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The 500 Acre Project

Posted By: CNC

The 500 Acre Project - 05/05/17 11:22 AM

It’s time to up our game and move to a larger piece of property. This time we’re going after the coons and possums as well as the yotes too. The foot hold traps are rusted, waxed, and dyed….. and the DP’s have a fresh coat of paint with the triggers greased. I’ve still got to test the pan tension on the footholds and attach some new ID tags before everything’s ready to roll out. Gonna tour the new property tomorrow and study over an aerial for a couple days before setting our traps out. We’ll likely start trapping early next week. thumbup

Posted By: Ru2hunt

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/05/17 11:29 AM

Looks good! I just got my Mb 550s dyed and waxed and added some chains and drags to some of them! Have you found that you are getting more catches when DPs are painted?
Posted By: North40R

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/05/17 11:36 AM

Looking good CNC!

Make sure you wear gloves while setting pan tension and attaching your tags. You've gone too far into a cleaning process to risk contaminating your traps now.

Also remember that transporting your traps should be done with scent control and contamination in mind.

I know it seems like a lot but even if you catch coyotes with dirty, rusty traps you're also educating others. Why make it any harder by taking short cuts!
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/05/17 01:44 PM

Originally Posted By: Ru2hunt
Looks good! I just got my Mb 550s dyed and waxed and added some chains and drags to some of them! Have you found that you are getting more catches when DPs are painted?



Thanks! I haven’t really tested it enough to say for sure. I’ve read several things that suggest they do use the colored ones more though. One common color is white. I just went with hunter orange because I already had the spray paint. I haven’t noticed it having any negative effects as I’ve caught coons in them the very night after I painted them. It just helps me see them a lot easier and it keeps the traps from rusting more and more. They rust really quick when once you start using them and the original finish gets knocked off. It’s not much trouble at all to put a new coat on one though. Just little “Chhh….Chhh” and you’re done. The next time I bring them in I may try dying them before painting again to see if that dye would soak into the rust as a base.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/05/17 01:45 PM

Originally Posted By: North40R
Looking good CNC!

Make sure you wear gloves while setting pan tension and attaching your tags. You've gone too far into a cleaning process to risk contaminating your traps now.

Also remember that transporting your traps should be done with scent control and contamination in mind.

I know it seems like a lot but even if you catch coyotes with dirty, rusty traps you're also educating others. Why make it any harder by taking short cuts!


Thanks! I’ve got a fresh cleaned truck bed waiting on the traps to be hauled in. It just stopped raining here earlier this morning. Hopefully it’ll dry out enough in the next few days so that it’s not too wet.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/07/17 10:00 AM

Toured the new property yesterday…….everything looks pretty promising. The property centers around a 40 acre lake as well as having two other large lakes of similar size right on adjoining property lines nearby. There should be a healthy coon population present and riding around it was not too hard to find fresh coons tracks. I’ve already eyeballed a couple good spots for gang sets. The whole coon trapping strategy on this property is likely gonna revolve around the lakes and hardwood travel routes between them. I believe there’s the possibility for some health catches on this one. On the yote front, there seems to be a least a few present. Most of the tracks we saw though I’m pretty sure were foxes. This was 24 hours after rain so everything was super fresh. There very well may be a lot of things we just didn’t see as well on the ride through. We’re about to find out soon. To be continued………….. smile
Posted By: inojon

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/08/17 07:26 AM


Originally Posted By: CNC
Originally Posted By: North40R
Looking good CNC!

Make sure you wear gloves while setting pan tension and attaching your tags. You've gone too far into a cleaning process to risk contaminating your traps now.

Also remember that transporting your traps should be done with scent control and contamination in mind.

I know it seems like a lot but even if you catch coyotes with dirty, rusty traps you're also educating others. Why make it any harder by taking short cuts!


Thanks! I’ve got a fresh cleaned truck bed waiting on the traps to be hauled in. It just stopped raining here earlier this morning. Hopefully it’ll dry out enough in the next few days so that it’s not too wet.


Buy you one of the plastic totes to put the traps in. They will help keep them from getting contaminated.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/08/17 04:39 PM

Originally Posted By: inojon
Buy you one of the plastic totes to put the traps in. They will help keep them from getting contaminated.


thumbup
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/08/17 04:41 PM

Alright fellas.....we've got 12 yote sets out and 30 coon sets. Whew!!! Gonna start checking 'em tomorrow. smile
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/08/17 05:20 PM

I saw a little family of geese on the lake when I arrived this morning. How many eggs do geese usually lay? I think its more than three….no? Wonder what got the rest of ‘em?



One of my sets…….I’ll snap pics of a few more tomorrow. The pan is sitting right in that ray of sunlight. This is at an intersection of two roads. I tried to just use some of the natural structure that was already present to make my sets from.


Posted By: N2TRKYS

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/08/17 09:02 PM

Originally Posted By: CNC
It’s time to up our game and move to a larger piece of property. This time we’re going after the coons and possums as well as the yotes too. The foot hold traps are rusted, waxed, and dyed….. and the DP’s have a fresh coat of paint with the triggers greased. I’ve still got to test the pan tension on the footholds and attach some new ID tags before everything’s ready to roll out. Gonna tour the new property tomorrow and study over an aerial for a couple days before setting our traps out. We’ll likely start trapping early next week. thumbup





I'm interested to hear how the orange DPs do. I've heard of folks painting them white with good success, but not orange.

Good luck.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/09/17 09:49 AM

Originally Posted By: N2TRKYS
I'm interested to hear how the orange DPs do. I've heard of folks painting them white with good success, but not orange.

Good luck.


Thanks.....I think you could probably paint them about any color.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/09/17 09:51 AM

Day 1.......4 male coons

Posted By: 3FFarms

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/09/17 02:26 PM

thumbup

Tuned in for this one. Good thread and a good start to this tract.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/09/17 04:03 PM

Originally Posted By: 3FFarms
thumbup

Tuned in for this one. Good thread and a good start to this tract.


Thanks 3FF…..Hopefully I’ll have us a yote pic in a few days. One downside of trapping right now is the female coons are still pretty non-existent. They must not be feeding at all. Some of these males coons probably do some hardcore damage to the local turkey nests though. That third one from the left was a hoss. He had to be 20+ lbs. That’s the size of a small dog.

Here’s one more of my yote sets. This is deer leg bone with yote pee sprayed on it that’s set up along a roadway. There’s a clothes hanger wire run through the middle of it to anchor it in the ground. The pan is sitting right in front of it next to that leaf. Again I tried to use some natural structure to funnel the animal into my trap.

Posted By: North40R

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/09/17 04:50 PM

CNC the set looks good but I'm confused on where the clothes hanger wire is and what purpose it serves.
Posted By: North40R

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/09/17 05:00 PM

Here are a few pics I dug up of sets. I've had better success with shorter backing as opposed to using taller stuff like you're using. Just something to think about since you're just starting out.







Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/09/17 05:28 PM

Originally Posted By: North40R
CNC the set looks good but I'm confused on where the clothes hanger wire is and what purpose it serves.


Thanks for posting the pics. I appreciate that. I'll keep that in mind about the lower backing. thumbup

The clothes hanger wire is what jabs down in the ground and holds the bone in place….as well as keeping the animals from being able to just grab it and run off with it. It was a real heavy duty wire hanger that I cut the piece from. There’s a hole drilled in the end of the bone and the wire is pushed up through it as far as I could get it. I reinforced it with a little bit of hot glue. That’s been a few weeks ago now so hopefully that doesn’t hurt me as far as smell. They’ll at least have to work for it to get it out of the ground.


Posted By: North40R

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/09/17 05:48 PM

I see! I think you're over thinking the whole issue but if you have time to spend on it then great.

I'll throw my bones into my dog pen for a week or so and let Rio knaw on them and get dog scent all over them then bag them up and use them as I go. I just drive them in the ground and put out a dab of scent.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/09/17 06:00 PM

It’s too late to show now because it got destroyed but I actually caught one of the coons on a yote set I made with a little doe skull. I found a wax myrtle that had some limbs that were making a really nice funnel shape and I tucked the skull back up in it a little. I buried it about halfway and put a little “Gusto” lure in the nose. It was meant to simulate what Trapper Jake was doing with the bone and afterbirth…..which reminds me. My FIL has a lot of cows and I’ve put in an order for some cow afterbirth. Any ideas on what to do with it? I thought maybe just a five gallon bucket with a lid but I wonder if it needs to be preserved or anything. That stuff Trapper Jake put in that bone looked pretty nasty. It must be the shiznik though because he had been trapping 90 years and that was apparently his “go-to” lure. That’s an awful lot of time to experiment. grin
Posted By: North40R

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/09/17 06:12 PM


Originally Posted By: CNC
That’s an awful lot of time to experiment. grin


Yes it is but unless you just want to play around in rotten guts I'd leave all that mess to the TV folks!

If you have access to cattle find an old skeleton and get you a sack full of t-bones like the one in that first pic I posted. Drive it in the ground, stick a q tip in that nice clean little jar of gusto then stick the q tip in the hole in the bone.

No fuss, no mess, no buckets of rotten afterbirth and I guarantee it'll catch just as many coyotes!
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/10/17 10:44 AM

Day 2.......3 more coons

Total coon catches: 7

Two of the catches were females. That’s very promising. When they first start coming out of the den I imagine they're gonna be on the hunt for food. One female looked like she must not have had babies this year….no milking boobies. The other one definitely did though.



This is very frustrating. I should have a yote laying there with them as well but luck saved him.



As he was digging at the dirt hole, he must have brought up a rock and kicked it over in just the right place so that when the jaws snapped this is what happened. The next set around the road from this one was my bone set I was showing. He walked all around it checking it out but I suppose my scent was still too fresh or he didn’t like something about it. He pooped in the road and kept going until he hit this set that he worked……I’m assuming anyways.





Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/10/17 10:48 AM

One of you trappers are likely looking at my pan covers above and thinking to yourself that I need to wrinkle them up. You’re probably right. I tried something with a few of them to see how it worked. I precut my pan covers with a pattern I made and then dipped some of them in my hot wax as I was waxing my traps. It deadened that crinkly paper sound but I still think I may like them better the other way. They just conform to the shape of things better after being wadded up.

I snapped a pic of one more of my sets this morning. Nothing has messed with it yet.

Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/10/17 03:01 PM

I’ve got a couple sets that I’m just not happy with that I’m gonna move tomorrow. I put them in good areas for likely yote activity but not good areas to check without disturbing things. One of the traps I’m gonna move into the area where I’m getting the active hits on my sets. I’m gonna make another bone set but throw him a little curveball this time with the deer leg below I snagged out of my summer blood tracking stash. I’m gonna tuck it up in some kind of bushes this time instead just being so obviously stuck out in the open like my current bone set. The guy who made the turtle shell set I watched on youtube talked about that. He said that the obvious bone or skull or shell just sitting out in the open caused more suspicion in the yote than if you tucked back inside of some limbs or bushes where it was partially hidden. He said to make the yote feel like he’s found something rather than it being stuck out like a sore thumb. I think I left my first leg bone a little too out in the open.

Posted By: North40R

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/10/17 03:39 PM

Been watching Clint Locklear I see!... Lol!
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/10/17 04:20 PM

Originally Posted By: North40R
Been watching Clint Locklear I see!... Lol!


Heck, I think I've watched them ALL now. grin
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/11/17 10:05 AM

Day 3……..

Sweet redemption after yesterday’s bad luck with the rock. I caught my first yote!!!!! Woooo! Hoooooo!!!!!.....Coincidentally I got her in the very set I posted in that last pic yesterday.



Total catch for Day 3 ……… 1 yote,1 possum

Total catch to date: 7 coons, 1 possum, 1 yote

The coons must not have been moving last night on that bright full moon. Only picked up a single possum.

Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/11/17 11:40 AM

So here’s our new deer leg set. I may get chit on again with this one but I feel really good about it. You gotta look close but you can see the hooves and the brown of the leg tucked into the grass in the back with my pan sitting out in front of it. The two little pines are actually limbs I snapped off and jabbed in the ground to funnel the yote a little better.




I also poured some deer blood in the road straight out from the set and leading over to it……..We’ll see what happens.



Posted By: North40R

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/11/17 04:07 PM

Congrats on the coyote!
Posted By: AUwrestler

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/11/17 04:53 PM

cool project. Looks like Christmas everyday.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/11/17 06:12 PM

Originally Posted By: North40R
Congrats on the coyote!


Originally Posted By: AUwrestler
cool project. Looks like Christmas everyday.



Thanks fellas! beers
Posted By: k bush

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/11/17 07:04 PM

Nice catch
Posted By: k bush

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/11/17 07:08 PM

Nice catch!
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/11/17 08:27 PM

Originally Posted By: k bush
Nice catch!


beers
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/12/17 10:08 AM

Day 4........1 possum 1 coon

Total: 8 coon, 2 possum, 1 yote


Got another female coon this morning. I think the bright nights may be slowing things down just a little. Maybe we'll get a dark night tonight with the rain moving in. I put tin foil caps over all the DP's so that I didn't have to re-bait them. They're just baited with cat food and catfish pellets.

Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/13/17 11:41 AM

Day 5......Nuttin frown

All my sets still looked like they were in pretty good shape after the rain. I dug up a 5 gallon bucket of dry dirt yesterday and used it today to fix the sets back up a little. All I really did was rake the wet dirt back off the pan and check to make sure the pan cover had done its job. I then sifted fresh dry dirt back over the set and freshened up the bait/lure. Maybe things will pick back up tomorrow.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/14/17 11:12 AM

Day 6……….. Total to date: 10 coon, 1 possum, 3 yote

Today: 2 coons, 2 yotes



Got another female yote....... thumbup





and one male…….




Posted By: Remington270

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/14/17 12:01 PM

Impressive
Posted By: North40R

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/14/17 12:32 PM

Congrats CNC! It always seems like after that first coyote it gets easier.

I know you're keeping up with everything going on with your sets, baits and lures but here's one to keep tabs on.

Watch your set locations. I've trapped several properties for years and some locations are just magnets for predators. Some will be a natural funnel or on a food source so they'll make perfect sense but others will be oddball places that for no apparent ryme or reason draw them in.

I've found a couple of spots like this by setting on coyote sign.

Another thing to watch is your remake sets after catches. I used to try to hide sets and cover up signs of a catch but have better success just cleaning up the catch circle somewhat and resetting in the same spot.

A remake has all the scents and sign of a struggle and that is a natural draw to predators.
Posted By: AUwrestler

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/14/17 12:40 PM

That is so cool. Makes me want to buy a heap ton of traps and catch something.
Posted By: AUwrestler

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/14/17 12:44 PM

Dang check out the tick on the neck of thay female yote. Its the size of a cherry.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/14/17 01:47 PM

Originally Posted By: Remington270
Impressive



Originally Posted By: AUwrestler
That is so cool. Makes me want to buy a heap ton of traps and catch something.



Thanks fellas! beers
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/14/17 01:48 PM

Originally Posted By: North40R
Congrats CNC! It always seems like after that first coyote it gets easier.

I know you're keeping up with everything going on with your sets, baits and lures but here's one to keep tabs on.

Watch your set locations. I've trapped several properties for years and some locations are just magnets for predators. Some will be a natural funnel or on a food source so they'll make perfect sense but others will be oddball places that for no apparent ryme or reason draw them in.

I've found a couple of spots like this by setting on coyote sign.

Another thing to watch is your remake sets after catches. I used to try to hide sets and cover up signs of a catch but have better success just cleaning up the catch circle somewhat and resetting in the same spot.

A remake has all the scents and sign of a struggle and that is a natural draw to predators.


Thanks!.......I’ll keep that in mind about the odd places. These catches came in places that were no brainers. As I was driving up to the first one this morning I remember thinking to myself that if any set was gonna produce it was gonna be that one. I just moved over and did my resets right beside the first one. It just seemed like the yotes had turned up the circles they were in so bad that it messed up any funneling advantage using structure and vegetation.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/14/17 01:49 PM

Originally Posted By: AUwrestler
Dang check out the tick on the neck of thay female yote. Its the size of a cherry.


Yeah, I noticed that thing as soon as I walked up to her. Freakin nasty! sick
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/14/17 01:50 PM

The geese were swimming around and honking like crazy when I pulled up this morning. When I drove across the lake I noticed that there weren’t any baby geese with them this time. I think something may have got the rest of ‘em. We would probably be best to go after the "bird" predators during Feb/Mar/Apr if protecting the young turkeys and such was our main focus. We’re probably about to the point this season where it’s too late. What’s done is done as far as they're concerned. Still got baby deer to drop later this summer though. thumbup

Will turkeys and geese, etc try to nest again this year in a situation like this or is that it???


Posted By: k bush

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/14/17 05:06 PM

Congrats on more great catches. Keep on getting after them.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/14/17 05:51 PM

Originally Posted By: k bush
Congrats on more great catches. Keep on getting after them.



beers
Posted By: BatesConst

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/14/17 10:11 PM

Congrats on the catches. This is a great thread.
Posted By: Johnal3

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/15/17 12:18 AM

Turkeys will re-nest this late, not sure about geese. Those small geese may have been eaten by loggerheads. Not much you can do about that. You sure are giving them a better chance by taking out yotes and whatever else you catch out there though.
Posted By: Hogwild

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/15/17 04:34 AM

Good job!
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/15/17 07:08 AM

Originally Posted By: BatesConst
Congrats on the catches. This is a great thread.


Originally Posted By: Hogwild
Good job!



Originally Posted By: Johnal3
Turkeys will re-nest this late, not sure about geese. Those small geese may have been eaten by loggerheads. Not much you can do about that. You sure are giving them a better chance by taking out yotes and whatever else you catch out there though.


Thanks fellas! beers

Johnal.....I've heard a couple gobblers still giving it hell while I've been there so hopefully I'm not too late to make a difference this year. Maybe they're still doing their thing.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/15/17 10:23 AM

Day 7…….Total to date....12 coon, 1 possum. 3 yote

Two more coons today. A lil’ young male on the left and a big female on the right.



Ants have been giving me fits in my DP’s over the last few days. I was gonna stop and get some ant spray this morning but found some 7 dust I already had in my gardening stuff. We’ll see if it has any negative impact. They didn’t care about fresh spray paint so maybe they won’t care about the 7 dust either.

Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/16/17 11:09 AM

Day 8…..Total to date: 12 coon, 1 possum, 5 yotes

Got two more female yotes today. thumbup thumbup







Posted By: 3FFarms

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/16/17 11:50 AM

Doing good things for that property, CNC! thumbup
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/16/17 12:24 PM

Originally Posted By: 3FFarms
Doing good things for that property, CNC! thumbup



Thanks 3FF!.... Havin fun doing it too. thumbup
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/16/17 01:42 PM

Here’s another pic from this morning to give y’all an idea of the bigger picture set location for one of this morning's catches. The lake is generally shaped like a Christmas tree and probably 800-900 yards from one end to the other. This set is near the top end of the tree on the edge of a woods road that runs parallel to the water. You can see part of the lake in the background.



This is my remake from the other catch this morning but its how I had it set up when I caught the other yote....not the one above. I had originally made a compass set but just wasn’t happy with it so I used some logs to mimic a dirt hole set. I snapped this pic before finishing the remake so you could see my pan. I was afraid that a set like this was gonna be too “unnatural” but it seemed to work.




Posted By: North40R

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/16/17 05:28 PM

Congrats!

I've never had good luck building a set like you did with the sticks. Looks like what the Western trappers build for cats.

Just goes to show you that what works for some doesn't work for others.
Posted By: Turkey_neck

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/16/17 06:11 PM

Im wanting to go buy some traps now. Damn yall.
Posted By: North40R

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/16/17 07:33 PM


Originally Posted By: Turkey_neck
Im wanting to go buy some traps now. Damn yall.


I've got a couple dozen already rigged out I'm going to sale if you're interested.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/16/17 07:37 PM

Originally Posted By: North40R
Congrats!

I've never had good luck building a set like you did with the sticks. Looks like what the Western trappers build for cats.

Just goes to show you that what works for some doesn't work for others.


Thanks!.....I’ve caught a couple of them by the whole foot but a couple have barely been caught by the toes. Is that just the luck of how they step on the pan or is there something I can do to get more whole foot catches? I’m lucky I didn’t miss that last one.
Posted By: k bush

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/16/17 07:37 PM

Good work!
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/16/17 07:37 PM

Originally Posted By: Turkey_neck
Im wanting to go buy some traps now. Damn yall.


Get you some man and start cuttin 'em off to my north. grin
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/16/17 07:38 PM

Originally Posted By: k bush
Good work!


Thanks! thumbup
Posted By: North40R

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/16/17 08:40 PM

Originally Posted By: CNC
Originally Posted By: North40R
Congrats!

I've never had good luck building a set like you did with the sticks. Looks like what the Western trappers build for cats.

Just goes to show you that what works for some doesn't work for others.


Thanks!.....I’ve caught a couple of them by the whole foot but a couple have barely been caught by the toes. Is that just the luck of how they step on the pan or is there something I can do to get more whole foot catches? I’m lucky I didn’t miss that last one.


What pan tension are you running? If you're getting toe catches it means they aren't getting their full weight on the pan before the trap fires. I run mine at 3.5 lbs.

You'll still get a toe catch every once in a while but most will be deep catches with their foot still touching the pan.

Zoom in on this cats foot. Even as light as a cat steps they still put their weight down on those front feet when investigating a set. When your pan tension holds until they get the weight down it results in deep catches that hold.



Here's a BIG (32 lbs) gyp coyote buried up in one of my old double sets.



The crew running with me that morning! God I wish it was that cold right now.



Posted By: North40R

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/16/17 08:47 PM

Good Lord! I haven't set a coyote trap in 2 years now except while teaching classes but digging through these old pics has got me wanting to go make some sets.
Posted By: Hogwild

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/17/17 04:23 AM

Looking good, man!
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/17/17 07:17 AM

Originally Posted By: Hogwild
Looking good, man!


beers


Originally Posted By: North40R
What pan tension are you running?


Around 3 lbs.....It's the MB-550's the way the come right out of the box. I tested all of them after waxing and they were all firing close to 3 lbs give or take a little. A couple of the catches were good deep catches but a couple weren't. I got them though so I guess that's what counts the most. grin

What's a "gyp" coyote? Cool bobcat pic..... thumbup


Posted By: North40R

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/17/17 07:41 AM

Gyp is what we have always called a female dog. I never could stand to hear folks call them a bitch.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/17/17 11:46 AM

Originally Posted By: North40R
Gyp is what we have always called a female dog. I never could stand to hear folks call them a bitch.


10-4....Yeah it does sound kinda crude.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/17/17 11:48 AM

Day 9……Total to date: 12 coons, 2 possums, 5 yotes

Picked up a female possum on this morning’s pull.



This one was carrying around some really little ones still.



I also saw a turkey hen moving through the woods but didn’t see any poults with her.



Something did rob one of my sets. It’s my fault. When I started digging the hole I hit a root or something and it caused it to go in at an offset angle. I just went with it and sure enough the animal dug into it from the same angle and missed my pan. My pan was to his left. Not 100% sure it was a yote though. It’ll be back hopefully.


Posted By: Hogwild

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/17/17 01:19 PM

Actually, in dogman terms, a gyp is a female canine that has never had pups. A bitch has had pups before.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/17/17 02:28 PM

Originally Posted By: Hogwild
Actually, in dogman terms, a gyp is a female canine that has never had pups. A bitch has had pups before.


thumbup
Posted By: hayman

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/17/17 07:29 PM

Good job!
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/18/17 10:19 AM

Originally Posted By: hayman
Good job!


beers
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/18/17 10:20 AM

Day 10……Total catches to date: 13 coons, 3 possums, 5 yotes

I caught another young female possums full of newborns. That’s interesting since I was catching ones with babies nearly ready to leave the pouch a month ago. They must have been bred later than the others.



I also caught this male coon that was missing a big patch of hair off of his back. Upon further inspection I noticed this wound. What do y’all suppose happened? Fighting? Yote tried to get him??


I also had another one of my yote sets worked without a catch. This one pulled a pretty slick move and just dug into the hole from the backside of my set. That dead log that’s broke in half was originally enact with my trap on this side of it. The yote just dug him a brand new hole from the other side.

Posted By: charlie

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/18/17 11:33 AM

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Possum have a pretty long breeding season. Basically year round. Most of the ones I caught with young the size of those you posted were in Dec and Jan though but that was when trapping season ended in Feb. I usually see most of the young adults leaving the mother around turkey season in April or may so that's about right for late fall early winter breeding. I see the young ones all year in smaller numbers though.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/18/17 05:16 PM

Originally Posted By: charlie
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Possum have a pretty long breeding season. Basically year round. Most of the ones I caught with young the size of those you posted were in Dec and Jan though but that was when trapping season ended in Feb. I usually see most of the young adults leaving the mother around turkey season in April or may so that's about right for late fall early winter breeding. I see the young ones all year in smaller numbers though.


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Posted By: abolt300

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/18/17 05:59 PM

You're saving a bunch of turkey nests with those coon and possum catches. Will be interesting to see how many yotes you get off that 500. How long are you going to run on it.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/18/17 06:41 PM

Originally Posted By: abolt300
You're saving a bunch of turkey nests with those coon and possum catches. Will be interesting to see how many yotes you get off that 500. How long are you going to run on it.


Probably around 15 days or until things go cold. If I’m still seeing yote activity then I may trap a little longer if it doesn’t rain a bunch. I really don’t have enough traps to put them out like I’d like to on this property. I’ve got 12 out but there’s several more good locations that need traps set out on them. I also don’t have any double sets at any locations like I should have. I’d say I could set out another 12 traps pretty easy on this property.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/19/17 09:45 AM

Day 11…….Total to date: 13 coons, 3 possums, 6 yotes

Caught one of my bait robbers this morning. Another female yote……….



Got a pretty good catch on this one North40………





We just thought the tick on that other yote was gross. That must really suck…….

Posted By: C3SEAST

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/19/17 10:02 AM

Originally Posted By: CNC
Originally Posted By: abolt300
You're saving a bunch of turkey nests with those coon and possum catches. Will be interesting to see how many yotes you get off that 500. How long are you going to run on it.


Probably around 15 days or until things go cold. If I’m still seeing yote activity then I may trap a little longer if it doesn’t rain a bunch. I really don’t have enough traps to put them out like I’d like to on this property. I’ve got 12 out but there’s several more good locations that need traps set out on them. I also don’t have any double sets at any locations like I should have. I’d say I could set out another 12 traps pretty easy on this property.
Identify your main travel routes and you can catch most every every coyote that comes through there with a half dozen well placed sets. Less is more when trapping coyotes, it doesn't take much to make them skittish.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/19/17 10:41 AM

Originally Posted By: C3SEAST
Identify your main travel routes and you can catch most every every coyote that comes through there with a half dozen well placed sets. Less is more when trapping coyotes, it doesn't take much to make them skittish.


Wouldn’t that be all the more reason to take them out quickly…..Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap!....in the shortest time period possible? I’ve got one major travel route that is where two really long lanes cross each other to make a + shape. One leg is a small powerline that extends for a long ways across the landscape. I’m setup in the middle of the +. Wouldn’t I want to have 2-3 traps set at that location? I heard one trapper say that if it’s a great spot to have one trap then it’s a great spot for two…..you can’t catch doubles with one trap. The lake is another major landscape feature that’s funneling animals. I could use up 6 traps between just those two locations? No? That still leaves several other good spots for sets. The whole west line in a mile of habitat break in a straight line……there’s another neighboring lake damn funneling animals, etc…….I’m just asking, I like to hear everyone’s opinions.
Posted By: North40R

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/19/17 12:45 PM

Good catch! That's another thing I don't like about those little traps. The coyotes foot is still touching the pan and you've barely got a full pad catch on her.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/19/17 04:24 PM

Originally Posted By: North40R
Good catch! That's another thing I don't like about those little traps. The coyotes foot is still touching the pan and you've barely got a full pad catch on her.



I’m getting pretty comfortable with setting these traps now. So far so good with them. I tried the larger MB-650’s but ended up liking the smaller trap better. I’ll have to give those K-9’s a try one day. One of biggest deciding factors for me was that I just got what the local trapping store below Montgomery carried. I lik being able to just drive down there when I want to and pick up more or whatever I may need.

I'm not sure what everyone else is using but below is a tool I’ve found to be really handy. I sift some dirt over my set and then use the foam brush to clean my pan off and move the dirt around where I need it. I use the handle end to pack the dirt inside my jaws around the pan. I also use the brush end to smooth things out and put a little bit of a finishing touch on things when I’m just about done.


Posted By: C3SEAST

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/20/17 10:17 AM

Originally Posted By: CNC
Originally Posted By: C3SEAST
Identify your main travel routes and you can catch most every every coyote that comes through there with a half dozen well placed sets. Less is more when trapping coyotes, it doesn't take much to make them skittish.


Wouldn’t that be all the more reason to take them out quickly…..Whap! Whap! Whap! Whap!....in the shortest time period possible? I’ve got one major travel route that is where two really long lanes cross each other to make a + shape. One leg is a small powerline that extends for a long ways across the landscape. I’m setup in the middle of the +. Wouldn’t I want to have 2-3 traps set at that location? I heard one trapper say that if it’s a great spot to have one trap then it’s a great spot for two…..you can’t catch doubles with one trap. The lake is another major landscape feature that’s funneling animals. I could use up 6 traps between just those two locations? No? That still leaves several other good spots for sets. The whole west line in a mile of habitat break in a straight line……there’s another neighboring lake damn funneling animals, etc…….I’m just asking, I like to hear everyone’s opinions.

When I got started, it didn't take me long to figure out I was catching 90% of my coyotes in 10% of my sets. I realized it was specific location types that produced the best. I will use a few double sets in key locations and move on. I've tried it both ways and this approach has proven time and time again to produce more coyotes with much less work. Obviously, there are many ways to set up a coyote line, this is just what produces best for me. I'm enjoying your posts and good luck.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/20/17 11:32 AM

Originally Posted By: C3SEAST
When I got started, it didn't take me long to figure out I was catching 90% of my coyotes in 10% of my sets. I realized it was specific location types that produced the best. I will use a few double sets in key locations and move on. I've tried it both ways and this approach has proven time and time again to produce more coyotes with much less work. Obviously, there are many ways to set up a coyote line, this is just what produces best for me. I'm enjoying your posts and good luck.


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Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/20/17 11:33 AM

Day 12…..Final tally: 13 coons, 3 possums, 6 yotes

No catches today. I went ahead and made the call to pull all my traps early. The forecast looks like we’re about to get a good amount of rain from now until about Wed. I suspect things are about to start dwindling down anyways and it would just be a pain to try to do anything during multiple days of rain. I’ve got another landowner close by that wants to do some trapping as well. I’m probably gonna move to that property after the rain is over and come back to this one later on to try and see if I can snag a few more yotes. I believe there’s still more moving through this property to be caught. Overall, I'm pleased with how this trapping project went. beers
Posted By: North40R

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/20/17 12:52 PM

You had a good run! Especially good considering you're just getting started and learning!

Make sure you get those scales you mentioned in the color variation thread. You're gonna be real surprised at your coyote weights once you start hanging them up.

Smart move pulling them ahead of this weather. It isn't fun playing in mud trying to remake sets.
Posted By: CNC

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/20/17 04:04 PM

Originally Posted By: North40R
You had a good run! Especially good considering you're just getting started and learning!

Make sure you get those scales you mentioned in the color variation thread. You're gonna be real surprised at your coyote weights once you start hanging them up.

Smart move pulling them ahead of this weather. It isn't fun playing in mud trying to remake sets.


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Posted By: AU coonhunter

Re: The 500 Acre Project - 05/20/17 07:29 PM

Originally Posted By: North40R
You had a good run! Especially good considering you're just getting started and learning!

Make sure you get those scales you mentioned in the color variation thread. You're gonna be real surprised at your coyote weights once you start hanging them up.

Smart move pulling them ahead of this weather. It isn't fun playing in mud trying to remake sets.


It takes a big coyote to weigh 35 pounds. I would say most females I catch are in the 25-28 pound range.
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