I have a couple farms where the cattle could care less what I do...but a couple where the cattle are more curious and usually end up in my back pocket when I'm making sets. Do you guys have any advice or tips to keep the cattle from stepping all over my sets? I don't use any salt in the colder months.

id like to know this one too

Depends on the target animal, try making sets into embankments for canines that the animal can see from the cowpath, they no doubt travel these paths. You are best to see if the farmer rotates them from one pasture to the next and trap the empty ones. Cows are a pain.

Just a guy who traps farms here, no expert.

trapping in the crop fields helps most farmers don't run the cows in them.
some cows seem like they just want to rip your sets up and some don't mess with em at all.
had one farm i just quit trapping it lol

good question... i've struggled w/this one for years...

its funny... some herds are very curious and will stomp your sets... some herds won't...

salt and urine are definitely attractive to cattle...

i don't think there is a magic answer to this one

I wonder If you tried the 5 gallon bucket set Mark June talks about where you make the set and cover it with a bucket for a few days, then remove the bucket, its supposed to built curiosity with yotes, but maybe the cows will sniff around the bucket for a few days then no longer be interested and they would leave your sets alone. never tried it just brainstorming for ya.

they would likely knock the bucket over as that is what holds food...

I think there are two main rules to live by when trapping around livestock (cows in this case).

1. Use lures that aren't attractive to cows, or at least not as attractive as some. (fish based, fish meal, urine based, and lures with a high Sodium Benzoate content have alway been worked by cows on my lines, so they might have to be avoided)

2. Pick your locations that don't have a high traffic of cows on a day to day basis. Farm lanes, gates, fence lines by water, water tanks, etc. will have too much normal cow activity to keep sets working very long, just because of the fact they will blunder into them. And, the more they come in contact with them, the more chances you have of them "working" the set for you.

thanks sir......

True.. k.miller, better put them in the stock trailer, that will keep them out of the sets.

you could try the step down set like fence post sets the catlle will investegate but don't step down in the hole to ruin you set just my 2 cents

Dont trap in this pasture...or hunt from a blind either....

kio... is there a bull in that herd?

if so, youre in trouble... those holstein bulls are just flat ornery mean....

worst bulls ever imo

No bull in there...Actually these cows at this farm we lease are like pets...Luckily they are confined to one pasture and the farmer is very lenient as to when he lets them in there..This day actually scared me for a bit...I had at one point...20 some cows...standing there knocking on the door to get in..lol..They would stick their heads in the windows...head butt me thru the side...etc etc...They like to play with stuff according to the farmer...We watched them roll a few spare tires around that day...Funniest thing I ever saw...

lol!!

You'll always have cows mess with your sets. The advice about the urine I've found to be very true. Didn't know about the fish, and will definately have to avoid that next year. But if the cows SEE you messing around, they will for certain come over to investigate. They're terribly curious. lol.

the whole "cattle pasture" thing is relative too....

some people are trapping a 30 acre pasture w/20 cows in it.....

others are trapping a 500 acre pasture w/100 cattle in it....

person A might as well hang it up....

Correct...the pasture in my pic(75 acres) is loaded with fur though..small stream littered with coon tracks...lots of rose bushes that the fox hunt...needless to say the turkeys we have whacked there also..Thats what sucks about giving it up for trapping...lol

Step down or trench type sets will usually deter cattle - they may stomp around it but generally will not step down into a narrow trench.

Kiotee,funny pic,looks like a farm of mine.They see the bucket and they come running.You have to like the ones that nudge you when you"re trying to make a set.

I got caught out in the open one time by a steep riverbank and had a bull give me that look and come tearing at me.I flagged my arms and yelled at it and it turned panicked and fell over the dropoff.I thought for sure I had just bought myself a Bull but he turned out to be ok.

To be clear here its only some bulls that can be called out,most of them will lay a hurting on you if they can.IMO

andy's got about the best scenario, but make sure you're stepping guide is big enough that a coyote wont' take off with it, lol.

Jamie finally let you have the computer back Lordy?

yep thats right andy lol. caught nine in there the year before.

ohio andy, no i bought me a new one of those phones that i can get on the internet with. heck its faster than my dial up, lol.

Amazing that they can send info through the air faster than through a phone line...

i know, if i had good phone reception at home, i'd never get on the computer at home lol.

Regular grey and Treeblackdog got the simplest/most effective method...

Used to give demo's on this subject a few years ago after trapping (had to) cow pastures with cows in em cause they were killing new born calves and they were snare smart (from farmer)..ya gotta learn quick when the pressure is on....lol

Deep hole set...Dig trap bed and dirt hole about 10-12" below ground level. Cows won't step in that hole, but yotes will (both feet at times) with a good lure. the set looks odd, but effective.

Use natural baits,such as turtle,snake,rabbit.Use only a drop of a mild lure.Use a call lure on a protruding rock or stick and use a mild lure back of that,the cows smell the call lure and move on or thats what you hope for and the caneys smell the mild lure in back.Set under a branch or under a few lines of barbwire by a fence post on a drag.Bed the trap rock solid so if the cows do investigate they are less likely to tip up the trap...Things that help....Not mine by the way,picked up off of jim connors video's.....

I must have differant types of cows out here.

Salt licks, and places that ever even HAD some attraction at one time or another will have cow tracks in the a foot below ground level, and lots of them. And, not to mention fresh dirt has some attraction since they wil like to lay in it and dust to cool off and get away from the flies.

LiL Bit was right also, if they see you (especially if they have been "caked") they will follow you around.

My average pasture is probably 2-4 sections, some up to 25-30, and the largest I ever trapped in was 100 sections, but they've since put in a cross fence.

Cows will find stuff eventually. Step downs might work for a few days, but they wil eventually tromp it into the ground, at least these black ones do.

Pick your locations that don't have a high traffic of cows on a day to day basis. Farm lanes, gates, fence lines by water, water tanks, etc. will have too much normal cow activity to keep sets working very long, just because of the fact they will blunder into them. And, the more they come in contact with them, the more chances you have of them "working" the set for you.

We work small pastures mostly back east John. I figured out how to avoid cattle like everyone else to a certain degree but my problem was once a coyote was caught if the dang things saw it you could kiss that set good bye! They would check it out daily after that.

Do you have that problem as well and what do you do if that 'spot' is THE spot on the whole place for a set?

Ive tried the hanging a paper towl with urine on it in a tree, dummy sets, etc. to knock them off track but like you say eventually they find whatever you put out. My main problem though was once a coyote got caught all that fighting around attracted the entire herd to that spot!

Well, I would probably guess the average coyote killing lambs here is coming from 2-3 miles away, (on average remember) so it really isn't hard to find a spot on their route to make aset or two AWAY from the picture perfect spot.

Fur trapping, well, that's differant. I just find other spots. Remember, coyotes might hit "THE" spot, as eveidenced by their trtacks, but they spend ALOT of time elsewhere.

A bit of trivia, the farthest I ever saw a pair of coyotes come to kill a lamb, and it was every other night was I think 8 miles, one way. I'd have to look at the map to make sure, but that sticks in my brain. One I trapped ( the female full of lamb meat), and the old dog we called in and shot right off the den. Alot of the ol' process of elimination went on to find them. And that was 2 pastures away. Not too many kill in close proximity to an active den. Coyotes and lambs we're talking here, and Eastern Montana. I have heard otherwise from other locales. i would say we look about 2-4 miles away before we would look closer. I can't wait to get back from the NTA for some good late summer denning/calling for my son. He hasn't shot anything bigger than prairie dogs with his new 22-250.

I find just the opposite of step downs.Set on high banks,the steeper the less cow problem.Fox trapping I have set almost under the fence with short chain and have had less problems and no fur damage from the fence.

graham... when he gets a hard charger and dumps it you won't get nothing else done.. my son asks me to go calling at least once a week.. lol

"if we kill them all now, there won't be any for winter" hehe

A cows main objective in life is to destroy as much as possible and eat as much groceries as possible so when it destroys something it can crap on it. This makes a three fold problem. 1.something needs fixed 2.it will be covered in pasture grease 3. the cows will harass you, your tools and equipment while working on #1. (crap on shovel and axe handles, tip over nail or staple buckets, chew electrical wires and hydraulic lines off tractors and maybe get hurt in the proccess so a vet is needed). If a vet is needed, now there will be repaires needed after wards to repair the corrals or sqeeze chutes. This is never ending, the closest thing to perpetual motion that I can think of.
Try and trap with them! DON"T THINK SO!

Some day I am going to do an experiment. Hang an anvil from a tree limb and see how long it takes them to destroy it. I know they will, just don't know how long it will take.

*roflmao*

Got a tad more vegetation around here than you do out there John lol.

The post hole or deep hole set works here on the one farm that has nosey cattle. Primarily for k9's but I have taken a few coon in those sets also.

I trap about 75% of the time for coyotes/fox in cattle pastures.

One in particulare is over grazed and has a lot of cattle. Basically the only grub the cattle gets comes from a truck. The place is also loaded with coyotes and fox.

I found several things that have worked for me.

1) I cover all sets in pastures with dry cow pies in the winter. I also place red fox urine on a rock or cow pie close to the set. I use very little backing so the cattle do not mistaken a backing for food. On flat sets I use larger rocks placed out in the pasture away from any other items. Even a cow knows she can not eat a rock. I also like to set near the small briars that pop up in these southern cow pastures. Cows know the briars are no good to eat also. If I do choose to use a large chuck of wood for a backing I chunk it out prior to making a set beside it so they learn it aint food.

2) I use my truck to block the cattles view of me. Ifin they come around I make them leave!

Know a heifer pasture or a pasture with horses is just about impossible to set. They make ya look on the other side of the fence for sure.

You can spend a lil time in rough places but that is just more work on the trapper.

Bottom line is to not look like a food provider/source. Run cattle off ifn they get too close while making sets or remakes (good job for a youngun). Try to avoid feeding areas and or the places the cattle like to congregate. I stoped using a bucket for hauling my gear due to cattle. I rigged up a hand held shopping tote for my gear.

Richard

This would be a good t&PC article...

I've got to say there's a PILE of great advice in this post that I'm going to start putting to use. I will say there are some differences in our pastures and those out west but the methods are very similar!

put in flat sets so there is not alot of eye appeal and use tainted meat, no salt cure in it. make dirt hole sets with little eye appeal and put just a 1/10th as much lure ii the hole or backing. then 5 or 6 feet away on the ground put long distance call on the ground. they'll get a nose full of that and when they're satisfied they'll leave. they're curious, so satisfy them and make your sets aromatically more suttle. cows ain't crazy about tainted meat. they already know what it is and usually are not busy bodies with it and your set. unless you make them curious visually with the set. so keep it low profile visually too. the fur will smell it if your on top of the tracks. trust yourself. if you knew how good their smeller was you'de cut way back on lure. alot of times coyotes won't come in to your sets cause you've got way to much lure at the set. have you ever smelled someone that's got way tooooo much perfume on? it over powers your nose and you can't wait to turn the corner to get away... mr. coyote is the same

John G. said what I was going to. I have pretty much gone to no trapping in a pasture with cattle. Especially black ones, like O'G told me they are the worst for stomping sets. I held a cow once with a #3 modified Bridger, something you don't want to happen!

Stay away from cow trails set off them use bait not much lure cattle love gland lure never set snare were livestock. If fence set on the side with no cows.

Guys, I agree there are some methods (sets) that will cut down your cow problems.

I've seen sets on here in the past that had huge rocks, and trenches going every which way, and they were designed to be "cow proof". Well, at the risk of offending anyone, those types of sets are also "coyote proof" in alot of the areas that I have trapped coyotes, especially where I live and trap now. The only way some of those blocking methods work well for me are if they "weather" a long time, and really blend in well, or theres snow on them to hide some of the "extras" done to the sets.

The worse part for me using any set that the bed is lower than the ground level is the fact I am a heavy user of waxed dirt. I simply do NOT want to make a place for water to pool up and lay on top of a trap. Sure, guys can say tilt the bed, make channels, whatever. I don't have time for that type of stuff, as the maintainence alone would kill me.

I've done some pretty "out of the box" things to catch individual coyotes, but for the most part, I always seem to be able to find a spot and set a few walk throughs and pick them up. (for the most part).

Red Webb made a good point about snares and livestock. Thats advise that is universal anyhere you are.

I'm heading East soon, see some of you in Ohio.

It is always interesting when working cow pastures and you catch the yote and pull up in the morning and its like everyone is waiting for you...lol
The cows I have worked with "circle" around the coyote like its the big show...you know you caught some yotes when you see cows standing around in circles when you crest the hill...lol

The main thing about using traps in cow pastures is that you really have to contend with unusual circumstances and if you use your head and keep at it you'll find something that will work, even if temporary, enough to snag them cow pinchers.

John G, see you in a few day and have a safe trip

I set under bottom wire by post. Never had one tripped from a cow.

I'm a little bit lost on this one....I can visualize setting under the bottom wire...but whats the post have to do with it? Maybe I'm just thinking too much?

If the bad bull comes at you, show him your badge. neil

Most of the farms where I trap use Electric Fences to keep the cows in.

I've started carrying one of those Spring-type gates with me and I use them in the corners of a field when cows are present. So if I find the "right spot" for a set, sometimes I can't use this method but if a corner is available, the Spring-gate can be stretched across the corner and that will keep the cows away from my set.

A Single steel post and two Spring-Gates make it possible to use this method along any electric fence line. Set-up and take-down are quick and easy. It's best to inform the farmer/rancher what you are doing though and usually there is no problem with it.

Be Careful around those High Tension Fences, they will give you a pretty good "Bang" if you're not careful. ;(