Springtime Coyote Trapping Sets That Work

I caught my first coyote in 2014. It took a 15-day trap line to do it, but I finally got the reward of removing a fawn killer from my hunting property. Since then, there have been others and more knowledge learned. Today, I still have volumes to learn about trapping the crafty coyote. They are slick and can prove very difficult to catch in a foot-hold trap.

Lynn Stanford, of Eatonton, can write those volumes I still have to learn. That knowledge really comes with time, and Lynn has it. He’s been coyote trapping for about 50 years.

“I trapped for the federal government in the 60s when I got back from Vietnam. They had a program at Fort Benning called Project Transition,” said Lynn.

“My first job was a helper for a professional trapper out of Canada that Fort Benning had hired to trap predators on the Fort Benning reservation, and I helped him for six months.”

Lynn and I have been friends for a long time. He called me about six months ago and pitched an idea that he said our GON readers could benefit from. If you’ll click the GON’s Trappers For Hire link, you’ll see the idea that he had and what a great one it is.

While I had him on the phone, I asked him if I could ride along with him and report on his trapping techniques.

“Be glad to,” he said.

So, on Monday, March 8, I met Lynn on a piece of Putnam County hunting property where he’s trapped for several years and removed a number of critters. It took me about 15 minutes into that trip to realize that I’d need more than one GON article to share everything that Lynn had to say. Therefore, a big chunk of the meat of my “article” will be in video format. Those videos appear at the bottom of this article.

“This video is going to show people how I trap,” said Lynn. “I am sure there are other trappers out there who are going to question some of my techniques. That’s OK. Everybody does not trap the same way. This is just what works for me.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time I use several variations of the dirt hole set. That’s my best set, that is what works best for me.”

So, Lynn took me to school on properly setting dirt hole sets.

“If I have one suggestion to people who want to learn how to trap, it would be to keep it clean. Always keep all your gear clean,” he said.

Not only are gloved hands and clean gear essential to a successful set, but a focused mind from start to finish is also key.

“I don’t like taking anybody on my (paying jobs) trap line while I am trying to trap,” said Lynn. “It’s hard to concentrate on what I am doing and explaining what I’m doing at the same time. Now if somebody wants (to hire) me to teach them, I’m all for that. I’ll be glad to show anybody what I do.”

Being sloppy with even one step in a coyote set will likely mean not catching one.

“You want to always be aware of what you’re doing, where you’re at in your making, that way there’s no mistakes,” said Lynn. “It’s hard enough to make these sets and then miss your target animal because you’ve failed to do something you should have done.”

While being careful, Lynn takes his time with every single step.

“I hear guys who say they set 20 sets a day,” said Lynn. “I might set eight, I’m just not going to rush it.”

Before we ever scratched the dirt, Lynn and I used his John Deere Gator to ride every road through the 120-acre tract. He was looking for tracks and scat. What we found wasn’t super fresh, but we still went to work setting out seven MB550 leg-hold traps. The next day we added five more. All the traps were placed in travel areas along roadways or next to deer trails.

“Coyotes are kind of lazy, they like to follow the path of least resistance,” said Lynn.

In one area where four roads came together, Lynn placed two traps.

“As they come in from any direction of this intersection, no matter which way the wind is blowing, they will more than likely pick up on the smell,” said Lynn.

Picking the right spot for a coyote trap is important. Lynn either looks for an area with good backing or will add it artificially. He also likes to create a set that forces the yote to approach from a slightly higher elevation. The extra weight from the dog’s foot will help fire the trap off. Before digging the bed, he uses a 20-volt DeWalt drill and digs a dirt hole 6 to 8 inches deep into the ground at about a 45-degree angle.

“The reason I got it so deep is so birds, crows, little mice, little critters… they will get in there and dig it out and pull all your bait and lure out and ruin the set. So you put it deep enough so they can’t get down there and do all that,” said Lynn.

Next, Lynn digs out a trap bed for his MB-550. He’ll dig a trench to the side of his trap for his chain, spring and stake, which is an 18- to 20-inch piece of rebar with a welded head on the top.

Lynn then puts a piece of pillow stuffing under the pan and begins the all-important step of bedding the trap. If you don’t do this part right, you can forget your entry into the Coyote Cull.

“Coyotes are not stupid,” said Lynn. “I pack dirt around the jaws as tight as I can get it so there is absolutely no movement in that trap, none! If he steps right here (on the right side ear) and it jacks up on this side (the left side ear), he’s gone. Same way on the jaws. He has no curiosity as far as movement.”

Once the trap has been planted firmly, Lynn would often reach into a bucket brought from home that had clean, fine dirt in it. He’d sprinkle that dirt on top of the trap’s jaws and ears.

“If you pack wet heavy mud on those jaws, it’ll slow it down some,” said Lynn.

Then he would put that same clean dirt in a sifter and sift the dirt over the trap. At that point, the trap bed had a very soft, clean appearance. Lynn then took a little stick and cleaned the top of the trap pan so that only it was exposed.

“You want the pan to be in the lowest spot at the trap site,” said Lynn. “If it’s low and clean, he’s going to step there. If I put a stone right there (on the trap pan), he will not step on it. It’s OK to build it (the area around the trap) up with stones, dirt clods but not in the path of the jaws or ears.”

This is where attention to detail really comes into play. Lynn would place small rocks, dirt clods from the trap bed hole, sweetgum balls and small pine cones to slightly build up the ground around the trap, while also using “stand-ups” on the sides of the trap to encourage a coyote to place his foot directly on the trap pan. In the cases where Lynn had to create a backing because a natural one wasn’t there, he’d use something that was natural to the area. Once satisfied, he’d make a very light and final sift of clean dirt to cover the trap pan.

“You want the dirt that you sprinkle on the pan to be thinner than anywhere else,” said Lynn.

Lastly, Lynn would put on a different pair of gloves and load his bait hole. At the bottom of every hole, he adds a quarter handful of sheep’s wool.

“It’s a natural odor coming off an animal, but it also has lanolin in it,” said Lynn. “Lanolin will hold odor. We also use it to give eye appeal. It looks like fur from an animal.”

The sheep’s wool is pushed into the bottom of the hole and lure is applied to it. When we trapped, Lynn was using Rusty Johnson’s Lucky Predator Lures lure, Black Magic from Grandpa’s Trading Post and Dunlap Lures Reaper Coyote Gland.

The biggest difference when trapping in May and June versus the winter months is that Lynn uses mostly lure and not very much bait at all.

“The biggest problem in the summertime is not only the mice but the ants. They are terrible,” said Lynn. “They are not real bad with just gland lure, but if you use bait, they will get in it, dig it out, drag it out, ruin the set.

“You want to get your gland lure on a small twig—no more than the size of a butterbean­—and put it down in there and make sure you poke it into the sheep’s wool.”

He said that using too much gland lure in a hole could have a coyote wanting to rub all in the trap bed, much like dogs will do when they come across something dead in the woods.

Lynn then squirts red fox urine on the backing behind his trap.

“Red fox has proven to me to be the better of all types of urines that you can use,” said Lynn.

Lynn likes to run his sets for at least 10 days but prefers 14 days. Over so many days, I asked how often he re-applies lure or fox urine.

“You know Ken Nugent? One call that’s all,” said Lynn. “It’s like your wife’s perfume. If you walk into your room and the lights are out and it just knocks you back, you know somebody spilled it, it’s not natural.”

This time of year is tougher to catch coyotes since other food sources are available.

“Trappers need to understand up front that there are going to be days when you’re going to run every trap you’ve got and catch absolutely nothing. You just better be prepared for that because it’s going to happen,” said Lynn.

“Coyotes don’t travel in the same area every night. It might be three or four days, sometimes even a week. I have had traps out for two weeks and catch a coyote the last day in a trap I set the first day. I never re-lured it, nothing. That was even after a rain, and they still smelled it and came to it. Sometimes it takes that long for the pack to come back through. Never get discouraged.”

Lynn asks anyone reading this article to please join the Georgia Trappers Association. They are the ones who promote our sport and also work with legislators to make sure we still have a future in trapping.

Lynn retired as a deputy sheriff and now traps full-time. He can certainly work on your coyote problems, and he’ll trap all furbearers and beavers. The main counties he focuses on are Putnam, Jones, Jasper and Morgan, although he will discuss trapping farther from home. Give Lynn a call at 706.473.1087 (c), 706.485.5107 (h). Leave him a message if there is no answer.

 

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Coyote Trapping Video Series

Teacher Lynn Stanford takes student, GON Editor Brad Gill, to school.

For those who want to learn more about springtime coyote trapping than can fit in this GON article, 50-year trapping veteran Lynn Stanford spends more than an hour in interviews and demos.

GON Editor Brad Gill spent six days with Lynn interviewing him about trap bedding, trap dying/waxing, springtime lures, urines, set locations, trap modifications, proper backing, eye appeal, how often to re-lure and urine and a host of other tidbits.

Links to those videos are below.