I got my trapping license at Christmas time and this is my first pre-season. I'm trapping mainly patches of bush in an agricultural area, lake shoreline and large marshes. My focus will be mainly on coyote/fox and muskrat. Secondary will be beaver, weasel and squirrel but I may try martin about 100 kms north of here.
I only have to cut a few kms of trail for my quad and skidoo and I was wondering if I shouldn't prep bait sites for coyotes at the same time or just select spots and don't disturb them.
Would it be prudent to prep bait sites for coyotes and use fallen trees, etc to encourage them to access the area from easy openings? If so, how far back from the bait pile should I do it, just far enough away that the ravens won't disturb my snares or should I go back 50m or more?
My thinking would be prep as soon as possible to get it looking "normal" sooner. Get the trails you want to be setting on made so the animals can start using them. The more animal smell and the less human smell the better.
Coyotes will always take the easiest path so get them made and get the animals to pack them down between down and then.
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"I'll give you my gun when you take it from my cold, dead hands" - Charlton Heston, 1923-2008
While trapping on or near farmland I did not do any prep work. But then I probably had the advantage of living on the property and seeing how and where the coyotes travelled. Before we got donkeys the coyotes were so bad a couple of years that they would go into the quonset that we used for the sheep shelter when they were lambing.
I always got a chuckle out of one of our sheep farmers bumper stickers. " Eat a lamb 100,000 coyotes can't be wrong."
Prepping Coyote Bait Sites
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