I'm doing some experimenting with hock glands and was wanting to know if its ok to leave the fat that surrounds the gland on? I'm going to partially freeze the fresh glands then grind them into a paste and add a few drops skunk, castor, urine and a little glycerin. Amounts will vary with the number of coyotes caught. Any insight would be appreciated.

I don't think it should matter much.

I think there was a discussion a while back as to whether the hock glands were actually scent producing glands or simply lymph nodes.

You might think about adding some gall to your fatty hock glands. Otherwise, the fat isn't going to do anything except render down when the weather turns warm. Gall in your lure does the same as it does in the body -- it breaks down fats.

I was asking about leaving the fat attached in as much as did it impart any type of essence of the hock gland being as it was attached to and surrounded the hock gland. If its not helping by adding to the lures attractiveness then I will thoroughly clean all the glands as I remove them from the coyotes. Or are you saying that the hock gland itself would benefit from the gall to help break it down? Naturally because these glands are so small it will take quite a few to collect enough to make an ounce or so, but we off to a good start and still have a good deal of our season to go before we call it quits.
Sniper, is there a test I might put to my dogs to see if they would react to this gland, one way or the other? Exactly how would we characterizer the hock gland? Is it an individuals certain scent along with urine or scat or is it more intricate than that? Maybe part sexual or part or the mating game? I'm just spit balling here so help me out if you have any ideas.

imo the fat does more for your gland lure than the pituitary gland

what Lazarus said

My thinking is that it is simply a part of the immune system(lymph node). Its not like the tarsal gland on a deer.