I wouldn't worry so much about backing height as much as I would the actual trap placement. I've had nothing more than small clump of grass as the focal point but placed my trap 3-4' feet away because it was the "natural path of approach." I've also placed a trap a few inches from a backing that was 3 feet tall. I do like to keep it 100% natural though. If you go to importing a bunch of stuff, they can and will notice...

Some of the other guys bring up great points on animal personalities, competition, population dynamics, family structure, etc. It's really all subjective...

I made one set a couple of years ago on a trail through the woods during the winter. The backing was a small piece of broken tree and behind that was natural brush. It wasn't real thick either. I put a cell camera up quite a ways away so I didn't have to be in the area to check. For some reason the coyote always worked the set from behind and no matter what the wind was. I really never got a good idea why they were doing that.

Wild Idaho,
IMO, that is as pretty as it gets! If a guy could only find another hundred like it!! I'm betting you moved some of those smaller rocks around after each catch too.

The Coyotero,
I tend to agree with your summation, but would also add time of year, and local activity ( planting, harvesting, spraying, logging activity) to the last sentence. IME, spraying/fertilizing a fresh planted field really spooks canines.

I don't believe backing height makes any difference, and if available, prefer a tall/ strong backing, especially in coon country. I'm a multi species trapper, if it works my set I expect to catch it. IME, rock piles, stacks of round bales, stump piles, edges of cattail sloughs, roots of tipped over trees, and shelter belts are quite attractive to most any furbearer, most any time of year. If I have to set in an over grazed pasture, a rock will do, but I'll expect some coyotes and wolves to work it from the backside. Trapping in the snow suggests that would be a good idea, and snow doesn't lie.
IME, moving or making a set with natural materials, is not detrimental to success at that location, particularly long term, like permanent cubbies in the bush country, or adding some foot guiding/ narrowing a snare location with a fern, pine bow, etc. Build a fence, leave a bunch of sweat doing so, and you'll get refusals, especially in more remote areas, where animals are not accustomed to human interaction. On the other side of that coin, I bet there are at least twenty farmers/ranchers on this site, that have run coyotes out of the last ten rows of corn while combining, had coyotes or fox in the same field they were haying, or had coon in their barns, outbuildings, or stored machinery. We could also ask them how much grease they go through in a year, along with hydraulic fluid, (you know there is at least two leaking hydraulic lines amongst the twenty), that ends up in their fields, where we are making sets, but worried about keeping our traps odor free!

Since I switched to Jagger’s pipe dream set, my backing is just a predominant clump of grass. It’s generally easy for the canine to see over. The pipe and its contents are the attractor. It’s low and since the canine can’t get to it, there are feet on the pattern regardless.

The answer is, it depends.

Boone with that backing you force them right into the trap. I bet they follow those areas tight up against the bank.

Good read.
Easier to catch em where they are already going
rather than lure em into a corner.
And not just the internet king coyote.

And cool pics Boone.

Sometimes you can lure them into real small places, their smaller cousin too.


[img]https://trapperman.com/forum/attachments/usergals/2026/07/full-60314-297621-img_4215.jpeg[/img


Note where that coyotes left front leg is. Both in Belisle 160 with pans.