Bingo. It's the combination of multiple yellow flags adding up that I believe makes them spooky. Add a concentration of human scent, plus a new object with concentrated human scent on it and a very unique odor and it can be too much for some coyotes. Of course some will fall for about anything, they are the ones that make us feel like trappers. Lol

Reminds me of this



Said makes trapping in the snow pretty nice. Though he can only have a dozen or so in the truck at a time

Wolfie, that looks like something Matt Jones would come up with...Might not be his though.

I truly believe I would rather catch an old rank dog coyote first. When I do it seems that I will continue catching old rank males for weeks even months sometimes. Remakes are king here in my country. I usually start with two sets about ten feet apart , sometimes more . After a catch I will add another set , ten or 15’ from that one. Some locations get three or 4 sets just because of history, I caught 10 coyotes last year on a farm that has produced 8 to 10 at least ten times in the last 30 years. It’s the only farm that gets a couple sets even if I don’t find any sign.

As far as new objects , I think these big eastern farm country coyotes are drawn to something new. A good example is a bale of straw ( 40# bale) , I can’t always set on THE spot , so I will put a straw bale out with a trap on each end . I can’t begin to tell how many coyotes have died cocking his leg on a bale or a small softball sized rock.i will say a piece of firewood, chaired or otherwise has never worked. A piece 3/4” (i.d.) plastic gray conduit is a killer. I tend to hide said pipe in a grass clump, once it’s been destroyed I simply transplant a new one with equally deadly results. I will use the same bait in a remake all year, but don’t add any urine or gland after the first catch.

I seldom do many remakes ..most of the time I have a 2 sets pretty close so if one catches I go ahead and pull and let the other one hunt.

I do whatever the coyotes tell me to do.

I’ve seen remakes be the kiss of death one year, and worth their weight in gold the next in the same area.


Summers a lot different than winter.

Transients or homeboys. Bonded pairs, litter mates, bachelor/bachelorette groups, singles, etc etc. Lots of variables.


But I always reset in the circle (because I’m lazy and it’s easy) until the coyotes tell me that won’t work.



Here’s a question. When is a catch circle or remake no longer a catch circle or remake?

In the arid west, the physical signs of a catch circle can persist for years. In wet regions that circle can grow back in weeks or months and completely disappear visually.

But the smells can persist for a long time. I can go open a trap bed in a 10-12 month old burn circle and get blasted in the face with coyote stink.



I do believe most coyotes are avoiding the fresh torn up ground rather than the smells (except for badger circles). To many times I’ve seen catch circles sit empty for a spell until snow hides it and they catch again. Smells still there, just can’t see the circle.

And if you don’t believe coyotes by nature aren’t somewhat neophobic typically, especially in a “core area” (where they’re extremely neophobic), than you haven’t done much summer trapping or denning.

Catch circles are hit or miss here, one year nothing will go near them, the next year they are dynamite. I never noticed if catching a female first made a catch circle more productive than a male, just something I never paid attention to I guess. I did notice that I get a lot of second catches of a different species than the first.

When we get mud, and we usually do , but I’m talking soupy mud . Then I usually move to the edge of the catch circle just to be able to have a useable trap bed. This particular spot can be hot or cold depending on population “ I think “ . Several years ago this farm had a grass lane where these burn circles are located . When they turned the grass under it went dead, as in 4 to 6 coyotes a year to 1or 2 coyotes a year. After a couple years it was back to 4, 5, or more coyotes as you can see in the picture, a productive spot. A couple years later the ditch to the north had always been a 66’ filter strip along the east side. When they plowed that under this farm went dead again for about 4 years. Last year I was catching a coyote a week on this farm for about a month and it suddenly stopped. That’s when I saw the track hoe about a mile away , cleaning the ditch out. From what I’ve seen in the past, this will not have a long term affect. My point is , in this country it is usually not the catch circles that stop coyote movement.

So, share your secret of making a set without leaving any trace of human scent. We aren’t sleep with the wood, lol. Gloves and it goes on the hitch haul and then put out. Starting to think we have a different breed of coyotes. Our coyotes encounter human scent almost daily on working properties. Wonder how city coyotes don’t die from paranoia from all the objects they encounter and human scent? You’d think that would run them out.

Wannabe does seeing footsteps in the mud or snow make you cautious or nervous?
Play along with me and maybe I can help you see what I'm talking about. But no promises

Are you serious Seth ? Your coyotes shy away from footprints?

Here is another one for you Wannabe, if coyotes aren't afraid of human scent why do they run away when they get down wind from you????

If your answer is that's different then you answered the question. It's a situational fear. A set is a different situation to a coyote than when your out mowing or working your food plots.

I'll try this one more time for you then your on your own
Are scared of bullets?
Answer.... depends if your buying them or they are being shot at you right?

I make a good amount of first night catches but I've also put in over a thousand tests sets and know without a doubt it takes about 3 days for human scent to get to a level that coyotes will really commit to working a set. And I leave less scent at a test than I do at a set that I've bedded a trap at.

I didn't say that. I was leading him to an example......
Thr difference between seeing footsteps in the snow on a sidewalk compared to seeing them walking up to every window in your house and looking in. Difference situations and different responses to the same sign.

I have a very low population of coyotes and they are hunted year round night or day.
I've seen in the snow where they have turned tail and run from tire tracks in the snow
Low populations of highly pressured coyotes can make for a lot of empty traps
I've found that if I set the day of an arriving snow I can catch some of these coyotes
Otherwise I'm basically collecting turds at my sets
And I'm a clean FREAK when it comes to coyote trapping
Not saying I don't catch them without snow, but the sets I catch them in are mostly blind sets

Boone in response to your response...no I haven't done a lot of Summer trapping, just some....and I have never denned. Just wondering about the WHYs in coyote behavior and trying to get an effective system down after 40 years of trapping...lol I have found out that each is an individual and what turns on one or spooks one might not effect another the same way. I think that is our weakness ....we want every animal to do the exact same thing the others we have caught did.

Downwind is a “constant” scent being blown up their nose, anything “wild” will spook.

According to the logic applied, anything other than a well blended blind set should never produce a first night catch. A dirt hole wasn’t there last time a coyote came through…plus it has human scent.
A urine/lure wasn’t at whatever it’s applied to the last time a coyote came through…plus it has human scent.
Heck a blind set even has human scent.

There’s only one section on the property where I can “consistently see tracks” because it’s a 100yd long sand strip. So the manager runs every evening. How can I see coyote tracks in his tracks the next morning?
How are first night catches made? How can I follow those tracks in his to a coyote in a trap?

And since you responded like you did and didn’t answer any question, I’ll ask again. How do these neighborhood or city coyotes live with constant human scent and foreign objects?

And as I stated, I trap working areas. And I also stated it’s almost like a different breed of coyotes. Yes, coyotes that never smell a human may shy away from that scent and it take several days for that odor to dissipate. It’s cool you’ve done all this testing and I believe the results you see, but I still think coyotes are different. And since you admit it may take a day or three for the scent to dissipate, you’re still catching coyotes. Also with that logic, all these posts I read about, including my own, where a trap has been left for 1 week, 2 weeks, up to 4-5 weeks before catching…are you saying that’s because of human scent? Heck even Steeltraps posted about a set catching on like day 47 and he blends better than anyone I’ve seen and try’s to be a scent free as possible.

Is it possible that coyotes can be different in their reactions and there’s no “one rule” applies to every situation, lol. There can be differences in areas I believe. I’m sure I’d probably suck out west somewhere where a coyote doesn’t encounter man, but down here I can catch coyotes using what I say I use and it seems to be totally wrong in your eyes. Your constantly taking about your testing, but the moment someone has a different reaction from a coyote then that just can’t be because your tests show otherwise.

I give up

Don’t give up Seth, just open your mind a little . Your so sure that all this testing you’ve done points to one thing and you believe it has to be the only thing that can be true . So much so that you come down on people with a very condescending attitude. I think you have a tendency to only hear what you want to and pass judgment on anyone that doesn’t see it your way. I’ve seen you do this so many times that I usually won’t read your posts especially on bait. So don’t give up , don’t get mad,but maybe just maybe think about what someone posted as a possible and not impossible because you haven’t experienced such a thing .
If you stay after the coyotes long enough you might learn that your never done learning . That people do different things in different places and so do coyotes.

Wait, does that mean I made you think? Your way is the only way? Yes, your “coyotes” you studied reacted a certain way, that doesn’t mean every coyote reacts the same.
Using your videos and logic, only lures you test positively will catch coyotes, the rest are worthless. Yet I’d be willing to bet, someone out there has caught a pile of coyotes on them. I was looking for particular lures and someone on here sent me a PM stating they had tried them and they didn’t work for him, but I was welcome to them. We agreed on a price and he sent them. In return I sent him either first or second night catch pics. And we are even in the same State. And he’s a much better trapper than I am by far, lol.
Take deer for instance, I can take a bag of peanuts, what they call oil stock, and pour half of it out anywhere on my property and stick a camera over it and get a pic of a deer on it within 30min to 1hr. I can take the rest of that bag and take it to my sons property he hunts and pour it out where he’s been feeding for 6 months with a camera over it and it will rot and eventually dissolve away and never get a pic of a deer on it.
Why? It works for me, but not for him.
Just because “your” testing works or doesn’t work for “you” doesn’t it mean it won’t or will work for someone else. Just because something works for someone else and not you, doesn’t mean it just doesn’t work period.
That’s like saying only dirt holes work and nothing else. Or only bedding a trap with 1/4” of dirt over it will work. Heck watching those Western guys with exposed traps/pans catching cats blew my mind. No way that would work here, lol. That was until a good down pour exposed a pan and offset jaw and I thought it was too wet to reset. Guess what was waiting on me the next morning, lol? I learned something…seems some on here refuse to even consider another possibly.
That’s like traps won’t catch unless you dye and wax them, no way they’ll work just taken out of the box and washed off and set, right?