^^This

I like your set #4 due to how well you blended it in with the surrounding.

Not that you can’t catch them in a big blown out dirthole, but I’ve also had better luck with them blended in.

As you read other posts and mine think about what they say. #1 everyone including me said: blend your sets better.I have tried to emphasize this in other posts but I will try again.

If you have something digging at your set they found it. So that means something is not clean or trap is not bedded properly. Take that set up and change location. You have told whatever it was you are there. They will be more cautious.

for coyote you are setting to close to the object you are using to pull them in.

the first photo = a flat set good location for a DIRT HOLE

don't over lure or put to much urine on a set. Use one type of lure and urine to start with at a location and sets. Because once they are aware of you being there and you do not catch them then they may never go to your sets again in that area. Some sets need just urine like a pee post. Dirt holes do not always need urine.

I will analyze your locations closer as time allows.

Looks like a fox dug at you set. Certain parts of your area look more foxy than a coyote area. I always use fox glad lure in a fox area and not coyote lure or urine. They do not like each other and fox being the smaller of the two will avoid coyote areas. You can use fox urine and lure in a coyote area but not vice versus.

looking at you truck box are there coyote and fox traps in there? If they are they should be all cleaned and put in a sealed tub or bucket. All you clean setting tools should be keep clean and sealed also.

I thought I blended them well enough but I'll try to get some of that duff and stuff on them to blend them better. I may switch up to fox urine anyway since it seems not to freeze as easily. Yes there are coyote and fox traps in there, but I have also seen other guys do the same so I figured it was okay since I don't have a sealed container or anything. All of my setting tools are in the tool bag style deal and that's also something that I've watched guys use readily.

Well, I decided to check the line early today since I would like to not go out in a snowstorm just to check traps. I didn't have anything in the traps except for 2 rats in the same colony trap as yesterday. Those will be getting put up tomorrow, up to 18 rats for the year. It's been a little slow but the ice has been iffy, it's supposed to get cold later this week so I'm going to start busting huts in an attempt to lessen the load this spring.

Nice rats! Man what time did you check traps? Posted 2 hrs ago puts you home at 4 AM we can't check until 5 AM to 10 PM.

The ? you have to ask yourself is am I catching the target animals ? If not, then why not. I have provided some answers. If you choose to listen, that is up to you. Just trying to help out. Tight chains.

I started checking at noon and was done by 3 pm or so. I just posted late for some unknown reason. Those were some well furred out rats but pretty small, I did catch a couple of large ones today though.

The thing is that I don't even know if the target animal is there or not to catch. I appreciate the help.

I checked traps today and oh boy did that rain make a mess of the line. The top 3-4" of ground was greasy. I went through a crossing not even thinking about the rain and got stuck coming out of it, called my dad and he just gunned it out of there and got me unstuck. I was too scared of burying it so I tried not to spin the tires. But then we were hanging out there for a few minutes and then the truck randomly died and wouldn't start again. So we finished out the first half of the line with my red truck and not the ranger. I did get 2 very large rats but I forgot to take a picture of them not skinned I'll get a picture tomorrow of them. So we went back to the ranger again and tried to get it going but ended up having to tow it home, got it home and I moved my gear to my red truck. I checked the traps up north and had nothing in them, they'll probably have to be pulled here soon since the snow will make them inaccessible. Other than that, it wasn't a bad day overall, all of our ice has 2-3" of water on it so that's not too good but oh well what do you do?

I pulled the traps today, I had to walk about 1 mile to pull half of them, but it wasn't too bad. It's super greasy and slimy here still. I had to run back to the house to grab my waders since the ice was weird I thought but it ended up just being the top 3" of it with the slush from the rain. So I could have checked them in boots but better safe than sorry. I did get 1 rat today though, but not a bad sized one either. I already got him put up and drying, up to 21 for the year. I'm hoping to bust huts yet. A guy could put out a dozen floats right now if it didn't freeze at night, saw lots of rats on edge ice today. I also found 2 beaver lodges but they're on property I can't get permission on.

Nice rat! I caught a few last season, but we don't have many here. I enjoyed processing them!

Thank you! I love the dark color of the ones I've been catching out of this irrigation ditch type of water. I love processing them, I can't wait for this spring when I do 40 of them at a time instead of 1s or 2s.

I forgot to post yesterday but here it is. I got 2 beaver sets out yesterday on a local lake about 15 miles away. Good beaver activity, I think there's only 1 or 2 left since people had been shooting them earlier this year in the summertime. I just baited the 2 330s with some red sticks of some sort scraped to show the bright green underneath. They have a good sized feed pile so I might bring some snares with me tomorrow. I also found weasel tracks nearby so I'm going to bring some boxes with me to set along the way and by the tracks. I'm going to be getting some coyote sets out soon hopefully and I just bought a 5 lb mattock to help me dig in trap beds since the ground is a bit unforgiving. Anyway, here's the picture I got of one of my sets. I couldn't get an H stand stuck in so I just improvised.