I was just wondering if anyone could give me some advice. I am new to trapping been at it for about a month getting out is great and i have put some miles on. I am enjoying learning and i am an addict already. I just cant seem to catch a target animal i had a coyote pull out my first week in a super location big clearcut now the spot went dead, what was tons of coyote tracks and sightings in deer season has gone dead.

I decided to go for some coon a little simpler I covered about 2 miles of stream yesterday i found one set of coon tracks coming out of a dead tree going to the stream in a marsh i put two pocket sets in. Is it possible that i just dont have the location right? I have no farms but do have some road side grown up fields. What would be good locations for coon in an enviroment with no agriculture. We got a 25 degree warm up yesterday and i figured the coons would put some tracks in the snow but i came up empty this morning. And why has the 200 acre clear cut gone dead so soon? I have been reading and watching videos but none of the locations described in both look like any of the areas i am able to trap.

(edit spelling, redsnow)

Are you trapping a woods road thru the clear cut or just where you saw tracks in the cut over area? If I walked a creek for 2 miles and only saw one set of coon tracks I wouldn't even set a trap unless that was the only spot I had to trap and it was easy to get to. I would leave it as seed stock for couple of years from now.
Dan

I am trapping the roads in the clear cut. I just have noticed the sign has disapeared. How much do bears change the way canines travel? I have tracked a few bears on the network of roads in the clearcut in the past week.I would think this cut off would have some fox as well i saw one set of tracks about two weeks ago. I am going to check out some more sections of stream this week to see what i can come up with. Will cold weather and snow keep coons from moving or do they just travel alot less? What food source are they on this time of year? I have no crops around my house. I am in a wooded area good amount of black and red oak as well a few streams with great trout fishing I see a good many coons spotting in early archery season i checked these spots no sign though.

When you originally posted on these boards, I replied....

"I'm not familiar with your area. I know in my back yard, our large expanses of timber hold a paucity of furbearing critters. In other words, even though you have a large tract to trap, the critters may be few and far between."

Now I'll add to that.

"And why has the 200 acre clear cut gone dead so soon?"

In the grand scheme of things, 200 acres doesn't amount to squat. 200 acres will support a very, very limited number of furbearers. One coyote couldn't make it on 200 acres. As mentioned above, if all your scouting only turned up one set of coon tracks, then you probably don't have many coons to catch.

I suspect that as the winter has progressed, your timberland trapping ground has become less and less viable as a food resource for the furbearers.

Keep scouting around. You may have to find some different territory.

Good luck.

Hal

I've trapped heavily forested areas in Michigan's U.P. and Pennsylvania. One thing they both had in common are low furbearer densities. Mid winter these areas are like deserts,small areas of suitable habitat widely scattered. Get some maps out and do a little homework. I take it your an avid fisherman,substitute the reasons why you skip over one section of water to concentrate on another to your trapping endeavor.Fish or fur the reason one section of habitat holds game and another doesn't will be similar.

Thanks Hal and Ric i appreciate the advice and i wish more people would be as blunt as the two of you are it saves alot of time sorting through fact and fiction on here. You guys do a great job. I have topo maps of all the lands i have permission to be on i got them for archery hunting to keep track of deer movement and stand locations to keep track. I will go through them an circle locations that are most likely to hold fur. I might try baiting a little with my trail cam just to see what is around i hear of alot of people who do this.

We live in two very different worlds. However, winter is winter. I'd be doing some walking in the thick stuff. That's where the food is this time of year.

Once you find the food it's easier to find the fur.

activity on my trapline greatly changes from area to area during this time of year. Farm land away from the river does pretty good until the freeze up. As long as the ditches, ponds, and small branches keep flowing you can catch a lot of furbearers. Once these water sources freeze, around here you need to be on the larger Missouri River which doesnt freeze. A lot of game such as deer will move to the river bottom and coyotes, will follow. Cats really do well along the brushy river system as well.
Raccoon really move well during a warm snap such as a 50 degree night and You can get back on these animals during this time during upland trapping using bait boxes, blind trails and dog proof traps.
As Hal said, 200 acres isnt much. Keep working on getting permission in different areas.

I did get permission from a farm i am allowed to archery hunt a few miles down the road ,not a great big place but i saw a good many foxes there spotting and coons n early fall. A neighbor of the landowner trapped 9 coyotes and about 2 dozen coons last season and he never mentioned about fox but the guy is not trapping this year i dont know why though. I took a walk around the farm to look around. I found no fox, coyote, or coon tracks there it did snow about an inch the night before but being new i didnt set any traps yet because i dont know where the fur travels yet. I went to my local trapping supplier and he told me " dont worry about if the sign is there right now just set in good locations wait watch and learn " Is this good advice for a new guy? i mean i have a good idea of what a possible good location looks like but should i be looking for tracks and sign before i ever set?

Setting on sign is good. Setting on good location is also good.

One inch of snow and one night is not a long time for sign to show.

Sounds like you received good advice. traps in the truck never catch anything.

Best of luck. Keep us posted. Remember to be patient.