Tejas you are right on all accounts. It still amazes me how many yote tracks are ankle deep out in that mud. We have less fencerows every year. Excellent set locations when you can find them. In the wide open mud any little pocket of brush gets investigated and if you can get a set in it’s usually worth it.

My favorite locations if I can get to them and there is enough stable ground to force in a set are corner posts. I never incorporate the post into the set it’s just a feature that it’s easy to get the yotes to investigate.

One thing I think a lot of guys over look are elevation changes in wide open flat ground. To the left of this pic is a road. A yote in the grass is easily seen from the road. That is a dangerous thing for him to do in my country. I would have much rather caught him in the grass but all the sign was over the lip of the two track. Those sets outperformed sets up in the grass 8 to 1 in this location. 1.5’ of elevation is enough to hide a yote and they know it. They can be almost invisible in corn stubble with a little drop or rise in the field.

Elevation killed them here. 7 yotes in this set over about three weeks.



Elevation and a post. Gold!

You got it yoteguts, especially on prairie and flat ground with some highways nearby. It can make a big difference in an animals acceptance and preference as to where they will commit more readily to a set offering. I most always consider that factor in my set locations unless other sign shows differently and the wind is good primarily.

Good Stuff YG!

Open areas spell death for coyotes here as well, even though there is not much of it here.

Cover of any kind no matter how small means security to a coyote. Their life depends on it.

What you mentioned can be applied to any location with open areas where they are forced to travel.

In your case the low areas and strips are the main travel corridors. Any structure added to that feature is a neon sign in an otherwise bleak landscape.

Good stuff YG, very similar here with the plowing and mud. Coners points are magic, and grass is a big plus. It doesn't take much for mouse colonies.
It's not that the dirt holes aren't effective it's a time value added thing for me. Flat sets are faster to make than dirt holes! If I can save minutes per set then by the end of the day I've saved hours to set more locations. Thus time value added.

Yes sir give them something to pee on...

It is the most common response for all canines...

I agree. I catch far more in low secluded travel ways than high spots. The old timers here always preached high spots. We had mainly fox then and to many guys were looking at yotes with a fox trappers mentality. I was very guilty of this. Have the destroyed traps to prove it. Lol
Awwww wind direction. I hate that topic. Our wind direction changes so much it will drive you crazy. Wide open areas I use at least one primary set with eye appeal to combat bad wind direction. This is where big hole sets come in to play for me. A yote can see that new dirt from a long ways off when the wind is wrong. If he is a hard charger and gets caught in the eye appeal set that is great. If not he circles down wind and finds my more subtle sets. When on a new location I find here large adult males are almost always the first caught. Usually in a flat set especially if it has rained that night. Which it usually does. Lol.

About the best it gets on my line. Low travel way and a Y waterway. 24 yotes died here. 21 within 100 yards. A highway is within 200 yards. They can do whatever they want undirected here and pop out to cross the highway.
Curiosity may have killed the cat but elevation and safety zones kill the yotes here where everyone is trying to kill them 24/7.

I took my personal best numbers from one location on low grass drainages in open plowed locations. Especially if there's a bit of erosion in the mix. I look for high lows for the set itself. Those pics are worth a thousand words.

One of the things I have noticed in Tejas’ pictures is the game trails and two tracks full of coyote tracks. I saw the same thing in Kansas last January but it was two tracks and old cattle trails . That’s in my opinion our biggest disadvantage in farm country, when we find good sign it is typically spread out 6’ to 8’ wide in the mud. The farm lanes in my country are usually solid grass and like Rob said when you get an elevation change you will find sign on either side. I set on the north side as we have a lot of south west wind even in winter but like Rob said you can’t count on it. Having said that once my first set is in ( dirt hole ) I may only move 20’ down the lane and put in a pipe or another dirt hole or trash mound. Then I will come back to the south side just off the grass and put in a third set in between the first two sets. But like Rob said alway off the grass. I’ve had lanes with no elevation change the length of the field and then I set the grass.
This coyote was the third one from the end of a farm lane just before a railroad crossing. The second coyote muddied up this spot pretty good and I could not hide the pipe any more without transplanting a new clump of sod. I had nearly given up on this spot when it snowed a couple inches and that seems to be just the ticket sometimes.

This brings us to the DDH Set.

The double hole set was by far my top producer when compared to all the other dirt hole variations.

Other sets weren’t even close when it came to the catch numbers and foot traffic the double generated.

If I had to use one hole set this is what I would go with.


The 1½” punch holes are around four inches apart and ten to twelve inches deep.

The pan is centered eight inches out from the holes forming a triangle

Nice looking sets Tejas. How many would you put in on a road like you pictured?

Good looking sets coyotes are going to died.

MC, it depends on several factors like coyote traffic, cross trails, and how much pressure has been put on the coyotes at that point and time.

When I road set for early season coyotes going from “A to B” I like to set doubles along the two track at specific locations. Sometimes I guard both sides of the road hedging my bet in case of a wind change, and other times I stick solely to the predominant upwind side. A well-used road might have ten to twelve sets in a mile stretch. Once the numbers have been whittled down, single sets are spread over a larger area to cast a wider net.

I've found that setting too heavy along a busy two track can spook or bump a lot of coyotes. That applies to both the visual and olfactory side of things.

Thanks, we think alike in some ways.
Good luck.

Some folks prefer dirt hole sets because they tend to generate more foot traffic than the average presentation.

Here are a few photos illustrating its effectiveness when you show a coyote what it really wants to get at.

There were no sets made at this location. If I were to set something like this I would stay well away from the hole to avoid a trap and coyote covered in an oil slick.

This is a three inch hole filled with fresh grease from frying up some chicken.

I didn’t use the colonel’s eleven secret herbs and spices, but I don’t think it really mattered to the coyotes.


I like to call this set The Grease Trap.




Fast food joints always do well at busy intersections.




If you are a fan of coyotes digging at sets you’ll get your money's worth with one.




The trenches were deep enough to hide a coyote from ground level.


The coyotes that did this paid their bill in full at several sets just a short distance away.

Nice! They will eat or try to eat grease of any sorts around here...Kentucky Fried or not.