Your posts make no sense…why no lure or bait in the ground?
Would your scenario work? Possibly, but you’re apt to catch just about anything with exposed bait up to buzzards and birds of prey. Need to check your laws as well.
When trapping, I’m setting for a specific step from that coyote/cat/etc. I don’t want happen chance, I want to catch it.
If you don’t know how to trap, there are thousands of videos on making sets. My suggestion would be to keep it simple. A solid bedded trap with a small natural baking. Punch a hole at the base of the backing and put some bait in it, put your lure about 8-12” up and blend it in as natural as possible. Leave it be until it catches or you pull. Remember when trapping, less is more with lure.
This was set mainly for cats but would work for coyotes as well.
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Here’s a backed up pic…had to flag it due to power lines being trimmed and didn’t want it run over.
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I caught the next morning.
For the remake I dug up a small clump of broomsedge and put it where the original bait hole was, put the trap back in its original bed and added a little lure to the broomsedge. I put a couple dirt clods on either side of the trap to get whatever came to step on the pan and not everywhere but. I had another cat the next morning.