Ron I agree 100% with your assessment and experience. Mine have been the same. I tell younger trappers all the time about what you said. They have to and will learn this about some animals. The longer they are out and about living their daily routines they all develop a learning curve. Those that survive that long become the 20 or so %. That is what becomes the reproductive percent that keeps the Eco system in balance and continues to produce off spring.

That is of course until nature with some disease or other calamity takes place to a population in an area or region. I get lots of first night catches on fox and coyotes. However as the season progresses it becomes more maintenance on your line as you aren't putting out a lot of new sets daily either.

You may do fill ins with sets here and there but the initial sets are just sitting in wait for a visitor. I am speaking of the average trapper that is. Some keep setting new areas and rotating sets daily to some degree. That doesn't include your remakes. I don't worry about human odor much but it does factor into responses at times.

I don’t disagree with anything you guys are saying , in fact what you guys have said on here over the years has made me look harder at what I do from year to year. This is why I think my population being lower than say six or seven years ago has made a big difference in responses. As I play with these ( natural ) baits and see a good response it’s hard to tweak them if you will . As an example the response I get from beaver tail chunks from a three year old jar of oil in a pipe tells me not to mess with it. I would love to grind it just to make it easier to put in a pipe , but it works now .

I really agree with what you say you noticed on your line. It seems like when you have a larger family group, each individual is more likely to work a set. To me, it seems like a similar response to a dog eating his food as fast as possible when other dogs are in the house vs just casually eating when left alone. Maybe that coyote that absolutely refuses to work the set, or even acknowledge its presence, was always one of the 20 %, but maybe it wasn’t.. ? Maybe if his kin folk hadn’t already been removed, he would be more apt to try to hurry up and get that hidden bait before his brothers and sisters found it. Always more questions than answers.
Matt

Matt, I call it the competition effect. I really go into detail on it when I am giving deer scent and bait talks to deer hunters, but the same absolute is true with trapping K9 or other furbearers. The larger the family group or population levels and limited source or product, the higher the competition response from, what I call the 80%. The 20% is there hanging back and not noticed unless someone is right there watching. Even still cameras miss it because they are hanging back and letting the others on the bait or lure. Videos will show them though. As the numbers in the group drop for whatever reason, taken by trappers natural death or dispersal of those young ones, then the 20% are easier to see and it gets really frustrating to see them just look at the products or not even pay attention to them even though they have been doing it all along. That's why I like to see my late summer early fall testing, Makes me feel better about my products compared to what I see late winter early spring on the same products LOL With all the states banning Natural deer urine and parts deer scents, I am in the finale test phase of non-natural deer urine/parts scent. I am not looking forward to this as I will be just sitting in trees for a few hours a week from now till August with a video camera just watching the deer work the scents, so I can present to the deer hunter how to use the scents and what behaviors should be seen.

3rd night has always been the best night for me Yes Sir. Been saying that for a long time. I get my share the first and second night but night three is the one. Yes sets that haven't hit for a week or more will catch a coyote. Left in cause its easier to check it than pull it. That 80/20 thing works for coyote and cat sets after 4-5 days too. Some sets will just keep catching every day or two for awhile.

If you want to really get folks barking tell them 80% of cat sets that hit will hit in the first 3-4 days.

I also think your 110% right about using natural and quality components. They are not easy to find and not cheap when you have to buy them. Like Cletus I am a big fan of spoonbill oil. I am hoping this rain gets them up to Osawatomie this year. I have a half quart left. Stuff cant be beat for anything you want fish oil for.