Anywhere pigs are being eaten especially in the day time in South Texas has a VERY high density of coyotes

I agree. I dont know much about a TX coyote but I do know that when you see em in high numbers in daytime then you have a lot of coyotes.

What's the old saying I believe Slim P. came up with..."Never say never and never say always" when dealing coyotes.

This also makes one think about bait piles?? What about the ones that you dont see? I dont pass up dead cows or bait piles. BUT anyone that puts up a camera and thinks he is getting ALL or most of the pics on his property and~or his neighbors ? I have been told od people that think = that constantly setting a camera on the bait site give them a complete inventory of all coyotes = their and the ones they pull in as well. I dont believe that. I also dont believe you can have 4 or 5000 acres and greatly pull aniamals of 100000 acres around you with a bait pile. It may help. But is not a cure all for not setting everything you can.

Spot on info^^^

Coyotes are similar to other wildlife. They have a home range, albeit sometimes large, that they use regularly, but they have NO IDEA what is outside their range and unless they've been there b4 the entire neighboring coyotes ain't coming over to search for a carcass.

Yeah, yeah...I know they hear vocalizations of far off coyotes and likely travel into new territory to investigate, but a dozen won't come at once. If you see many coyotes you can belive they were always there, maybe only occasionally, but they were there the entire time. You DID NOT have that property "trapped out" of coyotes.

Steeltraps has the right idea

I have noticed on my place over the years that both with dead cows or dead sheep it seems to make a difference if they had a fever before they died. If they have had a fever for very long before they died the buzzards won't even touch them.

I find this very interesting as I noticed the same thing with deer for the first time this year. One property I dump a fair amount of cleaned deer. Generally, if I’m processing for someone else, the guts will still be in it. I dropped two or three deer and a pig in this place the first couple weeks of rifle season. All decimated and dragged away within a day or two. Then I added another one and it sat for weeks untouched. May still be there, I haven’t checked recently. Another place that I have routinely dumped carcasses before got a possum, some chicken parts, a deer, and a coon all at the same time. I checked it after a couple weeks and the only thing removed from the pile or eaten was the possum

It might be interesting to see if the activity at the carcass picks as we get further away form deer season. Fair number of bucks rut themselves to death (or nearly to it) making them a easy fresh food source. Also right now with rifle season in full swing there are plenty of gut piles being dropped and such.

Anecdotally, I have noticed my coyote success dips during and immediately following rifle season here. I have always figured its two things... 1) LOT more easy, fresh food on the ground (gut piles, wounded deer, carcasses, etc.) and 2) LOT more disturbance. Overall, I think some people get a little carried away with scent control, esp. in landscapes like Kansas where a coyote certainly smells human scent regularly. However, I will say there is a big difference between "rancher checking cows, scent at the gate" and ".30-06 wizzed past by head, hammer down out of here" scent.

Same experiences here as you all have with a dead one. KS Wildman, No need for me to set a coyote trap here UNTIL 2-3 weeks after deer season. I can't compete with my baited foot trap vs. a deer gut pile but I suspect many guys can. I wait until about Dec. 1 to start so easy digging is out of the question here and I resort to motors, mechanical devices and waxed dirt as my crutch to snag a few with a foot trap. When you guys get this figured out (and I am still recycling baked potatoes and steak) let me know. ............................ the mike

IF I Say = IF it stops raining here in Alabama long enough. While im home for a week or 2. I have to catch 1 or 2 coyotes that have been seen on a neighbor cow pasture. Only 1 dead cow. Died a few days ago. I was always taught too. Wait till the coyotes start eating on the dead cow beforw you set traps. What about you guys? I know sometimes In places like = Kanas or South Texas. IF you dont set traps when you find kill. It may get eaten quickly. I have set traps after mowing a cow. Right then. So what do yall do ?

I don't think its a bad idea to set them regardless. I trapped a small farm a couple weeks ago with two dead cows on it. One had been sitting a little bit and was being eaten, the other was only a couple days old and had not been touched. I caught 8 coyotes on that farm and only 1 of them was caught by the dead cows. I set three traps around the cows cause I figured it would be a hot spot, it really wasn't

The farmer also has guineas and chickens up by his house that are free ranging. Also lots of fallen down old sheds/junk up there with tons of rabbits. There's a road that crosses the creek and goes up to his house. I caught 5 along that road. Seems to me like the coyotes would rather go kill a live chicken or rabbit than eat a dead cow, at least that was the case on that farm. Be interesting to go back towards the end of this season and see if the one cow has been eaten any

I don't have cows to set near but I do have deer carcasses that I set up. What I found out Is if I set In the brush near a carcass I have very little luck. But If lets say the deer carcass Is In the brush and my sets are at least 10 yards or so out In open ground I have a lot better luck when setting foot holds. Seems to me the coyote is less wary when he Is out In the open.

But I have placed deer carcasses and never had a coyote even get close to them let alone eat them. But kill a deer and not retrieve It till the next day and 95% of the time coyotes will be all over It.

So what I’ve learned is coyotes will do whatever they want, when they want, and how they want to do it, and where they want.
So what works at your place may not work at mine and vice versa.
Best thing to do is set and learn.
But the one constant I’m reading is coyotes are caught more in the open where they can see vs deep in cover. Think that would apply everywhere. I can think of a quite a few sets I screwed up by thinking they wanted cover or a lot of cover. Even the backing was probably too much.

YES, baits in the open, will out produced baits in thick cover. Coyotes/wolves want to see, both approaching and while they're on it, if there’s danger from other predators, thus the best sites are in the open and ringed by heavy cover to hang snares in.

When I place carcasses when snaring I place them out In the open then hang the cable where they leave or enter the near by cover.

We have had cows that died that the buzzards didn’t touch. But an armadillo road kill? 3 dozen will fight over it and ignore traffic.

That and a possum!

Very interesting. I trap for and work part time for a cow calf operation here in Wyoming. The calves are normally weaned in early to mid November at 5 to 600 pounds. Out of around 1000 (more or less) calves it's normal to loose 10 to 15 in the 1st month or so.
They are turned loose in a large pasture and have access to hundreds of acres of sage brush/grease wood country. The cowboys ride through them a cple times per week and doctor as needed. They mark the doctored calves with paint. It's always interesting watching the reaction of coyotes by their tracks in the snow on a doctored calf vs a natural death calf. Seems like once a doctored calf is on the dead pile and the eagles and magpies are on it hard the coyotes eventually dig in too, but sometimes that can take a long time.
I have 4 separate dead piles placed strategically for snipping coyotes. I can mess up a good dead pile placing a doctored calf in the wrong place. Ive experimented with paint on a natural death calf to see if the paint is the problem, it's not.
I've always wondered if those who use horse meat for bait make sure they use an undoctored horse.

Steeltraps, you have the mud - or dust - on the boots experience my friend and it's fun tagging along on your ride alongs.
I haven't caught a coyote in 4 days (and we have some still with us here on this 1700 acre ranch), ever since the helicopter gunners shot two and buzzed this place for 3.5 hours. There's a dead deer (locked in battle and died) and a dead Aoudad laying out in the panhandle prairie and narry a peep. Ranch hands shot some ducks and tossed the entrails out in a pile. Pigs shot and killed by the helicopter dudes. NONE of it touched in 4 days and I've seen 3 sets of tracks where I think the coyotes are moving only a few hundred yards at most.
AND I know, they know, I'm here. The chess game is on!
Love it.
My move. Their move. My move. Their move.
Steeltraps, you know the drill brother!

Blessings,
Mark