How Are Your Coyotes?

[HunterDave]

I’ve been catching Yotes since mid-November and I caught my first fully pale hide yesterday. No kidding! Everything else has had varying degrees of darkness on the hide up until now, especially the pups. Very late this year around here by about 2 to 3 weeks for some reason. Adults are all great but mange and mites have hammered the pups.......Yeesh! Time to catch some gooders now.

[krthegunslinger]

I’ve taken a dozen so far in south central AB. A few mangy ones, one big female with shoulder mites. They are starting to look better.

[kingrat]

Colors are good, lots of adults and very few pups, and almost no shoulder lice or mange. Hoping it has run its course and were on the rebound. If only the numbers were there.

[tikka250]

Fair amount of pups in my area and so far any mites have been early stages where I still think they are worth keeping. Also seeing lots of what I assume 1-2 year olds. Avg sized dogs with next to no teeth wear. So far the colors are avg with the odd pale one thrown in.

[PCP_ECOM]

Originally Posted by tikka250

Fair amount of pups in my area and so far any mites have been early stages where I still think they are worth keeping. Also seeing lots of what I assume 1-2 year olds. Avg sized dogs with next to no teeth wear. So far the colors are avg with the odd pale one thrown in.

Yep seeing the same thing with the 23 I have taken so far,no mites,but 3 young ones went to dump so far with beginnings of mange,colours med mostly,but there are some light ones in there and couple darks.

[Gboe8]

Over 50 percent mites on my first check tossed over 10 away.

[backwoods]

Originally Posted by Gboe8

Over 50 percent mites on my first check tossed over 10 away.

Wow, what part of the province are you trapping?

[204ruger]

Coyotes in my area are much better than last year. With throwing away 50% last year to this year’s 5% so far.
Mixture of colours but mostly darker. Don’t get too many pale where I am usually.

[Gboe8]

Originally Posted by backwoods

Wow, what part of the province are you trapping?

West of edmonton.

[FishOutOfWater]

I had a late start, but this is my first... She was small, but thick fur and fairly light colored.

[Marty S]

Nice coyote!

How different my life would have been had they not cared about colour when I was younger!

[paulyisit73]

Hey guys.... just a trapping question for you all. I have recently put up reflective tape near each of my snares so I can find them easier in the dark... is this a good or bad idea? I am pretty sure a trapper told me lots of trappers do this, but I have not caught very many at all since I have done it, AND I have bait there and everything and only ONE in the last month. When I set the snares there was track all over the place, since I have put up this tape.... nothing. Just wondering if its coincidence or just bad luck?

[trigger7mm]

I have done it that way for years, and it doesn’t seem to make any difference. Coyotes in farm country are around human pollution all the time. I think your bait sight has just dried up for a bit. I wouldn’t be discouraged, they will come back around. Just keep feeding them.

[paulyisit73]

cool, thanks a lot Trigger. I have never used reflective tape b4 so I wasn't sure. I appreciate the input

[204ruger]

Originally Posted by paulyisit73

Hey guys.... just a trapping question for you all. I have recently put up reflective tape near each of my snares so I can find them easier in the dark... is this a good or bad idea? I am pretty sure a trapper told me lots of trappers do this, but I have not caught very many at all since I have done it, AND I have bait there and everything and only ONE in the last month. When I set the snares there was track all over the place, since I have put up this tape.... nothing. Just wondering if its coincidence or just bad luck?

How many coyotes total since you started that spot?

[204ruger]

Reason I ask that is if you caught a bunch prior to putting flag tape up I would say try packing up and going to a different spot for couple weeks still keep baiting it but do that without snares there then go back and I’m sure you’ll start stacking em again. I’ve noticed if for whatever reason a dominant coyote has seen a snare or a fellow coyote die then it could be snare smart and it’ll lead other pack members away and around that area. If you remove snares let the dogs get comfortable again then come back and hit em hard.
Just my experience and opinion.

[FishOutOfWater]

Originally Posted by paulyisit73

Hey guys.... just a trapping question for you all. I have recently put up reflective tape near each of my snares so I can find them easier in the dark... is this a good or bad idea? I am pretty sure a trapper told me lots of trappers do this, but I have not caught very many at all since I have done it, AND I have bait there and everything and only ONE in the last month. When I set the snares there was track all over the place, since I have put up this tape.... nothing. Just wondering if its coincidence or just bad luck?

I just noticed those heavy duty tacks with reflective tape on the end, at Bass Pro...
Maybe worth a shot if the tape is flapping in the wind, or really visible and too much of a "marker".

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by paulyisit73

Hey guys.... just a trapping question for you all. I have recently put up reflective tape near each of my snares so I can find them easier in the dark... is this a good or bad idea? I am pretty sure a trapper told me lots of trappers do this, but I have not caught very many at all since I have done it, AND I have bait there and everything and only ONE in the last month. When I set the snares there was track all over the place, since I have put up this tape.... nothing. Just wondering if its coincidence or just bad luck?

I doubt that it has anything to do with the reflective tape. Did you trap out the local pack by any chance? When that happens to me I start a new bait site in another area and start over. I’ve given up on three bait sites since mid November.
It’s nice to find a honey hole that produces good numbers all season but that’s a rarity around here in farmland.
Good luck!

[paulyisit73]

thanks for all the help guys! How this all started was I was given a buffalo.... yes a buffalo, or BISON techinally. I dropped that massive bastard off at a brand new site I have never trapped in b4, I let the bison sit there for almost 3 weeks b4 I put any snares up. When I finally did go back it was 2 days after a snowfall and the tracks were everywhere. I was pumped. So I set snares and put up reflective tape and flag tape. The tape is all about 5 or 6 feet high and not a lot of it so not much is flapping in the wind. I have gone back 5 or 6 times... maybe 7 and BARELY even a track there besides Ravens and bunnies. Finally snared my first dog there on the weekend and that took almost a month after I set my first snares. I like them reflective pin idea, gonna get me some.

[tikka250]

Just a thought. How often are you going in to check? You may be going too often and not giving them time to settle. Another thing to consider is trying not to walk on the coyotes trails. For whatever reason when ever I use the same trail as the coyotes it kills that trail for quite a while. I never thought my feet stank that bad but apparently the coyotes disagree.

[paulyisit73]

I will try that.... I go in about every 4 days to check, sometimes 5. Most of my other lines I check every 2nd or 3rd day

[HunterDave]

Open that buffalo up with an ax (not a chainsaw) so they can get a start on it. It's too hard for them to chew through the hide.

[paulyisit73]

done that... just on the hind quarter... its almost gone. Was gonna open it up a bit more though... cant hurt.

[shakeyleg02]

The 1 spot i snare i stay away from the trails as best i can they do not like my foot prints / stinky feet ..the other 2 spots they dont seem to care very much and in weather like this i have to check daily ..not a fan of stinkin green belly

[paulyisit73]

no, absolutley not! When the weather is like this I check daily too. But luckily for me,,,, my sniffer is broken lol. They have to be pretty bad for me to smell them. I have one hanging now that just about turned my stomach lol.

[paulyisit73]

Im thinking I might try a little coyote urin on the bottom of my boots... see what happens?

[kingrat]

I think the urine on the boots is a waste of time and good urine. Imo stay off their trails when setting, use the same one walking in, open up the buffalo, add fresh bait, and wait. Baits go dead sometimes for various reasons. Ravens are your best friends for attracting coyotes and worst enemy for eating them.

[paulyisit73]

Haa HAAAA thats soooo true. I was baiting one site this year and I thought I was gonna take at least 50 or more outta there, I was dumping 6 BIG totes of pig bait on Thursdays and I couldnt figure out how so much bait just VANISHED in a week. I finally figured it out when I took a carcus there the day after I dumped the totes off and 5 of the 6 had been eaten already in JUST over 24 hours, there were HUNDREDS of friggen ravens there lol. Just destroyed my bait. I shot two and hung them in the trees... no more ravens lol.

[Gboe8]

Originally Posted by paulyisit73

Haa HAAAA thats soooo true. I was baiting one site this year and I thought I was gonna take at least 50 or more outta there, I was dumping 6 BIG totes of pig bait on Thursdays and I couldnt figure out how so much bait just VANISHED in a week. I finally figured it out when I took a carcus there the day after I dumped the totes off and 5 of the 6 had been eaten already in JUST over 24 hours, there were HUNDREDS of friggen ravens there lol. Just destroyed my bait. I shot two and hung them in the trees... no more ravens lol.

Imo ravens are the best thing for a bait brings in the coyotes.

[paulyisit73]

yes... absolutely they are! But when the are wolfing down 250-300 pounds of scraps in TWENTY FOUR hours.... not so good lol. No trapper can keep up to that