I was paging through a 1950 FFG magazine and ran across an old coyote lure formula. It called for a half ounce of asfoditia (spelling?) per half pint of lure. Does this seem like too much? Thank you.

8oz is 1/2 a pint. A half ounce of good asafetida would be a lot of that material for a batch of lure that small. It would certainly have a strong presence in the lure once it has aged a while. At least in my experience that amount of material would be a dominate odor using the material that we make in house.

Back in those days there probably wasn't as much science to it as there is today and just threw it all together no matter what.

Make a batch and see what you think. Coyotes are curious to many odors, the only way to find out is to make a batch and see how it works for you.

It is sort of a yes and no answer, as some old lures were not aged so allow the components to permeate through the entire lure. If you were making a shake and bake lure like Roy Kuykendall was using from the old wolfers, those lures were like sourdough and added to as they were depleted, so you started out with a larger concentration and then was lessened by adding more material from urine to scat.

A half ounce is about three times the "norm". I will post a few Asafoetida lures below for you to compare to the FFG formula. You should take into account though how the author was intending to use it, as in other ingredients or to the point was this a long distance call or an early season. Asafoetida is of the matrix or passion ingredient category. It was used straight as an attractant. Not to discredit the author, but they might have not known what they were doing either.

These are the measurements for reference. Remember powders require more time to work their way through a lure than a liquid.


1 ounce liquid 568.262 drops
1 ounce powder 4.800005 (Imperial measurements)



Lures for reference


Winchester Coyote Gland (Coyotes - Foxes - Bobcats)

1 quart Coyote Glands
1/2 quart Coyote Urine
1/2 quart Propylene Glycol
1/4 capful Rue Oil
1 capful Ambrette Musk
1/4 capful Lovage Oil
1 teaspoon Asafoetida Powder



Coyote Lure:

1 Pint Coyote Urine
1 oz. Civet Musk
1 oz. Beaver Castor
1/8 oz. Asafoetida
1/8 oz. XYOL(also known as White Musk)
1/8 oz. Zinc of Valerate
20 Drops Rhodium Oil
20 Drops Cummin Oil
10 Drops Anise Oil
10 Drops Lovage Oil

Mix well

I am going to add an old formula attributed to Bill Nelson, for reference as some of the formulas had the kitchen sink in them, and notice the small quantity used as this was concentrated. That could be what was the reasoning behind the FFG formula in a little went a very long way.

I hope that helps.



Nelson's - Coyote # 1 Formula
In a Clean Quart Jar Add:

3 oz. Ground Tonquin Musk Pods
2 oz. Ground Muskrat Musk
1 oz. Ground Beaver Castor
1 oz. Mink Musk
1/2 oz. Asafortida Tincture
1 tsp. Lovage Oil
1 oz. Ambergris
8 oz. Rotted Mice Juice

Fill jar with Fish Juice and mix very well. Allow to age in a warm place for a month. Use 6 drops at set.

Do they mean asafetida/riceflour powder or a tincture? Doesn't really matter. No two different suppliers have the same strength of product. I think your better off to come up with your own amounts. The nelson formula calling for 3 ounces of deer musk posted above. That would over power a 5 gallon bucket of rotted carp.

My initial reply was a brief answer to a question.

However, after reading Star Flakes response I would agree with some of his assessments. Depending upon the century and the era, lures and baits were quite simple and probably made as a ready to use product in many cases.

Some of the old time trappers may have realized that after a bit of aging or carrying the lure around for a while that it changed in smell and even got better. We can only assume this may have been the case.

Also a note of fact, back in the day when men lived in the wilderness for extended periods of months roughing it so to speak they most all would stock up with basic items as best they could prior to heading out living in the wilderness for a while.

Some of those basic items were sourdough starter, cooking utensils, flour, coffee, jerky, salt, some seasonings/spices, a good rifle, adequate powder & round balls, knives, fire starting materials, bedding and outer wear just to name a few. Remember they had to pack all they could on horseback / mule back and packhorse which many needed to pack all their gear in and out along with their fur and traps if they didn't stash some equipment after they pulled their line to save weight on the trip back to sell their fur.

As was stated, I agree that many trappers back in that era added to or replenished their lure as they needed on a demand basis. I don't know if they worried much about the quick mix fix lure making. I would have done the same I am sure if I didn't have other knowledge that may have influenced my decision differently. Things were basic and more simplified in the early years no doubt.

I wouldn't think they had more then 3-5 ingredients in a basic formula back in the early years depending upon how far you go back in time. Other ingredients became more popular and available thru the years that created many versions of various furbearer attractants.
I would think some of their spices and seasonings served double duty for food prep and lure ingredients along the way.

I imagine that they carried their lure in some sort of "animal part" pouch that had been water proofed with grease or fashioned a container from an animal horn much like a powder horn of sorts or a tin can. I don't think their were many glass or Tupper wear containers to carry their stink around with them. As rough as those fellas were on things I often wondered how they carried some items without breaking.

I don't understand a lot of stuff about those old formulas. Why would you want two fixatives, ambergris and tonquin (even pods rather than grains) let alone in such large amounts? If I wanted to start playing with that "nelson" formula I would omit both fixatives. Doesn't really need one with those glands. Might add some deer smell to it though. Maybe from the hooves or a little tarsal. I suspect that would be a pretty effective lure though with just

2 oz. Ground rotted down Muskrat Musk
1 oz. Ground Beaver Castor
1/16 oz. Asafetida Tincture
8 oz. Mice Rotted down in a little rain water
1 oz of glycerin if some anti freeze is needed

Disclaimer: I haven't used the STARTING point I describe above but would not hesitate to do so. Just showing what I do with some of those old formulas. I think trying them as published is why a lot of trappers give up on making their own attracters.