If you want to double your odds, double the number of traps you have out. There is no secret set or lure.

After you give up trapping take up snaring
Might have better luck.

Five years!!! Your perseverance is remarkable!!

What you’re going to wanna do is make a set as you have been.. hide in the brush cross wind from where you think the coyote will approach… as soon as you see him dig at your trap… go at him fast as you can while letting out a Comanche war holler and bust him over the head with a half drank longneck bottle… that’ll stun him… them flip him on his back and perform a flying elbow to the throat… at that point he’ll be incapacitated and you can do with him as you please

All joking aside, like I posted before , use a fine set covering, see where they step, and place your trap there.
Also you have to think like whatever you're trapping.
Their body size , that length of their step, their sight range at the hole, and the angle of the hole.

If nothing else get a big pile of horse manure , make a smelling post , use your cotton cheap gloves to pick out the drier turds.
Rub them in you hands until they become a fine fiber like covering.
Set 4 traps along the edge of the pile , remember they will place a foot close to the edge of the pile .
Spray it all with a good red fox urine , that's a sure catch to build your confidence .
Once you get one, set dirt holes on both sides of your scent post, you'll start to get doubles.
That set was learned from Stanley Brubaker (sp) only book I read as a kid.

Why not try a couple simple chaff, straw or hay sets and not use any dirt and just use urine. Even the coons will get wise over time to your sets if they are all pretty similar, with just some lure changes and all else is the same.
When you had all the dig outs two seasons ago were the traps dug out and set off or were they flipped and some not totally removed from the bed. How is your deer population on your line?

Bryce

What trap you using? You said you had 2 coyotes pull out......and are you using pan covers or polyfill under and what is pan tension.

Where is his back foot while he’s digging. Hide a trap there.

… i believe he’s having a problem with chronic digging … either induced by his attractant, set construction, contaminated wax or covering, coons… or educated coyotes playing games

… we’ve asked a few questions that haven’t been answered yet

… stay at it partner, we don’t want you to give up

Gittin’ spicious round heeya.

Sorry for the delay responding, but thank you guys for your advice. It has given me some things to think about. The traps I'm using are Bridger 1.75 OS and Bridger 2 dogless. I do believe the last few years I had a contamination issue with my polyfil as I tried changing bedding strategies and bedding materials and was still dug up and the poly was stored in my basement. This year I got a new bag before season and stored it outside with the rest of my gear. Everything is in buckets with lids and the bait bucket is separate from the others. So far this year, which has been 3 weeks of trapping, I've only had two digups. I just get paranoid it might be contamination again when it could very well be a poorly bedded traps on those occasions. With the lack of results, I may also be susceptible to over luring my sets out of frustration. I am trying to line up for a guy to come help me who is very experienced.

Set on sign and also set a sleeper trap back . To have these problems I agree your bait or lure is to loud or to much in five years you should have caught one by accident. Like the other guys say coons are notorious for digging. Above all do t quit your solution is probably simple so don’t over think this stuff just hang tight and keep at it

When I first started trapping fox ( coyotes weren't here yet) I used wax paper as a pan cover.
Would out line the trap size, and cut a pattern and cut about 100 at a time .
When setting the trap , ( the wax paper was a little bigger than the trap face) would wad it up until it was soft.
Cover the pan, and there was a slit for the dog.
It worked for years, never bought into some of the newer ideas.

this

Try your pta district. I'm sure an experienced trapper would help you out. It took me about 4 years to catch my first red!

Another good idea!

Seems you're not telling us everything.
5 years and haven't caught a fox?
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut in that amount of time!

I didnt read all the posts ....this may have been said already. Make 2 dirt holes, one with no bait and a urine post all nearby. One of those may entice him. Just consider them lucky so far and keep on trapping.

I agree with the trap placement being too close to the lip of the dirt hole. Get that trap back aways, ok? I like about 5 inches back (about the length from my fingertips, to about across my palm at about the 1st joint of my thumb. 5 inches?). and the same distance to the right (right front foot catch of a Red or Grey fox)? Want to catch them by the left front foot, what do you do? That's right, same formula for the Left as for the Right. Location, Location, Location! BED that trap......Snug! If it "wriggles or wobbles" even a bit if stepped on wrong (jaw).... That might be the end of it if you've got an Educated animal and, or you've just Educated your target animal. (Always remember that, that animal may have been a 1/2 mile down the road before hand and had another trapper "Snap" a trap in its face?! I'm NOT that Concerned with "Cleanliness" so much anymore. (Black trap dip WEEKS before the opener, always.) When the traps get "scuffed up" in land sets, I just throw them in the water for my coon water sets). Get that location correct (that's the key!). Set multiple sets in that immediate area and "SNUG" that trap into that trap BED! I really rework all my traps as they come out of the box. I add three feet of chain with a swivel in the middle of the chain (tree branch drags) and "grind" the Dog-n-Pan notch down to nearly gone, so it is a "stiff/hard, hair-trigger" LOL. (it's like this for example: You're walking on Thin ice and you know you're going to "fall" through the ice, but when it finally happens, and you know it is, you Can't Stop your foot from going through the ice as hard as you try. LOL. Birds and even squirrels can "goof" around my trap. But when that fox or coon comes along, and Finally commits all its weight on that "stiff, hair-trigger" trap pan and......Wham-Snap quicker than you can blink an eye! Just like falling through Thin ice! They're history. Foot buried deep in that trap). Then use a Large Channel Lock type pliers and "bend" the frame at the bend, in the frame, that goes up to connect the dog with the frame, until when the trap is SET....The pan is perfectly flat/level with the top of the jaws on the trap. Probably will have to bend that part of the frame "towards" the center of the trap. (rather the pan be a little Low, than too High). And then set the trap pan pretty "stiff". I just spray the palms of my cheap, cotton gloved hands with fox urine, rub a little dirt from the set area and have at it. Under the trap pan I place a "wadded-up" clump of dry grass that I roll into a pretty tight ball in the palm of my hands and place it under the trap pan to keep the dirt from under the trap pan. Works like a Charm! Natural as heck, smells a little like a red fox wouldn't you think. What could be better? A thin grey sheet of Latex Rubber laid over your trap? LOL. Been there, Done that. A wad of rolled-up grass is the ticket? It's right next to your leg and cheap as heck too.

After 5 years I’d throw in the towel too. Some folks just ain’t trappers. Are you sure you have coyotes and fox to catch? Only had 2 traps dug up since I started and it was coons, caught the coons and no more digging.
Buy some DP’s and clean out the coons and possums, then set for coyotes or fox if you have them.

And don't forget a few "Blind" sets (absolutely NO bait or lure) on the trails leading to that area. Really throws a "Curve" at them sometimes! I like to add/use a longer chain (2 1/2 to 3 feet total length with a swivel in the middle. Anchored to the tree branch/drag with a doubled, length of stout trapper's wire). with a tree branch for a drag for most my sets. Even most of my sets in the water. I just make my set. And then my tree branch drag is held down on the bottom by a few rocks laid on top of it. Slick as heck!