Question for the veterans. So if a land owner has been trying to trap and snare coyotes on his property for several years with no luck and drives his property 7 days a week along with trying to thermal hunt and call along with flying over his property with a thermal on a drone all with no
Luck is this property even worth trapping? No way these coyotes are on any type of pattern and probable have an PhD in avoiding humans. I’m not sure I’ve ever trapped coyotes on a property with this level of activity.

And there's still coyotes?

He’s saying he’s suffering fawn loses and found one that part of it was missing. In my experience coyotes eat the whole fawn small bones, hide and all. So I don’t know if he was actually looking at a coyote kill. We haven’t had rain in going on 4 weeks and it was 111 deg yesterday. So it’s more than likely it died from the heat and smaller predators fed on it. They are catching a few pictures on trail cams but I don’t think many.

I would think that if he has coyotes they are adjusted to the activity and just avoid him or lay low when he gets close.

If he is no more of a trapper than you say, just make sets accordingly

I do think most ADC/pros would charge a higher fee

I have seen what you can do and am confident you could catch them behind him
May be challenging but will probably enhance your skills

Ask him for a list of baits and lures he has used avoid those. A flat set with a coyote turd from outside the area and a shot of urine at a flat set would be my first choice.

Now is when you become a REAL Fur Harvester (trapper) animal observer.................................the mike

Mark June has some videos on youtube which seem to mirror your scenario. Might be worth checking out.

[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xFNULf-ebss[/video]

I'd charge more. But it could be fun... in a frustrating kind of way.

Subtle is usually the key on educated critters, blind sets being king. But occasionally something off the wall and loud curiosity will work. So far off they don't associate it with any lure/sets they've seen.

That is just another day at the office for me. I always do my best, but I tell the rancher upfront that the cards are stacked against me. That said… A new Trapper does have a chance right when he sets up.

I have come in after a place has been worked for months and months by another Trapper. The Trapper got down to one last coyote that was the real killer. He couldn’t get the coyote. 200 acre high fence place. Ugh.

Out of desperation, the rancher called me. I didn’t give him much hope. I set a few subtle traps and out of the way places in the brush. I connected on the ninth night. I looked like a rockstar.

On 200 acres, I set 10 traps… two at a time. Each set a mafia set in a trail. All in the brush. All in the general area of fresh killed dorper lamb (this place only has exotics). I hung the lamb up in a shade tree and gutted it leaving most of the entrails hanging down. No scent near my traps.

I charge ranchers like this by the day or the week, not the month. And I charge a lot. It is hard work resetting traps all the time.

It works every time… some of the time.