Started my 2025-2026 season today. Started late and only got 7/35 in. Headed home and my fourwheeler quit on me. 3 mile walk back to the truck and trailer to start the season. Nice day- at least it wasnt -30 and snowing..yet. Here are a few pictures from the day. If you notice something say something its only my second season ever!

This was what looked like an old half done prairie dog holes, right one was only 7 inches or so deep, left one a foot deep. Bridger no 2 in the bottom.


A little trail I found with sign on it, Bridger #3in the trail with a mouse hole under a sagebrush

Tight chains, WY is a beautiful state.

Connected with the first coyote of the season/ my first coyote in a trap on the first check of the year! Really studied location this off season and spent what felt like 7 life times bedding my traps rock solid

Congrats!

1st of many, congrats

Congrats. Hope you catch many more

Great start

Congrats

Cool!

Looking good, cool pics

Nice coyote, can't wait to see more pics.

First coyote put up, watched some skinning and fleshing videos almost frame by frame and it took me an hour and 40 minutes but here it is after being flipped fur out

Congrats on the first coyote! That is one you will never forget! And fur put-up will get faster/better with practice. Keep it up you're off to a good start.

Got out some more sets with my girls the other day, had a goal of getting another 12 out..then I took a 2 and 3 year old with me LOL..5 in and we headed home

This was a bald spot in a deep draw opening into a river bottom I threw a dirt hole set in the middle

If that drops into a river valley, I would expect some cat action there. Good luck

Put up a pretty fluffy red today, first red of the season, Set two traps back at the remake to hopefully pick up a second that comes to investigate the very smelly catch circle.

congrats, enjoy time with the little ones, they grow up fast

Bobcat opens here on the 15t, I've never trapped them before but I found a cliff hangover in a brushed up creek bottom and gave a couple sets a go. No trap till the 15th but maybe its ready to go? Not real sure how to go about it

I'd wait a bit on the bobcats, much better fur say in late Dec.
You'll get a better price on the later cats.

We start our line this coming weekend, coyote sets. We have some bone piles to set foot holds and snares on.

Nice start, catch all those coyotes you can !!
Love the fox too, we don't have them around here much.
Good job.

Thank you! Good luck! Ive found a few carcass dumps where people have dropped their remains from elk season, havent pulled anything off them yet though

If you've had some good cold weather your cats might be ok but we usually start bobcat trapping in Dec and go until it warms up.
We've had good luck with cubby sets and hanging attractants for bobcats.
Caught a big 39lb male on a badger remake, caught the badger 1st then the big cat in the spoils of his digging.

Sadly the LOs oldest horse passed this past year and his bone pile has been very active. Lots of coyote trails coming and going.
Hoping we can pull some of your good luck on many coyotes this Winter. We caught 9 last year.

If you get some really good bobcats I know great buyer for them. He's on here. We're going with him this year and foregoing FHA. But first we have to catch some, lol.

We havent had anything for cold weather in the bighorn basin, I heard of a little snow around Cody but down here its been 20's at night and mid 50's during the day

Drove up to Big Timber and collected my two nephews for a week of trapping and a doe deer hunt. After a 4 hour drive home they didnt even want to get out of their PJ's before we headed out, Set 4 more traps today with them so they had a chance to try their hand, tomorrow we have a farm to set for some coons and Monday will go kill a deer, theses are city kids that dont get this stuff at home so heres to making a difference stick.

Connected with another nice red today on the kids last check before they go back home. Tbone set on a two track intersection

That is a beautiful red fox. Nice last check for the kids. Good deal. Congratulations!!!!!!!

Great job. You’re on your way. Get that 1st one tanned ! MD

Great job with getting those kids some outdoor experiences

Get that fox tanned and give it to them

Nice !!

That's awesome to pull a red on their last check. Great memories.

Found a fresh killed antelope with the most coyote sign I've seen all year. Its right off a cow trail, followed it back 30 yards or so and set an intersection off cow trails, both littered in coyote tracks. Found a fresh pile and Moved that to the opposite side of my trap, urine on one side turd on the other.

-Wynot

Great thread! Thanks for posting.
I LOVE your state!!!!!

Its been extremely slow going, but with being in a new management position at work I enjoy the quiet alone time on the line now more than ever. Set my second attempt at a cat walk through today, feels better than the first one. Two Bridger 3's Y'd together on a drag between two large rocks on a flat desert of sage brush, both rocks are packed full of packrat nests. Seems like a good spot from the studying ive been doing.




Also found a mile of woven wire fence out on BLM with lots of crawl unders, getting some snares ordered and will try my hand and snaring that fence and these highway looking cow trails out across the desert.

I'd put some kind of attractant in front of and behind that set if you don't catch something soon.
Make sure you set legal on the fences, especially since it is BLM land.

Good luck, hoping for some nice bobcats pics soon !!
You're making me jealous, haven't started our line yet and I'm betting we get snow right before we start.

I have two lures on the rocks along side and a little pile of bait up under the rocks, would you add any other kind of attractant front and behind?

Good luck on the cats and snaring! Keep us posted.

When I trapped cats way back in the 70s in Oregon, I would use a goose feather tied with a piece of thread to a tree branch if there was one near the set, or an old dead stick maybe 4'-5' long held up by rocks if no tree.
Old school, as I didn't have a mentor back then, but it worked.

^^^ a feather on each side of the set, hanging from a wire or something.
Like the little blue and white feathers in this set.

I know that old guy in the pic.

Had to check some traps in the area and added some flagging as recommended

Afternoons like this on the high prairie sure make a man feel free. A Lords blessing.

A couple shots of the trails I ordered snares for

God Bless Wyoming!

That's some pretty country right there. Great place to run a trapline.

Id move there tomorrow if I could convince my wife!!

Wynot,
You live anywhere near Worland?

I have a good friend that lives there.

Yep, about 5 blocks from main street

When I come out to visit next fall (still trying to draw an antelope tag, 10preference pts) I'll send you a pm ahead of time, maybe we can get together for lunch or whatever.

If you have lived there for at least a few years and have gone into the Outdoorsman store you may have met Ken Kucerg. He co- managed the store for many years when Melanie owned it. He's semi-retired now and just works Saturdays or whenever the new owner Ray and his son Jackson are out of town for buyers conventions. He just sent me a pic yesterday of he and a buddy down at Boisen fishing. Limit of walleyes and one good trout.

Spent a few winters in the mid nineties lion hunting out of Ten Sleep, we would eat dinner a few times a year in Worland. Deep creek, Cherry creek, and elder canyons were all very gamey back then. I think often of those places and that area.
Good luck

Absolutely! Yes I have ran into him down there, the outdoorsman is where I turn in my stuff for the bounty and buy a gun when Im in the mood, great store

One of my goals for the last two years has been trapping a badger, last week my wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I said a nice cat or pretty badger would do, well this evening I got a two day early present! A gorgeous pale white badger in a duke 1 3/4 and man can they destroy some country! Off to the tannery in the morning and to the wall with this one. Now off to chase a cat and complete my year goals!

Thàt is a nice pale badger! Congratulations. I pulled mine out of the freezer yesterday. Not looking for to fleshing it

What a great badger! Congratulations. And Happy Birthday!

Congrats

They are some diggers for sure

They are cool until you have to flesh them. Then I hate them.

Awesome on reaching one of your goals with the badger.
We don't have them here.
How long and what type of anchor do you use when targeting badger?

x2

It was just a cable 18" wolf fang style anchor, but he dug everywhere but straight down as I understand is what they all do, if he would have dug straight down he could have been gone with my trap in less than a minute with those diggers

Nice !!
We left the feet on ours when we sent it to Moyle's, came back great.

Caught our biggest bobcat in a badger catch remake.
Maybe you'll get yours too !!

Pretty sure we'll have snow about the time we get to start our line.

Wynot,

I've bumped cats way out on 15 Mile rd in side draws when deer hunting. Look for the draws with rocky top edges.

Thanks! Ive never been out poking around 15 mile, im trapping the nowater drainage now

Snares and extension cables are in, will set the fence crawl unders tomorrow during my check, and this week going to pick up 20' of 1/2in rebar for stakes/ supports for the trail sets later in the week.

Got out today with a bust, but I got my first dozen snares out on crawl throughs with lots of sign in the snow of both fox and coyote. All snares are set legal anchored to fence posts not fence wire with long cable extensions. Set a few more sets, trying to get better at dirtholes, and missed a traveling coyote on an inside corner that didnt even stop his stride to smell the goods, just cruised right on over and down the road

Looks like good sign I am excited to see what you catch! Keep us posted. In the last picture what does the red X signal?

That is roughly where the Bridger #3 lays, though looking at it that x is probably 2 inches closer to the Tbone than the trap pan itself

Ran the line today, super stoked about these coyote snares and picked up a coon in a coyote snare...there isnt a tree within 4 miles and water within probably two miles! It really does figure this would be my first snare catch but hey, with a $10 bounty ill take him!

Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Good time of year to catch them.

Hey Wynot,

Those crawl under certainly do produce but those nice cattle trails you showed earlier can be great locations for snares especially if K9 tracks are present. It looks like a lot of rabbits going under the fence spot too. It might create more maintenance on those snares in the fence. I've snared both types of scenarios and have taken coyotes, but my preference is those trails. Maybe you are going to set up trails later. Hope to see a coyote snared soon.

Have a good day.

Thank you much! I set a cow trail today but was short on time while checking, I have a couple dozen more snares to hang over all of those cow trails, I have only found one stock pond with water in it still I plan on snaring all of the cow trails into that pond as well. I had to wait to build some anchor supports. Now that those are done I will be setting all of those. I am really enjoying setting snares though it's pretty addicting and I havent even snared a coyote yet!

Got out and hung another dozen or so snares over cow trails, all but one or two had recent K9 sign, hopefully these connect as the fence haven't

Looks good. I think you'll have one snared in those trails soon.

Nice thread!!!! Really loved following along.

Good looking trail sets! Hope you hook one up soon!

Another goose egg trapcheck today, been 10 days since last catching anything, its only my second year of trapping but it's definitely frustrating. Had what I think was a coyote walk right past one of my sets within a foot.

Got my fourwheeler up and running finally, have made two check on it and I move a lot faster than running in the truck, and it's easier on my 12 year old pickup, added a spare scabbard I had laying around today to make it easier to keep a longgun with me while I check.

That looks like a big canine track for a coyote (in scale to the glove) although maybe just because it's in sandy soil? Any chance of bird dogs or hounds out there? Good looking 4 wheeler setup. One of these days I'm gonna have to pony up and get a quad.

There is absolutely a chance of either but no human tracks or vehicle, but there is always the possibility of strays running about. There is always the faintest possibility of traveling wolves, seen a couple 20 or 30 miles due south from this

Not big enough for even a small wolf, could be a dog, I know I've hunted the general area in the past. But I'd bet on coyote.

What year is that quad? I had a 2010 as did my dad and a friend of mine, all three of us ended up replacing our wiring harnesses and still had constant wiring issues, the wire Arctic Cat used then was junk and had a habit of breaking, often without breaking the insulation, causing an intermittent issue that would be hard to find. My 2016 has much better quality wire and doesn't have those issues (plenty of others though with over 22K on it now). I'm not sure when they changed their source of wire somewhere between those years.

Its a 2008, ran great all its life and then sat for several years, ended up replacing the carb on it and had a poor carb to intake manfold connection that made it stall out and die and not restart, since ive fixed that its ran well enough to use and trust for 15-20 mile loop

Lost a coyote and trap today, set was checked yesterday morning and on my way past today to set some more trail snares I smelled the coyote pee from 30 yards away, pulled into the set to an empty trapbed. No real catch circle and a hole where the 18" wolf fang used to be. Not really sure what happened but sucks all the way around. Since no real trap circle and lots of coyote pee I reset another duke 3 cross staked with 20" rebar stakes.

That’s disappointing, but maybe get another one in the remake.

That's too bad. Not sure if you do this or not but anytime I stake a trap (especially with earth anchors) I yank up on the trap. This year I did that on a welded rebar stake and the nut on top of the rebar popped off and off came the trap. Hopefully you catch one on the remake. Keep us posted.

Do know anyone with a good coyote dog
The dog could find the missing coyote and trap

Another empty check, time to pull the line I reckon, Ill pull one day short of 4 months out. I do have a fence line im going to go check on hanging some snares on but that will wrap it up for the year. 1 Coyote 2 Reds 1 badger and 19 coon year number 2 of running traps.

For year number 2 that is a great season. I hope you post another trap line thread next season!

The first few years of coyote trapping can be challenging. Even though the places may look like good locations but only have sparse sign don't produce well. You may only be trapping what you have access to but start looking for places with more scat and tracks. Stick close to areas with lots of prey, livestock, long running 2 tracks through ranches, prairie dog towns, or dead piles. Those areas usually have more sign and produce well. That being said, you may be doing those things, and your area may not have the number of coyotes to catch in higher numbers.

At one time the Worland/Thermopolis area of the Big Horn basin had some very capable government trappers working that area A good aerial program could sure be effecting your numbers also

They still do, fly a beautiful red carbon cub, I havent seen them out flying the area but that is definitely a possibility I considered, they sure knock a dent in them when they fly

They definitely work that country hard The old Hawkins-Powers fire fighting company out of the Greybull airport had an old Hiller h-23 that I flew in a couple of times that was also used over in the rougher country south of Ten Sleep you could go into some of that country see lots of sign and after they flew it if they had a good day flying you had way less coyotes to catch

I pulled my entire line yesterday..tossed and turned in bed last night until I got up, read all of the articles on John Grahams website on Wyoming/Montana Coyote trapping and went to bed, got up early and cleaned out everything from my fourwheeler but 2 dozen snares, supports and stakes and struck out for new country this morning. Found a 3 mile long woven wire fence with signs of government snare men of the past, nothing newer than a couple years ago as I constantly worry about trapping on someones line. Anyway what I did find was fresh coyote sign, geographical features spoken of in Grahams articles and bone piles of dead coyotes from the past. Over the span of several hours I got a dozen and change snares set with high hopes. I mean, who quits with two months left of the bounty right?!? Last picture is a crawl under with fresh pile behind it.

Awesome spots! Good luck I think you'll hang up some yotes there.

Good deal. I hope you connect. Snares will be less time consuming for you. Longer check time with snares in WY I believe.

You bet, we have a real long check on snares but unfortunately its been so warm out here this winter that its still a short check to not waste anything that I catch. I havent seen it colder than 20 degrees this winter with an average well above 35...crazy weather. Only one skiff of snow to speak of.

good looking spots

Which part of Wyoming you in? I was just out to douglas and glenrock area with a cow elk tag in December.

Closest to Worland, straight south of Billings Mt about 3 hours.

Wynot, a friend told me to check this out!

The first coyote and ‘cats I snared, over 40 years ago, came from just west of where you are at in Worland.

I am humbled! I’m glad you enjoy my writing

My next article will be my 100th for Trapper’s Post, having written one for every issue since it was started by Bob and Deb Noonan

I’m glad the information and experiences have helped you and inspired you, because that’s my goal

Try to attend Coyote Days in Lusk, Aug 14-15

You will be overloaded with information, but meet some of the best trappers in the country

January can be a tough month. but the weather change will help.

Good Luck, John

I appreciate it Mr.Graham! It's difficult to find any western style coyote instruction like what you have written up! I put in my vacation request for coyote days today!

Snared my first coyote today!!

Awesome job! Bet your were excited walking up on that. Fur still looks pretty good from what I can see.

Very excited, any tips on skinning out a hip caught coyote? Will the hide be thin around where it was snagged?

And any advice on keeping the next ones from getting hip caught coyote?

Unfortunately I had an incidental catch on a deer today, warden went out and picked her up and sent me this picture, the break-away worked like it was supposed to but the thick winter hair kept the cable from freeing, very unfortunate.

Carefully lol. Hopefully others chime in. I don't run snares for coyotes or at least very rarely. Only hip caught coyote I've had was in a wolf snare in Idaho. Bigger loop so I assumed that's why the yote was hip caught. It was a little tedious skinning mine out but the leather opened where it was snared.

Bummer on the deer. At least you were legal though. Assuming the CO didn't give you too much of a hard time, since the breakaway functioned?

Nope, he was fine to work with, but I was anchored solid with rebar with the 285 BADs on which didnt leave him much room to get gruff with, I wont lie I was a little worried when I was calling him- havent had the best track record with the guys...

I have really enjoyed this thread. I am across the Big Horns from you, Thanks for sharing your season!