SUNTANS AND COYOTES

Brad Harris On Scent Control

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you hunt coyotes at this time of year, not only will you get a suntan instead of frostbite, but the tactics you use will change. Because you'll deal with older animals, you can use territorial calls and pup calls along with distress calls. Here's what three of the nation's leading coyote hunters say about the techniques they use to take the song dogs during the long, hot days of summer. The director of public relations for Lohman's Manufacturing, a division of Outland Sports, in Neosho, Missouri, Brad Harris has called and hunted coyotes for many years.

"One critical mistake of many hunters is they make too much noise going to their tree stands," Harris observed. "I also try to control my body odor. Although I don't believe you can totally hide human odor, I do believe you can minimize it and prevent the coyotes from knowing how old that odor is. I bathe with unscented soaps, wash my clothes with unscented soaps and use odor neutralizers when I hunt." Harris believes that utilizing odor neutralizers will age your scent. If a coyote can't determine how old human odor is, he's less likely to spook when he smells it.

"If a car four or five miles ahead of you runs over a skunk, then when your car gets close to that spot, you'll know someone has just killed a skunk," Harris explained. "However, if you pass that same area two days later, you won't know how much time has elapsed since the skunk was hit because the odor has diminished somewhat. I believe the coyote's nose is similar to ours. If you don't use any type of odor retardant and a coyote smells you, he'll realize you're close by. However, odor neutralizers will diminish your human odor enough to keep the coyote from determining how fresh your scent is. Many times I've watched coyotes come in on my trail and smell human odor. In that second when they stop and look to determine where I am is when I usually take the shot. If my odor was stronger, I believe they wouldn't stop to smell it but instead would run away immediately. You can't hide your scent, but you can make judging the freshness of your scent difficult for the coyote."

TOMORROW: BRAD HARRIS ON COYOTE CALLING WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW HOW AND DECOYS