I spent a long time learning the fundamentals and stumbled my way along for a couple of weeks before my first catch. I take advice of Management Advantage trappers and leave a trap for 10 days before I pull it, now. The coyotes in my area had been running amuck forever, so when my traps went out, the fell every time. Once they get educated, you have to gang set an area, put them on the left and right in front of your bait, then 18" back, and sometimes, 18" before that. When a coyote works a set, they make their moves very calculated, if anything's off they'll skate on out. The traps have to be bedded well and scent free.

I'm trapping near work and started doing Mon-Fri sets. You can only do the work of 1 man, so be sure that you don't over extend yourself on a line. I brought my sets away from where I track deer this year. Last year, I didn't care about spooking them or pressuring them daily with trap checks. I use a spotting scope and only get close to the sets often enough to check for sprung traps. The rain springs my traps a lot of times. I've made it a point to check after heavy rains to be sure my trap will fire.

When you put the work into the line, it pays you back. My 1st lessons were cheap traps, too high of pan tension, dirt/mud caked under the pan/not firing, and quicklinks not tight enough. Everyone is unique in the methods that stick with us. The hardest lessons stick with you the most.

My coon trapping attempts haven't been as successful as my coyote trapping has. It's harder to check coon traps because they like being in the woods a bit and not out in the field or on the edges of hedgerows or roads. I have much to learn about my deer feed thieving bandits. I'm at 4 coons and 12 coyotes for the past year on 100 acres of ag land.

I don't let anything get inside the jaws on the trap except peat moss. I won't even let dirt or clay get over the levers or jaw because it slows them down a lot. Poly fill can work well to keep dirt and mud from clogging the area under a pan.

Coyotes have a long memory. I wouldn't count on them forgetting anything. You just have to keep throwing them a curve ball, use a variety of sets and place your traps where they have no way of inspecting your sets without stepping on your trap pan(s).

Be sure your pan tension is around 3-4 pounds. You can use a trap pan tester or get a 4 lb hammer and set on the pan with the loose jaw up to see whether it fires. Use trap wax to loosen the pan tension and a file to increase the pan tension.