When the time comes that a few sets with foot hold traps are the way you need to work on predators I like number 3 coil spring traps with square off set jaws . You can't just go out and buy a trap that is ready to go out and set they are like any thing else that we use , we have things that we prefer to do that make them more user friendly and that make them better for holding the animal and doing less injury to them . A coyote will tell you where the weak places are in your equipment they work hard on your traps . I like at least 18 " of chain swiveled on the trap at one end of the frame in the middle of the chain and at the end of it . I use 3 links of larger chain on the end so that I can use two or 3 stakes if needed for the ground conditions . My steaks are at least 20 " long 1/2 "rebar with a 5/8 ' flat washer welded on them. The traps have to be adjusted and some modifications made to them . I file the sharp edges of the stamped jaws to round them and make them smooth . I like dogged traps as the dog less traps weren't easily obtained in my area and then they were discontinued un-till the patent ran out on them . There are adjustments to be made on the pan and dog as well as some modifications that I make here also and I will talk on this latter .
Ramblings and Such From Hunting Coyote
- Thread starter DSheetz
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Rifle is the same way, when you buy it there are things to do and put on it so it is "customized" for what you like......keep rattling that memory Dave, I find you to be a very interesting fellow...........and predators are the highest thing on my list to hunt!!
On the trap pan and dog they are stamped and the square ness of them will be how ever good the dies are that are used for that . I like to buy a 4" knife edge file for this clean up and modifying that I do on them . I want my pans to drop freely so that they don't bind up with dirt, rust or frost . The notch that the dog fits into I want to be square and flat where the dog will fit with the heal of it squared up nicely then I use the thin edge of the file to file a small v in it where the dog will lock in to the v after I have finished with it . The dog I pinch with a pliers where it fastens to the frame un-till it fits well with out being able to push and pull it back and forth . The end of the dog that fits into the notch of the pan I file square then file a v in the top of it to fit the v in the pan . You can check the fit with out setting the trap . You want them to fit and lock together . You then can set the trap and see if the pan is level when it is set . T adjust the pan to be level you bend the frame where the dog is attached to in toward the trap jaw to lower the pan or away from it to raise the pan. You want the pan level as it helps when you make your set and bed the trap . The v's matching gives you a pan that has no creep in it it just fires with any down ward movement . A coyote can feel movement and pull their foot making at best no catch and a sprung trap and at worst a coyote that is toe caught and cripples it's self for awhile and will not fall for that again .
I like a good trap frame that will not bend easily . So I want one that is thick and wide enough to be strong . My preference is to have the chain swiveled from the end of the frame not the center of it as a lot of people do . I don't 4 coil mine either but I do make sure that the springs are strong and not weakened with time and usage . I will grip the jaws of an un set trap and pull on them to see if I can move the jaws if so I replace the springs . I don't want the levers to stick up past the jaws a lot just enough that I can use my gloved hands on the knife edges to push them down and set the trap . I like the u that the springs are held on the trap with to have long enough ends sticking through the frame that it won't come out with it being pounded by a predator . I will take my plier and bend the tips of the jaws that stick through the frame up enough that they can't be pulled out of the frame easily . I roll my owners tags up on an 1/8 " cotter pin with the hole on the outside so I can use a small amount of 16 gauge tie wire and fasten it to the chain close to the end I steak it with as a fox and especially a coyote will have the tag chewed off in the first few minutes . That is how I like to set up my traps that works for me . There are other ways that work for others
DMP25-06
Well-Known Member
DSheetz ,
Hello Dave ,
You Sir are an incredible wealth of information on hunting coyotes , and other predators !!!
I certainly hope that all of the younger ( age 60 and younger ) hunters are saving your notes and tips that you have freely shared with ALL of us here on LRH .
I Think that you , ReemtyJ , Nicholasjohn , 74Honker , StraightShooter , and others who have contributed their stories and experiences , and I should all get together up in Wy-Dam-Oming or Mon-Dam-Tana next spring ( March or April 2021 ) and meet each other , set around a campfire , and share our stories .
I would consider it an honor to personally meet each of you , and I will happily drive from Texas up to God's Country to attend .
DMP25-06
Hello Dave ,
You Sir are an incredible wealth of information on hunting coyotes , and other predators !!!
I certainly hope that all of the younger ( age 60 and younger ) hunters are saving your notes and tips that you have freely shared with ALL of us here on LRH .
I Think that you , ReemtyJ , Nicholasjohn , 74Honker , StraightShooter , and others who have contributed their stories and experiences , and I should all get together up in Wy-Dam-Oming or Mon-Dam-Tana next spring ( March or April 2021 ) and meet each other , set around a campfire , and share our stories .
I would consider it an honor to personally meet each of you , and I will happily drive from Texas up to God's Country to attend .
DMP25-06
I thank You DMP25-06 . I truly hope that I have been able to help someone learn from the things that I have done . When I do predator control work it is in the hopes of stopping a problem as fast as I can with as little discomfort to all of the animals involved and to not make any mistakes that I can avoid and not to create any problems along the way . And if I can help others to avoid creating more work or frustration for themselves or others then I an pleased to be of help to them . We shall have to see what happens in the coming months .
Straight Shooter
Well-Known Member
Dave, as everyone else has already said, you are a wealth of info and experience. It was great to meet you and chat for a while. Only a month and a half away from hopefully having some stories to share. Dig deep into your reservoir of experiences and let's make this thread last forever.
Straight Shooter , I enjoyed our visit and am looking forward to some of your experiences being shared with us . We could be standing beside each other and each and every one of us would tell of our experience differently that we just shared that makes life just that much better for all of us .
DMP 25-06 I am game............we could drain a little BS off of each of us in a few hours.... 
Straight Shooter
Well-Known Member
I am game, also.
When traps are used my favorite set is what the old timers called the coyote set . Today you will hear it called a scent post , a flat set ect. I use it for all predators . The thing I look for is a good travel route that the animals hit frequently , when they are feeding pups they will often use the same trail every night and some times more then once a night . I like a trail that has a section running north and south as our winds usually come from the west here . I then find a small sage brush , cactus or a rock that stands out to the eye more then most of the others on the west side of the trail and a foot to two feet off of the trail so I will have room to make a set . If there is a Y in the trail I will find a place east of the Y so I don't need to make two sets . About 6 " from the object and east of it and to the right hand side , as most animals I've met are like people right handed or pawed in this case , I will use my digging tool to dig up the dirt and put it in my sifter I don't want this to be much larger then my set trap and about 2" deep with soft dirt in the bottom of the hole . Depending on the soil type as to how many stakes I will use if it's loose soil I will put in one stake angled left and another angled right so they are crossed forming an X at the top . I got in the habit of most times using two stakes just in case it rained and softened the soil . I then set my trap and put the pan cover on it , I use lite canvas cut large enough to fit snugly inside the jaws with a split to allow it to fit over the dog and under the jaw and long enough to fit under the free jaw this helps in freezing weather to keep them from freezing down . I set the trap in the trap bed using the levers to wiggle it and make it solid then lift the free jaw and make sure that dirt didn't get under the pan . tighten the pan cover and lower the free jaw and place diet around the trap firming it in place so the trap is solid and will not tip if pressed on any where but the pan . Using my sifter I put dirt on the pan and level it off so there isn't a mound on to of the trap then I will take my gloved hand and make kick backs from the the trail side toward the backing . Watch that you don't get sticks or small pebbles in or on the dirt covering your set that will interfere with the traps closing . I then use a cotton ball with a piece of 16 gauge tie wire ran through it to hold it in place in the backing area . push the wire into the dirt then put just a small drop of lure on the cotton ball , remember they can smell things that are in the hundred of parts per million . My favorite gland lures are Hawbeckers wiliy red 500 and O'Gormans set freshener #6 . Most of my sets a person won't see except maybe the cotton ball and it has two uses to hold the lure and sight appeal .
This past Saturday my wife and I took a ride up the mountain to look at the fall foliage . We went up into the places that I started my coyote hunting career . On the fifty mile drive up I got to thinking about all the things that I experienced on that road and in that area over the years . I shared some with her that she didn't hear about in the past 45 years . Like when the big boar bear jumped off the 10 foot high cut bank and lit a few feed in front of me . When I was 35 miles from town and 10 miles from any home and had a small Australian shepherd puppy run out of a rock pile by the road in front of me . I didn't know what I was going to do with it but just not leave it there it was maybe 8 or 9 weeks old . When I stopped it ran up to me tail wagging and very happy to see someone . I picked it up gave it some water and a little food from what I kept in my truck . We then started on down the road to finish checking my coyote sets . We have what are called alley ways where both sides of the road are fenced back about 20 feet from the road . When ranchers are trailing live stock up or down the mountain it gives them a place to take a break eat lunch and rest the stock a little . it was in one of these that the puppy was . About a half mile from there a rancher flagged me down asking me if I might have seen a little puppy . He explained that they had trailed cattle down the day before and stopped for lunch when the puppy wandered off . I told him I sure did and had it with me they both were happy as pigs in mud to see each other . It was along this same road that I helped a friend of mine get her last elk . It was a nice day with no wind , about 5 or 6" of snow the temp was above freezing the snow was soft and quiet walking in it . Janice's son flagged me down and said Mom got a cow tag this year have you seen any today ? I said that I had and would take her with me back to where some were bedded in some willows on the creek . We drove back to Blue Nose creek I parked we walked out a flat top a hundred yards . The creek was about a hundred feet down in a draw then about a hundred yards across the draw and fifty feet up the other side was a band of willows laying in the willows in the sun a few cow elk were bedded down . Janice and I made our way down off the rim and about 10 feet down . We sat down in the snow and watched the elk one stood up and she made a good shot it went down . I helped her go down a cross the creek and up the other side to her cow . she tagged it and I went back to get the truck . Her son and grandson stood there and watched as I field dressed it took the Ivories out and gave them to her they did help get it in the back of the truck . She was 75 at that time and has long ago died of lung cancer . A lot of good memories a long that fifty mile stretch of mountain road and some that still send chills up my spine .
Oh I can only imagine the stories the roads you traveled could tell DSheetz! I'm sure we all have a road or two like that amongst or old stomping, hunting, growing up grounds. Just like all our lives are the roads we all have traveled along the way really. Corny analogy I know but it is kinda true lol. Would take a road trip with all of you anyday!
