Picking up an older coyote is always a highlight in my book.

A few in that elite group take the term "Old Timer" to another level.






When you pull up to a coyote in this age class you know they have something that sets them apart.

There is no doubt he was a big coyote in his day.

In his prime I'd guess he would have been one of the very few to hit the forty pound mark.





There are a host of reasons why this coyote saw as many birthdays as he did.

If luck happened to come his way you can bet it’s because he made it.

How old would you guess that one to be?

Ethan, I would bet that male is easily on the back side of ten years old.

Wow, to hit 10+ years is incredible.

Here is what's left of his choppers.

I bet more than a few fawns fell victim to this old warhorse.




His incisors are long gone.

The previous double allowed me to show an interesting difference I see between young coyotes and the old timers.

The ears are something I see a lot of change in when it comes to Wile E.

In a few cases the ears seem to get much larger overall in the later years.

I call them Yoda ears because of the appearance it gives the coyote.

This old fella from earlier in the season is a good example of that.

He had approximately the same k-9 wear and missing incisors as the old male above.







Here we have the trait I see most often where the ear appears to be much thicker as if the cartilage becomes denser as the years roll by.


For comparison we have a younger coyote with ears that look sharp and defined with a thin edge.





The old man’s radar gear looks quite a bit different than the young gun.






You might check to see if you notice a difference next time you’re giving a few coyotes a free ride out of town.

This has been a fascinating thread to follow along with. Very informative, especially regarding the no-backing flat sets.

Agreed, I check it for updates almost daily.

Open Set Patten - More Foot Movement - More Catch Circles





This is the only time I don’t mind digging at a set.





Ten sets produced twelve catches in four days.

Gang setting takes more coyotes off the payroll in a shorter amount of time with fewer misses.



Flat Set – Young Female

Here is an interesting interaction at a remake
This set caught the young female in the previous post the day before.
Scroll back and check out the big hole she dug after the catch.
The filled in hole was excavated again by a second coyote on the next night.

Here are a few questions for the T-Man Crew.

How do you account for all the digging on the remake?
Would you say the coyote was old, young, male, or female?
What would have been the best defense against this kind of nonsense?

I am guessing a Young male. Not sure how the set was baited or lured, possibly the previous coyote could have spread it in that area causing the digging. I would have left the digging and bedded a trap in it with maybe a food lure.

I’m quite certain the dig is not lure related SK.

The missed coyote dug in the exact spot the young female did the day before.

I am pretty sure the original dig is for a totally different reason than the second.

I wonder if the caught coyote's digging wasn't an attempt at concealment, an effort to get below ground level and somewhat out of sight. Her lying in that depression created a concentration of scent which the missed coyote could tell extended much deeper into the earthe than the rest of the catch circle, causing it to dig for something possibly concealed there.

That was my thought

I've trapped coyotes in the sand and heat. Driving down the sandy 2 track you wouldn't see a coyote bouncing, When, you got close enough you think you have a badger caught. No, it's a coyote that dug a hole and residing in it. I think to get out of the heat. Kind of like a dog that digs under the doghouse and lays in it during the summer.

I was going to offer up that scenario as well, I’m sure tthe temps there rival the crap we’re experiencing right now. The coyote that missed on the remake also may have just encountered a much softer area than he had been approaching on when he hit that filled hole, prompting him to dig as well.

I'm guessing, and that is all it is, is a guess, that the second coyote dug there because of plethora of coyote scent buried there in combination with the softer dirt from filling it back in. The original catch may very well have urinated there in the hole also. I would probably not have filled that hole back in, unless it interfered with the remake. Like guiding the coyote away from stepping in the trap, or prevented bedding and blending the trap where you wanted it. Not necessarily to prevent the behavior you encountered, but because I don't like to make more disturbance/reconfigure sets more than necessary when making them, even remakes. Plus I'm lazy. lol

I think both of you are right on the money with your assessments on the caught coyote.
Getting out of plain sight seems to be a priority as from what I’ve seen
A cool place to lie down goes hand in hand with a hard digging coyote.