Stumped..

[treeroot]

I'm baiting/trapping a new 1/4 section right now. Owner complained about coyote problems in the fall and I know some people in the area (within 2-3 miles) who say there's a lot of coyotes in the past couple years. This is coming from hunters and farmers, so I think it's a good source of info.

Anyways, I've had 2 road kill deer on this 1/4 for 3 weeks now. The birds have been eating it for 1.5 weeks, but not a single dog track yet.

I was checking the bait after dark last week and decided to let a howl out, and right away 2 distinct groups of coyotes howled back within a mile.

I even dumped some skunk lure on the 1 deer.


Bait pile is in a poplar stand next to thick spruce.

Ive never experienced this low of activity with road kill in such a prime area.

Where are the coyotes?!

I have 2 possible explanations.
1) Some in the area is also baiting and had their bait out first.
2) The area has a very high deer population. It's riddled with deer. Could the deer be keeping the dogs out?

[gman1978]

For what ever reason I have had terrible luck with road kill. The coyotes usually won’t touch it. I have no clue why. I am sure somebody will chime in on here and say how good it works for them but for me, no luck.

[HunterDave]

Nothing wrong with your bait or anything else, the coyotes just aren’t coming into the bait sites. It’s been very slow the past three weeks. Things will pick up now that the weather is colder. Now’s The time to add bait and prepare for it to get busy. If your roadkill is frozen solid take an ax to it to give the Yotes a start on it. Some fresh snow would be nice.

IMO roadkill is the best bait ever.

[58thecat]

Yup, temp drops, a few storms role through and they will gather to the easy food source, keep the road kill pile a plenty, you won't be disappointed.

[Marty S]

They're all kilt. Somebody kilt them all.

Coyotes coming into baits just fine...

Unless they are all kilt

[Marty S]

Oh wait, I reread your post and they are all running around still. I guess they aren't all kilt then.

[KBF]

Took 20 days to catch the first one in snares immediately around our set.

[mikey1]

This has to be the worst winter on record for me .I`ve had 5 "loaded for bear" bait stations going on 3 weeks now and have only one that has had a couple of visits from coyotes.And yes I do not see or hear them at all compared to last year! Definitely does not help when the fields are full of snow free swaths uncombined and full of mice!

praying for snow and cold weather!

[treeroot]

I'm not a rookie trapper, I know the cold and snow helps, but I just never seen an area this dead unless I trapped it and cleaned it out the year before.

My other bait site got hit hard last week after only having bait out for 5 days. I had to rebait already

[HunterDave]

I haven’t had any problems with coyotes moving into areas that I’ve trapped out. One baitsite was visited last night and I saw a coyote in the field by another one. Now for a bit of snow please. That will Make life easier.

[treeroot]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

I haven’t had any problems with coyotes moving into areas that I’ve trapped out. One baitsite was visited last night and I saw a coyote in the field by another one. Now for a bit of snow please. That will Make life easier.

I trapped a farm HARD for 3 years, the 4th year it wasn't even worth the effort to make a bait station. I did bait, but I think I got 5 coyotes off it over 3 months.

I do believe it's possible to clean an area out. You'll never be coyote free, but its definitely possible to keep the numbers very low

[HunterDave]

A few years ago I read an article about the effects of trapping all of the coyotes out of an area. It stated that the numbers could actually increase in subsequent years due to the area being undefended and transient coyotes moving in to establish their own packs. It sounded like the same junk science that our little friend uses for wolves (ie. you end up with multiple mating pairs instead of just the one pair). If that were the case, how come after wiping out a pack I don't catch twice as many coyotes there the next year?

I have no idea why one bait site does well one year and then not the next. I'd like to find myself a honey hole, like a feedlot, where there's always a large population of yotes year after year and you don't even have to bait it. From what I've heard new coyotes are quick to replace the ones taken out.

[J0HN_R1]

I've had permission on almost 5 sections of land for 3 seasons now... Each year I go back, it's been progressively "worse" (less dogs).

There's always a coyote around "somewhere", with 2 cattle ranches in the area, but I've seen fewer sign-of and had even less success hunting them.

I took approx. 6-7 the first year, 4-5 last year, and only 2 so far this year with only 2 known dogs left in the area.

And there's a giant grain elevator (black dot) on the train tracks running diagonally thru my permission.

[Thunder Elk Hunter]

Weather and lack of snow has slowed them down. At home here I take round 20 to 25 per year for the last 15 years. Had one new bait station 3 years ago that we took 40 coyotes off of and have averaged 20 since then. We have one bait station on the trap line that we avg 25 dogs a year for the last 20 years. Only got 14 there last year as the wolves moved in but we did pick up 3 wolves out of that problem. So if your numbers are going down dramatically someone else is set up in your area or there is other circumstances. We currently have over 90 coyotes on 7 bait stations. A couple of them have only been going for 3 week and the catch rate on them are poor. 3 coyotes and a fox. On that note I better go check some set after last night's snow.

Just my observations
TEH

[pikeman06]

Yup when they gone they gone. Any coyote with a nose would be on that bait. Somebody else whacking them on the next quarter. Sorry to break it to you.

[Old longBow]

I work at a job where I get to talk to a lot of rural cowboys and cow gals, (People)...There is a lot of talk about coyote hunting from trucks, and just cruising the country roads, I wonder if this is happening more than we think?
Good Luck

[Marty S]

Ha! Just you wait til there's 18" of powder snow one of these days... the sledders go crazy.

There, there sledders... no more shotguns! They are obsolete... and unwanted by the industry!