Will leaving a trap on the ground uncovered for a long period of time make a coyote trap shy? I haven't been able to trap for the last 2-3 weeks so I left my traps set off but still set off. Yesterday I went to dig them out of the snow and to check my cameras. 6 out of my 13 traps were dug up by coyotes... will this make them trap shy or will they come back to it?

They very well could of came to investigate the set dug up the set off trap and marked it with there urine. So may end up with a lot of dug up traps if you reset them with there marking on them.

Leave the dug up trap in place and bed another one beside it.

The likely did not dig up the trap itself but dug at the lure smell.

Coyotes don't know what a trap is, to them its just a piece of rusty metal in the ground. I say reset and remake the sets

This

Ok hopefully this is the case! I think I will do this!

X4^

YES ^^^^. A trap left. Sitting on ground or sprung IS NOT natural. Sure its just a peice of metal. Coyotes pee on it and look at it. May even touch it with foot or nose. But Now = suspicions are up. WHY would you want to have a coyote on alert?? You will catch coyotes BUT you will also educate some coyotes

I'd just set em if they were mine, mist urine on the backing and move on. Nothing threw dirt in their faces nothing jumped up. They dug em up cause they moved when stepped on and being a k9 they figured another k9 buried food there. If the trap had snapped up and spooked them I'd make a urine post or flat set fully blended very near by.