Originally posted by 76chevy:
I say 5 to 7 days minimum. Sometimes it takes a few days to cool off before they work it.
Food is plentiful now (lots of gut piles and rabbits etc) so they are not working sets like they will later in the winter
+1 on them having plenty to eat this time of year.
I typically use scent posts or blind sets this time of year. Being the "typical" dogs that they are and wizzing on everything, those types of sets appeal to them more this time of year. Also, any coyote that has made it past more than a season, has likely seen a typical dirthole set, and avoid them unless they are REALLY hungry IMO.
As far as time in the ground goes, it just all depends on the sign and if you think they are there, and just not working it, or just not there at all. I've had a trap at the same hole for weeks, even months with no action. Then, all of a sudden it gets hot, and I catch two or three from it.
Don't think you have to rebait/scent them up on any set schedule either.....those smells stay there LONG after you think they are gone. Two for instances.....I pulled a set in March that had been there all year. Hadn't baited it for a month. We chisel plowed, and disced the field late April, early May. When we came in to plant later, they had dug the old dirt hole looking for the bait!
I had an old female that was smarter than I was, and dug sets, and avoided sets, and dug both traps. Couldn't fool her. The last time I put two traps in, I never added any scent or bait to the hole. She found one of the traps and dug it and snapped the trap. I just left the trap lay as she left it. I never even got close to the set and watched it with binos, never even going out there. Three weeks later, and a lot longer than that since I had added any scent, there she was!!! She couldn't stand not going back over there and checking to see if I had been there! Obviously none of this applies to every situation, but just some of my observations...........