is it necessary???????

[chub618]

???is it really necessary to use rubber gloves and be operating room clean while setting k-9 traps.. or is this a bunch of hooplah from the past. looking for some other view points... me myself am not a big believer in being that clean...

[love2trap]

This is a good question and I look forward to the different opinions on this issue.

One of my thoughts is that most of us trap farmlands where the farmer drives his trucks/tractors throught the fields pretty regular. So, I would think that canines are pretty used to the smell of exhaust. With all the metal in the woods today (barb wire, wire fences, rusty machinery, etc.) I would think that canines are pretty used to the smell of metal/rust by now. And many canines (especially fox) living so close to suburbia and people, I think they are pretty used to the smell of people by now.

Having said all of that, I still try to take reasonable precautions when trapping canines. Clean traps, use gloves, and wear clean boots whenever possible. I think I do this as much for my peace of mind as anything.

Mark

[Edge]

You will never convince a coyote you werent there,ever,no matter how clean you are,period.

Just make sure that you limit your time at the set,and if you sweat a lot,wear gloves,if you dont,dont bother.

Any food related smells like blood or skunk should not be on the trap itself,*that*will cause digging;which is like Yale to a coyotes education.Or Ol Miss,whichever.

As was already pointed out,if you are trapping a farm,you can gt away with some farm related scent infractions;conversely,use speed dip in the sand plains and see how far that gets ya.

The more remote I am the more careful I am,but I do not try to convince myself I am "fooling" the coyotes nose.

Edge

[FWS]

This Week on Gappaman.com........

Steel Cage Grudge Match XI Cut-Copy-Paste Battle Royale!!!!

Wiley vs Asa

[Creek]

I find the use of cotton or canvas gloves to work just fine. I figure if you can connect on a coyote the first night then you must not be leaving to much human scent behind. Hopefully your lure, bait or urine used at the set overpowers your human scent thus making it hard for a coyote to detect you were there.

[trappnman]

Wileys on his 43rd year of house building and Asa ...well, I don't know where Asa is.

but I'll give my opinion....

I agree with Edge's statement- a coyote knows you are no longer present. I do wear leather gloves...part is to keep my hands clean...part is to keep the traps as scent free as possible ...and darn it all, part is tradition....

Do you need them? Probably not. Do they give you an extra coyote or two a year.? Probably...maybe.....yes

In any case, cheap enough and easy enough to do- I wear leather unless in mud, then wear multiple pairs throughout the day of cotton gloves.

I kept track one season- and found no difference in next day catches in traps set at 8 AM or traps set at 5 PM

[mostinterestingmanintheworld]

I've said it before. The only thing I can do with gloves on is pee my pants.

Joel

[Obejoyful]

I use a seperate pair of rubberized gloves for setting and lure application. Not because I think I'm hiding my scent from the coyote but because I like to keep my lilly white hands clean. Seriously though, that is the reason I continue to use gloves. Windmills with relatively clean water to wash up with are far betwean in the high desert. When I stop for lunch I'd rather not eat food that smells like gland lure.

[Edge]

**Wileys on his 43rd year of house building **

I would gladly greatly discount my services to speed up his operation,just to get hum here.

maybe talk about yote trappinwhile I was workin tho.....


Edge

[vttrapper]

Of course, we have no sand plains in Vt. , But use speed dip here and you will catch plenty of coyotes if everything else is as it should be on the line.

As far as operating room clean goes, no, not nessisary, but clean is a good thing to strive for on the line and in set building. I use leather gloves till it is too wet then switch to rubber just for the comfort of not having wet, chapped hands. In winter i use chopper mitts so my hands don't freeze.

frank

[Edge]

VT,

Sands Plains is up in Rob220's neck of the woods here in the UP.......so you're right,they aint in VT!

Thats the first place I tried speed dipped traps....eeeewwwww.The yotes embarassed me so bad,I havent been back since.

Sorry for the confusion.

Edge

[love2trap]

I don't trap yotes (yet ) but I have noticed that a new set for fox seems to connect more often on day two or three. I've often wondered if it had anything to do with the set "cooling off" and the human odors dissipating somewhat. Or maybe the lure toning down some.

Of course it could be that the fox just didn't come by that first night, but it happens enough to seem like a trend.

Anyone else notice this?

Mark

[love2trap]

Along the same lines as my last post (and in keeping with the topic of this thread)...

How long do you think it takes for human odor to leave a set area assuming you check from a distance?

Mark

[trappnman]

I've often wondered if it had anything to do with the set "cooling off" and the human odors dissipating somewhat. Or maybe the lure toning down some.

You have hit on one of my pet hobbyhorses- the cooling off threoy.

Keep in mind- I am talking about minnesota cooytes in a farmland situation- but all in all- fairly typical across much of the midwest.

I think that cooling off is a myth. To begin with, after a very short period of time, I believe- based on a lot of things I won't get into here- a coyote knows you are not present and is no longer concerned. A coyote comes across human scent many, many times over a day. He would be a nervous wreck if he overreacted each time he came across it. In my mind- a cooyte can most likely know what you had for breakfast- his nose is that good. If you set your set in daylight- he knows you aren't there that night.

I've made sets where farmhabds sat for lunch and sets where 3-4 biolgists were wandering around for 45 minutes- and caught yotes the next day.

Concerning lure- a coyote will go in and regularly feed on carcass piles that are so strong smelling- I can hardly breathe- and I am expected to believe a 1/10 oz of lure will "blow his nose"?

The myth is- a strong skunky lure won't work in cold weather, won't work in summer- bull.

Just like Tom put to rest the myth that beaver don't work castor mounds all year- I hope to put to rest the myth of strong lures not working all season.

They do. There might be some rare areas where they don't- but in talking to coyote men all over this country and Canada- I know that strong lures work all season in most places.

So why the delayed reaction to your sets? Could be it took 2-3 days for the fox to find them.

My theroy- the set looked unnatural in its presentation. It took 2-3 days for the weather (wind, sun, dew, etc) to soften it up and blend it in well. Then the canine would work it.

I personally feel- that except for odors on the trap- that the #1 reason for refusals and "being lucky" are improper visuals.

[Dusty]

Hmmmm, where to start?

You ain't fooling anyone. My dog has been close to tens of thousands of sets, and he's NEVER been caught. I tried to catch him a couple times in order to show him it was a bad idea, but he learns faster than I teach. Set a trap, come back in two weeks with the dog, and he knows it's there. Spill some lure, and he's all over it.

Snares are another story - he DOESN'T get them - no matter if I just set it while eating pizza with one hand and mixing lure with the other - he just can't see them.

I do try to be as clean as possible, but that doesn't mean being paranoid about scent. It doesn't even mean boiling my traps every year. I don't carry traps and bait in the same container (if I can avoid it...), I do carry cotton gloves and change them often, but that's about it. I'm in a hurry for other reasons - maybe that's the secret.

I don't care how many critters I catch the first night. I care how many I miss while the trap is set. If I thought that was much more than none, I'd change my ways.

I don't use speed dip because I can't get the crap to dry. I do use paint on lots of conibears and a few foot traps, and it doesn't seem to deter critters. I haven't been brave enough to paint my wolf traps yet.

I do (kinda-sorta, sometimes) believe the cooling-off theory, but for different reasons. You'll never convince me lures - any of them - are anything more than a curiosity. I won't believe coyotes are so damn stupid that they can't tell a hole in the ground - no matter what it smells like - will feed the family for the winter or make a good mate or whatever. They trot by, say "what the hell is that supposed to be?," and go get hung up. Unless they can tell exactly what it is from 10 feet away because you've use a half-bottle of lure. Then there's little incentive to really check it out, so they trot right on by until the scent becomes weak enough to encourage them to go up and stick their nose in it.

[love2trap]

Steve,

Interesting thoughts! I'm sure we've all caught canines on the first check, but that isn't my question.

On a new set-up, do you connect more on the first night, or second-third nights? I'm not talking about remakes, but new location and new sets.

I seem to connect better on 2nd and 3rd checks.

Maybe it is the set ageing in and becoming more natural, but the flip side is the natural earth smell attraction is fading as well the longer it ages...so I consider that a wash. So what else could cause the delay?

Mark

[foxtrappersteph]

I have the same problem love2trap. Put sets in and takes a couple nights before a fox gets tangled up. The last 2 years though its enough to get a fox at all, or I have them pooping all over the backing and not hitting the pan. Also a digger pestered me last season.

What I find most interesting in my fox trapping history is that one of the first fox sets I made had a reaction the 1st night- the fox rolled on the set! I was told I overlured, imagine if I hadn't, I still wonder if a fox would have been sitting there looking dumb the next morning instead of a fired trap with fox shoulder fur stuck in it.

[love2trap]

Hey Steph,

I don't really consider it a problem so to speak, as I plan to be there for a week or two at least. One night before my sets begin to produce heavy, really isn't a big concern.

But, I've often wondered why it is though and if there was something I could do to minimize it.

Mark

[trappnman]

All I can say- if I put in 5-10 new sets- I'll be skinning coyotes out of at least a couple of them. New locations I should add.

I don't see much difference in 1st night, 2nd night, 3rd night....etc. Often the delay is simply the coyotes haven't been there yet.

I honestly don't think 1) human odor left at set 2) too intense lure matters 1 iota.