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A lesson on LOCATION.... #875302
09/10/08 03:59 AM
09/10/08 03:59 AM
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 3,464
Southern Indiana
FOXCATCHER Offline OP
trapper
FOXCATCHER  Offline OP
trapper

Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 3,464
Southern Indiana
Some have been asking about choosing locations for coyote sets. Here is how I do it and some pics for fun. No doubt location plays one of the most important roles in catching fur bearers. I'll focus on coyotes/foxes for this thread but feel free to start another thread on other species.

Now, I like to start looking for sign were several points of interest meet. Once I have pin pointed a location I start scouting for sign. In the following posts I have labeled some of the more major points of interest.
Blue = Water
White= An edge (Like a field edge, crop change up, or path through the woods)
Green = a cross over or funnel point the coyotes were using heavy
Red = Actual set location that connected over the last few years.
Black = These will be points that I have set up in the past that look good but fail to make catches for reason I'm unsure of.

Lets take a look at the first spot:


I catch probably 15-20 coyotes here a year. If you look you can see there are several point that lead to a major cross over. Weather it be water, tree line or crop change ups they focus the movement of the coyotes to a few central locations. The cross over in the woods is a duck-under of an old woven wire fence. I took 6 coyotes in 6 days from that fence. Lets take a look at a few catches from this location.



The next location


I trapped this area because the farmer had several dogs killed and asked me to take as many coyotes as I could. You might notice a lack of points. I basicaly went in and had to look for cross overs from the horseshoe shaped pond and used the road as a main set location. The point were the road makes a 90 deg. turn to the woods was a great place. It was close to a cross over and also close to a wooded area. Here are a few catches from there.
From the road
This was a tree next to the road It was a lone feature in the field



Last edited by FOXCATCHER; 09/10/08 04:10 AM.

With it or on it. A way of life

There's a lot of smart people, far fewer wise men... NonPCfed
Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: FOXCATCHER] #875303
09/10/08 04:02 AM
09/10/08 04:02 AM
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 3,464
Southern Indiana
FOXCATCHER Offline OP
trapper
FOXCATCHER  Offline OP
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Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 3,464
Southern Indiana
(cont.)


This next spot has produced for me like magic for the last several years


If you study this pic you will see that the access road meets the ditch at a crop change up. This spot is always good for a ton of coyotes. 10-20 over a season. If you look in this catch pic you can see the numerous catch cirles in the back ground

This grizzly old dog was one of my favorites Real werewolfy


In this pic you will see that there are numerous shallow ditches intersected by a road. The one ditch toward the bottom of the pic is a deep ditch. I have caught coyotes on both sides of the deep ditch. It seems though that if I target the coyotes around the smaller ditches at the top of the page I don't seem to do so good. But the smaller ditches funnel the coyotes to the bridge to cross over to my main set locations.


Lets look at a few catches from here

I always make sure to look for set locations around these. This tower is just off the road on the right side of the pic.




This is my fox farm I catch several fox here each year. I also catch several coyotes here.



I have marked the cow pastures because they are off limits. You will notice that I trap (snare) around old den sites. These have been productive to me in the last few years. The land owner is an old trapper. I set this locaion with him in mind because he can look out his kitchen window every morning and see if there is a catch made. He just LOVED it. Made him feel like he was trapping again. The cross over at the right of the pic is my main producer of coyotes. It is a small opening that the coyotes use to pass from one field to another. The white line in the woods is a well groomed trail the coyotes use sometimes late in the season.

Lets look at some catches
This guy came from the opening I discribed.



Last edited by FOXCATCHER; 09/10/08 04:16 AM.

With it or on it. A way of life

There's a lot of smart people, far fewer wise men... NonPCfed
Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: FOXCATCHER] #875304
09/10/08 04:05 AM
09/10/08 04:05 AM
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 3,464
Southern Indiana
FOXCATCHER Offline OP
trapper
FOXCATCHER  Offline OP
trapper

Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 3,464
Southern Indiana
(cont.)


This fox came from a bait pile I had in the wood on the left hand side.


This one is also from the other post. He was caught near the den site. I caught I think 5 from that den site that year.


This last sight is another gem. I caught 16 here last year. this is the only cross over of this deep ditch of a mile in each direction. Also you have the multiple field edges and crop change ups. There is a nice wide green grass patch there most of the season as well.

That were these guys came from.

This is the green grass strip


If you look in the bottom left side of the map pic you will see a dark spot that I set with a few traps each year. This is an old rotted tree out in the field. It seems like every coyote that crosses that ditch goes for the tree.

This frosty but fox came from the road just alittle off the screen of the pic.


I love to talk location so if you have any questions post away.

Don


With it or on it. A way of life

There's a lot of smart people, far fewer wise men... NonPCfed
Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: FOXCATCHER] #875313
09/10/08 05:19 AM
09/10/08 05:19 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 9,646
se SD
rags57078 Offline
Humorist
rags57078  Offline
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Posts: 9,646
se SD
great post


Off in my own world

Fish on !!!!!!!



47 years in this game of trapping
Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: rags57078] #875314
09/10/08 05:56 AM
09/10/08 05:56 AM
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,257
Northumberland County, PA
LineMtnCooner Offline
trapper
LineMtnCooner  Offline
trapper

Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 3,257
Northumberland County, PA
Awesome post, thank you.


Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: LineMtnCooner] #875364
09/10/08 07:46 AM
09/10/08 07:46 AM
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 431
Grand Island, NY, USA
ecgreen Offline
trapper
ecgreen  Offline
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 431
Grand Island, NY, USA
This is an awesome post! I am new to the sport, and I must say that your quick post taught me more than a lot of books I have read. You should write a whole book about location using this kind of presentation. Cool!



Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: LineMtnCooner] #875370
09/10/08 07:50 AM
09/10/08 07:50 AM
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,143
West Virginia
B
bglong Offline
trapper
bglong  Offline
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B

Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 2,143
West Virginia
Archives!


Never happier than when I smell just a little skunky.
Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: bglong] #875377
09/10/08 08:09 AM
09/10/08 08:09 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,720
South Central Nebraska age 71
tmrschessie Offline
trapper
tmrschessie  Offline
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Posts: 8,720
South Central Nebraska age 71
Very well done, I also use the sat pic's...they work. Tom

Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: tmrschessie] #875470
09/10/08 09:35 AM
09/10/08 09:35 AM

G
gil turner
Unregistered
gil turner
Unregistered
G



great post. and its about trapping.

Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: ] #875489
09/10/08 09:54 AM
09/10/08 09:54 AM
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 916
western oregon
T
trap runner Offline
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trap runner  Offline
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Posts: 916
western oregon
i really appreciate the visual given with the aerials, thanks

Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: ] #875492
09/10/08 09:56 AM
09/10/08 09:56 AM
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 1,319
ne pa age 39,act 10, feel 80
paredneck Offline
trapper
paredneck  Offline
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Posts: 1,319
ne pa age 39,act 10, feel 80
Thanks for the post,think I learned something.


Phil.
Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: paredneck] #875589
09/10/08 11:14 AM
09/10/08 11:14 AM
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 364
Nebraska
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Pro-Hunt Offline
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 364
Nebraska
Great job!!

If someone can do a presentation like this for bobcats that would be fantastic!!!

Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: Pro-Hunt] #875863
09/10/08 02:48 PM
09/10/08 02:48 PM
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 3,716
SW Pa
W
wr otis Offline
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wr otis  Offline
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Posts: 3,716
SW Pa
I pulled up the third location on google, you must be overrun with coyotes catching that many in an area that wide open. I would have looked closer to the timber and water to the east and to the timber in the southwest.
Northern indiana is much the same, small woodlots surrounded by crops with ditches and fence rows connecting the woodlots.

Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: wr otis] #875877
09/10/08 03:00 PM
09/10/08 03:00 PM

D
dcampbell
Unregistered
dcampbell
Unregistered
D



this is one hec of a post. you put it to where the new and young as well as us old poots could make sense of it.

a dandy for the archives. down here it is just the same as up there. we dont have crops but we do have clearcuts and terrain features that the yotes love to follow. took years to grasp this. once i did it has been bad for the yotes and other critters as well.

darn good job FOXCTCHER.

Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: wr otis] #875885
09/10/08 03:03 PM
09/10/08 03:03 PM
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 504
Towanda, Illinois
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Towandatrapper Offline
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Posts: 504
Towanda, Illinois
Your pics look alot like we have here in central ,illinois . I have to be very careful were i put my fox/ coyots sets because of bird dogs during the first couple of weeks of pheasant season. Location is very important, nice post .
Foxcatcher, do you use the extra long chains on your sets to prevent them from pumping the stake and do you double stake your fox/ coyote sets .

Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: ] #876390
09/10/08 08:00 PM
09/10/08 08:00 PM
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 465
Thumb of MI
Greg L Offline
trapper
Greg L  Offline
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Posts: 465
Thumb of MI
Nice post. I started using Google Earth after watching Tracy Truman's Gray Fox Trapping Video and it is a great tool! Let's you see the places that you make catches and allows you to look for similar features in other places to make sets.

Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: Greg L] #876401
09/10/08 08:08 PM
09/10/08 08:08 PM
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 12,915
Indiana, 15 1/4yrs old
Gary Offline
trapper
Gary  Offline
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 12,915
Indiana, 15 1/4yrs old
great post catcher .... hasnt turned out as bad as ya thought, has it wink grin


Possums and fanged beaver Skeer Me frown
Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: Greg L] #876407
09/10/08 08:12 PM
09/10/08 08:12 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 473
PA
T
tims924 Offline
trapper
tims924  Offline
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Posts: 473
PA
Awesome post. Man are your chains long, I have been trying to keep my coyote chains short with earth anchors.

Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: wr otis] #876451
09/10/08 08:31 PM
09/10/08 08:31 PM
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 3,464
Southern Indiana
FOXCATCHER Offline OP
trapper
FOXCATCHER  Offline OP
trapper

Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 3,464
Southern Indiana
Originally Posted By: wr otis
I pulled up the third location on google, you must be overrun with coyotes catching that many in an area that wide open. I would have looked closer to the timber and water to the east and to the timber in the southwest.



Otis this is a travel used by transient coyotes. I usually catch 6-7 local population coyotes and then it slows down but pick up several more over the course of the season. This place is not far from my house so I keep it set up all season.


With it or on it. A way of life

There's a lot of smart people, far fewer wise men... NonPCfed
Re: A lesson on LOCATION.... [Re: tims924] #876467
09/10/08 08:35 PM
09/10/08 08:35 PM
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 3,464
Southern Indiana
FOXCATCHER Offline OP
trapper
FOXCATCHER  Offline OP
trapper

Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 3,464
Southern Indiana
Originally Posted By: tims924
Awesome post. Man are your chains long, I have been trying to keep my coyote chains short with earth anchors.


I have progressivley shortened my chains. Most are now about 12 inches. I was having problems with large dogs pulling double stakes traps. Long chains and 24 inch cross stakes kept coyotes and dogs there unless the oil well guys decided to intervein.

The most of the larger dogs are gone now so short chains and cross stakes are working well.

I do use quite a few cables now. Most are on snares but several on footholds.

Gary, yep most are being civil. Hope it stays that way.

Don


With it or on it. A way of life

There's a lot of smart people, far fewer wise men... NonPCfed
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