One of the first things you notice when you go shopping around for outdoor stuff is that they sell a large variety of chemical sprays that are supposed to hide the human scent from the keen noses of animals. They even have chemical lures that are supposed to aid the hunter by attracting animals into traps and ambushes.

I don't know about the rest of you, but there's no way that I'm ever going to spend any money on those fancy chemical concoctions, and the reason for that is two-fold: #1 is that I prefer to travel as light as possible, and #2 is that sooner or later you're going to run out of the chemicals and then what ?

You'll be up the creek because you won't have any way of hiding your human scent, and the animals are going to avoid your traps like the plague.

I know a little bit about the subject of trapping, but most of what I know is stuff that I learned by reading books. I welcome the opportunity to hear everybody's ideas on how to conceal the human scent from animals and how to lure animals into traps and snares. I'd also like to know whether or not the infamous "figure 4" trigger is really any good or not. I've seen lots of good trap trigger designs in the books I've read about the subject, but I'm wondering if they really do work in the real world, or if they're just a waste of time.

Thanking everybody in advance for their wise input,

LW.