Baiting

Bait site has been quiet since I shot the coyote at the beginning of last week. Has one alarm trip mid-week in the middle of the night. NV picked up something smaller, pretty sure it was a feral cat. Could definitely make out a long tail and the head was too large for a coon. Camera picked up only one video which couldn't i.d. any better due to foggy conditions.

Last night my girl friend came over and I decided to turn off the Chamberlain so we wouldn't be bothered. OF course, you can guess what happens next..






I got up early, not knowing I had activity in the night. Forgot to turn the alarm back on, was literally reading on the couch next to the window and didn't look out to see:




Go figure!
 
NYyotekiller - my camera is Bushnell's model # 119477C Trophy Cam HD Max. A friend of mine has had two of them for a year now, and was really sold on them so I gave it a try. So far, I really like it. Runs on 8 or 12 AA batteries, with Lithiums it has worked well down to -10 degrees. Holds one set of one set of batteries, keeping it out all winter. Holds up to a 32G HD card, and will take either photos or videos. Because it is black IR flash, only takes B/W photos and videos at night, but a reasonable trade-off to lose the flash IMO. On a calm day, it has picked up even squirrels at the bait site, on windy days results really vary, but I would think that's the same with all cameras. I'm thinking of getting another one soon for what it's worth.
 
Last edited:

A couple of days ago I ordered a Bushnell Trophy Cam HD, but it's not "Max." Is Mas the black-out camera?

The Wildgame Innovations cameras I have been using are just not panning out. I've had way too much trouble with them. I have ordered about 4 WGI cameras over the last three years and all have given me problems. I've returned three and received three replacements, and the replacements have given problems, one has just locked up and quit working.

I'm hoping this new Bushnell will be what I need.

On another note, I have a coyote coming to the farm, tracks everywhere and he has been on the farm at least three times I know of within the last week. Problem is he won't come to the dead calf. He has circled it twice but won't touch it. He was there again last night and came within 5 or 6 yards of the calf, but wouldn't go up to it. Not sure if he is scared of the lights and cameras, the calf or what.

Anyone ever have similar problems like this?
 
got the wildgame innovation w4f recently -- i would recomend staying far away from it. i have another older wildgame with ir works real good price was real reasonable and pics are real good as well. can't remember the model its outside
my calf bait is finally seeing some good action -- it is getting eaten. if this wind dies down --i maybe up late tonight.
called 5 sets yesterday --nothing -- still had fun. some tracks around looks like romeo and juliet time of the year.
a friend has had bushnell for years loves it - he sends me pics off of it day and night --pretty nice. lets get some yotes.
 
David, the baits that I have out are all venison scraps or road kill deer, seems like it takes a while for coyotes to warm up to them. The best thing that triggers coyotes to the bait pile here is when the temps drop below zero, that seems to trigger a feeding frenzy. I have had road kills out for weeks at a time and nothing touches them, then overnight they will clean the site up.
 

Last night I stayed at the cabin. The alarm sounded at 5:17 AM this morning. I got out of bed, turned the scope on,
but didn't see anything. After sitting up a while, I went back to bed. This morning after I went out, I noticed gray fox
tracks near the bait site and also right up against the cabin.

Apparently the little bugger smelled the bait pail I placed underneath a tarp at the back of the cabin. His tracks came right up to it.

CabinGrayFoxTracks.jpg




As I walked the 300 yards or so back to the truck this morning, I found all kinds of tracks
along the old tractor road leading from the cabin to the truck.

You guys join in and tell me what you think about these.

Tracks 1 & 2.
These appear to be cat tracks. They aren't very large, maybe 1.25 to 1.50 inches in length,
about the size of a gray fox. These are pretty rounded, and no toe nails showing.

BobcatTrack-1.jpg


BobcatTrack-2.jpg




Tracks 3, 4, 5.
These tracks have me baffled. The kind-of look like red fox, but also have a long stride between of 15 inches.
I know there is a red fox in the area, and a coyote too. The stride seems to fit a coyote more, but the size of the
track seems more like a red fox. What do you think?

Track-2.jpg


Track-1.jpg


Track-3.jpg




Tracks, 6, 7, 8, 9.
And last, these tracks are all up the road, closer together and the toe nails are very evident.
Might these be skunk tracks?

GFTrack-2.jpg


GFTrack-1.jpg


GFTrack-4.jpg


GFTrack-5.jpg





Tracks can sometimes be difficult to distinguish. Tell my your thoughts about these.


 
6mm,
I spent the majority of my younger days trapping. One thing I always did was use urine as a confidence builder. Fox & coyote always mark their kills, visited areas with scent. Maybe if you used some coyote urine around the bait calf it would bring down their caution and get them started.
Just a thought.
 

NC Coast,

Thanks for the advice.

Actually I have used some coyote urine earlier with other bait and before I had the calf out. I left the urine in an out building and it froze during our deep freeze temps here recently, so I'm sure it's no good now since it didn't have antifreeze in it.

What do you think, is is ruined or can it still be used?




 
Should still be good since the urine is mixed with water. Still smells like coyote, thaw it and use it is my opinion.
Urine is mostly water and in the wild it will freeze but still smell natural. Can't hurt anything.
Might even try an attractant such as female urine or esterus, even a bait set type scent. All are made to attract a coyote or fox to your trap, should also work to attract them to where you want to shoot them.
good luck and let me know how it works.
 

I'm wondering how Scalloper is holding up in all that snow. If you are there, let us hear from you. You guys apparently really got a good one this time.
 
We only got 12" here. Coastal and northern (Scalloper's) areas got 2+ feet. Pretty severe storm, even by New England standards. No sign of activity around my bait for days now, imagine its the same for him?
 

Well, 12" is plenty, but manageable. I'll bet Scalloper is snowed in if he's out on the bait sites.

Do people up there use tracked ATVs of some sort to get around better in the snow? I mean, something other than a snow mobile?
 
Originally Posted By: 6mm06
Well, 12" is plenty, but manageable. I'll bet Scalloper is snowed in if he's out on the bait sites.

Do people up there use tracked ATVs of some sort to get around better in the snow? I mean, something other than a snow mobile?



I am a little South of Scalloper and we got over 2 feet of windblown snow here. The groups that I coyote hunt with around here, we use ATV`s most of the winter unless it gets this deep. One of the guys here has tracks on his ATV but most of us also have snowmobiles to break open the trails. Problem with tracked ATV`s a little to the North of here is this. Depending on where one might be hunting, he may have to cross or travel on State snowmobile trails. In order to do so on a tracked ATV, it must be registered as a snowmobile. They get us both ways in this State...
 

Can you post some photos of the tracked ATV? I'm just curious to see what people are using.

Also, can a snow mobile go in rough country, up and down relatively steep hillsides (on a trail of course)? I can take my 4-wheeler down the hollow on the farm (which is pretty steep) and back out unless there's a slick snow on. There's a lot of loose rocks, small ones dug out by rain runoff, but it will pull the hill quite well in dry weather. Just curious about vehicles with tracks and snow mobiles.


 
I do not have a pic of my buddies rig but here is one of my fathers Honda with a Canadian brand of tracks.He paid over $3000 (US Funds) for these.
dadstoys005.jpg


IMO a snowmobile is the way to go here. So much faster and they tend to float over the snow, for the most part rather than a heavier ATV. Don`t get me wrong, a tracked ATV is a helluva machine but snowmobiles are better suited for how we hunt in the deeper snow. We use Ski doo Tundras. They are fairly light and very maneuverable although the heavier, longer wider tracked sleds also have a purpose.
Yotehunting09.jpg


yotehunting09-1.jpg


ahoundhunt09011.jpg
 

Wow!! I like to see stuff like this because I'm not used to it and have zero experience with it.

I have a feeling that the snow mobile is made more for open country, deep snow and more or less smooth sailing. Am I correct?
What about where I live here in the mountains? We have rough, hilly mountain-top farms with deep hollows etc. Some of it is flat,
but most is just hillsides. Would a snow mobile work in that type of terrain? Will it pull the steep hillsides where going will be rather slow?

Also, the snow mobile seems to be pretty narrow, so I wonder how stable it might be without turning over in steep terrain.

I assume the tracks are kits that can be installed on a 4-wheeler? Is there a certain size motor that is considered minimum, if indeed there is one?

We have hillsides like this around here. The first two photos are the same hillside, just different time of year.

dayyote1.jpg


SnowTracks.jpg


MountainHunt1.jpg




Thanks for the information. It's a learning experience for me and I'm sure the same for a lot of other guys.

By the way, those are some nice looking coyotes.


 
6mm, that type of terrain is no problem for a sled( slang for snowmobile) i have 3, and like the other guys i got over 2' fri-sat. still kinda sux [beeep] cause is gets tiring once you step off the trail. On the + side this will enable me to hunt some deer yards that i have been wanting to get to ( to far to hike in no quads allowed)
 
Back
Top