In all cases, after a catch, I reset my trap. I also add a trap about 6-10 feet away. This is nothing new and trappers have been doing it since Moses was a Master Sergeant. Here’s a picture of an example I just took. There’s actually a catch behind me for a total of four circles.

Sometimes the ground is badly torn up and you have to construct backing or make a rock structure. If there’s enough debris, a trash mound set is often effective.

I have several of these a year but never took a picture. Sometimes there will be 8-10 circles.

Do you ever reset a trap after a skunk catch? I often wonder if it would work.

I like a deep step down dirt hole (10" deep at hole end 6" at trap end) for a remake. No backing or blocking needed. But not all ground or weather is conducive for them.

If I see sign that tells me there's more than one other coyote, I'll make 2 fresh sets. I've had spots that had 10 circles within 30 yards. Must be them aliens crop circles LOL... Most of the remakes are trash mounds or just droppings from the trapped yote. No backing. The fresh sets are all flat sets with various lures or just urine. It's strange how in one section they'll work a remake but next section north it isn't happening.

I put in to start 2 to 4 or more sets per location my thinking here is save time making a new set after the remake is put back.
Sometimes I catch all 4 sets at once but not normal.
But my theory is to have new set already there.

If there Is lots of trash at the set I try to pile up the trash and make It a walk through type set.

If a skunk has been caught I just re set that same trap. The whole set smells like skunk so a skunked trap Isn't a problem.

Remakes rock. Caught a ton of coyotes on remakes over the years.

This set caught 5 skunks, 5 red fox and a bobcat

100%, Tim. Nothing stinks of food more than a skunk. Even if a coyote wants to come investigate what happened.
I like these also if I can dig with a mattoc. That ground there is harder than woodpecker lips.
It’s strange, Gary. I can catch in remakes all day long in some places but not this spot behind the house. If you drive up there I bet there’s 40 or more circles from the last 3 years.
I never let them go to waste!
Ken, anymore, I typically put 5 or 6 sets in at a location. Between porcupines, trash pandas, and cows and deer, it’s worth it to me. Can’t catch triples with one or two.

x2 especially with coon, opossum, and fox in the mix, but more traps after coyote catches never hurts. It's different here in the east Red, with gang sets one set gets the most attention and it's not always the first one they come too. Especially now with low populations of all species present. It's getting to where I'll pull the set that caught and move that trap to the edge. And add another 30 feet away upwind if there's not one there already. That's about the distance they seem to stall.

Awesome thread John, some great trappers contributing...

I should add one thing. To me, this is where it becomes important to document what lure you use at each set. Some sets never get touched in some places and you’ll never know why. But you should know to not use that lure in that area for a spell. But I also keep a variety of smells at the different sets. If a store only had onions, I’d never go in. But there are people who would go in that God forsaken store daily.

This snowfall made me remember something about remakes. While remake or catch circle avoidance can certainly be an overload of the smells issue, it’s also a visual issue. After snow falls, sometimes those remakes pick back up like they have here. The circle is no longer seen because of the snow.

Good post John!
I’ll add a tip that may help others...I used to add another trap just outside the catch circle a la J. Lucero and C. Dobbins but if a catch was made it sometimes resulted in the trap that originally made the catch and the new trap getting tangled. Now I will just add a piece of chain to the original trap and make that new set just outside the catch circle. The length of new chain depends on how long your original chain rig is.
Open the J hook add your additional chain and go.
Hope this helps....good luck.

Interesting responses.
I always pull the trap. Next I make a new fresh subtle set with a clean trap about 6-8 feet away from the circle. That keeps my tools from getting contaminated with bait and lure. Also prevents digging and circle shy animals. Also prevents contaminating subsequent sets.
No problem catching animals at the new set next to the circle.

Mchewk - it has been bad juju for me to reuse j hooks using a proper tool. Plus I have had problems from local folks allowing Fido the Pit Bull to wander so I don’t tempt fate. What are you using to open and close them? What type of S hook?

The most important thing here anyway with remakes to produce is to have no bumps in the circle. The only bump is where the trap is. Longer chains help a bunch with that. This year I decided at coyote remakes I'd pull the trap and use it just outside the circle with a clump. 3 locations now with connected circles. Seems red fox remakes gets coyotes more aggressive. Racoon also. Another thing that seems to help is to use a loud type of curiosity smell at remakes.

My best is 5 coyotes from the same set south of the river, north of the river it has been 3 coyotes from the same set (same trap, circle, etc.). My experience: density of predators, food availability, the animal's past experience and his health condition, has a lot to do with a remakes success. Deer gut piles, deer carcass waste dumping, bone yards etc. get visited by opossums, coons, skunks, fox, mink, hawks, eagles, owls etc., etc. I doubt if a coyote can distinguish which (other visitor) animal died there if little/none of their blood and/or parts are present. Coyotes DO seem to know the difference between a visit from a competitor and a prey species from what I have seen. Not to be outdone by MChewk's tip, I am pretty deadly (LOL) with a leaf rake after a catch and can turn a 5' catch circle into a 12' scratch line, so if they are shy, this dilutes the concentrated area scent(s) and seems to give me a better chance with the remake............... my take.................... the mike

I like that idea Wife but then I love setting on soybean chaff fields and raking up those piles for remake backings like MNEric showed.
Also back in the early 2000s when we had an influx of coyotes, catching coyotes back INSIDE the catch circle was fairly common. Now it is hit or miss. It seemed that if you caught the adult female first you were money at catching more inside the circle.
Willy I like the way you think and I follow your way methods....I replace the j hook if I open one up.
No s-hooks for me would rather use a quick link and tighten up with pliers.

They say if you ask 5 trappers a question you’ll get 5 answers - and they could all be correct.

Sometimes I come across a trap that for whatever reason made it though the preseason maintenance but shouldn’t have. I’ll drive a stake in and find the trap won’t stay set (this happened yesterday). I’ll open a j-hook once and reuse it. There are those animals who want nothing more than to go in that circle. I always pull the chain tight toward the circle edge and reset it. A new trap goes nearby.

I agree with Gary, flattening out that pattern should be done to an extent. I have a trap that sits on the edge of a shale ridge. The stuff won’t freeze and I don’t need a softer there. Several days ago I caught maybe coyote number 10 or 12 there in the last 3 years. When you first arrive it looks like a badger dig it up. I just kick the stuff back around the “moat” and reset.

Scent is a whole ballgame in itself. I don’t blame anyone for getting neurotic about scent because it’s talked about nonstop. I generally don’t worry about it. I get I’m up in that circle on my knees and tools. I often lure with the same gloves I set with and handle animals with. My traps are in open wooden crates in my shop and I have two cats in there to kill any would-be mice. They hide behind the traps. When I pull my truck in (a diesel) I suspect scent may get on them. I don’t boil or clean new chain stakes before using them.

Maybe if I did worry about these things I’d have 200 coyotes right now. But the tracks in the snow don’t tell me that. And I don’t have diggers. I think when you do your part on location, types of attractants for the time of year, and bed properly, coyotes are going to die.

Same here with the J hook on canine sets. I do not reuse them if I open them up. I do keep them and use them on DPs or small critter water sets only.

And any time I use an S hook, it gets welded.

My favorite way to deal with good locations is to use a pre-hooked drag where possible. Hook it up away from the trap bed and in cover if possible. The catch will head to the cover and
usually will not create a circle at the trap site and I can put the trap back in the same bed and it is ready to go again. If the location is out in the open, using a clog to attach the drag has the same effect.

I had a location last year where I caught 7 coyotes and several coon and possums in the same trap in the same trap bed. The sapling I hooked the drag to got pretty chewed up but the trap bed was still useable when the season ended.

Ahhh, Harold, I love that about drags. Slide wires are another fantastic tool which I haven’t used in a few years.