Im not so sure about that. I have set traps drunk and sober. Still caught coyotes!!! LOL!!

You ever been full of german weisse beer and korean kimshee drunk?
I swear you could smell that upwind in a tornado.

People put a lot of stock in 'human scent' left behind, however, I never did very much.
All the years I spent dumping 'butcher ' scraps, taught me that coyotes knew I was there regardless and didn't much care.
They expected to smell human scent there.
How else did that bait pile get there ?
It didn't fall from the sky !

The only times I've noticed that a coyote feared my scent at a set, was when I showed up with a gun !

I suspect animals have the ability to "age" scent. They know the difference between recent on not recent smells.

I have caught plenty of coyotes the first night setting out a line. As far as the time frame of 3 days like stated it just may be the time it took for one or some to come by your sets. There are always variables to such discussions about human scent. I have not been concerned with that for the last 55 years.

When I was young and listened to the old timers talk I was always concerned about human odor. Now just about anything goes and you will catch predators.

Set with bare hands, pee and poop close by, dip your traps in a fuel soluble coating, paint them or set them dirty, un waxed, set out of the box and rusty. I have done all those things and caught coyotes. Imagine that. I know, many won't believe it.

These are not things I do on purpose, however they are all things that have happened over the years just because that's life on the line at times.

The cool thing nowadays for $150 u can buy a trail camera that works good on coyotes and one can learn from them yourself. I've watched over 100 videos of coyotes working sets in the last 4 months.

I also believe that human scent a factor in some place but not in others. You go down to South Texas near the border where the coyotes are thick as flies and you will catch them easy. BUT go to West Texas in sheep country. And you better come correct. Drop cloth clean gloves and traps are a must for sheep killing coyotes

I wonder how many generations of trapper vs sheep killer have gone on. If you believe in Darwin.

i DON'T KNOW MUCH. I have listened and watched my hounds track and trail game animals when they are hunting for 50 years. So with your ears and GPS you can pretty much tell what they are doing (GPS made a liar out of a lot of us!). I try to draw parallels of scent tracking/hunting between the two types of canines and how they use their noses to find and start a track or set. The coyotes I have watched on camera, tracked in the snow, and observed calling, seem to be of two distinct camps when regrading scents. The one camp shows indifference and almost nonchalant reactions to human and scents that don't interest them much. Hard to describe but it is like they are so familiar with it that they acknowledge and know it is there without a lot of fanfare. Snow tracks show where they came over, sniffed, hardly broke stride and left at the same pace/stride at which they approached. Just really not that cautious or interested or leery enough to warrant more or different actions - from their tracks..... The 2nd camp is a different story. I always say when you "turn that nose on" you are in a different ball park. They will slow down on the approach, and I am guessing from their tracks that they are constantly testing the scent of the site. They pace (my favorite reaction), they scratch, they circle and/or stride out on a run based on the camera and their tracks. You get a lot of these reactions and others when "you turn that nose on" with some scent - be it human or otherwise. My guess is they have had some exposure to that scent or it is so activating their nerve center that reactions can be the fight or flight others are talking about. So two things here from my observations............................... 1. That indifference shown by Camp 1. coyotes have prove difficult for me to catch when I was younger even though they don't seem overly spooky or scared of recent human activity. Just another scent to them. Camp 2 coyotes indicate a reaction that can make them almost attracted to human scent and its past presence. I said "Almost",,, as included in this camp are the shy and leery ones that have a learned behavior causing their immediate retreat from the site...................... As 2 side notes ... No one has talked about humidity affecting scent and that has been a big thing with my hounds tracking/smelling. I'm convinced it does affect a coyote too on how much and easily it can discern the nature of the scent. And........ long long ago way before Covid showed up and caused prices to skyrocket, I used latex gloves (the inside coated with talcum powder) as a pan cover slipped over the pan and frame cross piece. It was inexpensive and convenient - caught coyotes the next day with no refusals I could tell in the snow and mud tracks. So someone want to comment on that technique? Told you I DIDN"T KNOW MUCH... Still don't....................................... the mike

Having watched my bird dogs as a young man, I can tell you that on dry years it was tough for my dog to pick up the sent on birds. I'm sure that may follow through as well for coyotes or any other animal.

I hunted bird dogs for quite a few year and agree really dry ground made it hard on them. But we had a beagle that could track pheasants in the driest of conditions. Would have never of guessed there could have been that much of a difference in their nose but there clearly was. I actually shot a fair number of pheasants over that crazy beagle. His barking on track seemed to actually make those birds hold tighter sometimes.

I think Wayne Derrick talked about in a interview on trapping radio where there was a coyote he couldn't catch. Said got down to where he figured that coyote knew him. Said he brought in another trapper let him set and he caught him

And the Crimson Tide was picked to win the SEC

I never used a drop cloth unless I was kneeling in pure mud or very wet conditions.
If it is too wet, I've used a mud flap from a truck, but that's a specif circumstance.
I normally just kneel on the ground, with one or both knees.
I don't have scent glands on my knees, after all, and when you are tall, it is much easier than squatting, especially as you get older.
I have killed coyotes year-round that kill calves, poultry, and even yes, even sheep.

I'm the least correct person you'll likely meet and I still get paid.
Coyotes aren't ( for the most part ) spooked by human scent at a set.
Calling ? Yes
When they can't see you ? Yes
But not at a trap or snare location. . .( again ) at least for the most part.
Unless you're oversaturating an area, by being there too much, then yes, you'll see where the coyotes will move out.
What I meant was, for the most part, the human scent does not spook a coyote at a set.

Set the trap, get in, get out and leave it alone.
That's killed a lot of coyotes for me and most trappers I know.

We are creatures of habit. I've often wondered if we don't sometimes leave clues that we aren't even aware of. And not just trapping either.

I called in a coyote just a few days ago that absolutely turned inside out and high tailed it for the territories when he hit the path I walked in on.

Mind you, he was well upwind of my physical position when he did so, and granted, my track was just 10-15 minutes old when he hit it.

If you have coyotes that have a laid back attitude to human scent, consider yourself lucky. But realize, once you start killing those coyotes, you’re GOING to start running in to some that don’t have that same laid back attitude.

I’ve seen time and time again coyotes hit my tracks in snow, stop, and beat feet out of Dodge.

Every coyote has a threshold of human intrusion it’s willing to accept as safe. This varies from individual to individual within a population.

Boone thats well said. So dogs are dumb. So dogs are smart. We have stupid people. Why can we have stupid coyotes? LoL ! The more you are in pressured country the hard the coyotes may get to catch Maybe

LT Grey. I start with the tarp about 5 years ago. Noticed about a 30 % incress on my first night catches. Thing about a tarp is I can make much cleaner sets with it than without. When I spent 5 days with James Lucero. He told me = Make it look like it did before you started making the set. I have a 5x5 tarp. I took lesson from Lucero because I wanted to learn more about = the old ways. Some coyotes are individuals So are easy some are hard to catch. I want to set ever trap. Like im going after the = badest sheep killer in West Texas.

Someday I’d like to trap coyotes in a place with no selection pressure, completely un-exploited, high population. Somewhere like LA County where they’re completely accustomed to non threatening human intrusion and probably even associate the sights, sounds, and smells of humans with food.

I bet I could get away with a whole lot of shenanigans…..for a while.

Boone, I did this in San Diego. It was insane.

x2, I figure about a week or so they would be a bit less responsive LOL...
A well formulated lure takes a lot of their fear of us out of the equation but over time it loses it's newness. From what I've witnessed some coyotes actually follow , some not so much. But I think they ponder sets and smells and return later to investigate closer. It takes patience to get those to comit. Stay away from those locations, check from a distance. Some will lay up close and ponder the situation. It takes time for the caution light to change from yellow to green...