My go to bait set for fox and coyotes from the mid 1970's until about 1990 was what I called a corral set. Most of the farm wood lots were pastured in the summer so they were brushless. The large state forest that border's my home were hardwoods with little underbrush. Christmas trees lay out by the road for township pickup right after Christmas. As long as they were clean (no tinsel or spray snow) I threw them in the back of my truck. Going to where I wanted to make my set, I arranged them in a circle, triangle, rectangle or whatever shape leaving just enough room between trees for my snares. At least 4 openings for snares per set. On the side facing the road (which was 20 to 40 yards away) I left a snare opening without a snare. This served 2 purposes, one that dogs usually come from the road, sniffed the pile of deer guts or beaver carcass in the center of the corral that was bait and then went back out to the road, and two sometimes a fox or coyote will avoid a snare and circle around until he finds the snareless opening then he goes in. 9 times out of 10 that animal will go into a snare on the way out as he has already been to the bait and his brain is now in lala land. Most snares were set 10 to 20 feet from the bait which I covered with leaves or other debris to beat the exposed bait rule. Once made the corral was good for at least 5 years before the trees rotted away. Adding a tree or 2 every year made them last as long as I wanted them. I said I used them a lot until about 1990 and that was not because they ceased to work, it was because our bear population grew so much that even mid-winter they were out and about ruining my sets. This is a great bobcat set and by 1990 they had also had a population explosion here but they were not legal to catch. I would get 100 to 150 fox and coyotes out of these mid-winter sets per season. Often got doubles as in the second picture. The last picture my father was checking some of my sets as I had work to do at the farm and he came back with these 3 coyotes from one corral set. He said I had a forth one but it chewed off the cable as he walked up to the set. One week later we caught that same coyote at the same corral set!

Eric which one are you in the bottom picture. I love these old photos

Me on the right, snaps on my coat. I was about 30 at the time.

I agree! Awesome pics and instruction! Thanks, Eric!

Great info again, you never let us down with copy cat info. We are not allowed lethal snare but I think that is ok by our laws for cable restraints here in Pa.......jk

Cool pics!

Eric, didn’t you have a canine snaring video at one time?

again, great pic, and story thanks,

Love the pictures.

Great stuff Eric! Thanks for posting the series of pics!

Great Photos

Great pictures!

Yes, Eric made several snaring videos on mink and fox/coyote.

Great share. Thanks

Mac