scent control?

[AKmud]

Looking at all the photos and hearing about all the different sets got me wondering what you all do for scent control when building these sets and cubbys? I remember trapping years ago and my mentor was stressing to me how important it was when making fox sets to be as clean as possible. Some of the cubby style sets though look like they would be a pain to set up without disturbing the entire countryside and having human odor everywhere. Is there a trick or are critters not as sensitive as I am assuming?

 

[Alaskacanoe]

scent control

scent control

My Trapping mentor was a functioning Alcolholic, but the most successful at getting Coyotes in my area. (Nevada Utah, Wyoming).
This fellows name was Golden, and Old Golden was happy to have an apprentice. This worked for him as he liked to hit the bottle most of the time.
We ran a trap line that went almost 300 miles. This would have been about 1975 and 1976...
The Passenger seat in the truck was the trap setters seat. No one but the trapper sat in this seat. It had a plastic cover that you sat on, and on the floor was a flat box with 2 inch deep sides , the box was big enough for your feet to fit into (about the size of a 24 pack soda pop flat), and you wore Rubber Xtratuffs. in the box, was dry sheep and jack rabbit poop. Your feet sat on or in these little raisins, and you never, ever walked on pavement, or got out at the gas station etc. with these boot on. this way no scent but dirt from the ground, and the rabbit and sheep poop was on these boots.
you wore a one piece coverall that was never washed in a washmachine or with detergent. if it needed to be washed you did it in a stream. and hung it in a Juniper tree to dry.
The Gloves were rubber and were stuck in a pail of dried coyote and rabbit and fox poop this was in a big wooden box in the back of the truck. you slid your hands into the gloves, making sure you never touched the outside of the glove with a bare hand, or touched anything a man had touched , like the door handle of the truck etc.
the traps were set in a separate wood box, and treated the same way. You never touched a trap with a bare hand, only the trapping gloves touched a trap. ...........You pulled your Yote from the trap and put the trap back in set, or if moving the trap put it back ready for service in the Trap box
In the box with the gloves was a 2 foot wide by 8 foot long cow hide. this was rolled up using only the trapping gloves. inside the cowhide was a spade and a hammer.
Great care was taken to never introduce man smells, including ones breath, never spit on the ground near your trap, or hold the trap near your mouth.
The scents were also kept in the box with the gloves and cow mat.
You walked to where you were going to make your set, and then about 8 feet before you were there, you rolled out this cow hide as you crawled out on it. the spade and hammer were in the last part of the roll and easy to use. you would dig your hole, pound with the hammer or set your snare, etc. as he taught you, and then you did everything in reverse.. I can't tell you how many times we stopped along our way to pick up a Coyote or Fox scat in the Gravel roads we traveled twice a week. These little jewels went either in the bucket with the Gloves, or were used in our sets.
it sounds very intense, and I may have left out some little goodies, but all in all, it was like this.
Do everything in your power to make sure that yote has every chance possible to assume no humane was near this set.
We caught more Coyotes than anyone in our area, and I think this was mostly due to Scent control details. Scent control speeds up the chance for activity at the set. Instead of several days for a Dog to land in the trap, it could happen an hour after you set it if you kept your man scent down to bare minimums.. yes we wore a face mask to keep moisture from your breath from falling on the surroundings...
at the end of the season. Golden would gather all of his traps and snares and hide them for the summer in a pinion pine tree away from any people.
Fanatic or not, we were very very successful, and If I were to get serious about trapping again, I would do almost exactly like Golden taught me over 30 years ago. As expected Goldens Liver could not stand the abuse of his alcohol Vice, and he died a young man @ 62 years old..
What is surprising though is that after you learn to do it this way, it goes very fast. we were set up to move fast, and pay attention to detail.
When you have all your gear organized and kept in this way, it rotates in and out. Fox in a trap is not a bad thing to have for scent on that trap. etc....
Anyway, that is my story of scent control.. or lack of scent control..lol
Max

 

[trailblazersteve]

Akmud,you only need to worry about scent controll and covering your traps on K9's only.You will be fine making lynx cubby's or setting for mink,marten or ermine.If you are lucky enough to come across wolverine sign you might want to keep as clean as you can.I have had people actually say to leave a little scent while building lynx cubby's as to keep the fox away.

 

[imauspilot]

Scent control 101

Scent control 101

I agree with Alaskacanoe. I am a avid yote hunter, although I have not tried trapping then yet. I believe in use a scent free soap to wash my clothes as well as myself in. I then us a old US chemical suit (charcol lined) as my outer wear. To this I place several "fresh earth" scent waffers. This has worked extremely well hunting yotes. I have had them come with in 30 feet of where I was sitting. Anyway, I believe the same thing applies with traps. But since I don't have a yote with a trap yet, who am I to say.

Hope this helps.