Wolf Fur? & Racoons

[mowin]

Much of a wild turkey’s odd behavior when hunting them that gives the impression they have a sixth sense to avoid danger is possibly (and in my opinion, likely) due to them smelling the hunter. I’ve killed many mature Eastern and Osceola gobblers all over Florida. I’m fully convinced they can smell. I don’t think its the be all, end all, explanation of why they do what they do. But I do think smell is a factor. Watch the breeze direction next time a gobbler inexplicably hangs up on you, alerts by braking strut and raising his head, and eases off in a way not consistent with him seeing you or you calling too much and tipping him off you can’t actually speak turkey. Rule out the other factors, and you’ll likely see a pattern consistent with him winding you.

Study after modern study has shown that the notion that birds generally don’t smell well is junk science from the 1800s. Off the top of my head, I am aware of study that showed that birds can smell the presence of a predator in their nesting area and will abandon it based on the smell.

https://realtree.com/the-realblog-w...key-s-sense-of-smell-stronger-than-we-thought

I bet trappers don’t use wolf urine to cover their scent when trapping. A coyote is not a grey wolf and doesn’t occupy the same place on the totem poll on the food chain. True wolves are a whole other level of apex predator than a coyote.

https://www.audubon.org/magazine/january-february-2014/birds-can-smell-and-one-scientist

Like you said, coyotes are small wolves, so if coyote urine doesn't scare them, neither will wolf urine or fur.
I've killed well over 130 gobblers. I've had them downwind within feet of me many, many times. Never had one spook. Sorry, but they can't smell well.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Like you said, coyotes are small wolves, so if coyote urine doesn't scare them, neither will wolf urine or fur.
I've killed well over 130 gobblers. I've had them downwind within feet of me many, many times. Never had one spook. Sorry, but they can't smell well.

I’ve also had many whitetail deer downwind of me, sometimes close enough to touch as I lay on the ground underneath them, and they didn’t spook. I wouldn’t say that’s proof a whitetail deer doesn’t smell well.

As for the difference between coyotes and wolves, domestic dogs are also wolves. Yet, domestic dogs can distinguish the smells between all three groups, so well that not only can a dog be trained to track species over another, but also one individual over another. I don’t know why most wild animals wouldn’t be able to smell the difference between a wolf and a coyote as two distinct species and react accordingly. One species is large, strong, and fearless. The other is small, gangly, and jittery. One is a bigger threat than the other.

To the point of OP, here is a study that shows that wolf urine elicits strong avoidance responses in deer and rodents, and also references studies that shows that not all predator scent repels equally, but instead deer taylor their responses by the species of predator as to which one is the bigger threat by kind. Finally, it also establishes that fear of wolf scent is instinctual, as strong fear responses are recorded in response to wolf scent in localities where wolves have been extinct for many decades or more.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4595651/

 

[mowin]

I’ve also had many whitetail deer downwind of me, sometimes close enough to touch as I lay on the ground underneath them, and they didn’t spook. I wouldn’t say that’s proof a whitetail deer doesn’t smell well.

As for the difference between coyotes and wolves, domestic dogs are also wolves. Yet, domestic dogs can distinguish the smells between all three groups, so well that not only can a dog be trained to track species over another, but also one individual over another. I don’t know why most wild animals wouldn’t be able to smell the difference between a wolf and a coyote as two distinct species and react accordingly. One species is large, strong, and fearless. The other is small, gangly, and jittery. One is a bigger threat than the other.

To the point of OP, here is a study that shows that wolf urine elicits strong avoidance responses in deer and rodents, and also references studies that shows that not all predator scent repels equally, but instead deer taylor their responses by the species of predator as to which one is the bigger threat by kind. Finally, it also establishes that fear of wolf scent is instinctual, as strong fear responses are recorded in response to wolf scent in localities where wolves have been extinct for many decades or more.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4595651/

We'll have to agree to disagree. Turkeys can't smell, and wolf fur don't work.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I’ve also seen some studies that indicate some small carnivores are attracted to some predator scents, possibly to scavenge kills. Nothing specifically about raccoons and wolves.

The idea is plausible. Whether it really works will likely depend specifically on whether coons have an instinctual fear of large wolves they don’t have for smaller species of canines such as coyotes, foxes, and some domestic dogs.

If its cheap, try it.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

We'll have to agree to disagree. Turkeys can't smell, and wolf fur don't work.

People ought to be able to debate strongly, then at the end of the day, agree to disagree after its been hashed out.

Knowing what’s happening in the mind of an animal is at best an educated guess.

 

[GCrumb]

Yes. Birds can smell. Tubenoses (petrels, shearwaters and albatrosses) navigate around the planet by smell. But the differences between a petrel and a turkey are probably greater than the differences between yourself and an anteater. Probably some birds are a lot better at it than others.

 

[GCrumb]

Re: Dogs Coyotes Wolves

They are a species complex.

In the chicken-related-forums-discussion practical, we should remember that in the west, coyotes are little things, but where they have expanded eastward past their historic range, they're an admixture of coyote, dog and wolf, and average around 40 pounds, twice the size of a 'pure' western coyote.

 

[SourRoses]

Last night we caught Fat Coony, the nice one that I was actually okay with. Due to having some sense left in my overly affectionate head, we relocated her. I really wanted to tame one of the babies if she was pregnant
But if she got out of any enclosure we made her, she wouldn't fall for the trap again, so out to the forest we drove this morning. It was about 45 mins to a good spot (away from farms) truly in the wilderness with water and trees, so I didn't have to feel bad. I felt bad anyway, lol

 

[GCrumb]

@SourRoses Good choices. And I promise you'd regret it if you had a pet raccoon.