The digging of a fresh trap pattern can be counteracted from the beginning. If your dirt from the trap bed has moisture in it and you're going to use it to sift over trap then go with a dirt hole. Put a pile of fresh dirt up by the hole, little pile behind loose jaw, and sift it past the bed a little. Like a disturbance from a rodent doing a little excavating. No real isolated focal point of fresh dirt then because it's spread around. If you're doing a flat set, toss the fresh and go with pre dried dirt over trap.

Good Morning Coyote Crew!

Here is a catch from April first that is right in line with the topic of digging.

This location is guarded by a five trap gang set with about a week soak time. The conditions are super dry powder sand. These five sets have produced nine coyotes.

This older male coyote flipped three out of the five sets, and pulled up the loose jaw on set number four. Notice the two overturned traps in the background. He also upended another set about two hundred yards away.


For the most part I crowd the attractant. This coyote caught on to that and made the most of it.

Once again gang set odds and making adjustments caught up with another problem coyote.

Just wandering has anyone ever tried using cover scent like Dead down wind or scent away sprayed around a set to possibly stop digging.

Good job !

I call it the govmt set, or deversion, the pile of dirt diverts there attention from what really is happening LOL.. Seriously tho , when I'm using waxed dirt i place the excavated dirt in my sifter, then when sets completed I'll place the pile next to the backing with flat sets. Sometimes the pile of fresh dirt is the backing.

Nice description, Gary. I do something similar, once in a while, when in a pasture. I shovel around the trap, flip up the whole sod grass plug leaving dirt and root side up, and use it as a backing for a flat set. Squirt it with urine, rub gland lure on it, or put a piece scat on it. I either use pre dried dirt or waxed dirt over trap depending on the time of the year.

Here is a two part question on digging for the Coyote Crew this Monday morning.

1. What do you do when you have a trap or string of traps dug up and you believe it is not directly related to smell ?

2.. Do you think that coyotes can remember where they have recently dug up traps at individual sets?

I put the trap back where it has been dug up.Then i add one eight to ten inches back.Yes i think they remember.

Never have I ever had a trap dug up. Not even a coon…yet.

Folks who believe a coyote can smell or detect a trap due to its metal properties might want to take a look at this.

I am a firm believer that coyotes can remember exactly where they have dug up a trap.

When you bed back in the same place it was dug up you're asking for trouble.


Here is an unearthed set from a few years ago when I still used a lot of backing.

The trap was was moved back and to the right after being worked


The Dig



The Adjustment



The Response


It appears evident that the coyote could neither smell nor detect anything related to the trap

It dug in the exact same spot where the trap originally was.

Here’s another coyote singing the flat set blues.






Male - Flat Set – MB Fox Urine – JL #1

I started using a home made scent killer. I spray the trap and my gloves before making a set. Never thought about misting the trap bed.

Do be honest I haven't had that problem since I started using the Alpha with a bigger jaw spread that I can bury deeper. And since I went back to boiling in walnut and waxing. When I used gas based dips tho it was maddening.

When I do I just add another flat set variation with a different trap placement with less pan tension.

They remember a lot more than we think they do. Good thing they are curious

Until a coyote has been pinched I don’t think they know what they are digging or that it’s a danger. It is something that either feels or smells different. If they are really that smart why did old tripod go to the happy hunting ground ? He obviously had encountered people and people smells before, being shot once and pinched once he should never have been caught. Tejas left a well bedded and blended trap that had enough coyote smell to make him act like a coyote. Wether he was there out of curiosity ( was his female caught there ) or dominance ( perhaps a male that didn’t belong was caught there ) or maybe Tejas left a smell that (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) him off . I don’t think it matters anymore to Tripod , lol .

I personally don't think that a coyote has to be pinched to know that danger is lurking. Some learn by association quick, while others don't. They have witnessed what has happened to others and catch on. I personally don't have many issues with digging 99% of the time. But once in awhile when trapping a particular area for prolonged periods, such as Tejas, you will see that one has figured out the game without having a close encounter. For example, I'll catch 4 or 5 coyotes in a section( 640 acres) and not have any tripped traps or digging prior to that. Then the one that has survived seems to avoid the sets for a little while, but then starts to approach remakes and fresh sets with caution pawing or digging to possibly expose the danger others have fell victim too. But change things up and time will prevail. Sooner or later, depending on changing circumstances such as; hunger, greed, breeding, or being territorial, their instinctive behavior will over ride a good sense of judgement.

Good post silky, I agree and then break out my bag of tricks. Two trap sets, post hole set, but for me gang setting locations that are known travel ways and...catch locations work best just as Tejas has shown.
One ‘possum in the bag that I bring out in these situations is Charlie Dobbins’ 10 second set. If I gang set say six traps at at a good location I will not use an attractor at one. So five are baited or lured or urined up
one is not. Think flat sets here. As the catch circles begin to wind down and I see I have new arrival now that 10 second set is put to work. I like a shot of urine or a gland lure and urine mix. Patience is a virtual when coyote trapping. Too bad gas prices make that a losing proposition today.
Hope this helps some coyote trapper.

Silky I would agree that maybe you will have a coyote from time to time that is more skittish than others. The fact that In these pages and on my line you see pictures of doubles , triples and more on a regular basis says the majority don’t catch on too quickly. I will say that numbers in my opinion makes for competition and competition makes for fewer skittish coyotes.

I don't believe that the wariness of any one or group of coyotes is determined by the density in that area.

Pressure creates education. That education puts a coyote’s wariness on point. His nose is the lie detector.

If you put enough pressure on any group of you will eventually have problems.

A good coyote density does not guarantee multiple gang set catches on pressured ground.

All you have to do to test that statement is lay down a few dozen of those tired hole sets and your line will look like a weekday yard sale.

They catch on to repeated patterns extremely quick. That goes for visual and olfactory.

Try catching a group of pressured coyotes with one set/look and one attractant and you will see what I mean.

Many of the veterans don’t catch on because I try to constantly keep them guessing, not because they ride the short bus.

Golf, I've found that a coyote doesn’t have to be pinched to know something is up. They will dig for many other reasons besides the two mentioned.

It becomes a game to unearth traps. I think they go on fishing expeditions just for something to do at times.

When residents start disappearing and catch circles start popping up like mushrooms they know something is amiss.


Old Tripod was smart enough to stay alive in a place where hundreds of coyotes were caught and he managed to survive the minefield.

He had to make the right move every single time. I only had to make the right counter move once.

He was caught at a flat set that was 180° from the normal look and tailored to his usual approach. The set was in an area far removed from the majority of the trapping pressure.

The odds usually catch up to even the wariest of coyotes.

I really appreciate those who have taken the time to share their thoughts and insight on this thread.

There has been some good coyote conversation in these pages thanks to those who have stood up and participated.

Hopefully a few more coyote killers will weigh in before it’s all said and done.