When a substantial snow is in the forecast you need to be prepared to locate your already well-hidden sets!

Finding your sets can be difficult enough without snow. But when you get anything more than an inch or two, your sets will COMPLETELY DISAPPEAR. And when you get snow there is some update work your trapline will need so it's extremely important to mark your sets ahead of the snow. That way you can quickly find your sets and get to work. 

Before the snow comes, we like to use a natural object to mark and point towards our set. This marker is placed anywhere from 5-8 feet directly behind your set. 

In most locations you should be able to find a stick or small branch for this purpose. We like to find one that is about the size of our thumb. You don't want it to be too large because a big marker might deter predators from working your set. And you also don't want it to be too small that it'll break under the weight of the snow or strong winds. 

Once you have your...

Snow can add a little bit of extra work to your trapline but one HUGE advantage it gives you is the ability to scout with extreme precision. 

It doesn't matter when the snow comes. It could be pre-season, mid-season, or post-season - traps in the ground or not, you NEED to get out on the property you trap or plan to trap coyotes on. Predators can and will use nearly identical travel paths every single year. So when you've got a fresh snowfall, you've basically got a live heat map of where the predators on your property are coming from and going to. 

Snow makes identifying natural "pinch-points" incredibly easy so there is no better time to scout. If you're in season: you can take this new information and adjust your trapline and move your sets to hotter locations. If it's the off-season: You can make a plan for the next trapping season. 

No matter when it happens, if you want to increase your success as a coyote trapper, you NEED to get out and scout when there is...