I know this will get some different responses. I kinda have an idea where this thread is going to go but I thought I'd ask anyway. The reason I ask is because I watch YouTube videos from guys that seem to do pretty good. Their scent control is almost non-existent and they seem to get away w/ it. Then I watch others and they are pretty strict in their scent control practices. They do well also. I'm just learning this game this winter. It's been fun and educational. However I think I may need to step up my scent control game and reduce my human impact to set areas. I do know from 45 years of bowhunting that deer will quickly avoid areas that are overhunted. Same logic should apply to set locations that have been devoid of human activity all year then suddenly get impacted every other day or two.

There is various schools of thought on this, but as a general rule reducing your scent signature can't hurt your odds. The other approach to this is to make yourself a part of the landscape, don't just start showing up to trap, be there all the time and have your smell become normal. Once an animal comes across your smell a few times with no consequences, in theory your scent shouldn't be alarming to them. I follow both thought processes, I'm a normally occuring phenomenon to the animals around my traplines, but I still try to minimize my presence at an actual set location. I can't trick a wolf into thinking I was never on the trail, but I may fool him to thinking I didn't stop to do anything he should worry about

I read an article a few years ago about how they where training dogs to detect cancer cells in the human body. Bif a canine has the ability to do that then there is no way you can make a set scent free. At best you can do is minimize your scent. I used to do take extreme measures but not so much any more. Like TT said, don't let them associate your smell with trouble.

I agree with AK Timber, I try to reduce it as much as practicable but I don’t go crazy. You’ll never fool their nose, they know you were there. I use separate leather gloves that I keep hand in a big pocket when handling steel or snares. If I remember, I’ll rub the snare with a piece of spruce or whatever is near buy. Just grab it between the thumb and forefinger and run the cable through. It’s easy, only takes a few seconds and might help.
Sweat (or shnot from your nose when it’s super cold) is a no go, or having a couple others with while setting and they’re bored and tromping around, I hate that and usually just put my gear back on the sleigh and move on. “This is a waste of time boys. Sit on the machine and wait”….lol.
I’m a terrible teacher. If they want to see what wolf trappings about, they should’ve showed up at the free course last summer.

As others said, try to minimize your scent at the set, and in particular on the traps. Then if possible check your traps from a distance. Or ideally if they are beside a road/trail drive by them without stopping or stepping foot on the ground. If you minimized your scent in the first place, what you did leave will dissipate in a couple days and as long as you don't keep refreshing it by tromping around your sets, they won't be on edge because of your scent.

I think it’s a matter of location as well as previous exposure to man-made smells. I’ve taken 2-3 coyotes in the same trap at the same location, a couple of times. Those traps were dirty, and a bit rusty after the 2nd catch but they kept catching. The location was frequented by people, tractors, a neighborhood dog and so on. They didn’t seem to care, though I made it a point to be clean when resetting.

Virgin territory is a different matter. I think people smell foreign to wildlife so they try to avoid us. Trapping clean never hurts.

Set and get out, they gonna smell you no matter what. Some critters shy away and some don’t care.
Curious why you think you need to step up your game. Not catching? Has the place been trapped before? More important, are there critters there?
Generally my first year on a property has me looking like I should have my own channel and website. By year 3 I’m starting to wonder if I should call it quits, lol. I hit my properties twice a year. It will NEVER be like the first year it was trapped, lol. Did they learn me that first year? Or did they learn my smell after twice a year for a couple of years and just avoid the property? Either way it’s a win for the landowners. They get no pics or have issues and I’ve done my job.
You’ll find that some things that are supposedly written in stone, aren’t actually written in stone. They’re actually written on a chalk board and can be erased. I think a lot of things are just passed down because so and so said it so it’s the Gospel. A lot of what’s passed down works, a lot is unnecessary as you stated. Some folks go overboard on the scent control and catch. Some don’t pay it any attention and catch. Just bed, blend, and get out.

On another note, setting in catch circles. The 2 pullouts I had damaged a big area that looked like a bomb went off, the one that held was much smaller. Urine & crap all over. There’s a crazy amount of info a wolf reveals to others in urine, like physical condition, sex, reproductive state and stress…etc. Not one wolf ever stepped near those areas, even the loner that came through came within 10’ then into the bush. I did make blind sets about 20’ from the catch circles right on the snowmobile trail, but the loner missed them.

Absolutely! You’re not walking in the footsteps of “those who say it to the greatest magnitude” and they haven’t walked in yours. Guidance and food for thought is one thing but the Gospel is another!

I've said it 100 times, there's only 2 definite's in trapping...the animals have to be there, and you have to know where to set your trap (location, location, location). Everything else is opinion, theory, and personal preference. There are no "experts" or "professionals" unless you choose to call yourself one.

Don't worry about scent control. Put as many traps in the ground as you can, and you'll catch more animals, simple as that.

I kill more coyotes, faster, the more careful I am. Hard stop.

I’ve done it both ways enough times now to know there is something to scent management.

CLEAN equipment, CLEAN gloves, speed, deliberate movements, and a drop clothe to keep the set area tidy.

Just the addition of the drop clothe makes such a difference. Especially during certain times of the year.

Your opinion, your theory, your preference.

I admit I was late to the drop cloth game but I used it for the 3 years prior to my quitting trapping coyotes that it absolutely made a positive difference. I highly recommend using a drop cloth when trapping coyotes, bare ground or snow covered.

Remakes in the catch circle can go both ways. I almost always remake. Usually in the catch circle, although I have remade in the original bed when the catch circle is off somewhere due to the trap being on a drag. Ideally you would do both, and set another trap (or more) outside the catch circle. But this posits that you both have more traps with you, and time to do so. I've had wolves and coyotes avoid catch circles, in fact I caught two wolves once, where the rest of the pack never again came within a quarter mile of where I caught them, even years later. On the opposite extreme, I caught a triple this year out of a pack of six and five traps in the vicinity, next check I had the other three... in the same three traps, set in the old trap beds! Two of those were within the trap circle, one was outside of it due to the wolf making it about fifteen feet on a drag.

I've seen coyotes avoid catch circles also, but I have coyotes avoid wolf catch circles much less than coyote catch circles, and wolves seem to avoid coyote catch circles less than wolf catch circles. If I catch a coyote in a wolf trap (it happens, although I miss a lot of them due to pan tension) I feel pretty confident if a wolf comes by he will work the set. Conversely, if I catch a wolf, I'm really confident that the majority of the time if a coyote comes by he will work the set.

Sometimes they are going to avoid them, but the trap is already there and already dirty, I'm not going to pull it and go set it somewhere else, if I pull it I am taking it home with me. So I almost always remake, I've got a heckuva lot better chance of catching something in a remake than I do without a trap there. Making sets in the vicinity of a catch circle is also a very good idea, however, for those critters that won't work a catch circle.

If you don't think there are experts or professionals in trapping u have ur headed buried to deep and should come up for oxygen more often

And if you think there are, you’re buying into it. Don’t treat this as rocket science, because it’s not.

Only thing I buy into is what coyotes tell me themselves.

X2

I do the best I can but don’t get carried away with it. Like today I set bare handed but washed my hands really well and used alcohol wipes several times while running my line.

when i first started i used different gloves for everything. different gloves for setting. different for baiting. different when driving in side by side when checking.
and yes i caught coyotes.

now years later i only wear gloves to protect my hands a little and if its cold.
i always set and bait bare handed now . it hasnt hurt my catch numbers at all.

the only way they might not know you were there is if you wore a NASA spacesuit on your line.

i dont have many first night catches and that could be from scent.

the main thing i do is set "em and stay away from em."

when im checking i get only as close as i have to.

Well I've always thought the definition of a "professional" was someone who made their living at it. There are definitely professional trappers by that definition. Now some of them I might not consider experts, but there are "expert" as in "extremely good" coyote trappers, both professional and nonprofessional. Now there probably aren't as many experts as there are people who think they are, but to say there are none is blatant stupidity. No it isn't rocket science, but neither is making a really good hamburger, yet while most people can fry an edible burger, there are still expert cooks, and when you eat one of their burgers you know the difference.

No matter what you do they know you have been there. What I try to do is set a routine. I will drive the same route, walk the same path and try to do it at the same time each day. I want them to get use to me and I have found after a couple of days most things just get on with their routine. I do not allow smoking, dipping, spitting, urinating or anything similiar on my trapline and anyone who goes on my line will follow the same rules. I have very specific spot I will relieve myself as I want the smell in a particular spot to become routine. My clothes are washed in non scent Tide and I wash my boots/hip waders each day. A drop cloth will give you an adventage. Also, I will try to erase my tracks, where I knee down, tuff up pushed down grass and try to make it look as natural as I can. I have a lot of water on my long line and I will walk in the water intead of on ground to try to keep my impact down.

I hear stories of Kansas and watch a guy named Ed on youtube set trap after trap and catch coyotes, oh...bare handed too. I think the same way trappers have different ideas on scent, coyotes have different levels of alarm to human odor. It seems like greater numbers of dogs in areas with fewer humans could care less about scent, while conversely, areas with more humans and fewer dogs, they figure out fast how lethal we are, and they grow suspect of our activity, expertly avoiding our presence. There are urban coyotes that almost never get seen. Deer do the same thing, mountain deer here act dumb, they can run a long way straight away from danger, a farmland buck with 1/100th the escape cover, takes many fewer chances with his life and will adjust quickly to pressure. Just my take on critters.

I went from the mythical era of the boom era of yesteryear where we seemed to figure it was possible to be scent free to trapping bare handed a decade later. These days I say let them tell you what is needed. Every family of coyotes will have a percentage of stupid bold ones and a percentage of shy recluses. But on average the survival instinct seems to be like every other critter we hunt or trap. High population, non pressured targets will behave slightly different than hard pressed critters. You get away with some things routinely in some areas. Try those same practices in another place and you very well may find yourself scratching your head. Doesn’t take too long for them to key in on danger. Put that level of danger on them for a long time and it may get frustrating. Success or failure will fall back on our ability to adjust to what we are presented with

bearcat2-
I made my living for over 22 years in the military. Never considered myself a "professional".

Professionals have endorsements, sponsors, hire agents and play on Sunday afternoons.

Good advice from RegularJoe and BigBlackBirds.

I'm the OP. To answer your question, Basically Yes I'm not catching , Trying to determine why or how to improve my odds. The ranch hasn't been trapped in a while. The neighbor is trapping though. Still I figured it would be easy. It hasn't been. Definitely plenty of dogs there. I saw 3 fluffy ones the other day running away from me at full bore. All of them stopped to look at me. They were lucky I did not have my rifle with me. Previously I had found obvious pinch points between the river and a high bank that had tracks. I made the sets and added a camera. I got them on camera checking out the sets maybe 1 time. He was lucky A Deer had snapped off the trap. I re-set. Total avoidance of the area after that. I think it has to do w/ a couple factors. 1st the sudden influence of human scent in areas that they are not used to encountering it. 2nd They don't have to use the pinch points any more. The river is frozen so they are running the ice. Sunday I found 5 sets of fresh tracks 30 yds from 2 of my sets at one of the obvious pinch points. They were running parallel to the bank and then crossed over to the other side. Old tracks as well. I backtracked them. It was interesting. They had a beat down path on the ice. Not sure how a guy would set that. Anyway, When I hunt, I don't do much for scent control other than play the wind religiously. I've learned that it's generally almost impossible to be scent free. When the wind is wrong for a certain location, don't hunt there. I don't have that option with trapping. I have not been practicing any scent control other than making sure my wax dirt is not burnt. I set w/ my bare hands. I see other more experienced successful trappers doing it so that's how I've been rolling. I figured their curiosity for the gland lure and/or urine would overpower their fear of human scent. Not so much so far . It certainly has been educational.

I think parts of the country is different. Some areas the animals live right with us and sometimes have learned to rely on us for food. Then there is the very opposite. You make a set the animal already knows you have been there. Seen it to many times while bow hunting whitetail where a coyote comes across your trail where you walk in and stops dead in there tracks. They know.

so geographic location is key to this question so here in ontario canada the avg farm is 100-200 acres in size with the average concession being 1000 acres so most nights a coyote willcome into contact with at least 5 farming practices plus any other smaller properties along his route so i dont get the wholw scent thing coyotes know what a human smells like and are not scared of them here anyways i do boil and dye my traps every year but thats bascally it for scent control and yes i catch coyotes best ive ever done 27 in two week period 14 off one farm with two traps set at that farm as for catch circles nothing draws a coyote in like the smells of a caught critter they (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) and crap and tear the area up yes a few wiser coyotes will skirt the trap circle but if i notice that then i put a new trap in just outside the circle as for out west where farms get bigger like a 1000 acres a coyote may never come across a human smell for several days and caution when approaching a set ohh yes i set bare handed and use gloves for handling bait and lure even notice this a good practice when checking cameras after having a few bears and the odd raccoon chew on them