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Author
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Topic: Calf killer
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted June 23, 2005 04:47 PM
Had one of my landowners contact me today to report a dead calf in his back lot.
Five days old. This guy has lost six calves now out of 14 that have been born in the past two weeks. The other 5 were several miles away on pasture. This one was killed last night about a hundred yards behind their house, as you can see in this picture. The calf is partially buried on the mound of dirt/ straw just beneath and to the left of the top peak on the house.
This pic is also along the east side of the corrals where tracks indicate that two coyotes reconned the corral last night (it rained nearly three inches the night before). The two logs were there so I used them as backing for a flat set that's already been put in place prior to taking this picture.
This third picture is the north end of an overgrown alleyway where the three coyotes that killed the calf entered from a pasture to the north. They have been using the easternmost lane of the two track and this trap/ flat set is set just to the west side of where they cross through one gate (expecting a W-SW wind over the next several days and nights). Fifty yards further up, they cross under a second gate into the corral where they killed the calf. A locking snare guards that cross under tonight.
I was hoping to do some calling there today, but 95-degrees and a 25 mph wind pretty much made me throw in the towel after getting the traps set.
My guess from the tracks is that this is the betas from a pack where I killed the alpha pair last Fall. Part of my thinking is that this calf was killed by grabbing everywhere except the throat, as evidence by the absence of bite marks or trauma to the throat area of the carcass (about the only thing they left). The tracks are average to slightly smaller than average in size as well. There was enough soft ground in the ground to rule out dogs.
[ June 23, 2005, 04:49 PM: Message edited by: Cdog911 ]
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Rob
Knows what it's all about
Member # 75
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posted June 23, 2005 05:07 PM
good luck with your traps...a double on them ground pounders would be sweet.
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"Where did all these #$%^&* Indians come from?" Gen. George Armstrong Custer
Posts: 224 | From: Clancy Montana | Registered: Feb 2003
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Tim Behle
Administrator MacNeal Sector
Member # 209
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posted June 23, 2005 06:30 PM
What kind of lures are you using? Food, gland or curiosity?
Do you stake or drag your traps?
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Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take
an ass kickin'.
Posts: 3160 | From: Five Miles East of Vic, AZ | Registered: Jun 2003
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted June 23, 2005 06:46 PM
Tim,
Curiosity on both with pee. I've got wonderful loamy soil here so I have both twin-pegged. #3 DLS's on both.
In talking with the owner, I've got a real good idea of where they're staying according to his decsription of the three packs he can hear yip howling every evening. The one that did this is probably the group that's holing up in a ravine just over a half-mile behind his house. There are a lot of good potential setups overlooking that area but between the heat, humidity, wind and the blown disk in my neck, hurling that 5# hammer to drive those stakes pretty much convinced me it was time to head for home and get some happy pills.
My ADC experience is pretty much hit and miss, with several successful ventures under my belt. But, admittedly, getting those I got could have been as much luck as anything else. ![[Smile]](smile.gif) So, anything you guys want to offer would be a great opportunity for me, and some others, to learn a little more. Feel free. Thanks.
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Rob
Knows what it's all about
Member # 75
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posted June 23, 2005 09:04 PM
Here's some good advice from a friend of Scott Huber.
Gland lure, urine and natural bait have always been my best summer time producers. Lots of flat sets with droppings and large dirtholes with PD or badger for bait.
In my country it's just awfully hard to beat a PD down a hole. I use to cuss badgers for destroying my well made coyotes sets, but welcome them now. They just about guarantee a yipper next time around.
I've never had much success with my normal fall/winter lures and baits. Though have a few such as carmans "Canine Call" and "Trails End" that work very well in the heat. Have taken numerous sheep killers on "Trails End" right in the sheep pasture!
Coyotes don't do a lot of aimless wandering during the warm season so depending on your terrain, many of the typical fall locations will have little activity.
To me, the main thing to summer coyotes trapping is locating the coyotes. Once you know where they're living you can usually find where they are traveling to the sheep, water etc.. Once you find them (this can often take quite some time!) they're not difficult to kill.
Of course locating the coyotes is important during the fall also. But in the fall, if you set good locations the coyotes will usually find you. Not so in the summer.
I've always said that trapping coyotes during the summer is really not harder than during the fall, it's just different. Different type of locations. Different smells. Different types of problems to contend with etc..
I think many novice summer time trappers become frustrated or confused trying to locate the travelways and deciding where to make their sets. With all the summertime cover, there just looks like so many possibilities. Its always good to "start with what ya know". Stand there right beside the dead lamb and say to yourself "I know he was right here, how did he get here?" And begin to work out from there to try to get a direction on them. If you just spend a little time surveying the terrrain, right from the kill sight you often will be able to pick out the likely entry points.
Tip- if you are in farm country, check the closest corn or sunflowere field.
As for snares, it depends totally on your area. When I hired on to do ADC 14 years ago I remember thinking "snares will be the answer". But the reality is that I actually use very few snares in the summer due to having livestock EVERYWHERE! Man would I love to have empty pastures surrounding my sheep pastures! And unlike some areas which have thousands of miles of woven wire fences to snare under, I dont think I have ten miles in my whole district. But if you can use them you would be wise to do so.
Good Luck
ChrisM
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"Where did all these #$%^&* Indians come from?" Gen. George Armstrong Custer
Posts: 224 | From: Clancy Montana | Registered: Feb 2003
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Rob
Knows what it's all about
Member # 75
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posted June 23, 2005 09:36 PM
Here's some more.
I've never considered summer time trapping to be "harder" than in the fall just different. Coyotes will still respond to the same type sets and some of the usual lures. BUT! many many lures that produce in the fall and winter will not be effective in the heat of the summer.
On flat sets I have the best success when using gland lures or urine on a dropping. "Real" gland lure not the usual "gland/curiosity lure sold by most dealers. Pure urine is hard to beat unless you have many deer and rabbits around or are in the same pastures with livestock.
I've yet to find a commercial bait that performs well in the summer. But I have excellent results on natural baits. One of my favorites is a prarie dog down a large dirthole. If you have them in your area, a set that has taken a badger and has the badger buried at the set is as close as it gets to a "guaranteed coyote getter".
I wouldn't advise you to experiment with your lures at this time. Stick with the gland/urine and natural baits. (Tip - Carmans Trails End is one of the lures that has been VERY good for me in the summer here in SD.)
Unlike in the colder months, coyotes don't do a lot of "wandering" in the heat. Your sets will have to be on location, and these locatioins may not be the same type places you would expect to use in the fall.
I'd advise you to spend some time trying to determine which direction they are coming from. Look at the area as a whole and get an idea of where they are living. In some areas this is easy and sometimes its very difficult if you cant find some sign or hear some howling. Have you found any tracks? Hair on fence? Does the location where the two were shot tell you anything? Were they coming or leaving? which direction were they headed? How often are they killing? What time day? These things can offer clues to how far away they are living. Most trappers in the summer need to spend more time scouting and less time making sets all over the area.
To me this is the "hard" part of summer control....locating them. Once I find where they are living or their direction of travel they are really no harder to kill than in the cooler season.
I believe that making nautral looking sets is one of the most important... and most overlooked aspects of coyote trapping, regardless of time of year!
Do your homework. Make good, natural sets. Leave em alone!
Good Luck, It's just a coyote, you can catch him!
ChrisM
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"Where did all these #$%^&* Indians come from?" Gen. George Armstrong Custer
Posts: 224 | From: Clancy Montana | Registered: Feb 2003
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted June 23, 2005 10:14 PM
Good stuff. I like it. Can apply to calling, as well.
Good hunting. LB
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31490 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted June 24, 2005 03:44 AM
Chris,
Thanks for the information. Pretty much spot on with what I did. I spent the first hour on-site just walking the perimeter assessing the ground cover for tracks, etc.
From what I saw, the coyotes were reconning the corral from the area near where the trap on the east side is set because it is downwind of the whole area due to our current prevailing winds. That's also one of their major travel routes because that's where I caught the A-male last year.
The point of entry for this kill was through the overgrown alleyway in the last picture as evideinced by not only the tracks on the sfot soil inside the corral, but because the grass and vegetation in the one tire track was all laid down going in one direction. Very few areas around here where you can actually see the ground because of heavy grass growth. The second set and the snare are guarding that trail. Point of egress?Couldn't tell. I believe from experience that they're contiunuing south out of the corral area and down a waterway into a pond/ creek drainage. But, that area will be overrun with harvest equipment within a matter of days so I stayed out of there for now.
As far as sets, I prefer a simple flat because we routinely remove 50+ coons off this farm each year, and buttloads of skunks and possums, and anything that remotely resembles a dirthole will just fill your truck with non-target catches. I'll probably still cull a dozen coons out of here in the next two weeks before the sets are able to produce or be pulled.
As far as p-dogs go, the grass around here is anywhere from waist to shoulder deep most of the year. You gotta go sixty miles west before you get into mixed and short-grass prairie where the whislters live.
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Greenside
seems to know what he is talking about
Member # 10
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posted June 24, 2005 08:23 AM
Too bad ChrisM doesn't stop here more often. I know he's a member but has only posted a couple of times. I hear he really knows his stuff and also that he's a very good caller.
My mentor and calling partner was in contention for the territory that Chris ultimately got after the interview process. Thank God, because I would have had to give Mikes wife a substantial raise just to keep a calling partner.
Ten years or so ago, I used to do some calling in his territory, but the last time I was there it was a little crowded with other callers. I wonder if Chris thinks these boards make it any easier for him?
Dennis
Posts: 719 | From: IA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Rob
Knows what it's all about
Member # 75
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posted June 24, 2005 09:30 AM
I'm always on the lookout for anything ChrisM or Wiley E post and fire up the copy machine
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"Where did all these #$%^&* Indians come from?" Gen. George Armstrong Custer
Posts: 224 | From: Clancy Montana | Registered: Feb 2003
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted June 27, 2005 06:40 PM
Got him!
Who'd have thought that a buck 'possum was killin' calves! Wow! Particularly nasty brute with long canines and his incisors and premolars worn down to the gums. I still haven't figured out how he ate that whole calf in one sitting, but then again, I ain't no professional at this.
In all honesty, Only one coyote has traveled that corridor, and although he looked the east set over, he didn't commit. I managed to install tape strips under the pans for tension control - something I forgot to make sure I had with me on Thursday. They do a great job of keeping marsupials and wood kitties out of a prefectly good coyote set. And don't get me started on rabbits. Did some calling, but saw nothing but skeeters.
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Tim Behle
Administrator MacNeal Sector
Member # 209
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posted June 27, 2005 07:01 PM
For summer trapping, look at some of the older lures that were designed for use with the m-44's or getter guns.
Most were designed for summer control work. Carmen's Mega Musk is one that has worked for me year around.
Avoid coyote pee if you have coons in the area. It's the best damned off season coon lure I've ever found ![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
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Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take
an ass kickin'.
Posts: 3160 | From: Five Miles East of Vic, AZ | Registered: Jun 2003
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Rob
Knows what it's all about
Member # 75
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posted June 27, 2005 08:59 PM
Paws-I-Trip pans are probably the best modification you can put on #3 longspring...it will give you better catches on coyotes and cut down your non-target take..the unit is expensive.
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"Where did all these #$%^&* Indians come from?" Gen. George Armstrong Custer
Posts: 224 | From: Clancy Montana | Registered: Feb 2003
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Tim Behle
Administrator MacNeal Sector
Member # 209
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posted June 27, 2005 09:28 PM
Rob,
Think of it like this. That pos-I-trip is going to cost $5 each.
That possum is going to bring you a dollar.
You come out ahead on the first coyote you catch. I'd rather have an empty trap than catch another possum.
Pos-I-trip pans are the best invention for trapping I've seen in my lifetime.
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Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take
an ass kickin'.
Posts: 3160 | From: Five Miles East of Vic, AZ | Registered: Jun 2003
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Curt2u
Knows what it's all about
Member # 74
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posted July 06, 2005 05:53 AM
I have to agree with the above about summertime use of commercial lures. I have much better luck with collected coyote turds, urine and maybe a dab of gland lure at a flat set. Going natural has worked best for me and seems to nab mature coyotes better. Many time I put the turds, urine, gland lure on a small bone for eye appeal. Has worked well for me anyway.
Snares work excellent as well. If the livestock won't cause you problems and you don't have deer in the area I'd use them in addition to the footholds. The fawns are close to the size of a coyote right now and are easily caught by accident, so beware. Use a short snare if you have them on the fences. The one negative about using the snare on a crawl under in the summer is that many times the coyote will hang himself on the fence and be nice and stinky by the time you get there to retrieve him. No biggie if you can handle the stench. LOL! We have a 24 hr check here so usually not an issue.
Good luck on catching them. Let us know how it goes.
Posts: 236 | From: NW | Registered: Jan 2003
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