Coyotes - Now is the time!
Wisconsin
Just wondering how many of us are actively pursuing coyotes?
Great time to be in the field and as winter wears on the hunting and trapping just gets better.
Have some beaver traps out and a Otter tag to fill, but coyotes are on the menu.
Anyone else?
Bt, is it for Waupaca county? Love to have some otters taken out.
What is your strategy for coyotes? I bought a couple mb550s but have never trapped before. How do you keep the trap from freezing?
Good luck BT, trapping is a lost art and those that master it have my full respect. I will be calling and hunting Yotes after the holidays.
RJN, Waterproof dirt and calcium chloride for antifreeze. Or cable restraints this time of year.
Come January, they will be. The colder, the better! I hope to give the herd in my area a helping hand.
Cable restraints appear to be the "hot ticket" for many folks - just haven't gone that route yet!
The sets I use for yotes are basically two different sets.
The "Hay Set" or straw set (were deer eat your hay) works fine in snow covered frozen fields. Check Trapperman.com for further instructions.
Dirt Hole works well, but a pain in frozen ground so I go with a pipe set.
I have a ton of dry dirt and use that and have not gone through the waterproof dirt deal, but in weather recently on the ground - it would have been what the doctor ordered. Table salt also works, but rusts traps fast and cover hulls work. I chip out the frozen ground and balance my MB550's on nail heads I pound in so they dont move...lotta work in the winter.
I helped a guy catch his first fisher a week ago or so and that was fun as well.
I use fox urine at the sets as I have caught red fox and that is a bonus - red's don't mind red fox but really don't care for yotes! Yotes don't mind a red and since they are on the menu they'll work the set.
Those of you that are interested...Trapperman.com is really worth a visit!
Bridger traps are cheaper and they have a quality line of traps as well.
Good to hear you're getting after them too, Bloodtrail. Keep at it. Make sure to take your kids and get them involved as well. Trapping truly has gone to the wayside.
Another option on the dirt hole sets is dried cranberry leaves for the bedding. Salt works well, but as stated, will rust traps bigtime. -Wax is key.
Weather like the stuff we've had makes it hard to manage traps with constant temp fluctuations with precip.
Traps put in sandwich bags also work, like the hay bails set also. Not setting for yote's, but will be calling again this year. I have some people who want some beaver gone, so I will be setting for them this week. Hopefully will be setting some muskrat sets also. Haven't done the snare's yet, but looks like the way to go if you have time to check every day.
How'ed you do on the yotes and did you sell to Gronnie?
Dobbins is great to work with on the site. Tom Florin Has great service too! Good info on Coyote trapping.
Trapperman.com to the nth power. Your one stop all you need to know site.
For me Cable is the only way to go in terms of canines. See link. Try out the Alaska Wolf cables.
I will not get to the snares until after bow season. I am after the big G-2 buck the neighbor seems all interested in:^)
Have a few Weasel boxes out with my 3 1/2 year old. Hoping it will get his interest in trapping going and if we get a few they won't be able to kill fawns this coming spring.
OK Droptine , next Tuesday we'll go out with the Howler call and I'll put a few in your lap .
FIP, I used to put weasel boxes out with my son when he was about 4, he had a blast. Unfortunately other things got in the way, Hockey was the biggest. It was fun while it lasted. I hope you have better luck with your son.
Heres a few 51 on the season so far.
Hay sets are over rated imo. Only time i even make that set is if im getting walk bys with no looks on flat sets, dirtholes, or step downs. I catch 80% of my yotes in double dirtholes bridger #3 4coil. I should mention trapping is what i do for work all fall and winter.peat moss is what i bed in in the winter. You cant bed solid in peat moss so make sure to use something to do that. I put 3 nails in by the springs to hold solid works good for me.
I averaged 28 so far this year selling to groeny. (Green)
No hes just laying there funny. Big male wouldnt even look at me. Just looked disquisted like he got beat at his game. That was a remake this was a couple days bedfore.
Thanks live2hunt. I will introduce him to it what happens after that God knows.
He was not happy with me as I was taking this picture. He wanted to know why we had to kill it. He wanted to take it home and play with it while it was still ALIVE!! This will save a few fawns next spring.
Back to the big forked G2 buck. Going to tag team it with a retired warden and see if we can kill it before the greedy neighbor gets it:^)
Nice photo's guys!
Seen a picture of your good looking son FIP...how about one of you with a big yote? :^)
Love that video, but they only shot 4, dang it!
WI P&Y, do you have any success with cable restraints?
We have a few around us but the hunting for them will not start until after the bow season is done on Sunday. Getting a lot more pics lately on the cams.
Check out this thread on the Big Game Forum. It rocks. It is a gun thread but Pat has always allowed them and the one and only guy here who whines about gun threads should be booted again shortly under his new name. Besides, Pat started the thread.
Kill 'em all!!!
Swing and a miss. Had a real nice blond yote come in close and down wind of me and I was looking over towards the caller and decoy. When I looked to my left. There it was heading out away from me. Had I had the shotgun and buckshot it would have been a dead dog. But I had the rifle. Head hung in shame!
Heading out this Saturday in Northern Fond du lac county with a decoy, several calls, a shotgunner and a rifleman and a video camera. If we are helping the deer herd out by whacking a few coyotes why do we have to pay for a small game license to take out a varmint? It seems counter productive.
Now is the time for Howler call . A loud deep howl is basicly telling the local Yotes that your here to take over the area and have your way with their females . Much more efective than the common Rabbit calls .
There's another thread on here with a link to some research showing that hunting and trapping coyotes really doesn't do anything to help the deer herd or that it really affects the coyote population. Not saying don't do it because it's great fun to hunt and trap them but you're not really doing anything for the deer by doing it.
Zinger- I realize we can't get them all but one less coyote will save fawns. So how is that not doing any good for the deer?
I've read the same article and I see the point the author is trying to make but I'm not completely sold.
We have experienced a notable decline in our coyote population to the point I've pulled traps.
The sign left, what little I can find does not warrant any trapping efforts.
Red fox are now leaving tracks were there once was little or none.
In fact that's all about all I find now on the farms I trap - I like fox and apparently so do the landowners as many ask that I don't trap them.
Fox are great mousers and do take an occasional rabbit and pheasant.
My point is that the soar in fox means one thing to me, less coyote and for me, that's just fine.
Do I think the yotes will be back - I'm betting on that!
In the 70'S and 80 s yote fur exploded around the world. Pelt prices were 80 to 125 bucks. A bunch of trappers and Yote hunters made very good livings. I sold $ 4600 in pelts in 1979 hunting on Saturdays only in NV.
Thousands of trappers and hunters from WI to NV killed a zillion Yotes. HEY didn't the deer population explode in most of those states in the 70's and 80' . HMMMMM.
well besides all the BS, a great predator hunt is going on next weekend...... Register a Mudslingers on Hwy 8 anbd 139.......
I will be out with a great group of dogs and people......
As far as yote hunting, kills have been slim north of 8 in this area, but heavy in Elcho area. I know a group of dog hunters hunting the Elcho area, (Langlade Co) they shot 47 yotes so far over their dogs.....
My favorite trap is a MB 550 4 coil for Yotes. 3.5 lb pan tension. I have to believe hunting and trapping Yotes helps the deer herd. I'm gonna stick to it.
2 sets this past weekend and zip again.
We were out this afternoon with nice tracks in the fresh snow but alas no coyotes came in to our calling. Two sets with zero results.
Went to some private land a couple weeks ago where the owner wanted them gone. Not a track of yotes, fox, deer, turkey, squirrel, zip. There looked to be nothing alive? Strange.
Winter = find a good source, find the critters.
I caught this one with a cable restraints last week. My second night after setting, my first year of trying snares!! I had him on trail cameras all year, he was a pup of the year and half only a half tail from the first time I saw him!
Silvrtip
Oops! Did a search and thought this was in a main page rather than a state forum.
I deleted my post since it was in Nebraska.
Had a great experience today. 3 years ago I started trapping yotes with leg hold traps within 500 yards of my buildings in my fields. I set 3 to 4 sets and just watch them from my yard with binocs. Between a few with gun and the rest trap I have taken 35 yotes. This year with the early freeze up I only trapped 4. I do not know how to trap in frozen ground and snow. So I bought 5 cable restraints. I have a little side hill of grass to steep to farm in my fields so I drove my truck down through the grass to make tracks and put a pile of deer bones around there. I then set my 5 cable restraints on this side hill. 2 weeks later I caught my first yote with the restraints. This morning I was having a cup of coffee in my house and watching the open fields for yotes about 8:30 and from the back side of the hill 2 coyotes appeared. I was just about to run for my gun and go after them but took a quick look with the binocs first. I then realized they were heading for this side hill and my restraints. They started down the trail towards my first restraint and stopped and walked right around it. then one started to run down the trail and all I seen were ass and legs flying in the air as she ran right into my other restraint. Then the other yote just went nuts and was running circles around her. I still had 3 restraints left but again he stepped around the same one he bypassed before. Never thought I would actually witness one getting caught. I then went out there as the other yote laid on a ridge about 50 yards away. Found out that after running for about 500 yards that I am extremely out of shape. Just when I set up the other yote come running about 100 yards but with me breathing like it was my last breath I could not hold my gun still and made a bad shot. I had a great blood trail and followed him for about a hour but never seen him again. When I went to get the yote in the restraint I seen my other 2 were knocked to the ground and the other yote had run right over them. To bad or I would have had them both or maybe shoot better would help also.
Great story, WI Buck.
I have cable restraints out right now also. I caught a yote last week, and the son of a gun broke the snare when I drove up to him, and it got away. Oh, I was mad. Made up for it today, caught another. You can see his tracks leading up to the restraint.
Nice TrophyGameTags. Nothing better than a dead yote. I was thinking about my cable breaking when I walked up to my yotes and how mad I would be if they would get away. Bet there were a few choice words.
I used my go pro to make a video of how I made my sets. Check it out fellas, and get some in the ground. They are easy to set, and are effective. I walk up to the caught coyotes with a loaded gun now, ready for action..
Forgot to say, this coyote was caught in the set I made on video. It can take a while, but be patient. They are deadly.
I just called the Green Bay police department to see if trapping coyotes in city limits on private property was legal. They said yes it was and I have an abundance of coyotes around my house.
I've never trapped before but know I need a trapper certification, however according to the WDNR website there are no courses being offered even remotely close to Green Bay. Does anyone know if there is an alternate option to get trapper certified?
Good starting point is the WI Trappers Association (linked).
Maybe these guys listed on site could be of some help.
Bryce Larson, WTA Statewide Trapper Education Coordinator
Email: [email protected]
Tel: (920) 693-8734
Mike Widner, Correspondence Course Coordinator
Email: [email protected]
Tel: (608) 356-3621
Good luck!
TrophyGameTags, thanks for the video, that was really interesting. I've never trapped before but that video sparked my interest. I'm setup for calling coyotes but that is nearly a fruitless endeavor in WI, so trapping might be the way to go.
I was hunting solo with my calls last evening. I figured with the snow coming the coyotes would be on their feet and searching for a good meal. Nothing in a one mile wide and 2 mile long swamp. Does anyone know of a knowledgeable book on hunting coyotes with calls and a good rifle? I have some of Randy Anderson's videos and calls but I guess I need more information. The Wisconsin Cooperative Trapper Education Student Manual has some excellent ideas of their habitat and trapping them but I like the challenge of calling them in.
raspy, as Gusto said, calling coyotes in WI is not very productive. It can be done in the right spots, but generally speaking, it is tough here. I got into calling about 6 or 7 years ago. I bought some Randy Anderson videos, bought his calls, and gave it a shot. I was out on probably 20 different sets and never saw a coyote. I went on a pheasant hunt in South Dakota that same year, and we brought our coyote gear. On the very first set out there, we called in 4 of them. That's why trapping is so much more effective in WI. Your trap sets are out there all day and all night, ready to go when Mr. Wile E. Coyote comes strolling through. With the fresh snow coming down here in so. WI, I will be out looking for fresh sign after it ends and setting some more cable restraints.
TrophyGT's, I'm kind of in the same boat...setup for calling with a nice FoxPro caller, red LED gun light, hand calls, and snow camo. I've made lots a of sets, and had little success. Granted I didn't get out this year as much as I would have liked from a calling perspective, but I've only called in one double in all the sets I've ever made in WI, and that was in a thick and nasty pine plantation. Calling them into an open field during a daytime set in WI is nearly impossible (it is nowhere NEAR like what the videos and TV shows make it seem like). I've had them howl back at night when I've been night calling, but never gotten one in. I think the increase in popularity in predator hunting in WI doesn't help. I would bet every coyote near me has heard Bay Bee Cottentail and Lightning Jack played for them more than once...
Many guys make the mistake of setting up blind. You would never set up a tree stand without seeing some sign around the location. But many coyote hunters just walk out and set up anywhere. I only hunt spots that have fresh tracks and or I hear them so I know they are there.
Out west max volume is needed to buck the constant wind and distance. ALL my successful sets in WI. the volume has been less than 50% of the maximum.
Yotes can hear calls miles away . I never look for sign .
99 % of the yote hunters I go out with are bad callers .
Volume ? you start out as light as possible with a coaxer or a panic mouse . anything more will chase an older Yote away . 3 minutes of coaxer , then 5 minutes of silence . Now throw in a couple of Hawk squeeks during the 5 minute period . On a good day predators of all shapes and sizes come in .
Next blow a Fawn or injured bird call . Do not use a Rabbit call . Yotes seldom come in to a Rabbit call in WI because they are laying on their back laughing their asses off . Keep the call light , same 3 min and 7 min cycle .
3, let it rip , frantic hi volume , same cycle .
4 , back to the coaxer and Hawk squeeker .
5 , at the end of the cycle you better be out of breath with your heart pounding or your not working hard enough .
" Do not use a Rabbit call . Yotes seldom come in to a Rabbit call in WI because they are laying on their back laughing their asses off.."
whatever...tell that to all the dead yotes I have killed with a rabbit call....shoulda been laughing instead...hahahahahhaa
I took a walk behind my house this morning looking for fresh tracks. The coyotes were in and out of the thick stuff chasing rabbits, tracks everywhere. I sure would think a rabbit squeal would have work for you if you are in the right spot.
I found about 5 good cable restraint sets in the snow, but ran out of time this afternoon to get them in. Tomorrow, I will have them in. Will make another go pro video for anyone interested in this type of trapping.
Thanks gentlemen. Ruger1022 I will give your calling method a try this week.
TrophyGT's, yes please do another video and post it, I would like to see it.
Went out last night under the full moon. The snow (what was left of it) was really crusty and noisy. The hunt was a bust. Plus my foxpro started giving me fits..grr...
Ron , depends on where you hunt , my area is pressured pretty hard . I also focus on large males and most , not all , older males have heard too many rabbit calls in their time .
I love the challenge of calling in and whacking a large older male with lots of color on him .
Go to a public hunting grounds and use a rabbit call , the older Yotes will cock an ear , listen and go back to sleep .
Well it doesn't look like I'm going to be able to get trapper certified any time soon.
Since I'm on private land in city limits I can't use a rifle to hunt coyotes, therefore I can only use a bow or crossbow. If I borrow my father in-laws crossbow and I sit in an 18 foot ladder stand, what do you think my odds are of calling a coyote in with a Foxpro and being able to get a shot off with a crossbow? Would I just be wasting my time?
Normally I wouldn't use a crossbow for hunting purposes but for coyotes I'll make an exception.
Adam, you don't need a license to trap if you are the owner of the property, and you can trap all year round. Page 6 of the trapping regulations - Land Owner Provisions.
Hey TGT thanks for the information and posting those videos. Unfortunately I'm not the landowner but have permission from the landowner to "kill every coyote".
I bought a Patrons license so I have the trapping license, I just don't have the trapper certification. I got in touch with the Wisconsin Trapping Association and they're mailing me all the materials I need to go through to get my certification.
They will not issue the trappers lisc when you purchase the patrons lisc if you dont have the trappers safety cert ID# on file. Just like the hunters ed cert.
It depends on how long you had a Patron/sports license whether you need to be certified.
I started trapping when trapping was part of your sportsman's license. If you were hunting at that time and purchased one of those, theoretically you are grandfathered in. I don't have a Trappers Safety card and get the trapping on my CP.
. "If you were hunting at that time and purchased one of those, theoretically you are grandfathered in."
live2hunt, I am 62 and I know I purchased sportsman licenses back in the day when it was cheaper to do so. Do you think I would be grandfathered for trapping?
Live, I think you would be grandfathered in Why Not?
Ask the DNR, you should be, you had a trapping license.
I had my first triple come in to a low vol rabbit squeal, another hunter with a shotgun would have been nice.
Thanks live2hunt. I did and she directed me to page 29 of the Trappers Manual. It said:
"Persons who purchased a Wisconsin trapping license on or before May 12, 1992 or are actively
engaged in farming in Wisconsin as defined by State Statute 102.04(3) and are a current Wisconsin
resident are exempt from completing trapper education."
