How many guys use a ground cloth when setting for canines in order to cut down on human scent?
How many use gloves for setting canine traps?


I realize the human scent or as one of my old instructors called it, you aura, has been discussed many times.

Just curious as to what different trappers think and how they do things.

I know lots of guys do not even place human scent on the radar, as another instructor of mine said.
Others are a bit careful, but not much thought is given to being scent free or attempting to keep it down.

Old school guys used to be paranoid about scent.

Steeltraps posts got me to thinking about this the other evening when he mentioned he used a ground cloth.

Thanks for any responses.

Mac

I use gloves to keep my hands from being beat up. Also kneel on a gardeners kneeling pad to keep my knees dry in wet conditions or from getting beat up on hard rocky ground. I don’t worry about scent so much, it’s always going to be there everything clean down to the wax or w.e you choose to coat a trap with to protect it gives off a odor that just wasn’t naturally there. I just worry more about be on location and getting in making the set and getting out as quick as I can.

I wear gloves for setting, different gloves to apply bait.
Kneel on garbage to keep knees dry, and wear knee hi rubber boots.
Set with clean tools, check traps only not settings new traps.

Like the others posted, I wear gloves to keep my hands from getting beat up any worse than what they are now and use different gloves or bare handed to apply bait and lure. Got a good pair of knee pads to save my knees and a good pair of muck boots to keep my feet warm and dry. Not that human scent doesn't matter as I know I can't eliminate it but I do try minimize it somewhat. I wax and dye my traps to help keep them in good working order and not so much to minimize my scent. I feel a good lure or bait will over ride caution and make them work my sets.

I wear gloves just to protect my hands. Got knee pads for rocks and keeping dry. Our winters don’t get like they do up North so it’s very rare I’m not sweating while setting traps. I don’t trap high K9 areas, so I can’t say if what I’m doing is wrong or not. I don’t have sandy soil to see tracks to tell if I’m being ignored or rejected. I try and keep traps clean and not spend an exorbitant amount of time setting. All my sets can be driven to close enough to see if a deer has tripped the trap or not, so no human scent left from checking. All but one property has daily travel and human scent left around at one point or another along the line. Working properties are just that way, especially now during burn season. I picked up a coyote last Sunday on a set that had been sitting unmolested for 2 solid weeks, and she came in sometime during the daylight hours. She wasn’t there that morning check, but was waiting on me when I went to the pond that evening. I would love to find a property with a high coyote population and see what actually works and what doesn’t. Right now it’s sit and wait until one passes through and hope you’re on point.

Kneel pad, dipped gloves cotton backs, rubber boots in and out as quick I can be.

X2

For me gloves & kneeling pad just for comfort. Solidly bedded traps are the main thing in trapping

That's an interesting topic and you will get an argument on either side, that will always be debated.
The thing is , no one has ever set a coyote down , asked it a question and got an answer, so it's all speculation. . .

That said : I haven't noticed where coyotes shy away from human scent that much and the reason is I 'bait' all my areas where I trap predators.
I do it in advance and try to keep it baited all season long, I say " try ", because that's not always possible, but then I have access to a lot of bait, and I mean by the truck and trailer full.

Coyotes are quick to figure out 'what's going on' and they are also quick to take advantage of it.
Coyotes (and foxes) are opportunist and are just as much a scavenger at times, as they are a predator.
They know humans are bring in those scraps. How else would they get there ? Drop out of the sky ?

As far as knelling cloths, gloves etc. , I seldom use anything to knell on, unless it's wet and when it's sloppy wet, as it often is here, I use a truck mud flap, which works real well.
I can't squat very long, like I once could. Age has caught up with me and knelling is just easier.
O'Gorman once said 'he didn't have scent pads on his knees' and that made a lot of sense to me, as I figured I didn't either. . .
But, I hate mud and being wet and muddy.
Mark Zagger might like mud, but I'm not a fan , so in wet weather, I use a mud flap, not to keep a coyote from detecting me, just to keep me dry.

Gloves, I use them and everything from cloth, to leather to those you find in most auto parts shops that fit real snug are my favorite.
They protect my hands and that's the reason I use them.
Footwear, usually a leather boot, unless again, it's wet and then a rubber boot. I don't like to have wet feet all day long.

I don't take a lot of precautions to avoid 'leaving scent' , as coyotes know I've been there anyway.
Most snares I set bare handed.
I try to keep my hands clean of all bait odors, gas, etc.
I don't smoke , so that isn't a problem and while tobacco users certainly have an odor to them, I'm not sure animals pay it any mind.
Maybe some do. I know a lot of smokers that catch a lot of fur.

Cotton gloves and a kneeling pad is what I use. Been thinking about switching to knee pads. Muscle memory making a dirt hole, in and out.

I wear hip boot for kneeling and fold them down after the set is made

I concur with LT GREY's comments.

That would be a first. . .

With semi urban yotes around me they smell people all the time. Human scent is a matter of how strong it is. Human scent has been around many many meals for a yote. Garbage, house cat, gut piles etc. It’s tolerated. Strong human scent is something to be worried about. My biggest catches are usually on a waterway or ditch that leads right into town. If I was trapping wilderness yotes I would probably be more careful. Most of the stuff I wear or use ( gloves , knee pad , boots etc) is for my comfort not the yotes nose. He knows your there just try and leave the least amount of scent you can and get out. That way the scent is weaker thus building his confidence. This is the reason I feel the third night is so good. Your scent has dissipated every day but the lure and bait still stink.

Same

I use a tarp because I want to catch a coyote 15 mins after I have left the trap set. I have done this a few times already. I agree with LTGREY , their is nothing 1 can do to keep coyotes from smelling you. Slim one said = Its foolish for 1 to believe that their is ANY we can do to fool the coyotes nose completely = When a blood hound or resuce dog can pick up a humans trail 3 days latter. And a coyote smells better than a blood hound . But on the other hand , some people catch lots of coyotes with No ground cloth no gloves or anything else. So people are so scent crazy and parinod that they would wear a scent suit rubber boots rubber glove inside a bubble IF they could! LOL! So where in the middle is where I land. I like the tarp = because it makes flat sets cleaner. And has increased my first night catches over the past 4 years by 25% or more. Do I use a tarp always? NOPE, never used it in West Texas. But in Alabama? yep , every set .

Good post Mac
I’ll throw this out for thought...around here it seems to depend on the overall population.
Example...when we had coyotes literally every where...I often checked sets at lunch wearing my
school contaminated shoes and clothing and caught coyotes after making remakes in that wardrobe.
That same year remake sets caught lots of doubles and triples. This year coyote population was sparse
and it seemed that the coyote was on edge. I had to use setting cloth and ultra clean traps. About that...
I usually clean up my gear by knocking the crud off then snapping my trap off and clean out my spring holes. If the trap made a catch or shows rust bad it gets washed down and then dipped in PBTD.
If the trap didn’t make catch or is fairly clean I just wire brush it off and adjust pan tension and put it in the
trap storage box. I caught a hundred twice using these methods with very few issues.
Just my thoughts...

Anything I wear on the line is weather dependent. There was a time where I wore cotton or leather gloves for setting and a separate pit of rubber gloves for bait and lure but I quit that and never went back. Can’t say there’s a bit of difference.

My setup has evolved over time.
Clean rubber gloves or clean leather gloves to set.
Brown jersey gloves for bait, lure, and urine.
Other gloves for driving atv or side by side.
Now I wear nice knee pads to kneel down.
Leather boots unless sloppy out then rubber.
I am in and out so fast plus by now on autopilot that sometimes I don’t remember what I did. Just kidding about not remembering.

I really appreciate all the responses. Thanks to all that posted.

Mac