What would you consider the difference between a curiosity lure and a call lure for canines? Loud smells like skunk essence? Seems like both can be complex lures.

Interesting question. For me loud skunky lures are Long Distance Call lures. It would be interesting to here each lure makers description of each. I bet it varies from maker to maker. From my point of view every lure and bait should call them in when they smell it. My lures I'd have a hard putting them in a category other than the LDC. They probably represent a bit of everything.

It drives me crazy when manufacturers give a generic name for a lure like "Coyote Special 500" and simply describe it as a great all season coyote lure. I want to know if a lure is a gland, curiosity, food, or call since I use them differently at different sets.

Call lures are lures that appeal to a variety of impulses of an animal. A call lure might have skunk, but not all skunky lures are call lures.

Curiousity lure is just something that your target isn't the familiar with.

In all do respect how can u use a curiosity lure different than a call lure when u don't know the difference between them.
Honestly I bet a bunch of formulations that fall under any category you want to put them have ingredients that your target animal isn't familiar with. And I bet a lot of the time those are the ingredients that give it the most attraction. Even a lot of gland lure are doctored with some pretty exotic ingredients.

Well I usually use call lures and curiosity lures in similar ways since I assumed them to be similar but wasn't sure what the differences are. But regardless, they're different than gland or food lures so I just wish manufacturers would give a little better description so I know what I'm buying. Some manufacturers do but not all.

Hard to really list everything on a lable. Or even a catalog.

I would agree that most lures today would come under the heading of call/curiosity lures. Food lures are obviously more straightforward. You can find straight gland lures that are purely the back end of whatever critter is being used with maybe only a bit of urine and preservatives added.

I tend to think we are out of the tight lipped era of luremakers so you can get most of them to at least admit to if a lure is straight gland or not. They're still not likely going to say what they're more blended lures are sliked with. If it is a common base they will generally admit to that. Or at least tell you what's not in if it you're needing some things that doesn't have say castor for guys doing nuisance beaver work

All lures have a curiosity factor, not many animals encounter these ingridients on a regular basis in that regard they are all curiosity lures
Just about any ingridient has a curiosity factor.

I tend to draw the line by areas as far as useing a curiosity lure for example
In the southwest some ingridients or bases are just less common
I want something with less common interactions as far as the target species.First lure i developed commercially is one called Freds Revenge
It works well for the purposes i needed and need it for. Attraction level on average on coyotes who have encounterd lots of diffrent scents in areas with alot of pressure Nothing magical just something i can say that is extremely diffrent. Also the scenario location and scent can be a extreme factor on curiosity with just about any lure. (Go to a place with a heavy coyote concentration and squirt red or grey fox urine on some droppings or a clump of grass or rock and see if it has a responce)

Curiosity lure is a loose one in my opinion as they all tend to raise curiosity to some degree

As far as skunk for call lures makeing it a "call" i think the definition of "call"is a good place to start, some inridients carry others very well but are not overwhelming
Other ingridients that are less used have a "call" ability but arent used as seldom as skunk essence. Best "call lures" i have used dont have a drop of skunk or not enough to smell as its used for a diffrent purpose is the lure


In short not much they tend to all do both to some degree

Very well written Trav. Time and place for certain stuff to be used...effectively.


Let me add....I think skunk is used as a call lure because we as humans can't get over the odor it has....and let's be honest here... the stuff does reach out to your nose.
I learned that rotted muskrat is a heck of a call lure here. Irv Schirmer taught me that. Irv felt that if he couldn't access a property he wanted to trap, he'd bag up some muskrat carcasses in some old burlap bags and hang them in a brushy fencerow. Fox, coyotes and even 'coon would be attracted to his traps on the next property over.
To me a call lure is any odor that entices predators from a distance. We are taught to set our traps on locations where the our target animals are traveling...call lures can help attract those animals to those general locations.
Just my take.

I'm a big advocate of skunk in LDC, but do you guys feel like it is overused? I also have a couple different LDC type lures without skunk that I have had the same if not better luck using at sets. I 100% agree that it reaches out and grabs the attention of everything around, but like Trav kind of noted some of the better lures he has used didn't have any skunk in them. I feel like the animals whether it be coyotes, bobcats or even raccoons get used to that skunky smell after encountering it enough. Just my thoughts.

I'd like to hear Mr. Paul Dobbins' thoughts on this topic if he sees the thread.

To me, a large smear of Gusto 6 feet up in a tree near the set is a call lure. The tiny tip of a toothpick dipped in the same bottle of Gusto and placed 8" down in the hole is now a curiosity lure. It's sometimes just a matter of application.

This.

For years i used Hawb. LD #600 as a LD call near sets. But just one drop down a dirthole worked good on grey fox