Stolen, but by what?

Just lost both my 220 conibears I had set in legal boxes to a thief, my first thought was a human but now I'm thinking maybe it was coyotes? they were wired off pretty good but designed to hold a coon not a coyote yanking on one. My thinking is maybe they both caught a coon and a coyote drug them off, my buckets were still there but one was moved pretty far and the other was messed with, I had weasel sets close by and those were still there so that's why I'm thinking coyote I'm probably going to go back and walk in a search pattern and try to find them.

Called the DNR, they just took my name and what was stolen and gave it to the local police

Maybe a coyote you never know but i had a cage trap stolen not to long ago and the next day someone returned it maybe your traps will show ip to

I've lost them to bears in the past but it's too early I imagine in Michigan. Highly unlikely coyotes.

Thought about bears maybe they are waking up around now but we have a very low population around here.

Hmmm. Was the wire broken off or was it completely gone?

One was gone and the other was broken off/untied/pulled free I think the first one was wrapped pretty well to the trap. Had flagging with rabbit strips to hold lure about 3 feet in a tree and it was pulled down and shreaded.

That is odd

Yes it is

Yote would be trap shy enough to not do that I would think. I could be wrong but you could probly rule them out

A 220 in a bucket would make a coyote pretty cautious

Time for a hidden trail camera

I'm not thinking a coyote stuck his head in the bucket I'm thinking he found a coon in it and decided to take it elsewhere for lunch

If a yote actually stuck its head through a 220 and it neck caught the beast, I doubt it would have gotten far before it was done for. Speaking from painful experience this winter...

Yeah that's why I didn't anchor so well because I figured anything that enters the trap is going to die so I didn't worry about it too much. Then again if it was human it didn't matter...

If not a 2 leg critter my next guess would be a dog.

I'm going to walk circles around it next time I'm there and try to find any sign of them

Don’t give them all so much credit about being trap shy and smart!

I'd bet on human since both traps were gone.

Pretty obvious..... its a sasquatch. Lol

What were you trapping for with 220s this time of year?

A detailed and expanded search sounds like the right approach. I've had a similar thing happen and it was just a coon that didn't expire immediately and fought the trap hard. Never had a coon taken by a yote or eaten on at the trap site despite plenty of opportunity.

That's why I anchor all my body grips to keep them where set. I have stake swivels and in line swivels on them. If I am going to anchor to a tree I use 3/32 cable. Wire is to hold your muffler up. Take a dog along if you have one.

I saw a young bear in a clear cut here yesterday, there is only 2-3 inches snow on the flat,
The spring coat sure does shine in the sunlight.

Osky

Bobcat season closed Feb.1

I think he was going after coon

Yep they were for coon, can't trap bobcat with conibears in the LP and can't trap them here because we don't have many.

Be sure to update us on the search.

Alright so i searched for them earlier, didn't find them but also didn't find any blood or anything around them so I'm thinking 2 legged thief. No "catch circle" type of thing and no bear tracks or claw marks.

Same happened with me. 330 with a beaver in it. Had it wired good but not good enough for a bear.

The ol timers used to say stake a trap down for the larges critter that could get into it. If he pulls out you still have a trap