trapping. whats that smell?

[wawhitey]

anybody on here trappers? specifically, bobcat? the reason i ask is because i was in the woods today and smelled a STRONG funky reek. a little skunk like but definitely different. dirtier, somehow. hard to describe. anyway i noticed a bobcat trap, and was wondering if it maybe had a big old tom inside it that had sprayed all over? do they make a really strong funk like that when they end up in the trap? my curiosity was killing me but i didnt want to go disturb the guys set up.

[Lefty]

If it wasnt a skunk catch it could be the lure the trapper used at the set.
Cat pee has an odor, different than fox and coyote, but less intensity,.. So if you walk though the woods and smell where fox or coyotes pee you could smell cat urine also.
Many people often mistake strong late season canine urine as skunk essence,
Was it a cat set, usually up against rocks or brush

[wawhitey]

definitely a cat set. ive seen this guys traps around, and i know he traps cats, and i know who he is, but ive never spoken to him. really curious about that smell, wanted to look in the trap pretty bad. the odor just about knocked me over as i was walking through. never smelled that smell before, and ive been near a couple of his other traps, so im not thinking it was lure.

[Lefty]

I just noticed you are from Washington State: many of the coyotes I caught on the west side reeked so bad I washed them before skinning
I think they roll in old salmon carcasses and stink for weeks So it could just have been a rank coyote,.. and rank is the right term,. eeewww
On the west side many cat (trail )sets also work for coyotes

Some long distance lures are a mixture of skunk essence and rotten something, often oily fish or fatty meats

[wawhitey]

yeah im closer to you than the coast. NE corner of washington. no salmon carcasses in these mountains. i really think it had to be some sort of animal made that smell, why would he use some rank stuff like that at one of his traps, and not use it at others? from what i understand hes been doing this a long time and is very good at it, im pretty sure he has his system down, and is beyond the experimenting stage. i should just look the guy up in the phone book and ask him if i can go with when he checks it haha.

[jmez]

A bobcat smells just like a tomcat. Urine smells pretty much the same. I'm guessing it was a call lure of some sort. Though cats don't hunt with their nose so most cat trappers don't use those type of lures. They all have skunk essence and they stink, bad. Like make you want to cut your hand off if you get it on you bad. Is he using live traps?

[wawhitey]

yeah live cage traps, only thing allowed here in the wolf humping greenie pc state. im still sticking by my guess of it not being a lure scent tho, as ive been by other traps of his and not smelled anything. and as i said hes very established, well past the experimental stage of his trapping career

[Lefty]

Im far from an expert on cage trapping. However the trap location would have indications of a catch, chewed grasses and branches spots from reaching and digging through the wire, and maybe polished wire or bite marks. A catch might smell down wind 10 feet but shouldn't be rank. But then again most people wont pick up lure smells much further away either. unless their is a large bait nearby. maybe buried carcass piles
Next time you should be able to identify if the trap location stinks, of a more specific location in the trap or above the trap.

Many trappers use a multitude of lures, so one set may have one odor another others.
Some trappers really pour on the long distance lures ( more so in the dry desert areas) Lures do not carry as well in the dry west: areas of humidity and warmer lure smells carry further

[wawhitey]

Im far from an expert on cage trapping. However the trap location would have indications of a catch, chewed grasses and branches spots from reaching and digging through the wire, and maybe polished wire or bite marks. A catch might smell down wind 10 feet but shouldn't be rank. But then again most people wont pick up lure smells much further away either. unless their is a large bait nearby. maybe buried carcass piles
Next time you should be able to identify if the trap location stinks, of a more specific location in the trap or above the trap.

Many trappers use a multitude of lures, so one set may have one odor another others.
Some trappers really pour on the long distance lures ( more so in the dry desert areas) Lures do not carry as well in the dry west: areas of humidity and warmer lure smells carry further

well i dont know what to think. just really curious about what that smell was, if there was a big ole tom in the trap or what. guess the way to find out would be to just go look in the trap but im not going to do that. keeping my distance. and this wasnt carcass smell. ive smelled all kinds of dead animals and this wasnt a dead animal smell. plus its below freezing out all day and night so i dont see a carcass getting very ripe.

[jmez]

Do you have Fischer or martin in the area? Either of those would have a skunk type odor.

[Still Hunter]

Could have been a dead animal rotting away. I hate that smell.

[wawhitey]

Do you have Fischer or martin in the area? Either of those would have a skunk type odor.

not that im aware of, but the occasional wolverine does surface around here, although if you tell anybody who lives here you saw one they wouldnt believe you. ive seen one. 100% positive.