I have had a couple cameras out on some baited holes the last week and a half and have been studying the pics on how and where the coyote moves around the hole and how he works the area and where he walks certain spots in the area.I know some here have done this already but it is a real eye opener to me and a good learning tool.I hope to get out this weekend and set a few traps to see if I really learned something.

The advent of cameras is a serious game changer when it comes to testing scents compared to trying to read sign at test locations in the old, pre-camera days! Being able to actually watch a coyote’s body language as it reacts to a scent is invaluable IMHO! I’m glad you’re testing scents Slipknot because you’ve upped your game now!

Ive enjoyed the heck out of testing lures and ingredients and a few other things. It definitely can shorten the learning curve. You definitely need the skills to interpret what you see and that's something you get better at the more encounters you get. Takes some experience and exposure to get an understanding what a good response is. For me the more I see the more questions i have and the more things I want to test. The more time and thought you put into it the more you will learn. To me its as fun or maybe even more so than trapping itself. Like I said it definitely shortens the learning but theirs guys out there that are serious coyote killers and have been for a very long time that still know more than me and im always thankful for their input. One thing ive learned is coyotes never lie. When you start seeing enough stuff from coyotes it also helps you figure out who really knows coyotes and who just think they do. I run cameras at probably less than 10% of my test sets because I dont have enough cameras to cover all of them and it is also hard to find the type of set location I like and one that also is what I want for setting up a camera. Don't just limit yourself to cameras if you really want to gather a bunch of information faster.

Slipknot how's your health doing? Im sure hoping since ur back at it you got rid of the cancer.

Yes Sir i am scheduled to have surgery on the 17th of July.I am trying to keep at it till then . I will be down a couple weeks after so I am gonna hit em while I can. I decided to put out a few cams on some baited holes sites to check on movement and reactions . Really interesting. I have a pair coming that has my interest.Thanks for asking YS.

Sorry the 17th of June. Typo.

Game cameras made us all look like liars! LOL. Side note - some of the absolute best coyote observers I ever met were pretty accurate on behavior/activity around a food source/scent as proven with the cameras. They may never have caught a 100-50-30 coyotes a year but when they set a trap, they caught a coyote the next visit. Interesting to me was how they caught one in a remake with decoy and blind sets. My experience...... the mike

I was able to go set on the pair that had my interest this evening. I set two traps on a spot about 10 ft apart. I was checking on my cameras at 9 o’clock . at that set and picked up a pic of the pair coming in and ended up with this young female. This trap was only out about 4.5 hours when it caught. It was also one of the new no bs ko traps. Set was only about 4 miles from my house so I went on out and picked up the coyote from the trap.Looking forward to the morning I have a couple more sets out and more night to go.

Not long after I laid down from the first on I checked the camera and had this wet female on another road about a half a mile away.

Man your having a busy night

Nice work Slipknot!
Keep hammerin'!

You have to get up many more times in a night and you're not going to be liking those cameras as well.

Good job.

Is that the new No BS Knockout 1.5 sized trap?

Thanks, and nice work.

Yes Sir I did.
Thanks MC
Bearcat that did cross my mind.These were caught pretty early and I was not to far from them

Yes Carolina Foxer that is the new 1.5 by No Bs

10-4 thank you. How do you like them so far?

Hard to judge just yet. I like the set up and how they bed. I think the next ones I get will be inside lamination. The pan sets deep inside the jaws so the trap caught high on that coyote. I need to add more dirt when covering the next time .I only picked up a couple traps to try . I did catch a big boar coon in one this morning of course he was hooked up really well.

I definitely have a love hate relationship with trail cameras. Things that I was certain about turned out I was wrong. But the information they provide is very valuable. BTW what is everyone's opinion on the best no glow, card only cameras?

All I ever used were Browning Model BTC-8A, SPEC#PS. My testing videos speak for themselves!

I went to Reaval X Pro. They are a cellular camera but work just as a regular sd camera if u dont have an active plan. I was having too many problems with the trigger system on the Brownings.

Slipknot,
What are you using for bait?

Are you getting dug out holes b4 you set traps?

Sw I get trimmings from smoked meat from a restaurant. I get them hitting it and then set. I have set on sign using it and have caught with it on the first night.The biggest issue I have is fire ants this time of year.

I'm experimenting with some old baits I had on hand.

Commercial bait: 1) Lucky (made by Rusty Johnson)

Made by me: 1) Smoke liquid mixed with ground beaver tail, 2) Nelson-type with bobcat meat base, 3) ground/tainted deer meat with no additives.

Four locations. Dug holes straight down 15" deep in logging roads. Dumped about 8 to 10 ounces of bait in each hole. Camera on each hole. Camera have been there for months. Coyotes have no fear of the cameras at these 4 locations.

Been out 6 nights. Have had visits at 3 of the 4. Only one with no visits is the Nelson-type bait. Several pics of them walking by after the 1st and 2nd night. NO DIGGING at any of them....yet. No aggressive interest.

Gonna add ground fish and some skunky stuff in a day or two.

Bait hole is located where the coyotes with their nose to the ground is.

And how about the 1st pic? Bait hole is between the rabbit and the coyote...lol

Bobcats paying zero attention to the bait holes.....

Swamp do you have any issues with ants if so pour a large amount of used cooking oil that you fried fish with. It will keep the ants at bay for a day or two.

Yes....ants everywhere. Will try some fish grease, too. I think i have some in my shed.

Odd that no coons or possums have visited...yet.

8 to 10 ounces???? Are you trying to feed them or test the bait? I always test using the same amount i trap with. The amount you use definitely can affect your results.

I've tried lightly tainted ground deer with no additives other than SB to stop it, and glycerin to keep it from freezing. While I did catch a coyote on it once, I had very little interest in it when using golf ball to baseball sized gobs. Yet use a quarter of a deer and I would get a lot of interest. I took a gallon of that ground deer meat and added 8 ounces of a lure I discontinued making (due to its extreme attraction of nontargets) and that bait elicited a lot of interest. More so than the lure alone (although I never tested the lure down a hole, since I designed it as a flat/post set lure, so not apples to apples comparison).

It was old prepared baits......not lure.

Not really testing as it all caught many coyotes over the years.

Just putting it out there to see if it generates a "digging to get to it" response. Never get to know that with a trap set.

So far, none of what I've put out has generated that response on May coyotes. They are doing the "curiosity" stop and sniff, but no digging to eat it.

For me if they won't dig it, it doesn't have enough attraction. Ive also caught a good amount of coyotes on baits and lures that were mediocre at best on the attraction scale. Not hard to do if you got good number of coyotes.

Also the reason they will dig for it isnt always to eat it

The farm store had Brownings (I forget the exact model) on sale back in 2015-16ish.

Got three of them I think for $89.99 on sale.


Wish I would have bought a dozen!

Agree^^^^^

The coyotes I'm messing with trot these logging roads nightly. They may not be hungry enough to dig for anything as peak fawning time is upon us here.

I have a few partial containers of various baits and I figured I'd see if I could get digging reactions. May not happen this time of year with what I'm using.

For draw station set ups I use a 3" auger hole down a couple feet if possible, and pour in a gal or so of our leftover trout fish paste, sludge / juice and mix it in with feed grade bulk oatmeal. I put these out placed over all of my trapping areas in pre chosen locations.

The oatmeal gives the juice, bones and residual trout oil some substance. It absorbs much of the fluid.

We get lots of digging and a variety of animal visitations. Put out in the Spring before the pups begin to run around with the adults. Once they all locate the station it will get marked up significantly with urine and feces.

They will keep coming back until they are caught or get spooked from the area if you set up too close to the station.

I rarely run cameras anymore for coyotes.

I always feel guilty if I’m not doing my 100% best to kill the coyote. And cameras definitely can have a negative impact on that endeavor.



So I’ve started testing lures on M44s. You get to see a lot more, especially if there’s snow, sand, or mud.

Making a passable trapping lure is easy.
Making a great trapping lure is harder.
Making a passable getter lure is hard.
Making a great getter lure is impossible.

I will out trap guns 10-15 to 1. With the same lures even claimed to be good on guns.

Never thought of oatmeal. I used cheap dry dogfood . May give the oatmeal a try a try.