Welcome to TheOhioOutdoors
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Login or sign up today!
Login / Join

JB’s K9 Trapping Adventures

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,061
223
Ohio
With little to no chance at ice fishing locally this winter, I decided to finally try my hand at trapping coyotes. I messed around a couple years back with snares, but never got too serious. I wouldn’t exactly call what I’m doing now “serious,” but it’s a start.

I picked up a half dozen of the No BS Lures K9 Extreme footholds, the full size 6” model. They came highly recommended from a few trapping friends of mine who have more experience in their pinky toe than I’ll ever have. They are very beefy traps and come from the manufacturer ready to set. No boiling or waxing required, as they have a durable powdercoat-like finish. All I had to do was add a third swivel in order to make them legal for use in Ohio.

Aside from trapping my own 52 acres, I recently acquired permission on a few other private properties, one of which is known to harbor quite a few coyotes. This afternoon my son and I drove over there to make our first sets.

I didn’t take any pictures of the sets so I won’t bore you with many details... at least not yet. Suffice it to say I made 4 dirt hole sets, in essentially 2 double sets. I ran out of light or else I would’ve set my last two as well. I’m running a bit of lambs wool in three of them. In addition, I’ve got one with Yodel Dog lure, one with Windwalker lure, and two sets with GHII. I’ve heard good things about all of them so my confidence is pretty high. My only weak point right now are the sets themselves. I’m green as they come, and although I’ve had a little bit of k9 trapping “training,” this is by all means a learning-by-doing approach that I’m taking. It should be fun. I’m really excited to make my first check tomorrow morning.

The highlight of the afternoon was realized at the last spot. I had both sets in the ground and just finished baiting the one, when I walked over to the second... add I knelt down and turned my head away to reach for lure.... then.... well, let’s just say, if coyotes are anything like toddlers, I should do just fine. 😂😂😂

6FC9E2AC-13AA-4A23-AAB0-BF10927BD1D3.jpeg
 

Jamie

Senior Member
5,691
177
Ohio
Um, I don’t really know a lot about trapping, but I don’t think you supposed to catch your self, Jim. 🤣
good luck! And watch your step...
 
  • Like
Reactions: jagermeister

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. It never fails. If they're watching you and you walk away they WILL screw with whatever you were doing. 😅
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,061
223
Ohio
Lol that's awesome! Hope little man is OK. How'd he react?

Oh yea, he was fine. Thankfully the jaws never even hit his leg. Got all shoe. I think my panicked reaction scared him more than anything. I don’t think he ever felt or heard the trap at all.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣. It never fails. If they're watching you and you walk away they WILL screw with whatever you were doing. 😅
You’re not kidding! Today it was all I could do to deal with him wanting to put clods of dirt or sticks on trap beds. 😂
 

jagermeister

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
18,061
223
Ohio
Check #1...

No coyotes or signs of coyotes near any of my traps. I did however manage to temporarily catch a deer in one of my sets. The first one I came to was set off, and I found what appeared to be very short deer hair on the jaws. Not surprising given the location of this set. It’s on a narrow dike, close to a perpendicular “ramp” trail into the adjacent marsh. A deer was either coming from or going to bed when it stepped on the pan. I went ahead and reset this one. Pics show my homemade pan cover in use, which I forgot to take with me yesterday.
99FBFDA5-1E7B-407C-A5A1-9AAFD0DBD591.jpeg
9B955F96-5EEA-4AF7-A99F-13CD03902307.jpeg
5D96FF1E-90C6-4654-AA01-EB0733D2B2D0.jpeg
96893E38-2F66-47FE-B62B-EC87992BE94D.jpeg


Checked the other 3 trap locations and they were all undisturbed. So I decided to set my other two traps while I was there. Here’s one that I think will have a really good chance at producing a coyote. It’s near a 4-way intersection that connects two separate properties. North and south of it is a ditch full of water and brush, so any coyote wanting to cross over has to either come through this intersection, or the one 100 yds to the north which also has two sets in it.
493CEB45-FD23-43B0-82D4-3671C0BEA5D1.jpeg
14EFAFDC-0ACF-4F0E-B454-74069CEB2FC2.jpeg
90366C56-2E36-4457-B9A6-311D8401D387.jpeg


We came home empty handed today but I asked Warner if he had fun and he responded with an excited “yes!” He said he wants to come back and do it again tomorrow, so that’s a win in my book. It’s starting to snow now so hopefully tonight the dogs will be on the move!
 

xbowguy

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
29,633
234
Licking Co. Ohio
Check #1...

No coyotes or signs of coyotes near any of my traps. I did however manage to temporarily catch a deer in one of my sets. The first one I came to was set off, and I found what appeared to be very short deer hair on the jaws. Not surprising given the location of this set. It’s on a narrow dike, close to a perpendicular “ramp” trail into the adjacent marsh. A deer was either coming from or going to bed when it stepped on the pan. I went ahead and reset this one. Pics show my homemade pan cover in use, which I forgot to take with me yesterday.
View attachment 94685View attachment 94691View attachment 94686View attachment 94687

Checked the other 3 trap locations and they were all undisturbed. So I decided to set my other two traps while I was there. Here’s one that I think will have a really good chance at producing a coyote. It’s near a 4-way intersection that connects two separate properties. North and south of it is a ditch full of water and brush, so any coyote wanting to cross over has to either come through this intersection, or the one 100 yds to the north which also has two sets in it.
View attachment 94688View attachment 94689View attachment 94690

We came home empty handed today but I asked Warner if he had fun and he responded with an excited “yes!” He said he wants to come back and do it again tomorrow, so that’s a win in my book. It’s starting to snow now so hopefully tonight the dogs will be on the move!
And THATS what matters!
 

Lucky

Junior Member
494
31
Sunbury
Give it some time for the human sent to wear away. Shoe smell and stuff😁 wouldnt hurt to take a thin stick about a foot away and take and tie on some feathers, white ones like turkey if you can find them . It helps, especially if out in open field as a visual atractant. Good luck Jim, its exciting every morn u head out. Patients is key. Once sent wears away youll get some.