Please forgive me as I am very new to predator trapping. I just started trapping predators this year. I have used a couple different fox urines this year and have noticed that one had more of a skunk smell to and another that I used had no skunk smell to it at all. Is there a particular one that anyone prefers to use?

Thanks,

Ty

Not much urine on the market that I would trust to be 100% real urine. I'd trust Wayne Derrick's , Grawes and Reuwsaat are suppose to collect there own. There's a few other guys that are in the collection business. I collect my own for my own use.

Dont know about fox urine. But Grawes has good coyote urine.

If you can't trust the "good" urine a lure manufacturer sells, why would you trust any lure he makes & sells with urine in it??

Would you consider this "good" urine?
https://youtu.be/wYa26jY1NLA

I'll take it step further.... if you can't trust the quality of there lure ingredients they sell how can you trust the quality of their lure

I have used Reuwsaats urine with good results and it does have a "skunky" smell to it. He feeds his own fox and collects his own urine.

I have some Reuwsaat's coyote urine. Just started using it. It smells mighty potent to me. The last stuff I had from a different supplier was so mild that I couldn't smell it, and nothing ever showed much interest in it. I just checked wolf traps today that I had used Reuwsaat's coyote urine on, and the wolves hadn't been around but I had coyote tracks on the pan of three traps and two more that they had walked between the trap and the attractor on. All with his urine, and three of those had droppings, either coyote or wolf, with his urine on them (one had gland lure also) and they had dug all three of those out of the snow that had covered them.

So from my limited experience I would say his stuff is good.

It’s this “good” thing that’s bugging me! Nobody says anything about the “bad” but will label the “good” as “it’s good”. This is way too subjective for me, maybe not for others but I’m not concerned about others very much. LOL So I want to do more investigation of urines and do some objective testing. The urine in the little video was from a highly respected trapper/lure manufacturer. That coyote could have been caught if the trap was placed correctly for it but the body language was not good at all!

This year I have 2 urines that I plan on testing, one I’ve poured off the 1st melted and the other didn’t freeze at 15* whereas the “melted-off” one froze solid! Neither advertised with antifreeze and they do smell different! What’s the hap??

Reuwsaats and Graham for me

That coyote appears to possibly be camera shy.

I wasn’t thinking camera shy as much as submissive.

Nope, I don’t believe that because I’ve video numerous coyotes closer to the camera than that. Behind the camera was a field surrounded by woods that’s usually full of deer at that time of year and something could have been going on there. Also, in that same general vicinity, I had a coyote stop and look in that direction, turn and bolt, running directly at the camera passing the tree it was mounted in by 3’. LOL Nope, these cameras do not scare coyote.

Check this cat out at the same test location and see what you think about whether it was camera-shy or on alert after getting a nose full.
https://youtu.be/IkSfE6qZkr4

Red fox urine that has come from primarily meat fed animals are known to have a skunky type odor when it is smelled from a container no doubt. Ammonia is another prominent odor from meat feed animals as the odor will build up in a container and will bleed off constantly like skunk essence does.

Urine collected from some pen raised animals that are on a primarily dry food/grain content diet will be much milder in odor and lighter in color in my experience. Some collectors may cut their urines with water to extend the volume I suspect. I have got some urine in years past that I knew were not straight run urine and some very contaminated. Those you don't get anymore.

I collected urine for many years in my younger days so I know what urine should smell and look like. There are some good small producers out there but finding them and knowing they maintain good standards is another matter. Once some see how much work it is to maintain any operation some don't do it for long or the game laws make it difficult to run the operation to keep it profitable.

As far as animal reactions go to urine or lures, they can be all over the place. Just so many variables that come in to play. The animals age and experience, time of year, animal population, what manner the material was presented, what happened to the animal just before it came to the urine odor and its rank in the pecking order all contribute to its reaction.

With coyotes the slightest thing can have them on edge and very wary. They don't know if the animal that deposited that urine is close by or not? Did they have a recent experience with a trap set location and have a flashback experience or remembering a similar urine odor previously.

I have seen many reactions as well over the years and some visual ques are hard to interpret as to the real reason why. Just my years of trapping sounding off.

Wasn’t it Carman that once wrote that if you can’t find “good” urine, use a “good” gland lure?

My 2 cents

I haven't run cameras a ton but have probably seen 20 coyotes react to were a coyote has peed on camera. Never seen one be shy or submissive to real pee. Glands on the other hand I have. My simple theory is the smell of real urine says a coyote HAS been here, a really strong gland odor says a coyote IS here and that will spook some coyotes or make them real cautious. Loose theory at this point with my limited experience.

To be quite honest unless one has collected it themselves or actually seen animals react to a particular brand of urine on camera, now a days you just don't know what you have.Maybe if your catching animals regularly with a urine by itself you could feel confident it was good.And I feel pretty confident to say there are more poor quality urines out there than good.

Fresh deposited coyote urine in the wild has its own natural specific odor. Also, most of the resident animals know it also. Penned raised animal collection urine is quite different in odor and concentration once it becomes stored, exposed to the open air, it changes its properties. It is still that species urine, but it changes considerably. Most trappers on average in my opinion use too much lure and urine per set initially. I have seen that with my own experiences. When competition is high for food sources an animal's reactions are more aggressive and reckless. When numbers are low not so much.

Thanks for sharing. I'll put some I collected in front of a camera and see how they react to the pen collected stuff compared the fresh deposited stuff.

I had a well known lure and urine maker, that catches hundreds of coyotes a year, that he doesn't use a gallon of urine a year. Actually had 2 makers tell me that. Myself, I don't have much faith in urine. I can't see that it does anything for my catch. Pretty much have quit using it.

^^^^well said!