How many out of ten that smell your set do you think you actually catch?
I know when it snows while I got trap sets it can be humbling and i doubt i only have walk bys when it snows. I also saw on a guys YouTube channel south of me where it doesn't snow very often where he had got snow and had something something like 5 or 6 coyotes and maybe a cat or two come up to his sets and not commit to the set. This was in the middle of his trapping season and he was averaging pretty close to a coyote a day. I remember someone one a few years ago that trapped in snow say if you caught 1 out 5 you were doing OK. Pretty easy to think you catch most of them if you don't have conditions for reading sign. I also see some guys think if they miss one the next one they catch was the same one they missed. Probably happens sometimes but I'd guess the majority of the time it's a different coyote. No way to prove it one way or the other. But from my experience watching coyotes work sets on camera their intrest is usually highest the first time they smell it and it falls fast after that. I normally only set an area for about a week and in that week I'd guess I'm catching 6 to 8 out of 10..... kind of a guess because it's sometimes difficult to see sign in our ground. Past a week I'm probably missing that many out of ten because the ones that are left are probably on to me. Just some food for chatter while we wait on season to get here.

I feel I do miss more during the month of February than I do from mid April on into the summer due to the fact the coyotes are traveling and making bigger loops during the rut. This also could be due to the fact that I use more bait than lure earlier in the year.

I caught a coyote a couple winters back, had fresh snow that night. Seeing where she came from decided to back track her. She had went by five other sets that were scattered over 200 acres. Humbling indeed.

I’ve had six coyotes pull out right in front of me (or the rancher ) in the last five years.

I’ve caught five of those coyotes back in anywhere from two weeks to three months. One was eight miles from where she was originally caught.

Pay attention. Change with the seasons. And don’t be afraid to change up what you’re doing.

Dirt holes don’t get em all.

Y’all got a serious population of coyotes, lol. I can only think of one time I’ve even seen two on camera and it was after a possum had already clogged up the set.
Put another set in and remade the possum set and had a double 4 nights later. Only reason I remember it was it was my first coyote catch on a Full Moon and a double.
I’ve had a coyote come through 3 nights in a row and walked the road and never broke stride the first 2 nights. That 3rd night it made a beeline for the dirthole and stepped right on the pan.
I run a lot of cameras and have had a set get a visit after a week and then get caught on week 4 with nothing done to the set other than a drive by if I thought a deer might have tripped it from pics off the camera.
I can’t see sign down here so all I have to go with is what the cameras show me.
But I don’t think I have that many passes mainly because we don’t have that many coyotes. I wouldn’t know what to do with coyotes coming by every night. I’d sure like to try it though.

Mr. Boone I am interested what did you do different to pick the coyotes back up. Different. Baits, lures, sets?

Boone your results don't count compared to us part timers. Lol
Pretty intresting what you posted though.
What percentage do u think u catch at come within 3 foot of your set and smell it.

It seems like you might have more coyotes than you think if your trapping them and calling them in regularly. If you just went off my deer cameras around here you wouldn't think we have that many coyotes. I can run 8 to 10 deer cameras for 3 months and maybe get less than 30 pics of coyotes. Later in season coyotes will move more into deer habitat being forced to hunt rabbits more as other food supplies dry up.

Yes, just change things up.

Even locations. We get pretty habituated to the types of locations we will (and won’t) set. Change that.

If there’s one thing that seems to be most consistent in getting the hold outs, it’s going subtle.

How much time do I get? Haha

I think I typically get 60-90% in the short term.

And of course 100% in the long term .

I used to see those walk bys, refusals, and just plain ignoring my sets a lot more, but I was stuck in what I was doing. I was slow to change what I was doing when it quit working, because it had been working. (Not saying I still don’t see it sometimes, just not as often as I used to).

I’ve forced myself to get out of my own “comfort zone”, dump what’s quit working and figure out what is working.

Slowing down and observing more is a big part of it. I may drive 40+ miles on the buggy to set just four traps. But they’ll be extremely high percentage sets.

Slipknot (from LA) has a lot different weather, climate and conditions than Boone (SD), not to mention population densities. Glad to hear the Game Cams mentioned along with tracking snow as many of us only had snow to observe coyote activity in the 60's to the 80's (and then only in the winter). The original question was how many take a ride with you out of 10 that you offer to. I don't know, but I have observed, during tough winter weather conditions, that I catch coyotes that have escaped from MY sets (snare and foot traps) more frequently than in the spring or fall. Its reasonable to assume their stomachs get the best of them then and they take a chance more frequently. I will say I know of 3 excellent denning sites within a 4 mile radius of my farm that coyotes use traditionally. After a tough winter when they were worth the effort and conditions are good for "truck hunters" the population is reduced and I see a lot fewer tracks in the mud roads, field and pasture trails and hear no vocalization from those site (areas) prior to and during denning season. Don't know why as spring dispersal is supposed to fill in the good denning sites and it seems to work that way in normal winters. During some winters, I see fewer coyotes (tracks) visiting my sets and leaving before I arrive (lower pop). It seems those are the winters FOLLOWING the tougher winters and the overall tracks are fewer. I can only speculate they are interested more for a meal or the scent of another with that reduced pop. density and work a set more (kind of odd from what I would expect). They are are a lot fewer in #'s by then with fewer overall visits but fewer leave the set prior to my arrival percentage wise than when the pop is higher. I may be just a poor trapper compared to others and just an observer. My experience. ...............................the mike

Good post!
I think what Boone said is the crux here at least in my world. I am limited to setting in places to AVOID PEOPLE FIRST....then set up the main travel ways.
That doesn't work too well and I find myself setting up near the SAME AREAS EVERY YEAR. I do change set type construction ie dirt hole to flat sets to trash mounds etc.
And I do change my attractors up and still do catch coyotes but still see walk bys in the mud/snow. Not sure what the solution is besides having a longer more liberal season.
Time is my enemy (As well as low fur prices and justifying fuel costs). Throw in the night vision/thermal hunters and a guy starts scratching his head in what he is doing out there.
For me I will continue to explore setting those HOT LOCATIONS, mixing up my sets and attractors and trying to use more subtle sets.

Not sure how many you actually catch but I think snow adds to a lot more coyotes walking past and misses from what I have observed. I have heard people say, "snow is the best teacher." I don't quite agree with that statement unless you have snow on the ground the whole season, then that may hold some truth.

Silkyplains, I completely agree.
Wind direction matters. So do visuals. A fresh early snow changes everything.

I have seen you say this before, and I one hundred percent agree. I have never ran cameras on my sets, but do a lot of trapping in snow, and also tend to see the highest interest the first time they work a set. I will preface that though by saying that canines (coyotes and wolves, I have very limited experience with foxes, but they seem to act similarly in my limited experience) at times are "on a mission" and will walk by every offering you have without breaking stride. They just are not interested regardless of what you present to them. That doesn't mean that when they come through next time, whether it be a week or a month later, they won't find the same sets that they ignored last time interesting, and they will work them hard, having not worked them before. Also sometimes a set needs to "weather in" if the set is too blatant or the lure too loud I believe it causes some animals to be too nervous and leery the first time by to work the set effectively. After everything has had time to sit and weather in, the next time they come by curiousity may get the better of them and they will work it.

Of course a lot of this is supposition with coyotes, seldom can you tell for sure by tracks in the snow that the coyote that comes by this week is the same one that came by last week.

9 out of ten. Eventually.

I don’t hide my disdain for the thermal craze.

And I’ve mentioned in the past about behavior shifts in coyotes for one reason or another. In the past, it was always that pairing/denning season shift in behavior.

Typically, (at least in this region) that was when you’d see a lot of fickle behavior in coyotes to stuff that was creaming them just a couple weeks previous.

Of course, that was a hormonal driven shift as they got more interested in breeding. A guy could change to social smells and keep on keeping on. The guy that just kept on with the baits and dirt holes that were knocking em back a month ago, maybe not so much (unless the weather really helped him).

But, over the last 15 years that calling has gotten ultra popular, and now with the last 5-6 years of the night doggers out there with the thermals, I start seeing a very serious shift in coyote activity and behavior around thanksgiving. Up here, Thanksgiving kind of kicks off “calling season”. Big game seasons are wrapping up, only the real hardcore bird hunters are still at it, so for many, that’s when they’re out after coyotes in earnest.

The bad part of this shift, is it is 100% human caused. They’re figuring out real early to avoid anything and everything human. It’s impacting daytime calling tremendously, and it’s impacting trapping and snaring. This night time pressure affects them differently, more profoundly than daytime pressure does.

Lot of good food for thought here. I trap the same area most years and the same spots. Some of these same spots I test lures in almost year around. I might need to mix it up some.

So what do you do to catch coyotes during that time?

I'd say that I catch about 1 out of 100!