With little to no chance at ice fishing locally this winter, I decided to finally try my hand at trapping coyotes. I messed around a couple years back with snares, but never got too serious. I wouldn’t exactly call what I’m doing now “serious,” but it’s a start.
I picked up a half dozen of the No BS Lures K9 Extreme footholds, the full size 6” model. They came highly recommended from a few trapping friends of mine who have more experience in their pinky toe than I’ll ever have. They are very beefy traps and come from the manufacturer ready to set. No boiling or waxing required, as they have a durable powdercoat-like finish. All I had to do was add a third swivel in order to make them legal for use in Ohio.
Aside from trapping my own 52 acres, I recently acquired permission on a few other private properties, one of which is known to harbor quite a few coyotes. This afternoon my son and I drove over there to make our first sets.
I didn’t take any pictures of the sets so I won’t bore you with many details... at least not yet. Suffice it to say I made 4 dirt hole sets, in essentially 2 double sets. I ran out of light or else I would’ve set my last two as well. I’m running a bit of lambs wool in three of them. In addition, I’ve got one with Yodel Dog lure, one with Windwalker lure, and two sets with GHII. I’ve heard good things about all of them so my confidence is pretty high. My only weak point right now are the sets themselves. I’m green as they come, and although I’ve had a little bit of k9 trapping “training,” this is by all means a learning-by-doing approach that I’m taking. It should be fun. I’m really excited to make my first check tomorrow morning.
The highlight of the afternoon was realized at the last spot. I had both sets in the ground and just finished baiting the one, when I walked over to the second... add I knelt down and turned my head away to reach for lure.... then.... well, let’s just say, if coyotes are anything like toddlers, I should do just fine.
I picked up a half dozen of the No BS Lures K9 Extreme footholds, the full size 6” model. They came highly recommended from a few trapping friends of mine who have more experience in their pinky toe than I’ll ever have. They are very beefy traps and come from the manufacturer ready to set. No boiling or waxing required, as they have a durable powdercoat-like finish. All I had to do was add a third swivel in order to make them legal for use in Ohio.
Aside from trapping my own 52 acres, I recently acquired permission on a few other private properties, one of which is known to harbor quite a few coyotes. This afternoon my son and I drove over there to make our first sets.
I didn’t take any pictures of the sets so I won’t bore you with many details... at least not yet. Suffice it to say I made 4 dirt hole sets, in essentially 2 double sets. I ran out of light or else I would’ve set my last two as well. I’m running a bit of lambs wool in three of them. In addition, I’ve got one with Yodel Dog lure, one with Windwalker lure, and two sets with GHII. I’ve heard good things about all of them so my confidence is pretty high. My only weak point right now are the sets themselves. I’m green as they come, and although I’ve had a little bit of k9 trapping “training,” this is by all means a learning-by-doing approach that I’m taking. It should be fun. I’m really excited to make my first check tomorrow morning.
The highlight of the afternoon was realized at the last spot. I had both sets in the ground and just finished baiting the one, when I walked over to the second... add I knelt down and turned my head away to reach for lure.... then.... well, let’s just say, if coyotes are anything like toddlers, I should do just fine.