I made this coyote set this past Saturday in a sand bowl. Bait was in the right hole. You can see a little bit of poly fill at the far edge of the pan away from the holes.

Had the two pine cones at 11 and stick at 3 to guide. The mound behind with the grass actually goes up ~4".



Lots of tracks in the sand.



I "think" the set is wrecked and my bait is gone. What do I do with the set now? Remake it in the same spot. Do I add another trap here? How do I make it different to get them to stop on the pan?

I know I am new to this and it's all part of the game, but boy is it frustrating trying to get that first coyote.

Hang in there.
IF you are confident that sand did not get under your pan....I'd leave it alone and put in another set nearby....different attractor(s)...different style set.
Just my opinion.
Good luck.

In a two hole set trap needs to be exactly in between traps and roughly 7 to 10 inches back. The more vertical the hole the closer trap needs to be also I have fou d in trapping in sand packrats etc will pull polyfill in sand I use wax paper or sandwich baggies. Try not to use guides that can be moved by wind have set positioned so coyote is facing the wind to approach hope this helps

Don't worry about a thing. Level that dirt back over trap, add fresh bait/lure in holes, then give it a shot of urine right between the 2 holes. If you don't have urine, put a piece of scat right above the 2 holes.

You have red fox in the area? Tracks could be fox. I've seen fox scrape at the dirt like that. No big deal though. Just fix a few of the things I mentioned, and you'll be back in business.

Im guessing if the poly fill is showing the coyotes uncovered the trap first and if that's the case u do have a problem

Thanks guys!

Raccoons here are the primary diggers I have run into.

I use wax paper also for pan cover. If the traps weren't snapped and bait gone they should come back. Like mentioned above reset trap between the holes and back nine or so inches. Use those pine cones for guiding to force them to step in the trap location. Be subtle though.

you have alot goin on there i wouldnt worry too much about trying to guide there foot i would make your holes deep and make sure your trap is bedded solid
being sandy soil i would suggest wax paper or sifted peat moss for under the pan and blend in the set so even a trapper would have a hard time seeing the trap outline
and get your bait to the bottom of the hole if its a good bait they will have happy feet trying to get at it if your still having trouble add a 2nd trap
keep in mind that once the trap is bedded the only thing that should move is the pan dont try to crowd them
good luck stay on em

Ive heard that a lot but that's sure not my experience here. Sometimes I wondered if people were just saying that so they didn't have to admit they were getting schooled by coyotes. I wish our coons would just dig the trap and not get caught it would make resetting much easier.When I started running cameras at test sets I was a bit surprised how frequently coons just walk past coyote sets here. Here we have a lot of open country and i can mostly avoid coons. When I target bobcats its another story. I basically have to thelin out the coons before I can catch a cat. Maybe 6 coons to one cat catch. And when cat trapping i can block them in good enough i just put a light covering of duff on the pan, no real covering the whole trap and cant ever recall a coon messing with the trap other than getting caught by it.

I say coons, cause more often than not, when I have a digger, i add a set and get a coon the next night. then the digging stops. I've never put a camera on a set to watch.

Im not saying ur wrong as I've never trapped your country but it sure doesn't seem the case here. But ive sure had to contend with my share of coyotes doing it. Im slowly figuring out how to out smart them and hoping the problem is mostly taken care of.

More I watch coyotes work test sets the closer I move my traps to the hole.

Hunter82

I might suggest trying a step down dirt hole set. Not a trench set but a step down. Its not a weather friendly set and its not a set for the more cautious coyotes but if the weather allows it and you have some coyotes that haven't figured out the game it has a lot of advantages.

Here's a Double dirt hole i came up with that controls foot placement pretty good and is more weather resistant and a bit more inviting to the cautious coyotes. Trap back about 3 inches from being in line with the dirt holes. Use the small trenches and lose piles of dirt to say dont step here.
Theory is coyote comes in at a 45 to check out one hole then steps over small trench to that flat spot in between the holes to check out second hole. Has worked pretty good for me. Keep holes small and deep and keep the small trenches narrow. You want that coyote only stepping 6 or 8 inches from checking out the first hole to the center of ur pan.

Hunter82.

You will catch more and have fewer misses if you use a single dirt hole!

Place the trap close to the hole, make it look natural!!!!!!

Multiple holes and lure locations, makes trap placement difficult for a beginner. Lol, most really good coyote trappers use simple sets and snares.

hey seth how would you bait and lure that double dirt hole?

thanks mike

Be patient. This is what's great about this site a lot of really good advice.

Normally FP in one and NHB in the other but I get stuck in a rut pretty easy. I really dont think it matters as long as what u put in them is really attractive to them.

Glad you put this pic back up.This set works. I recommend you try it.

Thanks for the advice and tips! Keep it coming.