WOLF TRAPPING IN THE US

[stephen]

One more question for you. Do you tie off to steaks or do you use drags? If you use drag how long of chain do you use?

[timothy]

Sorry to hijack the post, but would the same set-up work on coyotes?

[Brent Sinclair]

hey brent thanks for the info on the post! Im taking the Idaho Trapping class this Friday but it doesnt really give me enough time to go out and make sets being that are trapping season is only till the 16th. I have a couple of questions.

What size traps are you using?
And do you do very well with snares? and if you do what is your recomened set up is it with bait or do you use them around your footholds?

thanks, steve

Steve
I have several different traps , I chose the trap I feel is fit for the locatinon I am setting...MB 750's work well if your not dealing with alot of deep or drifting snow, they do not have quite enough umph to come through snow and make a good enough catch above the wolves pad which is what it takes to hold a big one..
Bridger Braun or the Alaska #9 work better under these conditions.
I also have some custom built ones the work well.
I haul in tons of bait as soon as I know the bear activity has slowed down enough to allow it to not dissapear and become a smorg for some late denning black or grizzly...
Snares are as important as a leg hold.
Use them in every location you have a trap,,,,there is no better wolf bait than a live wolf in a leg hold ...the pack will hang around for hours circling and wandering through the trees waiting for the one that is caught.
I use snares on bait sites but you have to be carefull and make sure your baits have been in location for as long as possiable and let the wolves feed for 2 - 3 weeks if possiable, then find where they have been traveling into and out of the site...keep a good distance from the bait 300 yards even farther...you will eleminate untargeted catches like lion and deer by 90% or more if you do this...nothing I hate more than hearing someone snaring a big lion in a wolf snare or deer because they were to impatient to wait till things were ready to hang snares..

Use a drag on 10' of heavy chain be sure you have a swivle at the base plate and 1 or in the chain about 30" down then a third at the anchor .....tieing down you'll have them pull out.

Timothy
use the exact set up for your coyotes..I set my pan tention at 8lbs so I don't catch coyotes as it recks a wolf set when you do at times...

This is the drag set up on an MB 750 and a couple coyotes caught in wolf snares

[stephen]

thanks a lot I am goin to boot camp this summer for the army i will be back in time for trapping season I cant wait to try the techniuqes you have shared with me i really appriciate it!!

steve

[Brent Sinclair]

The result of those techniques are worth the effort ....part of the 2011/12 catch.

[FullCryHounds]

Looks like you had a very good season Brent!

[chilcotin hillbilly]

Thats awesome Brent.
I still have a few things to figure out to put up that many, only three wolves and a couple yotes and foxes.
Crappy year for trapping with the freeze/thaw cycle daily and frozen rain as well. I missed a lot of wolves on the frozen traps.
I will give you a shout one of these days.

[Brent Sinclair]

Finished stretching the last coyotes for the season and my brother wanted to get some photo's so I took what I had along with the wolves from the previous photo and had an old barn in mind....

[dereel208]

hello there Brent,

Over the last couple weeks, I have been getting alot of near misses with our leg hold MB750's. we are getting good action on the piss post sets but the wolves seem to step over or around our traps. Some of this just maybe due to bad luck, or maybe something else. We have taken alot of care for scent using Full Metal Jacket dip, and gloves when handleing the traps. I know some guys use the 2 stick method to get them to step inbetween for direct pad to pan placement. But my only pause with this is, they seem to be very shy of too much new disturbance. So just wondering if u know of anything else a guy could do. our season is coming to an end and we have have half thetraps in snow and half on dirt. For example...the other days on a piss post we have the trap about 20 to 22inches off the piss post and the wolf came in and stepped about 16inches. Earlier on in the year we had the trap in too close maybe 16 to 14in and had to move it back 4 of 5 inches to catch him. U are right on with the dog box straw. It sure seems to work well. any info, would be appreciated thanks

Dan

[chilcotin hillbilly]

Dan alot of it is luck, I would stick to 18 to 20 inches. size of wolf makes a difference, and approach angle to the piss pole seems to make a difference.

[Brent Sinclair]

Dan alot of it is luck, I would stick to 18 to 20 inches. size of wolf makes a difference, and approach angle to the piss pole seems to make a difference.

Dan
Doug is right...I have had more misses than catches like this but be patient they will get caught, not everytime but if they are working your set you have the biggest hurdle beat.

Also think about 2 traps if you feel you can get away with placing them with little disturbance..

[dereel208]

Thanks for the advice guys, I will probably go with more than one trap at each set from now on. That seems to make sense to me. Sure seems like a steep learning curve sometimes!

Thanks again
Dan

[Brent Sinclair]

Thanks for the advice guys, I will probably go with more than one trap at each set from now on. That seems to make sense to me. Sure seems like a steep learning curve sometimes!

Thanks again
Dan

It can plumb wear on ya at times, but think positive, it's not alot different than catchin a coyote just a smarter critter, paitents will prove very productive, if I read it right you already caught one so your doing things right....remember.... we've all had that learnin curve to deal with it will only make you a better wolf trapper as you learn alot from your trial and errors , no one gets it right the first year, at least I sure didn't...!

Good Luck
Brent

[chilcotin hillbilly]

Dan,
I learn everyday out. A couple of days ago I was making my rounds checking traps with a couple of fresh mice i had trapped wondering where i might use them. With only a coyote in a snare, I decided to do someting with those mice. I chose a piss pole set on a trail 100 yards from the bait beside a bush in the middle of a large opening.
Now this is a snow set has been productive all season with only catching one but having numerous coyotes and wolves revisit this set every week. This trap tends to freeeze up alot and requires alot of work but I still felt this was my best chance to use these mice. I dug a hole in the crusted snow, threw in the mice, reset the trap and walked away. All night I thought about that hole. It was dug at a wrong angle, not in the wrong spot just the wrong angle. Sure enough a wolf managed to hit that set , dig in and eat those mice with out touching that trap.
What i learned is to spend the time fixing what you might think is wrong. I passed it off as the last night the trap would be in the ground for a week so what where the chances anyway.
I have learned alot and talking to guys like Brent who have shared alot of knowledge helps the learning curve.

[Budd Denny]

If you set back 18-20 inchs how much offset do you use? Looks like we will have a trapping/hunting season this year. I have done my share of trapping but we don't have much for coyote in my area so all my canine trapping has been with fox. I have around 75 750's for beaver so I will be going over a dozen getting them ready for wolf. Do you weld all your swivel rivets? Have you ever anchored at the spot and what length of chain would you use? thanks