by Charles L. Dobbins
(This article was printed in the November 1988 issue of The
Trapper and Predator Caller magazine)
Animals have the same senses
as us human beings; the senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste.
There is another sense that at times can be debated, but I do believe it
does play a part with some animals as well as with some human beings. It
is called extra-sensory perception, but I won't deal with it in this article.
Instead, I will deal with only the sense of sight, and to a lesser degree,
the sense of smell.
The use of lure, either a gland type lure or a food type
lure, uses the animal's nose or sense of smell to attract it towards this
smell. The ideal situation is to have the air currents coming from the lure
or bait towards the animal's line of travel. This is harder to do in practice
than saying it.
The wind or air currents cannot be governed by man. If
the air currents or wind generally travels from west to east most of the
time in a certain area, then the smells used to attract the animals should
be on the west of the animal's line of travel. This way, the air currents
will carry the smell to the animal when it uses this travel way. But things
happen to this theory.
After the sun leaves the sky, the air cools. Now a common
law of physics takes place. This law tells us that cool air descends and
warm air rises. This could cause a shift in the air currents that is different
after dark when most animals are active, than when the trap- per made the
set during the daylight hours.
An animal can come close to a very potent smell, but if
the wind or air currents are going from the animal towards the set, it is
very possible the animal can go on by the set without ever knowing it was
there. Another thing about air currents is that they are unpredictable. Most
trappers have used a campfire at different times of the day and at different
times of the year. Under certain barometric pressures and conditions, we
have seen smoke from the campfire rise above the ground, then spread out
in a layer over an extended area. Other times it may go straight up only
to settle near the ground some distance away. Then we have all seen it being
carried away by the air currents, but staying close to the ground. In areas
of woods when the green leaves are on, the smoke will generally go up. This
same thing is true in areas of dense pine at any time of the year. All of
these things I've mentioned are VOID if there is a strong wind blowing. Now
change the smoke to lure and it is easy to see how, at times, the smell of
the lure can be carried OVER the animal. If the animal is really interested
in this smell, it will circle around and try to get a line on where the smell
is coming from. Now it can be seen why I prefer to have more than one set
at a location.
(Here, I must explain something. Smoke is created by burning
something. When something burns, it makes heat. One of the laws of common
physics says heated air will rise, so that is the reason the smoke goes up.
This is true to some extent, but then try this. Remove one burning stick
from the campfire and hold it until the flame goes out. There will still
be red embers on the end of the stick. Now go several steps away from the
fire and see where the smoke goes coming from the hot end of the stick.)
We all know wild animals have a keen sense of sight. One
of the primary functions of the sight of wild animals is to see things and
identify them as being good to eat. What if the animal saw a few feathers
or a few bits of rabbit fur scattered about on the ground? Suppose you were
out in the fields, grown up pasture, woods, or at the edge of a swamp, and
you saw a few feathers or a few bits of fur scattered about. What would be
the first thought to cross your mind? It probably would be that some predator
caught a bird or animal at that spot. I'm sure the fox, coyote, wolf, bobcat,
mink, and other predatory animals would think this same way. The wild canines
sometimes bury their food to be eaten at another time. This is known by all
the rest of the wild canine family and they will be looking around for a
free meal. (They will steal from each other.) At least my traps tell me this
is true, because when an animal comes to investigate what it saw, it will
generally make contact with my trap. In some instances, I will make some
sets that have no attracting smells - just eye appeal alone.
If I have a set or sets on a certain location, the
use of some kind of eye appeal will greatly increase my chances of intercepting
this animal when it comes by. Most times, I will have more than one set at
a location, and at least one set will have generous eye appeal and probably
a smell to attract the animal. If the air currents are wrong and the smell
I used is being carried away or over the animal, then the animal will still
see something that will arouse its curiosity enough that it'll come to investigate.
So far I've mentioned the use of feathers or fur. There
are other things that are eye-catching to the wild animals. How about a mound
of fresh dirt or a mound of fresh dirt with a hole in the side of it? How
about a three to five foot rough circle with the sod removed and placed at
the edge of the circle? This will work in the woods, also, with a four to
six foot circle with the leaves removed. The use of a sizeable chunk of bleached
bone seems to have an attraction if it is used at the correct location. A
piece of charred wood as described in Tom Krause's book "Dynamite Fox Trapping"
seems to work very well.
Then there are natural things or terrain features I will
use that I know hold an attraction for fox and coyote, but not discounting
bobcat. A brushy ravine or draw in a field is one. Sets at either end are
on location depending on if the air currents are moving up or down this ravine
or draw. The wild canines don't have to go into this brush and weed-choked
draw or ravine to check it out for any prey animals or birds. The predator
will circle around to the downwind side and use its nose to check it out.
What if there is an old stump out in a field with weeds,
tall grasses, and maybe some brush growing around it? Wouldn't this be a
good place for rabbits, birds and rodents to be? The wild canines think so,
because when I place sets in this vicinity, I usually get some action. This
doesn't have to be a stump. It can be a large boulder or a pile of stones.
It can also be a piece of abandoned farm equipment with tall grass and weeds
grown up around it. In several instances, I've used a small unplowable piece
of ground about the size of an average size garden that was grown over with
rank vegetation. A bale of old hay or straw out in an open field has caused
more than just a few wild canines to lose their fur coats to me. Old agricultural
lime piles are attractors to the wild canines - especially the red fox, because
it likes to get on top of these lime piles to look over the area. They
will usually leave droppings close by or right on this lime pile. Here, I
prefer the post type set, but any set will work several steps away from this
pile of lime.
As you can see, all of these things I mentioned
in the way of gullies, ravines, weed grown stumps or boulders, abandoned
farm machinery, and hay or straw bales have a visual attraction. They can
be seen from some distance and convey the message "there may be food here"
- except for the lime pile. Its attraction is for marking with urine or droppings
to let other wild canines of the area know the depositing canine was there.
I mentioned the use of fur or feathers, but I know some
state laws prohibit the use of this kind of material. When I'm trapping in
states with this law I will use artificial fur. This can be obtained at hobby
or craft shops, and it comes in all different colors. I prefer the blacks,
browns or grays.
Something else I make use of that seems to work
very well is an old, black, empty, honeycomb. The paper wasps nests works
well, too - the kind that are built up under the eaves of outbuildings. Empty
eggshells hold an attraction for the wild canines, but crows like to investigate
these, too. I crank the pan tension up on the trap pan and don't get bothered
with crows in my traps. But, they move the eggshells around to where I don't
I make good use of this eye appeal material I just
mentioned in the above paragraph at "remake" sets. This material works well
at other sets also - if the message is conveyed to the fox or coyote that
FOOD is or was there, especially if this almost non-smelling, eye appeal
material is partially covered. Being partially covered will arouse the curiosity
of the animal and it will look as if there is more than meets the eye. This
way, they are more likely to work the set longer.
Everything I've said about eye appeal for the wild canines
can be applied to the mink. Sure, the mink can smell and this animal does
use its nose to help it locate food, but the mink doesn't have the acute
sense of smell as the wild canines do. The use of eye appeal material very
close to a mink's line of travel will help to put its fur on your stretchers.