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Who has the best nose?

Fishbonker

Fishbonker

Life Member
This question was on a varmint/predator hunting site. They wanted to know if a deer (I assume whitetail) or a coyote had a better nose. I assume, again, that it was in reguard to the abillity to smell, not which one was easier for a taxidermist to stuff. On the varmint/predator web site the responders thought the coyote had a better sense of smell. I'm curiuos if the same opinion holds true on a deer web site.

What do you think?

The 'Bonker
 
I'd have to say coyote. Have you ever seen one of them things hunting for field mice in the snow? It's amazing, they can find a shrew in 18" deep snow from 10 ft away. It's really pretty cool to watch, no wonder the American Indians domesticated them.
 
I'd say they both have pretty darn good noses but I'll go with coyote also. 7 years of trapping and only 1 coyote to show for it and that was in a snare that had been set for over a month and a half. Something to be said for an animal that can smell the iron of your trap even after it's been boiled in a walnut hull solution and then sprayed down with scent stuff.
 
Michael Jackson!!!!!
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Sorry, I couldn't resist!
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My vote is for the yote!
 
Limb -

i can already hear the chorus of groans throughout the forum as they read your comment.
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Well, I am new here, and I have to say there are some very interesting topics and good info. I have an opinion on this one, since Ive been chasing both of these since the 60's. Ya, got a little age on me. I am inclined to almost call it a draw, on who's got the best nose. But I think a coyote believes his nose a little more than a whitetail. Anybody who's spent much time in a treestand has had a whitetail get downwind, and show frustration when they can't figure out where the source is. But I have never not ever had a coyote do anything but leave the area. Just my thought.
 
I've heard different folks say over the years that -- regarding both coyotes and deer -- that either can smell anywhere from 20-1000 times better than humans. Talk about a wide range of difference! Olfactory abilities appear to be difficult to research and no one really seems to know, I don’t believe!

But I will say, based on my hunting observations, that the whitetail MIGHT have a slight edge, though I think both are pretty much neck to neck (or nose to nose?) in the “whose going to win the scenting ability” race!

I have had dozens of coyotes around my stand over the years and thousands of deer. Both seem to pick me off right when I suspect they will -- when they first ease downwind into my drifting scent stream. I haven’t notice that coyotes pick my scent up any faster than do deer.

But consider this: coyotes have much better vision than deer do. Whitetails see with their noses, for the most part and do not pick up stationary objects nearly as well as do coyotes; deer also have poor depth perception and an inability to see color. So it seems that since coyotes are equipped with better eyes, they might be able to afford to “give up” a little on their sense of smell?

Sure the coyote has to catch food -- it must survive -- and he surely can’t afford to give up much! But the deer must find food as well; and, the deer has another challenge that the coyote really doesn’t have -- it has to keep various types of hungry teeth from biting into it’s neck! Those additional challenges of the whitetail lead me to think that what it gives up to the coyote in eyesight it more than makes up for in it’s ability to pick up various odors.

I also think that since the whitetail has an additional “nose” (vomoronasal organ on its tongue), tends to cling to brush so tightly -- generally, avoiding open areas unlike the coyote -- and has 7 different glandular areas on its body involved with scent communication, that the whitetail appears to have more physiological olfactory adaptations, than does ole’ mister song dog. Olfactory power just seems a BIT more critical in the world of the whitetail than in that of the coyote.

But, hey, this is just one man’s opinion on the matter. I sure hate to bet against Mr. Song Dog because I know how good my lab can smell, and surely a coyote can smell better -- she finds all my arrows I shoot under the grass and into the weeds! But I’m sure old Mr. Whitetail could do the same. See here….I had a book on training whitetails to find arrows here somewhere……

It’s a tough call -- but it’s Mr. Whitetail 100 : Mr. Song Dog 99.

Raven
 
I gatta go with 50+,I have had deer downwind several times and they hung around until they were sure but I have never had a coyote do the same,they smell or see anything and they are gone!
I have alway's liked the old sayig about turkey's,the one about if they could smell they would be unhuntable,man is that a true statement or what!!!
 
Hey guys take a shower and wear your Scentlok and you fool both the deer and the coyote. I will say that one morning I had a coyote approach from downwind and never know I was there. Then 20 minutes later a nice plump doe taught her fawns how to locate a bowhunter who was hunting the wrong stand for that day. She paraded those fawns around stomping for all she was worth. After 4 or 5 minutes she left and 2 basket racks approached from downwind and like the coyote they never knew I was there because one bedded down under my tree for almost 45 minutes before leaving.
I think deer and coyotes are like coonhounds some have cold noses and can smell and run old scents and others can only smell hot or fresh tracks.
I do know one thing if I could see like a turkey smell like a coyote and my knees didn't shake and I could breathe when I saw a big buck my basement walls would be fuller than they are now.
 
Great topic! Man, Raven do you just study these deer and remember everything about them or what ? I love reading you posts, I learn something everytime I read one! Keep 'em coming.

One thing I didn't understand is, are you saying the coyote can see in color? I always thought it was loke any other dog and was color blind. Or are you talking more about the depth perseption and ability to see in 2D as it would be.

I'm going to be going out today to try my hand at calling a few of these moonlight serenaders in, I had 5 of them about 100 yrds from my house last night harrassing my dogs. Of course I went out with my flash light and no gun. One of these days I'm going to learn because it happens at least once a week.

By the way I have a second nick I'm going by "songdog ranch". I kept trying to log on to the sight at work but it wouldn't let me so I just got around it by creating a new log in there! Pretty good network security huh. Can't figure out why it let me sign up but at least now I can check out my favorite board every day.
 
Hello,

Geez, I think I got to typing too fast in the post above!

The whitetail's 6th sense: the vomeronasal organ, is not on its tongue -- it's on the roof of its mouth! I've really got to ease up on the coffee some mornings! Also, I just did some checking and found out that coyotes also have this organ, just as 2/3’s of people do. Sort of interesting.

Anyway, also, I shouldn't have said that deer are color blind -- rather they are "color limited" as are coyotes. They, like coyotes, have dichromatic vision -- having two types of cones -- color receptive cells -- in the retina -- versus the three of humans. This gives both deer and coyotes limited color vision in the violet and blue-violet range and in the blue, greenish-yellow, yellow and red range. Evidence suggests that both deer and coyotes probably see various shades of gray better than do humans. This is what various researchers believe anyway.

From my experience in the stand, however, I think coyotes pick up on blaze orange better than do deer. Coyotes also have much better depth perception than do deer (coyotes have binocular vision, with eyes close together on the front of their head. Deer have perceptive or prey vision, with eyes placed far back on the sides of their head).

Just a few additional thoughts. This is pretty good for me, as I usually try to avoid thinking on the weekends!

Good Hunting....Raven (by the way a raven can see better than a coyote can smell! Ha!)

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I now suspect that just as a deer herd lives in mortal fear of its wolves, so does a mountain live in mortal fear of its deer Aldo leopold
 
The coyote win's here.
Now what about a bear? There is a nose!

Ever hear the "Indian" saying, When a leaf falls in the forest, the eagle will see it, the deer will hear it, the bear will smell it.
 
My experience hunting in Iowa only and coming into contact with both deer and coyote many times.

They both have a good sense of smell. I can't say for sure which is better, but a coyote does not usually second guess when he smells a scumbag in the woods. Deer many times may hesitate or try to verify their nose if they did not get a good dose of human in heat.

A great honor and challenge to deal with either one.
 
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