I heard this from an elderly woodsman yesterday. he said he sets a normal foothold set for coyote and then scatters bait (chicken, rotten/ freezer burned/freshly killed) in about a 3 foot diameter area. he said they just tromp around and eventual step on the trap. He is a very practical no nonsense type of guy. he said the only trapping supplies he owns is the trap. he used a bent rebar to hold down. no lure, no scent control, nothing. he said he just throws a little hay on top. he did say he pushes the trap in hard to the ground.he said he just puts them on a woodline by his fields. I asked him if he ever skinned them and he said "what for?" and laughed.
has anyone tried this?

Just a variant of the hay sets you see.

Check laws before trying something like that, some states don't allow uncovered flesh bait.

I’ve used it as a type of hay set. I bed and cover trap. I’ve used shrimp for bait

do you only cover the trap with hay? or do you cover the bait too?

I never put bait directly on or over the trap. Ever. I want to catch their paw, not their nose. I bed the trap, cover it with soil/moss/clippings/leaves or whatever I have then toss the small pieces of bait around say 10” away from the pan. It wouldn’t hurt it to lightly cover the bait if preferred.

As stated before a lot of states have a law against open bait within so many feet of the trap . A lot of states have old woodsman that are full of beans and never caught more than one dumb coyote in they’re life !

I occasionally use a cast bait when snaring,in conjunction with a jackpot bait.It gets the animals searching around and they will get in one of your snares.Works good for wolf.
A good castbait is made by chopping up some beaver tails into 1 inch chunks,I like to half fill a 5 gal pail.Line the pail with a black plastic garbage bag put in the chopped up tails in and tie the bag.
Leave in a heated garage for a week to 10 days.it will take on a powerful smell.Then lay the bag out flat to freeze outside(so they dont freeze into a big chunk),then they can be stored in the shed until you are ready to use.

...in a set like this, covering the bait would probably be best. Coyotes will smell it and spend a little more time digging around for the pieces. Will also help with theft by birds, etc

Will also help minimize the chances of birds.

I've done similar. I usually run a handful of footholds at a bait site and they're located under trees that will stay more or less snow free all season. I ty to locate the jackpot bait in the center, but wolves will often approach and keep revisiting in a way you didn't plan for. Scattering some bait like Boco describes can get them to hunt around. I've caught a handful this way.

Edit: Be sure you know your exposed bait rules. Distances I'm talking here are a long ways from that. I'm typically setting 40-200 yards from bait then scattering in the direction of the traps - not near them. Just to get them travelling a different route.