When it comes to reading sign we have a great canvas in the form of sand.
A small rain event can help provide some of the best recon you could ever ask for.
The road shows a deer on the left track and a big coyote on the right.
There is a set about a hundred yards up the road on the left.
The coyote is at his usual slow gait shown by the heavy tracks in the sand.
He remains in the right track for the most part until he's about ten yards from the set then makes a detour to the trail on the right..
Notice the shift to the right well before the set. He knows it is there.
The X marks the set.
You can tell that the coyote slows down to a walk just before the exit by how the tracks go from heavy to light.
He is most likely eyeing the set location as he goes by. The set is a cold remake.
The coyote goes thirty yards past the set then crosses back to the left side of the road following the game trail on the that side.
After another fifty yards or so the coyote merged back onto the road at cruising speed.
The next cold remake set on the same side of the road a few hundred yards away way was avoided as well.
This behavior is exactly the same as new object avoidance.
If you were to have put a hole, toy, or any other foreign object just off the two track a smart coyote will often times detour and avoid that stretch of road completely.
Think about what you present at your sets, especially along the road.