This has probably been discussed before but let’s hear you thoughts on this question.I have heard and read about testing from a lot of guys on here . Why does a coyote react different when you bed a trap in front of a bait hole vs a Test hole. Second question especially year round trapping on same property . How long generally in your area do you have to change up set styles and bait because of avoiding sets.

Ask yourself what the difference could be with the scents being the same?? Visuals, visuals, visuals and maybe the trapper spent too much time dickin around at the set. Remember, there are two kinds of coyotes, one is neophobic and the other aggressive and that number is divided by population/competion! My test holes were simple 1” diameter and no coyotes were spooked by it as far as I could ascertain by video. I see these coyote trapping videos where they make sets that most do NOT look like any coyote digging I’ve ever seen let alone look like a simple 1” hole in the dirt!!! Remember, I said there are two kinds of coyotes, some are neophobic and others are aggressive! Which coyote do you think cares less about visuals??

The same answer applies to your 2nd question.

I decided I needed to carry this discussion a little further with a 2nd reply. For many years I’ve advised trappers wanting to test their lures never to test the lure at a set, never!! If a trappers wants to find out the quality of the scent he’s testing, WHY bring in the addition of the visual of a set, any set?? As soon as the trapper makes addition to a scent test, they loose all objectivity toward the original purpose! Never made sense to me!

I think alot of it has to do with how much scent you leave. I actually did a fair amount of testing on this exact subject using non functioning traps. If memory is correct I made 16 test sets. 2 one inch holes about a foot and a half apart. Same bait down each hole. Both holes I made a trap bed but only one had a non functioning trap in front of it. Traps had been dyed and waxed a couple years before and put in storage. Learned some things and also created some more questions. A guy who makes his living killing coyotes year around and I trust when it comes to coyotes as much as anyone I know once told me while discussing this topic than if a coyote is looking for a trap hes going to be able to find it with his nose no matter what you do. After seeing a lot of coyotes reaction id agree with him. Ive seen coyotes on video that I cant get to work test sets even using the best formulations I've tested. One of the most intresting thing I saw while doing this test was at one set about about a mile from my house. Highly probably these coyotes had encountered numerous of my test sets and my real sets. The hole without a trap got dug at least 4 times over about 3 weeks(very likely more just couldn't tell for sure by reading the sign), once even after I pulled the non functioning trap. They never dug the dirt hole with the trap even after I removed it.

To your second question. Id say as soon as you have a coyote avoid that set. Thats speaking in general. Unless you have a camera or snow it can be hard to know if a coyote avoided your set. Luckily for us novice trappers theres generally new pups each year and there is usually more coyotes out there than we realize and theres likely another coyote or three that will move though that area again. One thing I can say after doing alot of testing is the first time a coyote encounters a set is when it will have the most attraction to him. If a coyote encounters a set in the first few days the human scent can be too strong and cause him to not work the set and he might work it a few days later when the scent has lessened or if hes real cautious he might avoid it the rest of the season because of the human scent. Also if hes really hungry he might eventually work up enough courage to work a set that he avoided earlier but in my country coyote usually dont get real hungry.

Thanks for the input on this I was hoping to hear your thoughts on this.

I read a story/ study a guy had a snow machine and the coyote followed it but any where he stopped the coyote got off the trail and went around it was very interesting and I don't remember all the specifics but the longer he was there the longer they avoided it .

I have to admit I have been slow to changing my tactics on coyotes mostly because im a hobby trapper and we have lots of coyotes so one can put up pretty good numbers just catching the easy ones but in a market where they aren't really worth much putting up numbers hasn't been a big goal so the last several years I've focused a bit on catching the harder ones for the challenge. If you want to catch most all of them in an area you trap every year your really going to have to change things up. Ive caught some that im pretty sure would have never fell to a set with any scent. Those ones are where snares and blind sets come into play.

Yes Sir I agree that the camera tells a story.i set my first camera up on a set last weekend actually 2 sets about 10 ft apart. I check the camera about 2:15 in the morning and had a coyote. The next morning I went in to box the coyote and it had mange so I had to dispatch him. With other obligations I had to attend I did not reset the trap so I did not bother with removing any blood. Well when I checked the cam the next morning a coyote had visited that previous catch circle . Came in urinated on the site and walked off. There was a fair amount of blood and it didn’t seem to bother him. Without a camera I would not have learned this.

And I will agree with Seldom that if you make a set that's ots obvious where your trap is at because its the only place with bare dirt or you have blocked it down to the point its obvious where your trap is your hurting your catch rate. Spending too much time making the set or tinkering with it will have negative impacts also. Those are the things I've learned to get better at if I want to improve.

The guys that think all coyotes are easy just dont realize everything that's going on or are just ignoring it to make themselves feel better. Ive been there too. But the more you observe and listen the more you realize theres more to it than just catching the easy ones. Now if your in an area with lots of coyotes and have lots of access and your going for numbers its probably not worth messing with the tougher ones. Roll though the easy ones and move on.

The blood is often an attractor, I dispatch with a 22 usually, and I often toss the dispatched animal on the backing while I remake the set. This way the next animal through must walk across the trap to investigate the blood. Sure it spooks some animals, but so do catch circles, and I've caught a lot in remakes done this way.

Have any of you read Kirk DeKalb's book on the real reason animals are detecting your sets? If any of you have, do you feel that's a reason animals are reacting differently to the tested attractant when a trap is bedded in front of it?

He was on here a few years ago talking about magnetic fields being detectable by some critters. Alot of people blow him off. I down loaded an app on my phone (not sure how a smart phone can detect it but it does)that can measure the magnetic fields but I couldn't come up with a viable way to test his theory. I will say that different traps have stronger and weaker magnetic fields and different areas of each traps has stronger areas. Usually the jaw pivot points having the strongest field. And that's were I get uncovered the most when I have adigger.

Another thing I'll add is being around cattle my whole life I suspicion cattle that are trained to hot wire can tell when an electric fence is hot or not without touching it so maybe he is on to something.... ???

Its called a gauss meter if anyone wants to play with it. Tried to find a simple way to block or adequately reduce the field for testing but couldn't come up with a way.

I always thought cattle could smell electricity, anyways breachy cows would put their nose close to a fence and if it was hot they would go on, if it wasn't they would walk right through. I don't know if they actually smell it or not, but they can definitely detect it somehow.

As far as DeKalb, he made a pest of himself on here a few years ago, getting on every thread that had anything to do with any critters avoiding sets, trap placement, lures or anything else and went on about magnetic fields and how everyone needed to buy and read his book in order to catch stuff. Is he on to something? Maybe. But a lot of people blew him off because of his attitude.

This might shed a little light on the “Metal Detecting Coyote Theory”.
The photos below were from about six years ago when I had a wave of digs in one area and was trying to solve the problem.
Back then, the thinking was that perhaps a coyote could smell the oxidizing metal of the rusting trap buried just below their feet.
The problem digging I encountered back in 2020 prompted me to dig for answers to put an end to the mayhem.

One simple test revealed that the excessive digging was not related to the trap in any way.
It took a good while to nail down the real answer, and even longer to find the solution.

LIE DETECTOR

I made the same countermove shown in the photos countless times.
Not one coyote dug where the trap actually was after it had been moved from its original location just inches away.

Thanks TEJAS, great topic!

Dang Tejas, looking at that I'd swear he stepped right on the pan in the last pic. Did he miss it or was there something under it or some other reason it didnt go off?

Tejas I do a lot of testing in the same areas I trap.. and i have had my share of diggers. In actuality probably more than my share. I can make all the test sets I want on a location and never get a coyote digging for a trap but have set a trap in the same location and have got dug. I have made over a thousand test sets and to my memory have never had a coyote digging around looking for a trap. Ive even made a trap bed at a fair number of test sets to see if it was the loose dirt and no digging. I do agree coyotes definitely can get smart to where the trap normally gets placed and have caught what I believe was diggers by placing a second trap out of the normal position but I dont think from my experience that is the soul reason or I should be getting dug at test sets also. Ive never had a coyote dig looking for a trap at a test set if there wasn't a trap there. So im thinking theres more to the story. What's your thoughts to what I've seen.