I been trying to see if the archives have anything but I couldn't find anything.


So when I'm trapping a fox or coyote, would I set a trap like on a high point un a field or in the lowest part.

Thanks.







Paul said I been doing good so now I can do 2 post and 5 replies.

I'm interested too....for some other great info, check out CoonCreekOutdoors on youtube. The guy is really good.

Ok yah I probably watched every single one of his videos! He's a great guy that knows what he's talking about.

I like the high ground .But I always read the sign when making a set .The animal will tell you where to catch him.Animals talk with there feet it will be up to you to interpret what it is saying.You can learn that by scouting there home .Hang in there young man .

Both. Low wiill overall probably catch more. Just depends on what's there.

Set on sign. Wherever it is. That being said I like high points better. Around here low points are water collectors and my sets would be swamped or frozen in a lot of the season

Like slipknot said, setting on sign is the best option. Otherwise look for potential travel paths. The end of fence lines or overgrown ditch lines going into an open field are good options.

Look for ground hog holes in the field and set up wind of them. The farther away from the woods the better, less non targets that way
And I always set the high point of the farms and if a draw or two goes from the woods towards the high point all the better

lots of great advice there i find i probably atch more in my low area sets but if its been raining or freezing conditions then you hav a whole new mess too deal with from muddy animals too flooded or frozen traps

I’d probably set wherever the sign is…

This^^^^

It's not rocket science. Set within inches of your target critters sign, ie tracks, scat, etc.

Cool. I guess Hal ain't so tolerant.

If you ignore the high ground, or the low ground, you’re potentially ignoring half the critters.




If you get real winter, the high ground will be easier to maintain though.

When you are looking at high points such as a ridge, try to scout areas where a valley comes up to the high point. Animals don't like to travel in the wide open, they will travel between two hills in a valley to go up to a higher point.

And pay attention to where it blows bare and where it drifts if you a trapping out in the open like a field. I know this is difficult if you are going in cold to new ground before it snows, but you'll remember after the first year if you set in the wrong place. I've dug holes deeper than I am tall to retrieve traps out of snow drifts more than once. (sometimes I'm a slow learner)

Some good points made already with #1 being set on sign and #2 read the terrain for the structure that funnels travel routes.

Now that said my personal observations are that coyotes relate more towards higher ground in their coming and going while fox seem more likely to run the bottoms and lower grounds.

But fox is two totally different critters. Reds are a creature of open fields, grasslands, savanas while greys are a creature of the brushy thickets.

JMO, but coyotes use high ground as observation points whether that be for listening for territorial howling or catching wind currents for scent detection. These areas may or may not be high percent set locations but routes to and from are worth looking at.

Fox being lower on the pecking order seem to avoid going where the coyotes go and tend to be found lower down.

JMO, but I'm probably full of crap though.

Of course your terrain may be flat as a pool table or pretty much vertical so all you can do is get out there and see for yourself.

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Ok thanks guys, the setting on sign is the best advice. I think of sign as a key, if you don't have the key you can't open the door. If you don't set on sign, you can't catch a critter.

I have found very good sign recently, it's beside a corn field on a atv trail beside brush. Those coyote footprints look like a wolf!

My pap used to trap and he said if he would set couple hundred feet from a dirt mound or whatever, "the fox would go on top of that hill just to smell the lure, I caught lots of fox from putting a trap on them hills."

He used drags in those scenarios if you were wondering.

My very first red fox was caught the way your father described. I was about your age and couldn't catch a fox to save my life. I had Hawbaker's old Trapping North American Furbearers book and in it he described a set that I believe he called a knoll set. There was an area on a piece of land I trapped where the farmer dropped dead cattle. I called it the cow cemetery, lol. There were fox and coyote tracks all over in that area, and I made a couple sets there.. a dirt hole and a flat set I think, but after two weeks had caught nothing.

One day I noticed a small mound in the woods about 50 feet away from where my sets and the majority of the cow bones were (There were no freshly dead cows there at the time, but that didn't stop every critter around from visiting, as tracks in a previous snow had shown). The mound was maybe 3' in diameter and a foot high. In the dead center of it, I bedded a trap. I used no bait or lure of any kind (as the book said not to). The next day.... nothing. LOL

But it wasn't many days... maybe 2 or 3 days of empty traps when one morning (that to this day remains one of the happiest days of my life) I rounded the corner and came face to face with a beautiful red fox caught in the trap set on the mound. My hands were shaking so badly I had a hard time shooting it! But I did, and when I came home carrying that red fox over my shoulder I know I was the proudest kid in all of New York state that morning.

As a side note: The single best thing you can do to make yourself a better trapper, is to follow a set of fox or coyote (or whatever your target critter is) tracks in the snow this winter. On a day you have no school, after milking, let your folks know your plans, have your mom pack you a sandwich and a thermos of coffee or hot chocolate, and set out. The first set of tracks you come to... follow them. They will show you exactly where fox (or whatever) travel, and what they do. I don't mean follow them across one field...I mean actually follow them... for miles. Learn where and what the fox eats, where he sleeps, if anything startles him. Be quiet, and you may even be able to sneak up on him, although I think at your age you can't carry a gun alone in your state. Even still, it would be a cool experience.

Coyotes tend to run travel ways for long distances… through the high and the low