I know!

Most bottles of scent I use are 1-3 years old. They still usually work.

Put pan covers on so they go under the jaws but over the pans. It doesn’t hurt to put a rubber band from the jaw tips across the pan to the other jaw tips. This holds it down in the center.

putting some dirt on the cover over the pan first, helps hold it down too

Curiosity lure, urine, and gland works best this time of year. Keep set subtle, blended flat sets and blind sets. The yotes that are still alive are very guarded . Don't know about up your way but populations are down here witch in turn makes coyotes less greedy. Breeding just makes it worse.