Before and After Trapping

Here are some of the pictures of my catches where I took the before picture and then had a successful catch! 

Dirthole caught 2 females in 2 weeks.

Cable restraint caught this female, #11, within a week.

Another young male in a cable restraint.

Male red fox caught in a cable restraint.

Here's a frozen dirthole from the fall that I re-bedded with peat moss, sifted some snow over the whole area, and put a shot of red fox urine on the backing; caught this female red fox the next morning.

Here's a cable restraint setup that was a fence crossing between two fields.  It had been set for a couple of days before I caught this nice big male. You can see the huge catch circle from the 7 foot snare.

This is an anthill that the coyotes were using as a pee post.  I added a fresh shot of red fox urine and caught this female the next day.

Here's a cable restraint that was hanging on a 4 wheeler trail for about 2 weeks.  Patience pays off as I knew that they would use that crossing whenever they made their rounds through the area.  I caught this little female in a perfect neck catch, but had to throw her out because she had mange.  Notice how I barely concealed the cable restraint, because if it's at the right height, there's not need to conceal.

Male coyote in a cable restraint that hung for 17 nights.

The One That DIDN'T Get Away!

WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?!?!

OMG I can't even believe what just happened to me! I check my email quick before work and see this from a woman named Pam, "our foreman found one of your coyotes hanging from our poles, do you still want it?" I google the company and see they are nearly a mile down the railroad tracks.

Two weeks ago, when I got those double males in cable restraints, I actually caught a third coyote but the quick link opened and she got away. Embarrassed, I didn't say anything to anyone. Well it turns out this female was trying to jump across a pile of poles at their site and the snare end got wedged, so she hung herself and died instantly. Looks like she died just a couple days ago so what the hell I'm going to skin her out. I think I can now call that double a TRIPLE!!

Coyote in a Cable Restraint

I caught this cute little female in a cable restraint this morning.  I loved all the dark markings on her and the white tip on her tail.  Unfortunately though, when I went to skin her out, I noticed her pelt smelled horrible, and she was just ridden with lice.  Her skin was oozing a foul brown juice and her hair was matted and falling out as I brushed her.  So, after trying my best to salvage her, I disposed of this carcass so no other animals could be infected.

All those little "seeds" are lice crawling in and out of the skin and mats of fur.

Wisconsin Cable Restraints; My Second Season

Coyote held securely and humanely in a cable restraint with a relaxing lock.   

 Last year I didn't do so good using cable restraints.  I made alot of stupid beginner mistakes, and after being skunked, I worked really hard to figure out what I was doing wrong.  It looks like I finally figured it out because I got these two males the night after setting, and only had 6 sets out in this area.  Please visit the WI DNR trapping page for the cable restraint handbook.

Two males within 25 feet of each other, caught in cable restraints set on trails and crossing intersections.

Before the catch, notice the cable restraint loop hanging...

After the catch.  The key to successful cable restraint catches is NO entanglement; notice the HUGE catch circle that a cable restraint creates, and that the coyote was not able to reach another that could catch on the cable and not to wrap around that barbed wire fence in the background.

Turned out to be a nice big male.  The landowner was especially pleased, as he is a sheep farmer and loses lambs every year, as well as his cocker spaniel was attacked by coyotes last summer.

PERFECT NECK CATCH!

This is a perfect cable restraint catch.  The coyote went under the fence, and down the path, putting a perfect neck catch on himself.  No entanglement, no fur damage.

Before/After, set hung for 3 weeks

Beautiful Wisconsin Coyote!

 I caught a nice 34 pound Wisconsin coyote this morning.  Her fur was so thick that it took me longer than usual to skin her because I could hardly get through her thick hindquarter fur! 3rd female coyote in this same spot this season.

This is the set I used, a urine post.  I found this anthill that a big male I've name Two Toes has been using (L), and set a Duke #4 coilspring accordingly (R).  I then put both coyote and red fox urine on the grass and that's it, brushed out my tracks and left it alone.  It had nothing hit it for a few days, I refreshed the urine last night, and caught her this morning! She was running with Two Toes, for I found his track right next to hers, but he's just too smart to catch! Stay tuned...

My First Red Fox

I ventured out in single digit temperatures this Thanksgiving morning to check all my sets before the freezing rain comes tonight, and caught this beautiful female Wisconsin red fox!  

I was targeting coyotes and had not noticed any fox sign in this area, which is why she's in a #4 coilspring, but she was in good shape and will make a beautiful mount for someone!

I used Northland Animal Lures red fox urine, made by Adam at Trapper Art's Supply in Cornell, WI on a urine set that had been previously marked by a male coyote.

Here is the original urine set that I made before the catch: