What do ya do ?

I dont bother w/ sign myself, I look for places such as these.........

I try to use both. My dad was walking through my line with me this past season doing kind of a critique for me, and he was pointing out that some of my blind sets were set on old trails that were not currently being used. I moved my traps to current trails and caught animals. Down here the habitat is not conducive to haveing lots of sign to follow, so I jump on it when I find it, but I do think instinct and experiance both play big roles.

I agree with you. Looks like with a little narrowing there could be another great spot for a snare right up shore a ways.

There are too many reasons why "sign" may not be observed at a given location.If I am confident that the target animals are actually in the area I will make the sets with out "sign"

i agree. when its been zero for 3 weeks and there is no snow and freezing rain the day before the 3 week zero spell, unless you are part native african bushman, you just cant find hardly any sign, so you set it anyway and still catch fur.

alot of funnels and natural and man made barriers. the critters are still traveling them.

Sometimes, we just blow right by the beginners.

I too make sets on speculation, but it's hard to speculate were an animal might be, unless you have a familiarity with the animal.

"I dont bother w/ sign myself,"

That statement can be severely misleading, I think reading sign is one of the fundamental tasks that a trapper should master. If you don't learn to read sign how will you ever determine what, if any critters abound you your traplines.

Once you find enough sign, in enough places, you'll be better able to quickly find and identify sign in future situations and locations. You will also become more adept at picking out those locations that are apt to produce, even though you don't find sign there, at the moment. But this comes with experience.

I think almost all experienced trappers make some sets on speculation, where no sign is present. But I think that a set which is made "on sign" has a higher probability of producing than does a set made on speculation. I believe a beginning trapper will face less disappointment if they endeavor to get their sets "on sign" whenever possible.

-- Hal

I appreciate Hal's remarks. I find it very difficult not to set on sign. Now perhaps where buzzard lives, he's up to his arm pits in beaver and not setting on sign would be more appropriate. Here where I live, however, the beaver are more scattered. I'm fortunate enough to have the time to scout out most all of the locations I plan to trap come trapping season. What's more, preseason scouting is one of the more enjoyable aspects of my trapping! With just my waders and a walking stick (no heavy equipment to haul around) I search up and down the banks of rivers and streams looking for sign. Often I have the pleasure of seeing the actual target animals busy at work (talk about sign!). It's just nice to able to get out in the fresh air by yourself and scout around.

I think my trapping style is a TAD bit different than most of ya...

I trap an essentially unlimited-size area that's very sparsely populated with fur, and I'm very mobile. I set the areas with the most sign, and very seldom anything else.

For me it is a varied process. Taking raccoons for example. I set on sign and fresh sign, but I will "scout" the areas I feel that will hold the coons at the time I am trapping based on several factors learned over time. For example hilly, rolling wooded areas with oaks I will look for trails leading to wild grapes, acorns etc. when they are present. When corn is in the fields I look for the fields next to woods, streams or with grass ditches running in them or to them. Yes it is sign but instinct is helping to go to the better locations for that time period and geography.
I have found that rats move a lot in my streams which are small and border crops. They follow the remaining crops until all are gone. Corn seems to be a key factor in their movement in my area.
This fall I plan to trap canines much more. I have been only doing limited canine trapping on several permissions and during the later season and on sites that I have set for two decades. I will expand those setups to include more locations and the first years that will be mostly by hunch or best guess as to funnel points, travel routes etc.

I also feel that experience will increase the sign at the instinctive location one chooses to scout or locate.

Bryce

Hold on. I don't think we are talking about the exact same thing. I believe here we are talking about whether or not to make individual sets in close proximity to sign. At least that's the way I took it. That has been the traditional common usage of the term "setting on sign."

-- Hal