Quote:
Originally Posted by drake
Dave, I mean this with all due respect....if you're willing to target "late season" sub prime coyotes what is your reluctance to target "early season" sub prime coyotes?....
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You don't have to be so polite with me, Drake.
That's a great question, Drake! This has been discussed before and some people took offence so I'm not going to preach that my way is the best, but it certainly works for me. I've been accused of being a hypocrite for my thoughts on this so it's nice to be able to offer an explanation for why I think the way that I do.
First, I don't have a choice with the quality of the fur of late season coyotes but I do with XLY and ELY ones. At any given bait site that I have there is a limited number of coyotes to catch so when it stops producing I start a new bait site and move to target the local pack somewhere else. I've found that the first two weeks are the best at a bait site and when you will catch the most coyotes. After that you catch the transient passing through. I'm talking generally in this area. There are exceptions to that as I currently have a bait site that I started in November that is still producing good numbers.
Typically the coyotes around here prime up on November 15 but this year I had a few caught after November 19 that had some blue to the hide. I could target local packs in October for an average of $70(?) or I can wait until about November 15ish when they are prime and catch the same coyotes that are valued at an average of $120 (?). To me it makes sense to do it that way as it takes less effort/expense and maximizes my profit. Besides, I'm usually busy targeting muskrats in October and pre-baiting with frozen blocks of muskrat carcasses.
I am more concerned with catching quality vs quantity so putting up big numbers of lower quality coyotes doesn't appeal to me much. To be honest, my primary concern is the bottom line as opposed to putting up large numbers. I blame my thinking on my previous career where I was always concerned with doing things in the most efficient and effective way that will produce the best results. I have crunched the numbers for several different scenarios prior to choosing what I think works best for me.
There is a lot more to consider when deciding what is best for you and it's a personal decision to make. What works best in my area may not work in all areas. The amount of land that you have available to trap, the density of the coyote population in the area, amount of bait available to you, the amount of time that you have to invest in trapping and many other things all come into play when deciding what works for you.
IMO, if you have an unlimited amount of area to trap and set up bait sites, along with tons of bait, then early season trapping makes sense to do. I have neither of those things so I have to be more selective in the way that I do things. I think for the average Trapper that has limited access to areas to trap and a limited resource for bait, like me, it is better to concentrate on catching quality coyotes.....but that's just my opinion and what I offer as advice to anyone that asks me.
I don't fault anyone for any way that they decide to do things that they think is best for them and I don't judge anyone for doing things differently from me. For a number of reasons what works for me may not work for someone else. As you know, I will offer suggestions to anyone that I think I could help improve their bottom line and I'm constantly seeking advice from other Trappers to improve mine. When someone PMs me with their opinion and advice I welcome it, in fact I encourage it, and it doesn't offend me in the least.
For anyone reading, I'm still looking for someone who traps early season dogs who'll share what their average is with me. Who knows, maybe it would encourage me to seek more land to trap and target early coyotes? Despite the low cost of muskrat right now it'd be hard for me to give that up simply because I truly enjoy trapping them. Now that I think about it, one early dog per day = $70(?) vs 30 muskrats per day x $5 = $150.
WOW! Long winded or what? I really got on a roll.
