Posted By: Stinger
Dog Food Doesn't Work for Bait - 12/07/2015 02:34 PM
Just wanted to tell a quick story about one of my few attempts at using dog food as bait while coyote hunting.
This was around 2005... I figured it was cleaner to carry out a 50lb bag of dog food rather than a bunch of scrap meat for bait on a little section of private land I had access and permission to hunt.
I set out the dog food wearing perfectly scent-proof boots with huge sandwich bags over them, dropped off the dog food and backtracked perfectly along the same straight line I had walked on the way out.
Took off the bags around the feet and got in my stand. Used a mouse squeaker (thinking it wouldn't do much) and low and behold here came two coyotes within 15 minutes.
I really wasn't prepared for them headed straight at me because I was totally exposed and couldn't draw my rifle.
They trotted right up to the dog food and sniffed around it. I thought I could finish raising up my rifle while they were at a "bad angle" facing away.
As soon as those buggers got to my trail with my "perfectly scent-proof boots" BAM!!!
They high-tailed it out of there. What an education I got that day.
No such thing as scent proof no matter what you do and coyotes do NOT like dog food.
That food sat there the rest of the winter, untouched and then the weeds never grew better than that spot - 6 foot tall weeds grew in a 4ft X 4ft spot for the entire spring and summer.
I apparently bought the most expensive fertilizer ever dropped in the history of man.
Lessons learned. Hopefully this year 2015-2016 I'll take that lesson and add to my experience.
This was around 2005... I figured it was cleaner to carry out a 50lb bag of dog food rather than a bunch of scrap meat for bait on a little section of private land I had access and permission to hunt.
I set out the dog food wearing perfectly scent-proof boots with huge sandwich bags over them, dropped off the dog food and backtracked perfectly along the same straight line I had walked on the way out.
Took off the bags around the feet and got in my stand. Used a mouse squeaker (thinking it wouldn't do much) and low and behold here came two coyotes within 15 minutes.
I really wasn't prepared for them headed straight at me because I was totally exposed and couldn't draw my rifle.
They trotted right up to the dog food and sniffed around it. I thought I could finish raising up my rifle while they were at a "bad angle" facing away.
As soon as those buggers got to my trail with my "perfectly scent-proof boots" BAM!!!
They high-tailed it out of there. What an education I got that day.
No such thing as scent proof no matter what you do and coyotes do NOT like dog food.
That food sat there the rest of the winter, untouched and then the weeds never grew better than that spot - 6 foot tall weeds grew in a 4ft X 4ft spot for the entire spring and summer.
I apparently bought the most expensive fertilizer ever dropped in the history of man.
Lessons learned. Hopefully this year 2015-2016 I'll take that lesson and add to my experience.