Bob I've used top shelf ingredients by themselves and caught coyotes but I also feel completely confident in saying anything can be made more attractive based of seeing thousands of coyote reactions to formulations.
Take 3 or four top shelf ingredients and use them together in the right combination and it's not hard to come up with a formulation that's more consistent that a lot of stuff that's out there.
The limiting factor i see with having multiple top shelf formulations is finding enough different top shelf ingredients so that each formulation is unique in its own way.
I'll also say I firmly believe the more attraction a formulation has the more coyotes you will catch and quicker unless possiblely you get on a virgin group of coyotes that never have been trapped. Based off what I've seen while trapping, testing and comparing notes with the best coyote trappers I can come into contact with I believe there's always a percentage of coyotes that walk past ur set and won't get within 2 foot of it, there also a certain percent that will take one quick sniff and be gone. I've rode with guys that average double digit coyotes and have went over 30 in a day multiple times and I've talked to guys that work with some of the most paranoid coyotes there are and do it 365 days a year and it happens to everyone if honest and you have the skills and conditions to see it. Ain't no formulation that will catch every coyote so don't beat the magic bullet drum but the more attractive your formulation is the less walk bys and misses you will have. The coyotes have proven that too me. Along with guys that really know coyotes confirming the same thing. Quite a few years ago I had two groups of lures and baits I decided to run for the season. At the time I was running 3 sets at about 95% of my locations. Same three sets same lure/bait combo at each set except I'd use one group of lures at one location next location the other set of lures. No cherry picking locations just rotating every other location. One group of lures caught 2 to 1.
I was talking lures with a hall of fame trapper one time, he'd stated to me that with his population of coyotes that it was really rare to catch in remakes but hed recently tried a new lure that had enough attraction he actually could catch some in remakes and his exact words was "thats pretty special here". I'm a believer that if you don't think the attractiveness of a lure or bait can't make a difference on catches you either haven't used a great formulation or you just aren't seeing the misses for whatever reason.
Guy a few years ago was posting his daily check videos. He'd state what check day it was, how many he'd caught for the season and how many traps he had out so a guy knew exactly what his catch rate was. The guy trapped coyotes and cats for about 3 months every year and used very popular lures and baits. He lived were it didn't snow very often and I'll never forget one night they got an inch or so of snow. His check the next day revealed he'd had about 3 coyotes or bobcats come to his sets that didn't commit enough to get caught to each critter he caught. If you only see it once in awhile it's easy to believe that it's not the norm but I've seen it enough to know most miss more than they think. I believe the more attractive your lure or bait is the more of these animals you will pickup. I don't think you will catch everyone of them but just picking one a check will make a difference at the end of season.
Location is tops but I believe your lure and bait is an underrated second.
My two cents based on what I've seen from coyotes and comparing notes with top coyote guys.
It's the easy percent of the population that makes us think we are coyote trappers
