100 Plus Coyotes In Ohio: Can It Be Accomplished

100 Coyotes In Ohio: Can It Be Accomplished

There have been rumors of individuals harvesting 100 coyotes in a years time in Ohio. Whether that be from trapping, calling during the day/night, running hounds, or a combination of the three. Although, these numbers are difficult to seem real due to the lack of proof, ie. no physical evidence. Also, the questions begin with…are you hunting/trapping with a partner? Is there ADC work involved, or was it strictly during fur season? Are you buying fur and posing it as your own? Are your buddies shooting them and then dropping them off to you? Multiple factors go into consideration when determining credibility in this day and age of social media. I truly believe that anyone who sets out after coyotes year round could harvest 100 in that time frame, just think of what that daily average would be.

The challenge that was presented before me was harvesting 100 coyotes during fur season. I have been present in multiple discussions, whether I was an active participant in the discussion or just a fly on the wall listening to those who have built the foundation of our modern day trapping culture. The consensus was always this…it’s impossible! The reasoning was based off of coyote density, pressures from various outdoor approaches, time-frame, and other miscellaneous competitors. I am a firm believer in setting goals, and that was my goal for the 2021-2022 fur season, but I wanted to take it a step further. I wanted to trap over 100 coyotes during the fur season in Ohio, but I wanted to do it in the least amount of time. I knew I had 4 weeks of vacation I could use, and 3-4 more additional weeks when I could run a trapline before work. Mind you I have other obligations, be that family and my profession. I have a young family, a supportive wife and a beautiful daughter who will be 2 in July. My daughter is my world, and my greatest accomplishment. I am a full time employee for an Orthopedic Surgery Center, and I can honestly say I love my job. I was able to trap for approximately 7 weeks, and I was hopeful to hit my goal by the 7th week, but was I successful? Well, let me say that multiple factors went into my approach, and I would like give a few examples of them in hopes it provides some further contextual background.

1. I started trapping around the age of 12 years old. Throughout the past 20 years my experience has continued to grow. This has been accomplished by having a proficient mentor that taught me the technique of trapping, took me on his trapline, and over the years has allowed me to bounce ideas off of him. Other ways I have tried to enhance my abilities was doing years of foot work, scouting properties, using dogs not only as a companion, but as a valuable tool when out walking new properties. A lot of research, either by reading or watching DVD/VHS film, and a lot of practice with trial and error. This has partly allowed me to for go taking personal instruction, but I do believe it can be beneficial.

2. I am not an “expert” or “pro” by any means, and I do not want to portray myself as one. I am a hobbyist who enjoys the grind, but I love trapping. I love setting traps, checking traps, the preparation, the challenges that arise, and the daily adventure. Its all great!

3. In my opinion the technique of trapping is not the difficult part to learn. Basic set construction can be taught effectively to anyone from young to old, and/or novice to expert. Placing a trap in the ground is so easy your grandma can do it… The challenging part begins with work ethic, traveling the miles required, obtaining the permissions, battling the weather, knowing how and where to set on a specific property instead of polluting every corner/intersection with traps… As for the latter of the examples, try and do your due diligence and scout the properties you are not familiar with during the preseason. Find the “hot spots” such as the salient features, the intersections with multiple crossings, boundaries, funnels/pinch points, or a combination thereof. This will allow you to move on to new places with fresh faces a lot more efficiently.

4. Having a handful of properties is not going to cut if you are chasing numbers. I feel like this goes without saying, but more is ultimately better.

5. The logistics of your trapline matter significantly. Having your route planned out, knowing the number of traps you are seeing at each property, having your set locations pre-determined on those specific properties, what attractants do you plan on using along your trapline (KISS), can you drive your vehicle to each set location or are you using a quad or traveling by foot, and having the necessary backup/replacement equipment… Because, no matter how much you think things will be smooth sailing I can assure you that 10/10 something unfortunate will happen. It may not happen the first day, but I will happen (Murphys Law).

I live in south central Ohio, and like most places in Ohio… Deer hunting is king. Every landowner has some Joe schmo and his minions leasing the properties hunting rights. The majority of my permission comes from deer leased property. Most properties I am allowed to access during the trapping season because they are far enough away from any timber ie. wide open fields, creek bottoms, farm lanes, etc. The other properties I have to wait until muzzleloader season is over. This is a minor inconvenience as it makes me split up my vacation time while trapping. I devote 2 weeks vacation to the early season and 2 weeks vacation to the later part of January after muzzleloader season. The other 3-4 weeks I trap are not on vacation time, rather it is when I am back to work and running my line early in the morning. This usually occurs during December.

A few other determining factors play a part in my area (I’m sure its not only my area). There are approximately 7 guys who trap around me, 2 of the 7 put up good numbers. Then there are the thermal hunters. Coyote calling has really picked up in Ohio, especially thermal hunting. Spot lighting fields are a thing of the past now that guys can reach out and touch a coyotes in the pitch black at 300-500 yards. This doesn’t take into account all the guys Deer hunting who shot at coyotes. I understand the principle behind this law, but I don’t find it morally or ethically sound. If you want to deer hunt then go deer hunting, if you want to hunt predators, well, predator hunt. I don’t let this affect me, but instead I welcome the competition.

Before the start of every season it is tradition to get together with the guys in my circle and talk trapping. We sit around the kitchen table feeding our faces, and drinking our fill of coffee. The topics of discussion pertain to our plans for the upcoming season, what goals we might have, if we decided to switch anything up with our approach, but mostly busting each others chops. The discussion came around to me and what my goals where, and I stated with a straight face that “I am going to start being the guy to catch 100 plus coyotes during fur season in Ohio. The past several seasons I have put up anywhere from 50-75, hell its just double that. Easier said than done? I guess we will find out.” After doing so I reached out to a couple big name guys and asked if I could bounce some ideas off of them or ask them for some advice. They choose to be tight lipped, and didn’t want to give anything away unless I signed up for there school and became “their student.” I am not the groupie type, and besides… I don’t really like koolaid. That being said, I’m a firm believer in education… Whether you are going the self taught route, or by taking instruction. Having someone guide you in the right direction can be very beneficial.

Trapping season doesn’t start for me in November, it is much more intricate than going out setting traps on opening day. Rather, my season begins in early spring. After the 2020-2021 season is finished I am going over all of my gear. Taking inventory on what traps are damaged, cleaning them, putting them in storage until trap preparation, determining if any replacements parts required, documenting what baits and other attractants worked for me, writing down what set locations produced, doing maintenance on my quad/trailer, and the list continues. I like to try and obtain permission in the early months of March and April. My reasoning behind this is mainly three fold. First, the vegetation is still in a dormant state and allows me to use my trapline dogs to scout the properties much easier, two most farmers/landowners are more likely to be home during these months, and three we know from research that coyotes will establish a home range/territory to raise a litter during the earlier months of the season. I have been using my dogs to scout properties since 2017 with much success. I have to pay homage to those who built the foundation of using dogs as a tool on the trapline as well as a companion. It is remarkable how much they have taught me on “micro” location. My two dogs Chuck and Miley are heeler bred, full blood. Built to work, and I attribute much of their hard work to my success.

The 2020-2021 season I had permission on 36 properties, all of which I was able to trap and manage easily. I knew deep down that if I wanted my end catch results to increase that I would have to grow my permission list. As of today, I have 75-80 properties. 50 of these properties I am able to access in the early season, beginning of November season til thanksgiving. The remaining 30 I have to wait until muzzleloader season is over, which is typically around January 11th. One concern I had when determining the logistics of my route was, would those 30 new properties be sufficient enough in the later part of season to fill my entire day. I continued to reflect on those 30 properties and came up with this solution… I would trap the first 50 locations in the month of November, and once I was done on my 1st two weeks vacation I would pull my traps. When the final day came around, my idea was to pop open the terminal J-hook and leave the earth anchor in the ground with a specific way to locate the earth anchor later on when January came around. I did this on all my traps, because in January I would set up 20-25 old properties that I thought would be more prone to transient coyotes/fox moving in. I would be able to set these locations very efficiently because the trap bed, dirt hole/visual attractant, and earth anchor were already present. On top of that, I would have those additional 30 new properties to set. The properties that I trap on vary in size, and production. The acreage varies from 35 acres up to 2000 acres. I don’t look down on small parcels of land, because sometimes they can have all the necessary pieces of the equation required to produce canine. My permissions are now in 3 different counties, but the bulk of them are in Ross county. The properties I trap on are all within a 15 mile radius from my fur barn. As I stated previously some produce more than others, but instead of driving 10-15 minutes to the next prime location I have “filler” properties in between them that I can glass with binoculars from a pull off. This may require more time during the initial setup, but it helped me put more fur in the barn as time went by.

Once I obtained new ground and it has all been scouted, I am ready to begin working on other mindless chores that come with preparation. Some examples would be… Drying out and making wax dirt, drying and sifting peat moss, making cable stakes, and making up snares. These chores are simple to do once you have the blueprint of how they will be completed, and once that is figured out, its like working an assembly line. I made approximately 160 gallons of waxed dirt/sand, over 400 disposable cable stakes, 150 snares, and I used approximately 12 bales of peat moss. The waxed dirt/sand combo was made 1lb of wax per 1 gallon of dirt/sand mixture. I feel like this work exceptionally well for me, but in the future I don’t think I will use wax dirt/sand. Instead, I will just use bone dry dirt. My reasoning behind this is I trap early November before a lot of the freeze thaw occurs, and I trap late January when the ground is mostly froze. Now I understand that not all trapping seasons are the same, but as for this upcoming season I will not be using waxed dirt/sand. My cable stakes are made from foreign airline cable and cut at 18 inches. After I have completed the construction of them, they will end up being 15 inches in length. If I feel like I am in loose soil then I will drive the stake and some of my trap chain further into the ground. The snares I make are a 48 inch snare made from 3/32 (7x7) cable. They have a 280lb break away cam lock on, one swivel, and a 24 inch extension. I buy peat moss early in the summer and cut the bails to let them dry. I pre-sift the bails into a couple trash cans. The reason I do this is because, I do not carry a sifter with me on the trapline. I carry a dry bag of sifted peat moss and a couple bottles of powdered dry dirt/sand. I also do not use a pan cover and instead use the peat moss as my pan cover, with a top coat of dirt over top of the peat moss.

The traps I use are Duke #2 square jaws that I modify myself, and I also use the NO BS Jrs. I use to use MB550s, but after noticing some issues on my trapline with them I decided to steer away from them. The bait I use is a commercial bait, and it can vary from year to year, but I mainly stick to one or two different commercial baits. I also use fresh bait, whether that being deer or muskrat. I have strayed away from using much lure, and didn’t use much this past season, instead I was using a coyote urine. It is 100% the real deal, and I will continue to use that. Most of your commercial baits are using a lot of different ingredients in them and I don’t know for certain if a lure its always necessary, but I know others swear by using lure so it all depends on your preference and your system.

My future goal is to only operate my trapline out of a truck, but here in south central Ohio that can be difficult with the limited access on some properties, as well as the inclement weather we face. So for the time being, I am using my Toyota Tacoma, and it hauls a 5x8 trailer with a Honda rancher on it. When the ground is stable enough I can drive my truck to most of my sets, but when it is not suitable that is when I have unload the ATV. In my truck you will find anything and everything I need to function on a daily basis out on my trapline. The equipment ranges from snacks and baby wipes…. To a car jack, spare tire, tire pump, tire plug kit, and everything in between. I carry multiple sets of atlas gloves with me, Kuiu rain gear, and knee pads that you would likely see someone in construction wearing. I do not wear the gloves or the knee pads for scent control, but instead for comfort and possible longevity. When I know the weather is going to be raining bobcats and coyotes then I will often bring an extra shirt, pants and socks. I typically don’t need them because of my rain gear, but one thing I have learned is… Being uncomfortable while you are out setting up or running a line is one of the biggest enemies. Being wet, cold, and or uncomfortable is like having that little voice in the back of your mind saying “you did enough today, you should just go home and relax.” Having that will power, and proper gear to stay out on the line to continue making sets while getting on to new ground is what will separate your end of the year catch from your peers.

Developing my skills, knowledge, and properties year to year is something I strive for. I have developed a system that works for me, and it is something I’m grateful to have. Continuing your education is always necessary, we are all students in some regards. Whether someone agrees with that depends on their humility, and some in the trapping world have enormous egos. As for developing the properties I trap on, well, it’s simple really… Pick your target animal, understand that fur bearers habitat and where they are most susceptible, find those locations by scouting, and rinse and repeat. Depending on the quantity of fur bearers you want to catch will depend on the miles you are willing to travel.

I started the fur season early this year. I planned 4 weeks of vacation for this season. So beginning of the season I set out with desire, determination, and a goal to hit.

My first 2 week vacation trapline started out very well… Get up early in the morning around 4am and be on the road while it was still dark. Things were going smoothly, and I felt prepared, but in the back of my mind I was waiting for that wonderful Ohio weather to start. The way I planned my route was that I would start from the east and work clockwise in somewhat of a circular pattern until I hit the north part of my line. It took me approximately 3 days to get the first 35 locations set up out of 50 locations with 115 traps. While I was running and gunning my line, my idea was that I would pull my traps on certain locations. My thought process was if I took 5-7 coyotes off one property quick then I should move on to new ground, or if I went longer than 4 days without any action I should move on to new locations. Several of my locations did not workout like I thought they would, and several spots that I thought would average turned out to be great locations. The rotation I planned did work, but it could have been much better. I attribute that to my experience managing that size of a trapline.

I started catching the first day and had multiple first night catches throughout this process. I was very fortunate to never have a day without catching a canine. Some days were better than others. I had a few days of catching 1-2 coyotes a day, but I also had multiple days of 5-7 coyotes. With the bobcat population increasing throughout parts of Ohio, I was able to catch and safely release 6 bobcats during this 2 week period. I wish I could say that I didn’t have any incidental catches but that did not happen. I caught more raccoon than I wanted to keep track of, but oddly enough I didn’t have a lot of opossums in my sets. I had initially planned on supplementing my trapline with snares in specific locations, but the majority of them caught most of the raccoons by the hips. My total on snare caught coyotes for the entire season was 5… Very underwhelming.

While I was running my first vacation line, I didn’t have any major malfunctions happen. The weather was as expected for Ohio my part getting around 5 inches in that 2 week period. I mainly used a feathered out trench set, a few flat sets, and a handful of trail sets. I ended up using around 2 gallons of bait, and a gallon of coyote urine. At the end of my 1st vacation I was slightly melancholy, because I did not want to stop trapping. I was pulling on a Sunday in preparation of going back to work on that following Monday. As stated earlier, I would pop open the J-hooks and leave the disposable stakes in the ground. This technique was going to be used to allow me to set up certain locations that I thought would be more prone to transient coyotes moving into. I’m very happy I did this, and will continue to do it. During my last day I ended up catching 4 coyotes, 1 red fox, and 1 bobcat. Man, I was not ready to stop! My final catch for those 2 weeks was approximately 45 coyotes 11 fox, 6 bobcats, and around 40 raccoon. I was on the right track to hit my goal, but my mentor thought I should be further along then what I was. That motivated me to continue working hard.

I took a few weeks off to regroup and get ready for my working trapline. There were specific locations I could drive my truck to, and I had planned this out so I could get up early in the morning before work and run my line. I would get up around 3:30am to run my trapline, and this would allow me enough time to get everything finished before work. During my working trapline I was very mono-focused on targeting coyotes. My goal was to catch 20 during the 3 weeks I operated out of my truck before work. Most of these locations were on old farm lanes that have had stone and gravel carried in to compact the driving lanes, I’ve been trying to add these types of locations throughout the year. Farm lanes with ditch intersections, that go back to a large stones pile, that have multiple crop changes, and lanes with wind breaks on them. Some are better than others, like with most trapping.

I live southwest of my former employer. I had a couple ideas for being the most efficient. The first idea was, I could plan and operate a route the was to the northeast, and then go straight to work… the second idea was to plan out a route and finish it before work and get ready at home, but I would be back tracking and using more time and gas…. Not very efficient! I ended up running my line on the way to work and taking my portable skinning gamble with me. If I ended up catching anything before work I could skin it by hand, pitch the carcass, and wait til I returned home to mess with the pelt.

I operate alongside an orthopedic surgeon 4-5 days a week. We perform anything from total joint replacements to sport related injuries ie. ACL repairs and rotator cuff repairs. You name it and I’ve probably been a part of it. Luckily there is a shower in our locker room at work because I would come in covered in multiple different substances! During my working line I ended up catching 16 coyotes, 3 fox, 2 bobcats, and just a handful of raccoons.

Now that those three weeks were out of the way I geared down to spend time with family over the holidays and do some work in the fur shed. I didn’t boil or wax my traps again, instead I knocked any large debris that was collected on to them. If there was any blood or other funk still on them I would rinse with some water and wipe them dry. I took some time to restock my baits and urine bottles, and to make sure I had plenty of dry peat moss. I still had about 70 gallons or dry dirt left, but during January Ohio can have some crazy freeze thaw conditions. I’m sure it’s worse in other places….

Fur was starting to fly up on the hooks which was necessary because my next 2 week vacation line was coming up and I needed the freezer space. Over the years I have read and listened to fur handling tips and suggestions. I have been lucky enough to catch 60-70 canine in previous years to put these practices to use. Developing an efficient system for fur handling is a time saver and it allows your fur to come out looking the best it can. You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken shit, but I give each pelt the same amount of attention.

If you remember from earlier in this reading, I left all of my old disposable stakes in the ground on the first 50 properties I set up. I did the same thing during my working trapline. I had approximately 30 new properties that weren’t touched yet. This was due to them being deer leased properties, and I cannot access them until after muzzleloader season. The plan for this time around was to set up about 20-25 “old” locations, and these were mainly filler locations that mapped out well with my new locations… They weren’t just filler locations, but rather spots I have documented in the past from my previous years trapping that tend to have a better transient population come through. Properties that I have become intimate with and know that I can take 6-8 off of them early on in November and potentially catch another 3-5 later in the year during breeding season.

The older properties were a breeze to setup, and Most took me less than 1 minute and 30 seconds to reset. Some holes were blown out, but I have a trick up my sleeve for these. I plan to show it at the OSTA state meet. I put out 70 sets that first day, it was the 8th of January. During the day as I was driving between stops I was calling and messaging some of the guys that were on the deer lease farms, and asking them if I could start setting early or were they wanting to muzzleloader hunt. The majority all gave me the green light to set up, and on Sunday I set out to check my line early in the morning and begin setting up the new 20 properties I could get to. I set up 10 new farms that day, 5 the next day, and 5 the following day. A few of the older properties were not producing like I had hoped initially, but then things started to turn around. I was in full operation on my second line, and was only worried about maintaining/rotating properties. I was having days of 1-3 coyotes, a few fox and a few bobcat… Surprisingly I was catching several real nice bore raccoon that were in rut. January is notorious for freeze thaw conditions, but I was prepared and stayed operational. Then the big snow decided to show up! I believe we received around 8-12 inches here, and the drifts were getting pretty bad in some places. This made driving difficult, as well as finding some of my sets. I talked to a few of my close friends and asked “do you think I should clean off my trap pattern?” Some said wait, some said clean them off. I ultimately decided to let certain sets continue to fish, but with some of the drifts I thought it was necessary to clean the rest of them off.

My line came to life. I was having daily catches of 6, 7, 8 canine with a mixture of bobcat and raccoon. Then started averaging 2-3 a day for most days. I was ecstatic, and it may not seem like a huge accomplishment to most, but I was proud. I want to have those insane moments with multiple daily catches of 10 plus canine in future season, but I need to continue to grow as a trapper.

There were a few pitfalls during this season, and some will be left for campfire stories, but I had several punctured tires that needed to be plugged… Both on my truck and atv. I trapped properties For far too long and knew better. I fortunately never got stuck anywhere, but I came close many times. I rolled my atv down a hill, but luckily the only thing hurt was my pride. All in all, I had a phenomenal year!

If you were wondering… I did reach my goal of 100 coyotes in Ohio during the fur season. I ended up with 102 coyotes, 26 fox, 14 bobcats, 70+ raccoon, a handful of skunk, and let’s just say more opossum then I wanted to catch. I am just a hobby trapper who isn’t solely concerned with making money, but I’m more concerned with building a reputation of someone who is capable of catching numbers of coyotes and passing that knowledge along to others not as fortunate. Most trappers emulate the end result or that end of the year picture, but I would encourage you to emulate everything that was done to achieve that end result. Until next time…

Colton “C-Mo” Morris