I'm reading Rich Faler's book which is a compilation of interviews of well known lure makers and trappers. In two of the interviews of the more well known lure makers so far anyway (Leggett and Carman) they both reference molecular weight of a lure as an aspect to pay attention to. Would anyone be willing to share a reference that explains this in detail, or a practical way to figure it out for each component or a completed lure?

High school chemistry was a long time ago, and in my defense was "taught" to me by a brand new and fairly attractive young lady teacher on her first year out of college...let's just say my attention span could be measured with a very short ruler.

If the factor is below .345 coyotes will only work the set on their tip toes making for too many toe catches and misses. Above .659 you get too many ovulating possums.

Ha ha
An ovulating possum would be a neat trick here, the lure would have to carry over the cascade mountains lol

Ive never took into consideration the molecular weight but maybe I've just gotten lucky. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile.

Me either, but when Mr. Carman, Mr. Leggett, (and also Ed Schneider who I'm not as familiar with) with all mention it in a short interview, I thought it was worth looking at.

A discussion on molecular weight with no mention of atomic weight?!?!?!

I knew I was going to catch some ribbing about this 😄 But I've never been afraid of looking a little foolish, I've learned more by asking questions than keeping quiet. The trend in the book is heavier is better, as it stays closer to the ground. Mr. Schneider discusses Seldom on here testing his gland lure in a 6" deep hole and getting very poor reactions. When that lure was tested again at ground level (not in a hole) it did very well. Molecular weight would seem to explain that, at least to me?

Fixatives are usually at least 300 g/mol. Things lighter than 150 g/mol will often evaporate very fast.

Great info thank you

it's a very general rule, molecule shapes also matter. Many musks that will linger for a long time and have fixative properties so powerful that a trace amount will make vodka smell like water, are around 230-250 g/mol., but it seems to be a useful parameter, especially when you have no experience with a new ingredient

That's very interesting.

During my testing with trailcams canines almost always find lure faster is placed on ground level vs. down a hole. This seems to be the case regardless of the lure used.

I feel this is why urine used on the backing usually makes a set more productive. I think they simply find it faster.