Coyotes and human scent

I agree with Scott completely, all of his observations are things I've seen while trappinp fox in the midwest and hunting and judging bird dogs.

One time we were hiking a human trail in a foot of snow, you could see where the coyotes would regularly cross the trail. On our return and hour later you could see where a coyote had come up to the trail after we had passed and turned around and headed back the way he had come. They weren't afraid of the trail just the fresh human scent on it.
 
I agree 100% with the observations in this article. On top of my personal experiences from being in the woods literally almost every day for the past 13yrs, in my past life I was a patrol dog handler and trainer for one of the largest LE dept.'s in the country. These guys/companies trying to hustle "cover scents" are simply modern day snake oil salesmen. I have remarked many times that I would make a $10,000 bet with any company that wanted to hide a person covered in their product out in the woods. The deal being that if one of my dogs could not locate them after one pass a 1/4 mile downwind of their location I would pay up, if the dog makes the bite they pay up
smile.gif
. Having personally seen dogs locate people hiding under piles of trash at a landfill and locate heroin wrapped in foil and cellophane while floating inside the gas tank of a running pickup truck, it will be a safe bet!
 
Very good article. Something all new coyote hunters should read, and re-read.

Years ago, I witnessed a coyote coming to my call from dead-downwind, at just over 1,000yds, trotting in on a ditch riders road. I knew he would get my wind, so I did not bother getting my rifle into position, instead, I grabbed my laser and started to track him. I picked him up at about 750yds, and kept scanning him as he came. At 491yds, he spun around and ran like heck.

So, at about 1/4 mile, this coyote caught my scent!

You can fool a coyotes eyes, you can fool their ears, but you can never, never, fool THE NOSE.
 
I also agree with this article.

From what I have seen it looks like the coyotes natural fear of human scent is the strongest fear of human scent. When I hunt in the middle of nowhere and see how coyotes that may have never smelled a human react, they will turn themselves inside out turning around to run off as fast as they can. It could be that some of these coyotes may have smelled some weak human scent before but never smelled human scent directly off of a human.

Coyotes that have smelled humans or human scent many times know what they are dealing with and act accordingly to stay out of any bad situations. From what I have seen these coyotes do not panic like the coyotes in the middle of nowhere that smell a human for the first time.

I have worked in some areas that don't allow hunting and there are vehicles driving around most of the time. The coyotes in these areas are not very afraid of humans and vehicles or the scent of humans and vehicles.
 
Originally Posted By: K-22hornet.Years ago, I witnessed a coyote coming to my call from dead-downwind, at just over 1,000yds, trotting in on a ditch riders road. I knew he would get my wind, so I did not bother getting my rifle into position, instead, I grabbed my laser and started to track him. I picked him up at about 750yds, and kept scanning him as he came. At 491yds, he spun around and ran like heck.

So, at about 1/4 mile, this coyote caught my scent!
K-22hornet, do you recall the wind speed, temperature, etc. of that hunt?
 
That being said ,what if any measures do you folks take to lessen the amount of your scent ? do you feel it is pointless to try at all ?
 
Originally Posted By: LodgepoleThat being said ,what if any measures do you folks take to lessen the amount of your scent ? do you feel it is pointless to try at all ?


I don't know if it's entirely pointless for everyone in all situations or not.

But I don't make any effort at all. I smoke cigars in the truck between stands. I fill the truck with gas, eat, fart, often sleep in my hunting clothes and don't change them for a couple days and then don't wash them when I get home. I'd rather just try and obey the wind than to lose out on all that good cigar smoking and farting and stuff.

- DAA
 
BTW... My partner often smokes cigarettes on stand. Have killed a lot of coyotes with him puffing on a 'boro.

- DAA
 
Originally Posted By: DAAOriginally Posted By: LodgepoleThat being said ,what if any measures do you folks take to lessen the amount of your scent ? do you feel it is pointless to try at all ?


I don't know if it's entirely pointless for everyone in all situations or not.

But I don't make any effort at all. I smoke cigars in the truck between stands. I fill the truck with gas, eat, fart, often sleep in my hunting clothes and don't change them for a couple days and then don't wash them when I get home. I'd rather just try and obey the wind than to lose out on all that good cigar smoking and farting and stuff.

- DAA

I’m with DAA on this one. There isn’t a scent blocker, masker, or cover in the world that is capable of beating a coyote’s nose. Use the wind to your advantage and be smart in your approach so as not to cross a trail you expect the coyotes to use while coming to the call. Setup in a location where you believe the coyotes you are targeting are up wind and make it difficult for them to circle downwind without being spotted. Be ready to shoot downwind.
 
Quote:Setup in a location where you believe the coyotes you are targeting are up wind and make it difficult for them to circle downwind without being spotted. Be ready to shoot downwind.

In the thick brush where I hunt, they are apt to come from any direction so its impossible to accurately predict the direction from which they will come, so we set up best we can to use what visibility there is to our advantage and know that we are busted by their nose probably more often than not.

Quote: Years ago, I witnessed a coyote coming to my call from dead-downwind, at just over 1,000yds, trotting in on a ditch riders road. I knew he would get my wind, so I did not bother getting my rifle into position, instead, I grabbed my laser and started to track him. I picked him up at about 750yds, and kept scanning him as he came. At 491yds, he spun around and ran like heck.


One extremely wet year found our hunting areas mostly flooded so we were limited even more in our choices as to stand location. One morning, we had to set up on a fence line w/wind blowing 10 mph or so straight down the two track. No visibility to the sides and downwind was a low spot about 200 yds. w/road covered in a couple of ft. of water. The (new) fence had a 2-2.5' narrow dirt berm pushed up to seal off any old crossings. Shortly after we started calling, a pair of coyotes came over the hill at the trot on downwind side (naturally). They hit the waterline and were coming in on a string, but at about 400 yards, the lead mutt turned inside out and almost ran over the #2 before it could grab reverse.

Yep, the nose knows just gotta live with it.

Regards,
hm

 
Originally Posted By: roxieOriginally Posted By: K-22hornet.Years ago, I witnessed a coyote coming to my call from dead-downwind, at just over 1,000yds, trotting in on a ditch riders road. I knew he would get my wind, so I did not bother getting my rifle into position, instead, I grabbed my laser and started to track him. I picked him up at about 750yds, and kept scanning him as he came. At 491yds, he spun around and ran like heck.

So, at about 1/4 mile, this coyote caught my scent!
K-22hornet, do you recall the wind speed, temperature, etc. of that hunt?


The temp was low 40's, wind blowing S-SE, more of a breeze really, so I would say well under 10mph. The humidity was typical Colorado, probably in the 20-30% range.
 
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