I mink oiled my boots, now how do I get rid of the smell?

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I shot a coyote last year that crossed my foot path twice. I had walked there a half hour before he crossed it. He had no clue I had walked there. It was dry ground too. I had rubbed my boots in some mud before walking out to my calling stand. He was about 20 yards from me when he crossed my path and I shot him at 35 yards.



There's your answer. Walk in mud and they can't smell your human scent! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif Problem solved and we all learned something. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif I hope criminals that are being tracked by police dogs don't read this. They'll just walk through mud and the police dogs will have no chance of finding them.
 
I never said that walking in mud with relatively scent free rubber boots totally eliminates human scent. I'm saying that in this particular instance, it diminished or masked my foot trail enough where a coyote with his nose to the ground passed over it without deciding it was an immediate threat to him. That particular area sees human foot traffic everyday, so it would be impossible for a coyote to walk anywhere without passing over human foot trails. But I think they decide whether or not that foot trail is an immediate danger depending on the strongness (let's call it number of scent molecules) of the scent. If it's really strong, then it's fresh, and that means immediate danger. If it's diluted, then it doesn't mean danger.

And that coyote was about 35 pounds by the way. Probably two years old minimum. I can't say how intelligent he really was. They all look the same to me.

Have you ever seen a rabbit hound pick up a hot fresh bunny trail out of all the dozens of bunny trails that are in a woodlot? why or how does that hound pick up on the freshest or newest one? It probably has to do with the number of scent molecules that are present on or just above the trail.

 
Mink oil , my friends , is made from rendered mink fat.....organic material , mink(wild animal) related . I have skinned many mink and they leave your hands soft and supple and smelly....same as a coon but no one would put coon grease on their shoes( leather products) so they use the mink . Ranch mink hardly resemble the wild cousin and carry a huge amount of body fat......it gets removed during the tanning process....and there you are , whole bunches of waiste fat and what to do????? make boot oil....it is great and smells..some brands more than others. It shouldn't make too much difference to the coyote and I wouldn't go too far out of your way to hide the fact from wild animals.....IMHO SM
 
"Christopher, you're comparing apples to oranges when comparing food sources to a fresh smelly human foot trail. And I don't think I've responded to anyone here with good advice disrespectfully. I'm just disagreeing with some people here, that's all. Deal with it."

No, your right, that last phrase wasn't disrespectful just snotty. Your whole post upto this point has been pretty snotty. I have "dealt with it", that is why I posted what I did. This may sound a little testy and it is. I've been a constant member of this board from the getgo and even attended a PM sponsored hunt so I know abit about Predator Masters and how it works. My time on this forum as of late has been very diminished for a couple of reasons but one in particular is that some yelp comes to play and the next thing you know they want to take over the sandbox. If you want some advise, fine. Listen to those who know. If you don't want to take it, fine, don't but don't keep coming back and telling them that they know nothing and you know everything.
Pay attention and you will see that WeasleUT has over 11,000 thousand posts. That isn't because he likes to type, maybe he does, it is because he has the experience to back up what he says. The rest of us that have been here for sometime know this and respect the man for it. If you don't want to listen to what he or any of the other members have to say then don't but quit coming back time after time trying to force us to believe what you are so determined to practice. If you want to be so annal about your scent trail so be it. Buy new boots for all that matter.
Christopher

I am editing this briefly as I had urgently attend to business and leave before I could finish. Anyone who is new to this board is welcome by all to register, chime in, learn, teach us older coots and enjoy. And we hope you do. I enjoy making new friends just like anyother feller. But please practice respect and restraint if you don't intend to agree with those you've asked a question of.
Take care and have a great time in the field, Christopher.
 
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Christopher, I think you make very good points.

We all don't have to agree or have the same ideas, just remain respectful.

Comments like "who cares" or "deal with" are disrespectful - and snotty - and just kind of scream "mall ninja". Sure doesn't do anything to encourage two-way communications.
 
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MB2...

I think you are missing the point here! It really doesn't matter whether your boots smell like kerosene or mink oil, they will always smell like human to a coyote! New smells can actually attract coyotes due to their curious nature but,if you walk in and the coyotes have to cross your trail, chances are they will bust you... regardless of being in a tree or on the ground.



This is probably the best advise so for. Coyotes are curious critters and new smells may or may not affect their coming to the call.

I have seen reference in this thread, and others for that matter, of where we as hunters try to overcomplicate things by thinking we know what the animal is thinking. It was even mentioned here that a coyote crossed a foot path and had no idea that he did. Maybe the dog smelled the whole thing and just wanted to come in anyway. Have also seen references to animals doing a dead stop at a foot trail and knowing it was human. How do we know that it was disturbed by the odor, maybe the animal heard something or got a rock in its shoe right there.

I am by no means saying that odor cannot affect a hunt but who is to say how it affects it, it's just speculation. Maybe the animal likes the smell of stale Pabst on your the breath in the morning or is intrigued by the odor of diesel fuel that was spilt on your pant leg leaving town. Who knows.
 
Christopher, I'll admit that a couple of my posts were smart alecky, but I wouldn't say snotty. And I started out very calm, cool, and collected. If you want to see a snotty post look at Weasels 2nd and 3rd posts, now dem are some snotty posts. And yeah he's got a buttload of posts and a lot of experience but he got pretty immoderate for a moderater. Look at all them !!!! and ?????!!! Reduntant puncuation is not moderate. So I blame that on my "snottinesss". (talk about mall ninjas lol) He made me do it!

So my apologies to you Christopher, and to Weasel. No offense, just disagreement. And I don't have a whole lot of experience with coyotes, but I firmly believe (and I base this on my experience of 20 years of hunting all animals) that with a little care and precaution, one can diminish the scent of a foot trail so it doesn't pose a threat to some coyotes.

Is that so hard for you guys to believe? Like I said, I watched a coyote walk across my 1/2 hour old foot trail! Twice! Now lets say I had just rubbed my boots in my armpits, and then made that same foot trail. Do you think he would have spooked? I do.
 
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Is that so hard for you guys to believe? Like I said, I watched a coyote walk across my 1/2 hour old foot trail! Twice! Now lets say I had just rubbed my boots in my armpits, and then made that same foot trail. Do you think he would have spooked? I do.



Don't know and neither does anybody else. At the end of the day it is still speculation. Not saying not to follow good practices but some of this stuff is just out of our control. In this situation you have no idea or proof that the coyote didn't smell something out of the ordinary, just didn't react to it the way we would think. By the way, I would have shot the coyote after the first pass, no sense getting too hung up trying to prove a theory.
 
He came in from behind me, the first time he crossed my path he was behind a bunch of brush, the second time he crossed he was in the field, about 2 seconds later I shot him.

Yeah your right it is all theory and speculation, but I think that a reasonable deduction can be made by observing the evidence.
 
MB2, WRONG AGAIN!!!!! I didn't get snotty until my 3rd post. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif Actually, I was called on it by a very good friend. He pointed out to me in a pm that I was being sarcastic. He knows that I've been under a tremendous amount of stress lately and it was coming across in my posts here. He wanted to rein me in before I got too carried away. Sorry 'bout the sarcasm. I really think that many people make this sport too complicated. At least too complicated for me. I like to keep it light and not stress about every detail. It makes hunts fun and not work for me.




Oh MB2, !!!!!!!!!???????
 
I've had coyotes bug out at the first hint of a smell and I've seen them walk right to me on the trail I walked in on. Look on a detailed map and you will see that SW Ohio is no wilderness, either. Do everything you can but in truth we will never be able to completely fool proof our set up. I would say that the mink oil is far more natural than the campmor silicone spray that many fellas use and they still have good results. Try rubbing coyote, fox or deer scent on the oil to mitigate the odor but it will probably need to wear off over time.

Weasle, I hope your situation turns to the better for you, Christopher.
 
No harm no foul, Weasel. Truth be told, I have yet to find someone who likes to argue as much as me. Nothing gets me going like a good ole spirited debate.

As for this debate, the only thing we accomplished is giving each other all a little perspective. I will continue to take small precuations in keeping my boots scent free. Whether or not it makes a difference is still speculative. But it sure gives me confidence and peace of mind. And it takes a whole 2-3 minutes out of my life to do it.

And we got hit with a foot of snow here last night and today. So foot trail scent is not an issue for the time being. A coyote would have to be blind to not notice a human foot trail now.
 
MB2, just to share some past experience...

I would not expect the sight if a human foot trail to have any impact on a coyote - assuming he doesn't get a nose full of scent and react to it. I suspect that to their feeble mind a footprint is nothing more than a hole in the snow.

When we used to get real snows (not anymore....) it was not at all uncommon to see coyotes following in your footsteps from the day before when checking you traps or in previous paths made while hunting. Same can be said for truck tracks through a field. If it has made the walking easier coyotes (all animals, actually) will follow the path of least resistance.

I remember one old coyote that was giving us fits until we got a tremendously deep snow. Turned traps over and anything you could think of to irritate us. His final undoing was a very deep snow where he took advantage of following the trail we had busted. A trap set in our footprint put an end to his shenanigans the first night.

I'm with Weasel. This stuff isn't as tough as some would have us believe.
Coyotes are wary with wonderful senses. But they are an animal with limited mental capacity.
 
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