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GRANT: December 11th. Very special time of year. Closed on the late deer season. Deer really hitting food sources right now, but more importantly, I want to invite you all to join the Woods family in celebrating Christmas this year. Not the gift giving and all the ceremonies we have, but the reason Christmas was first started; the reason we do it is to remember the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You know, without that tremendous gift from God, we’d have no chance of knowing eternity, of knowing salvation or even enjoying Creation that we all enjoy today. Slow down this year at Christmas, huddle your family around, do what the Woods family does, and think about the true meaning of Christmas.

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GRANT: Last episode, we shared with you professional trapper Clint Cary’s techniques for setting coyote and bobcat traps. Here at The Proving Grounds and right off the bat, we removed a couple of bobcats from our predator population. The great thing about traps is they can be several places at once. You can own multiple traps. They’re working 24/7 and they’re working while you’re at work, while you’re sleeping or maybe in a treestand.

GRANT: We continue to set the traps Clint set every day and we had a great surprise last week.

ADAM: About 9:45 in the morning; had our first capture of a, of a, coyote this year. Hopefully more to come. But this is the first one of the year. Rolling up on it now.

ADAM: Well, it’s December the 4th, and as you can see over my right shoulder, we got our first coyote catch of the year. Two days ago, Grant and Clint were running traps. There’s a creek just ten yards to the other side of the coyote and a big bluff that bottlenecks everything right here. He’s not the prettiest animal in the woods right now covered in mud from all the rain, but he’s one less predator on The Proving Grounds.

ADAM: Here we are with the first coyote in two years at The Proving Grounds. I think there’s a lot of things that make this spot really good. We’ve got a bluff that comes in. There’s this creek bed, their road. There’s a lot of intersections coming together right here that makes it a great intersection to trap coyotes.

GRANT: There’s ample research now conducted in just the last couple years, very current research, that shows that coyotes are having a huge impact on the amount of fawns and adult deer in many parts of the whitetails’ range.

GRANT: I trap intensively here at my property on the Proving Grounds, but I’m not aware of a single neighbor – all 34 of them – that trap. Each year more predators are going to move into my property. Does that mean I shouldn’t waste my time trapping? No. Not at all. I want to remove predators before the upcoming fawning and turkey poult rearing season. Create a little vacuum, if you will, where those prey species can successfully raise offspring, knowing that during the fall and during the breeding seasons more predators are going to move into this property. So, it requires annual trapping to balance that predator/prey population in almost all areas of the United States. You’ve seen us show pictures right here at this barn in the past of all the furs we’ve caught in a single year and people might respond, “Whoa, you’ve wiped out the predators in that area.” But we catch about 50 predators: raccoons, possums, coyote, fox, bobcat, every year off The Proving Grounds and no doubt, if I trapped harder or bought a few more traps, I could catch more the next year. Because predators, unlike deer, will move into new territory. Those young really disperse year after year after year and if you create a vacuum of fewer predators, more predators are coming into that space.

CLINT: That #4 has got a wide jaw spread.

GRANT: Yup.

CLINT: You like that for your coyotes.

GRANT: When Clint was here we took a lot of time to show you his actual techniques for setting the traps, but we didn’t take a lot of time talking about location. So, since we’ve had a successful catch, we’ll take a moment and explain why Clint decided to set the trap at this location.

GRANT: You know, going up and looking at a bigger view, we’ve got a little bluff or really steep change in topography right here. The old internal road running through and it joins with the creek right below that. Intersections or change in the habitats are great for deer and great for predators, too. Anytime multiple habitats come together, there’s probably going to be a lot of wildlife use. Especially for deer and predators. But the real secret to this location was the road. Another reason to set your traps close to the road, literally, is so you can check them and see if they’re sprung or if they’re in good shape from the pickup window. This isn’t being lazy. It’s just being efficient-one; and secondly, you can drive by, look out the window, not get out and put your scent all over the area and go on to the next trap unless you need to reset that trap. The efficiency will allow you to have more sets, therefore, more traps working for you each day and by not getting out of the truck and leaving your scent there, increases your chances of Mr. Coyote going to the spot.

ADAM: You know, it’s that time deer are starting to transition out of their rut activity into the late season feeding patterns. So, Brian and I are headed to a green field. It had rained nearly an inch and a half the night before. There’s a small pond located 20 yards in front of the stand and by the looks of it, something had been using it.

ADAM: Wednesday, the wind switched from the northwest to the southeast so we thought we’d try our luck at Boom Pond Powerline. I’ve always liked the stand at Boom Pond Powerline because if you remember, I harvested a bobcat out of it last year.

ADAM: (Whispering) You on it?

ADAM: And this year the food plot is showing some heavy browse.

ADAM: (Whispering) This fall seems like we’ve had a, an abundance of southeast winds. We don’t have a lot of sets for southeast winds, especially for the afternoon on a food source except for Boom Pond Powerline, which we’re at tonight. There’s a lot of activity. Reconyx shows a lot of pictures coming. We’ve got radishes, Eagle Seed, Monster Wheat out in it. Radishes really starting to get worked over. They’re starting to remove most of the greens and starting to work on the actual radish part, so this afternoon we’re hoping that we’ll have some luck.

ADAM: (Whispering) You rolling?

BRIAN: (Whispering) Don’t move.

ADAM: (Whispering) Are you ready? Whoa! Finally!

BRIAN: (Whispering) Hey, about time we’re on the board.

ADAM: (Whispering) Put her there. Golly. She barely made it out of the food plot. I’ve never been so excited about a doe in my life. The last couple of days, the last couple of weeks just to get a doe in front of us. All we’ve been seeing are fawns. We set here about a week ago. Two fawns. This morning. We saw nothing last night. We saw two button bucks. It’s just everywhere we go we see fawns. Our luck has been terrible. Terrible. Put her there, buddy.

ADAM: She ran through like, I’m not sure where she ran through at, but here’s blood right there. Can you see that blood on there? You ready? There she is right there, brother. Look at that big ole thick coat. I tell you what if I was wearing that this, you know, last week, I’d have been sweating to death. It’s been hot.

GRANT: As you enjoy the renewable resources this year, think about the Creator that gave it all to us. I hope you and your family have a safe and enjoyable Christmas. Thanks for watching GrowingDeer.tv.