chuckclear2000

I got into trapping a little last year and had some fun with some coons. I've been seeing red fox and hearing coyotes at night. Plan on trying to trap a few next year, but do not know what to use for bait. Scents such as urine or maybe mice or rabbits or both? Also, how do you release an animal that isn't your target animal such as a dog that's trying to bite your head off? I REALLY appreciate any info you could give me!!! Thanks!!

KBI-PREZ

If your gonna do ground sets for coyotes or fox rabbits work well dig a small hole and cover up the bait slightly not completely but make it so theres a back drop where the yotes have to come in from the front. Then position your traps yes i said it plurally you need a few to ensure they step in one. Tha t works out real good had some sucess that way. If you catch unwanted game in htere be creative i didnt really have a problem with that so cant help much there.

.243coyote

I suggest going to google and checking out some of the trapping web sites. You'll find all you need.

chuckclear2000

Thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it!!

Criggster

Check out www.trapperman.com , and if you set your dirt hole correctly you only need one trap!

Coastie

There are several great websites for trappers. Hal Sullivans' Trapline community is one of the best for technical matters. There are some egos involved there that are a bit hard to swallow at times, but if you can ignore that and just look at the information, you'll be in good shape. You may also wish to check out the trappers association for your home state, they have a lot of good information available which is pertinent to you and which cannot be answered by anybody from outside your state with any reasonable expectation of accuracy. For other "How To" information, the North Dakota trappers manual is excellent as is the Ohio manual. Both are available online. There are many other websites available with specific information for species, federal laws and helpful information. Good luck to you in the field and if there is anything I can do, please send me a PM or email and I'll do whatever I can to help.

Jim

chuckclear2000

Thank you all for the help. I actually sprung a few bucks on some books. Lots of info and it will take a while to learn it all, but I have all summer. Everything else I've learned involved alot of trial and error, I'm sure this is no different. Thanks again for the help, I will post a picture of my first fox this fall/winter!!!

jhoffman

Look in some good trapping books on how to make a dirt hole set that is going to be your best bet on set type. you should only need one trap for a dirt hole set and make sure you use the correct trap size for the animal you are targetting.

The only modification I make to a dirt hole set is that I take a squirle tail and stick it in the dirt near the set so that the wind will make the tail twitch around adding a little visual attraction to the set. Also set location is much more important that the actual bait used.

The way i pick a set location especially in a farm field is this: Walk out into the field and look around and find the first most noticeable land mark in the field - weather its a tree, rock, just a dipp or shift in the landscape. Walk over to this "object/location" then look around again. Find the next most noticeable object from that point and make your set near it. If a coyote or fox is traveling that field he'll find that set. Also tray and look at the field from a crouch down position - Coyotes and fox see things from their hieght and they are not 6' tall.

Mountain Cur

Chuck, I'd like to add one other thing, If you are gonna be trapping in an area where there is a possibility of catching someones dog then there a couple of things you should do. First of all you should use either the softcatch traps, these have rubber on the jaws, or use traps that have laminated jaws. Laminated are jaws are nothing more than a piece of metal, either flat or round stock welded to the jaws, this increases the surface area, or you could use traps with offset jaws, these have a small gap cut between the jaws, and you can even have offset laminated. These type of traps will cause hardly any permanent damage to a dog. I know I'm throwing a lot of info at ya' and all, but you need to learn all you can to be a responsible trapper. No one wants to catch someone elses pet, but if a dog happens by a dirt set baited or lured for fox, coyotes, or cats, he is most likely gonna get caught. Out of all those traps I mentioned, the laminated ones are my preference, they are easier to tune and just generally better made, and they won't cause any more paw or leg damage than the rubber jawed traps. As far as releasing animals, you should invest in a good catch pole, most all trapping suppliers sell them. Another thing you should do is, if there are people living around the area you have permission to trap ( or maybe it's your own land ) you could let them know what you'll be doing and ask them to keep their pets up, and reassure them that the type of traps you'll be using won't cause any permanent damage if the worse should happen, but you can't gaurantee it so make every effort to keep their pets up. This may be greek to you, but trapping season is still quite a ways off, you have a lot of time to do research on the net and trapperman.com is the best trapping website that I know of! I get the feeling you may be a youngster, if so you may be limited as to where you can trap wich is fine, but if you have other choices the best bet is to stay as far away from folks with pets as you can.

SPIKEHORN11

The way I would do it is find a field near by and set a log or hay bale in the center then put some red fox urine on it. Fox and yotes are attracted to stuff like that to leave their scent. Once they get close the smell the scent and hopefully get caught in the trap. Be careful about leaveing you scent there also. Many yotes dig up traps if they small human scent.
Good luck!!!!