Originally Posted By: MSC
OK, as for coyotes... If you set for coyotes like this you have to stake the trap down very good.
I'll have to disagree with you on staking leghold traps when targeting coyotes - and most other critters for that matter.
I trapped many yotes in my youth; both for pelts and to reduce their predation on cattle during calving season (btw: cows are loners when calving - and defenseless during the act, often yielding a gruesome outcome when discovered by a pack of coyotes).
As for the traps (which I still own), I used #3 jump-springs and #3 dbl long-springs.
Securing the traps to a heavy object (or "drag", ie. 40lb+ rock or green log); versus solid-staking the traps, allows the animal to move away from the site and eliminates pull-outs and chew-offs. Rarely did they move more than 50' from the set-site, and they appeared to remain relatively calm throughout the ordeal. It was easy to follow the drag-trail to locate and dispatch the trap's tenant.
I eventually switched to sodium cyanide devices as a much more efficient, target-selective and humane means for thinning the coyote population. These devices never miss; so the yotes never got the second-chance "education" that LH traps sometimes provide.

Kelly Duffie
Cypress, TX