Been doing a lot of summertime coyote work the last month or so. This is my first full summer of going after them full time (right around 15000 acres or ground). Wanted to point out some observations that I’ve noticed and things I’ve learned so far.
Summer coyote work isn’t for the weak. To me, summer coyotes are a completely different animal than a winter dog. Movement patterns are more erratic than winter groups. May see tracks on one portion of the property and then that area will go cold for a week. Same across the entire property with it being very difficult to get a set pattern.
If you miss a coyote at a set, you may not get another chance for a week.
Landowners planted chufa plots in a somewhat hot area (1000 acres or so) and that area went completely cold. Possibly got too close to a den and caused the den to be moved. Once again, makes it difficult to decide where to put traps at a higher density with some little patternable movement.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that commercial baits aren’t working for me at all. Have them walk past DH and flat set over and over with commercial baits that I hammer them on in the winters. One thing that has been the ticket for me is fresh caught mice and rats. I’ve turned into a free of charge rat trapper for every chicken farmer I know in the area just to have some fresh bait on hand. Will definitely be on the ball for that this winter.
Fresh scat has been a killer as well when I can beat the fireants to it, but scent post sets go virtually ignored for the most part. Caught a few dogs on post sets but see many more walked past than attention to them.

Any tips from anyone doing summer coyote work would be appreciated, but I made this post to kinda show what I’m seeing on the ground and try to give some information since this site has been a wealth of knowledge for me.

The "coyote carnage" thread by Tejas a few posts down is a wealth of knowledge. I suggest you read it if you haven't already

URBANTRAPPER1,
Your observations, trials, and tribulations are a mirror image of my summer coyote trapping experiences. I despise trapping them in any month other than December, January, February.

Urbantrapper, you are figuring it out...keep at it. Around here droppings and urine rule for Summer coyotes.....don't forget domestic droppings if you are short of the REAL ones. With coon and possum roaming around, dirt holes using bait means a lot of remakes, so be sure include a charge for those in your pricing. I like subtle flat sets but won't hesitate to throw in a dirt hole....sometimes using nothing but a dab or gland lure as the attractor. One thing I do and you kind of hit on it ....is set up a CALL/CARCASS station nearby my sets. Skunk or rotted down carcass or fish poured on tree stump, branch or fence post works for me. And then make your sets downwind away from it. Bottom line.... it is a ton of work in the heat. Good luck.

Welcome to the clan. Summertime trapping is work for sure. Not nearly as fun, be necessary down here in Central Texas. Protecting deer fawns and sheep & goat producers is pressure filled work.

I use draw stations on nearly every place I trap in the summer. I wire up any fresh or frozen animal up in 5-6 feet in an oak tree. I set up likely spots around the station. It helps clean the whole area out and give the babies a fighting chance to survive long enough to be able to escape predation.

I rarely set any traps within 75 yards of the station. I keep prevailing wind in mind and set more traps downwind of the station. I’ll spread the traps out downwind for 1/2 mile before I start to forget about the station and just set on sign. I also place traps upwind because the smart ones will circle the station before coming in.

Once my station is placed, it needs to be replaced with a new animal every few weeks. Tip - When I hang the animal, I slice it down the middle like I’m gutting it. I let guts hang down. It speeds up the process. I want to coyotes to smell the good stuff. Pigs, deer, jackrabbits, sheep & goats all work for me. Only coons don’t work. Nothing like a coon.

Good write up UT1.Bait stations were mentioned. I can say when I started using bait holes my catch rate up. Almost all of my trapping is late spring to summer so I get what your saying.I have taken a break this month because of the heat and some of my areas are low on sign.

Summer coyotes are a different animal.

Heck. June, July, and August all represent some pretty big changes in what’s going on in a (parental) coyotes world.

June, they’re still anchored to denning areas. Trapping them in those core denning areas can be miserable.

July, a little more mobile, especially the parents. And really easy to gather everybody up and scoot over a mile if need be.

By August everyone’s capable of being quite mobile.

Summer transients can still be had relatively easy, but there usually isn’t many of them, and even un-attached coyotes often turn into “homebodies” in the heat of summer.

June can be miserable, if I screw around within 1/2 mile of a den and don’t get the adults (or at least momma) pretty quick, they’re gone.

Even now, if I locate a family group, I’m often better off predicting where they’ll bounce to, set that area up first, than move in on them and hopefully push them to equipment lying in wait.

Subtle subtle sets are the ticket for adults for me. Trail sets probably make up 50% of my sets and probably take 75% of my adult coyotes this time of year.

Natural baits were mentioned, and I like them. But you better be ON location as they typically only hold interest for a handful of days. I don’t like big baits, prairie dogs or gophers are favorites here, big baits in summer here are just maggot farms. Save that for January.

Lots and lots of looking and scouting for just a few traps.

There’s a saying when trapping summer coyotes, if you don’t see the coyote run off, you aren’t close enough.

It’d be easy if it was like the old days and they’d come out to a dog and a waiting rifle, but that seems to be a fools errand anymore. Super super low percentage game anymore.

Another good tactic I’ve taken to in the summer months that a friend turned me on to is using the most vile smelling lure you can.

When they aren’t hungry, and they aren’t territorial or social, and they just seem to be ignoring everything, a rolling/rubbing response may be just the ticket.

This^^^ You can take it to the bank!

Always intresting hearing you talk coyotes. Most guys just catch what they can and if the coyotes move on its not a problem. Not everyone has to track them down and finish the job. There's definitely a difference between trying to reduce the population and trying to completely rid sheep country of all the coyotes that are there at the time.

And I too have had my eyes opened to the attraction of something that they really want to roll on. Just need to know how to use it.

Maybe the horse hoof stuff would do...I don't think I ever smelled anything worse, lol

When you say vile are you referring to something skunky.Is there something out there in the commerical line you use.

I guess I don’t call skunk vile.


Rotten. Putrid. Gag a maggot.

I want the smell of 1200 pounds of bloated dead cow after two days at 100 degrees, without the 1200 pounds of bloated dead cow.

Musty type odors also seem to really illicit that rolling response.

A mostly dried down chunk of beef hide off a dead loss comes to mind. If you know what that smells like.

Take a five gallon bucket, fill it half full of meat in the spring (or fall and let it set through the winter also), put in just enough water to cover the meat, put a lid on it (make sure it is vented) and set it in the sun for the summer. That is the type of vile Boone is talking about. When you open it in the fall, or the next spring if you are using it in the summer, you won't have to remember to be careful not to get any on you!

I'm not much of a bait guy, but that stuff poured down a post hole will bring them. I don't trap in the summer, but mid September through March it'll bring them. But if you have bears in your area and they are out of hibernation, it will bring them from a mile away.

Just remember with these kinds of baits/lures, they are coming to roll in it, not eat it. Make your sets accordingly.

I found a dead cow last week that had been laying in the 100 degree sun on a rock, until it had exploded and it was literally flowing downhill in a two inch thick spreading pool. Now I'm betting you could have scooped up some of that "beef magma" that was flowing off and used it, gag a maggot was an excellent description of the odor. I could smell it from a couple hundred yards away.

Yeah, the black sludge oozing out of a dead cow is good stuff.



I save the puss when we lance a lump jaw cow too.

I see but Nah .I can't handle them aromas. I am just gonna have to go another route.I do appreciate the feedback.

Speaking of stink, if you haven't tried it already....rotten snapping turtles will kick out some HIGH STANK odors and they are fairly portable.

We use alot of the fish sludge and juice left over from rendering hundreds of buckets of Trout to make oil. Talk about residual odor and lasting effects. Where we dump on our place everything within a few miles comes by to visit that odor.

That stuff smells for months. Just drill an auger hole or use a post hole digger to get your size and depth desired. I fill up each station hole with fish juice/sludge. Place these around your trapping areas and let nature do the rest. Set up and down wind of the stations.

Lazarus use to have a good write up on his website about how to use the rolling response at ur set. Seems the last time I looked for it i couldn't find it. But I believe i copied it. I once skinned a rabbit and put the green hide in a jar with a little meat to feed the bacteria while the hair was breaking down then covered with water. Took a year or two to get where I wanted it. Keep in mind hair and hoof are basically the same material for those that dont have access to hoof trimmings.

Some dedicated stinksters posting here.

Im not that dedicated!

Keep in mind a coyote has to make a living no matter what day of the year it is.

As long as he eats, travels, and marks he can be caught consistently.


Show Wile E. what he expects to see at that specific location, not what you want to offer him.

Avoid repetition of looks & smells – Blend sets extremely well – Keep human scent to a minimum – Set locations that up your odds – Kill Coyotes


Best of Luck in the coming weeks UT1 !

A huge piece of the coyote puzzle that seems to often take the backseat in the human brain instead of the forefront!

Picked up one today I think I’ve been looking for.

She took the long way around.

A well blended trail set 40 yards from where I got her man almost two weeks ago.




At least, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Sometimes those trail sets are the best ones to use in the right location.

I have been learning the blind set for coyotes the last couple years. Its the way to go on the ones that are wise to lured sets. Little more waiting sometimes than lured sets and naive coyotes and with our rabbit population, a few more non targets but its effective on the remaining ones when you have cleaned out the others.

I’ve been picking at them slowly but surely out there.
Used a couple road kill deer as draw stations as mentioned, but you’ve only got a few days before the vultures find them and go to town.
Had a pipe dream set get run over a couple weeks ago. I pulled the bent trap and pipe, but there must’ve been some residual left in the hole from the pipe. I’ve watched coyote tracks walk past that old set for the past week with traps on either side 30 yards or so. Yesterday, it looked like a bomb crater where that pipe was in the ground from being dug up.
Amazing to me that they will walk past a smell for 2 weeks and then one day decide that it’s time to dig to the center of the earth to find it.
These things make me scratch my head sometimes for sure.

Love me some blind trail sets!

As you described it, maybe the coyotes were put-off by the visual presence of the pipe for those two weeks! Remove pipe and coyotes dig.

Took me awhile to come around to them and snares because we have so many coyotes that are easy to catch in lured sets but they definitely have their place when u run out of easy coyotes to catch.

Ive seen too many sets that have been out for weeks get worked soon after pulling to think its always coincidence. Also tests sets gets worked at twice as high of a rate for me than real sets.

Like has been said, sounds like the pipe (and likely the trap) were detractants in this situation.

I had the misfortune of trapping the last 4 summers in June, July and August in East Texas and I learned a couple of things that you might want to check out in your area as your location/environment is probably very similar to mine.

I walked a few semi dry creek beds and found that’s where my coyotes had been doing a good bit of their hunting. It’s cooler and most of the time shady and they will go from pot hole to pot hole hunting frogs, lizards, crawfish and anything else they can find. As you get into the hottest part of summer I found several carcasses of small raccoons and a couple of possums. One could made a pretty good assumption that as the coyotes hunted the creek beds if they ran across a yearling raccoon or possum that was a good meal for them. Pickings get slim in the heat of summer and coyotes will start predating of things they might not normally hunt. I started putting a few sets in the creek beds and cabled off to trees on the upper bank ( in case we got a big rain) and I started picking up more coyotes that way than I did on my trail sets by far. I would set in pinch point that either I built with logs and brush or I’d use a natural pinch point in between pot holes and put in a mafia blind set. Worked really well. Also if the situation was right I would set a few snares as well.

Also my go to bait when I did use it was liquid mouse musk oil by Jameson’s. I’ve caught a lot of summer coyotes and cats using it on flat sets in the center of ranch roads.

Watch out for those stump tails !! They like those pot holes in those dry creek beds!

Hope this helps you some.

Boone I can see the pipe because of it being possibly exposed.But enlightened me on the trap.What is your thoughts.To quote Ol Seldom.A few want to know why.

Yes Sir what are your thoughts as to why your test sets get worked harder than you real sets.

Sharkhunter, lots of good advice there..thanks. I too like Bob J. s mouse oil lure it is very different smelling and it doesn't take much to do the job. Good Stuff!
Around here we have head high corn and soybeans to deal with and they become the obstructions for the coyotes to travel around/ and through. I try to avoid
the coyote destroying the valuable crops and set accordingly. I like spots where the mowers have BALDED the grass/weeds when cutting the two tracks. Sets can
be blended in fairly easy in those spots at times. Tough going for sure.

Something went haywire with my connection and I couldn't post it so I screenshot it and reposted it

I firmly believe most coyotes at traditional, scented sets know the trap is there.

They obviously don’t know it’s a trap, but they know something’s there.

At that point it just boils down to interest level in the smell, individual coyote experience, etc as to whether he’ll work the set.

It’s kinda like human scent. You’ll never convince them you weren’t there (unless sufficient time passes), but you can minimize the amount of scent you leave behind hopefully reducing it to non-alarming levels for higher percentage of coyotes.

The young dumb unexploited one doesn’t know any better. He’ll wade right in.

The old veteran that’s been around the block a few times ain’t gonna play. She skirts around 20 foot.

The middle of the road average one may take a calculated risk one day, the next they might not.




That’s why I always say final lure testing needs to be done with a trap

Testing without a trap, with a camera, or even better, soft ground is great. It lets you see just how hard they worked a smell, how long, did it get their feet moving, did it keep them there.

But adding the trap definitely changes things.

Well stated. It comes down to if the intrest is greater than the caution most of the time.

Boone: Could you please post a picture sometime of a typical blind trail set. Thanks!

Thanks for the info Boone.

Honestly kind of hard to do. If it is done properly there should be absolutely nothing to see.

Except for some stepping sticks or shoulder guides at the set, the trap can be set at ground level or recessed and bedded below grade. I do both.

Pulled anchors create fresh dirt.
Fresh dirt creates a lot of digging.

In the past I got a bunch of digging on pulled sets.
Every single dig was right on top of the anchor spot.
Your coyotes might act differently.

I'd put fresh dirt down ur pipe next time then

I regularly shoot hogs at an old mudhole tank/pond, and have been setting coyote sets in the vicinity. Put 3 in today. There are others that have been in the ground a couple of weeks. I've had a few near misses and on these last 3 sets I put the trap 12" from the lure, rather than 9" (except for the triangle set.

Yellow spot is the dead hog. There's less water in the tank than what the puc shows.
Red spots are sets. The circled one is on a road, but the image isn't current.
The blue line is a road that doesn't show on the satellite image.


New sets:

(Pics didn't want to load. I'll try later)

Ground is heavy & dry. Screw is 8".


Coyote Frenzy on cotton ball & coyote urine.

I'm using Lucero's JL #1, June's Fox & Coyote Frenzy, Locklear's Boss Dog, Caven's Violator 7 and coyote urine (F&T). One pipe set (older one) with about a half a chicken nugget-sized piece of preserved meat.
Pic looked better b4 I took it. JL in punch hole and V7 on long wooden q-tip.

Triangle set. Q-tip with V7 on post & in one punch hole.
Other punch holes have Coyote and Fox Frenzy.

I would be interested in a pick of the screw after a catch. Looks like you have a sweet spot to trap.

Not much to see.

I really like this spot. It checks all the boxes I’m looking for when I want to plant a trail set.

Thanks so much Boone! As they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Any guide sticks, stones, etc?

Yup, that’s a great example Boone! I really like that spot as well! In the previous photo before this one I believe I can see how you subtley “tuned” it.

Good pic of a great location.
But why not snare it?

Covers sparse and short.

Livestock are a constant headache in the summer. Never trust a rancher when he says “yeah there won’t be nothing in there for the next few weeks”, they’ll be in there tomorrow. Or you’re flat trying to sneak stuff in to pastures that are already stocked.

Deer and antelope fawns are everywhere right now.

Thanks, good info

I would guess that will be a tall order as the coyote with it dragging behind him is unlikely to slow down for a photo shoot…LOL

I'm sure he's familiar with his soil conditions and probably has used them many times. I don't think he would be using it if he didn't think it would hold.

I would like to see a wider washer under that screw head against the quick link.

Yeah, I have to say I'm uneasy about the triangle set. The scew is in heavy clay, but didn't feel as firm as the one I posted the pic of.
I will probably go back and put a long chain and drag, then screw it down short to test the screw. If it makes it through the night!🤣