Deer & Cattle Neutral

So I work a lot around cattle (the moo type, as well as the burro type), and deer and elk. I want to compile a list of odors/scents that are cattle and deer "neutral" (i.e. in which cattle don't have a lot of interest).

We all know of the common odors that are NOT cattle neutral -- urine, fish oil, musks, etc.

So far I have:

* Horse meat

* Eggs

* Beef

* Venison



Anyone have any others?

I wish I had something to add to this, I'm fortunate i can just avoid them most place and my catch rate doesn't suffer much unless I'm after the kitties then deer come into play. What funny is when I was just beginning I set in about a 100 acre pasture with about 80 pairs in there and the only set i could keep the cows out of was a urine set on a tuff of grass. Only set i caught a coyote in. I think Mr Milligan suggested just urine when dealing with cows in his book. After that its cows on one side of the fence and me and my dirt holes on the other with each of us wondering what the other is doing over there.

We dont have any of those burro type cattle here. Pretty gentle and helpless for the most part. Those neutral scents are only neutral if the cattle dont see you. If they see you they have to investigate what you are doing.

While there most certainly are a few section or bigger pastures here most are a lot smaller. Guys have summer pasture, winter pasture , hay ground and calving pastures. 100-300 acres is pretty common size.

Hard not to be seen by the cattle . They are also conditioned to come to a pickup. You definitely dont want to accidentally beep the horn when you hit a bump. Here in KS we have grass. Lots of it. Its not like desert pasture where 2 cow calf pairs per section is common. You go into a 2- section pasture chances are good the cows will come over to see what your doing. Those smaller pastures are not worth trapping in while the cows are in it.

My experience was similar when I trapped Kansas or even local beef and dairy operations. Beef cattle are much more a problem then dairy cows in my experience. Typically dairy cows are kept in smaller lots and I don't trap those as a result anyway.

We have mostly Angus and Hereford cattle here and they are just plain curious and creatures of learned behavior. When they see a vehicle coming or one stopped in a pasture they are coming over. Or they will wait for you to leave and gather at the spot where you stopped and make a mess of everything. Poop, pee, lick and stomp your sets before you are out of sight in many cases.

I don't know of any odor that will ensure segregated attraction and that cattle will not have any interest in it. Making sets in areas that can be somewhat protected from the livestock can be kept working much longer then any open pasture sets. I have worked with deep post hole type dirt holes with some success over the years.

They take more time to construct but once they are dug they will keep producing until the hole is worn out by several catches. Cows don't like to step in voids a lot but you also have to be concerned with a cow stepping in a hole so good placement is important to minimize this potential problem.

I do like the idea of trying to formulate an attractant that will do it's job but not attract deer and livestock. If nothing else it seems we always learn when we try testing new things. I got lots of cows Tracy if you want me to do some tests. If I get my hands on a burro it will be tested in a way that won't help u though.

Yes sir, you ever get a chance to go see what desert cattle look like and act like you ought to. Our type cattle won’t survive there

Your right Danny. Out in the open they're more like deer, and up in an alley they are more like a grizzly. Lol. Ive seen enough of them.

I trap several small cattle operations...a trick I’ve used to relieve the visits by cattle is to douse up one curious “visitor” before I start to make my sets at that location. I just pull up to the fence, get out and wait for the herd to gather around. Then I’ll smear a little fish oil on a rag and tie it on a post. It starts them snorting and blowing...be careful it can get messy then I’ll sneak around behind the crowd and squirt a bit on one in the back of the crowd and remove the rag. Soon the cattle disperse but locate the one with the fish oil and follow it around the pasture all day. This keeps their attention away from me and allows me to set traps and get to work. Not perfect but it has worked without any issues. Something else you can do that is similar is to place an attractor a hundred yards or so away from your set locations AFTER you are done scouting. For this I like using a “high” smelling lure on a post and then lure a second or third post farther away from the first.
Experiment in your area and see what works best for you.

Laz, are you using the things on your list without any added ingredients?

Yes, no added ingredients. I would add ingredients if I thought they weren't attractive to cattle/deer.

Ok, that's what i thought. I would think the sky is the limit on fresh bait like any big or small game and everything in between. Not sure if adding sodium benzoate would make a difference?? From what i have learned sodium benzoate is sweet like powdered sugar.
That could be somewhat of an attraction.

For me i don't worry about cattle so much even though about 90% of my trapping in texas is cattle pastures. Any place the cattle congregate is a no go so move down the road to find a better location. Sometimes i will set a iffy spot with cattle sign but is a area i know coyotes are traveling through. In that case i will set 2 traps, 1 for the cattle and 1 for the coyote. I have found it is extremely hard not to trap an area and not have cattle mess with your sets. Remakes are the norm on my line, it's a pain but it's part of the game.

Something else that i have success with is to put some fox or coyote urine about 15 feet or so on each side of your set where you think the coyotes will be traveling, (also the cattle). Give the cattle something to satisfy their curiosity so they move on.
When the coyote comes through you will have stalled him out, then when he starts down the trail again and before he gets his mind on something else he sees your set which has more eye appeal to a predator than smell. If you do your part the coyote will have to check it out. With that said nothing is 100 %, but it does work.

Years ago, I remember reading about a guy who attached balloons some distance from his sets. Tied them right to the fence. He said the cows were readily attracted to the movement enough to leave his sets alone. I’ve never tried it as I avoid cattle pastures.

I have found in my own experience that a plain meat set without lures and strong long call like scents gets a lot less traffic from cattle on the range out here. As long as they don't watch you sitting there i don't seem to get too much traffic messing with my sets using plain meat based bait. there are a couple of baits though that seem to work as well at attracting cattle as they do attracting cattle. I use both types and try and use each where they work best for me.

Great idea