Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Trapping Wondering how to dispatch trapped coyote

I have killed hundreds of coyotes with the thump and stomp. Little kids hickory baseball bat to the bridge of the nose - not hard, just stun them. Stomp a couple of time on the ribcage, right behind the front leg. Dead. Quick and painless with no mess. I have no idea why a trapper would contaminate a canine set with blood when you don't need to.

Either you've never done it, or if you tried to do it and just don't know how.

Oh, I've done my share....
Just telling 'those who've never done it, or just don't know how', to better be sure he's really, really dead.....

When I was a child I had a fox “come to” in my hands after my first tap and stomp. Just a light tap on the nose put him out and I did one heel stomp behind the leg. I guess that wasn’t enough, as he started writhing on the short trip back to the truck. I got both hands around his neck and quickly banged his head on the pickup and then put my heel back on the chest until I felt the heart quit beating.

As much as I love killing coyotes, stomping on their chest just doesn't seem appealing to me, nor does what I suspect the sound they make when you do it.

.22 LR right through the chest for me. You get some blood, but I wash them anyhow to de flea them and get al the dirt and grime out of the fur.

I have had a few instances where I forgot ammo or for whatever reason I couldn't shoot them and came up with creative ways to make them die, including choking by hand and heaving rocks, which I'm honestly not too proud of.

These days I prefer snares anyhow. The occasional foot catch happens, so I still carry a .22 rifle with me. I am not a serious trapper though. Just a dabbler.

Yep, .22 short in the ear. No holes in the fur.

Anyone use acetone with a syringe mounted on a pole ?

I never seen a coyote that would let you get a profile of them in the trap, keep their eyes right on yours.

The pic below is always how I find yotes when I walk up to them. Of course I don't sell fur or trap for the live market. I trap for "my" deer herd, so it really doesn't matter if there's holes or not. For what its worth, I dispatch them with a .22 caliber pellet rifle.

This is what my dad taught me and what I still do 95% of the time. I have tried .22s but don't like the blood in my catch circle. While I can admit it's not the most glorious thing to do to a critter, it's damn effective when done correctly.

Yeah a good old smack on the head does it. Make sure he's dead and not unconscious. Don't want him waking up in your trapping basket or vehicle.

22 LR HP in the heart. They tip right over. I don't like skinning headshots

If you want no holes in pelts, the Lee Stienmeyer death ray choke pole is the answer. 22 short in heart and lung area for me as I have a market for all skulls.

22 shorts are what I used.

Seems like solid advice.

Hell, I started forgetting what I went for 30 years ago, but I can still find my way home, mostly !!!!!

I long ago gave up any tricky ways of killing trapped animals, be they coyotes, fox, coons or whatever. A standard velocity .22 bullet above and between they eyes and they are done. I've never had an excessive amount of blood to deal with and I've never had one come back to life on me as I've heard a couple of stories from some of the whomp 'em and stomp 'em fans.

My brother has trapped, skinned and sold hundreds of coyotes. They all get shot with a 22 rim fire, between the eyes. He washes all of the hides so a little blood is not a big deal to him.

A good coyote set can be a little tough for my crippled a s s to make and maintain.
I don't want to contaminate it with blood if I don't have to.

A catch pole to choke their sorry a sses out with works good.
After they give up on a short lived fight with the catch pole you can stand on their chest til they are dead enough to suit you.

Or you can cinch the catch pole down on them and go check other traps in the area and go back in a bit to a dead yote

I made me a choke pole and when I didn't want to contaminate my site, I would use the choke pole to drag the live coyote away from the site and then either shoot it or tape it.