Homemade bait!

[Doug B.]

Ok, it seems like things have kinda died down in here. And I'm sure we have talked about this several times, but maybe this will be a good topic.

I like to do some things on my own. Although I do buy bait and lure from trapping supply places online, I still dabble a little on some homemade stuff and some of it has been successful. Some, not so much. The first I made was a coon bait for dp's. I used bacon grease, dog food, fish oil, and eggs. I did catch one or two coons but just not a really successful bait.
The next bait I made was for coyotes. I took some bobcat meat off a bobcat I had caught and kinda chopped it up. Then I mixed that with some cheap blue cheese salad dressing. That bait will catch coyotes. I wouldn't hesitate to use muskrat or beaver or road kill rabbit or deer scraps or basically any kind of meat. You can mix it fresh and start using it right away. If it starts tainting on you, just add some sodium benzoate to stabilize it. I've got some other recipes I'm working on that I may post later. Anybody else like to fool with their own baits or lures?

 

[Railroader]

I hope that I don't get that far into it, Doug...

If I do, I will probably wind up living in the shed...

Southern Snares is too close for me to try and make something better.

Last time I was there, my Spiced Mice was ground fresh...A lady walked by with a box of live mice, and she came back with a tub of bait..

 

[Doug B.]

I hope that I don't get that far into it, Doug...

If I do, I will probably wind up living in the shed...

Southern Snares is too close for me to try and make something better.

Last time I was there, my Spiced Mice was ground fresh...A lady walked by with a box of live mice, and she came back with a tub of bait..

I'm not saying I can make anything better, but Southern Snares is a long way from these mountains. I have ordered from them though.

Actually it's just something for me to piddle with. I'm definitely not going to try to market anything.

 

[sportsman94]

Ive definitely tried through the years to make my own. The best bait I made was simply beaver and bacon grease. Caught several critters with that down the hole before it ran out. I still wouldnt say it was comparable to a commercial bait. I generally will save some glands off of bobcats and coyotes and add some fresh urine then let that break down for a year. Its no commercial gland lure either. I have read lure formulation stuff on trapperman about different additives and thought it would be fun to try. It just drops too low on my priority list other than trapping season. To be honest, I have too many other things I like to pursue in the woods so trapping normally gets whittled down to a December-February time frame for me

 

[cj580guitar]

I have just made some bait myself. This is the first time doing this so I’m not sure of how it will work. I went ahead and used bobcat meat as the base along with some glands, castor and fish oil.

 

[antharper]

Not me , but it does seem interesting . I’m kinda in the same boat as sportsman94 . I’ve already got to many hobbies , a full time job , oh yeah and a wife and daughter . I hardly have the time to remember to order bait .

 

[Doug B.]

I honestly don't have the time either. My bait making venture is on a very small scale. But I do enjoy the hands on feeling and catching something with my concoction.

 

[willie1971]

I teamed up with a buddy last year and used deer and beaver leftovers from last season. Tainted a little and added salt. keeping in the crawl spaced, sealed and cool in a jar.

Saved the castors and have enough of that to last me a long while. everything loves castor.

Also chopped up beaver tails to make oil. They have been rendering since April and almost ready to bottle.

Didn't take a lot of time, and very little investment. Location and well-made sets are key, and bait/lure is the least important variable in my opinion.

 

[buckpasser]

I’m pretty serious about bait and lure production. Here’s a synopsis of what I’ve learned so far. For coyote, I’ve ground up fish, rabbit, beaver meat, squirrel, venison, barn cat, bobcat, castor gland and alligator. Here’s how I’d rank them in overall coyote interest:

Barn cat
Bobcat
Rabbit
Venison
Castor*
Beaver
Squirrel
Alligator*
Fish

*I think it’s worth noting that bobcats have fallen hard for my ground gator meat.

*I realize the castor is really in the “lure” category not bait, but that’s how I gauge it for overall response. Also very effective on bobcats.

For coon I’ve used the following; cheap cat food, bacon grease, sardines, twizzlers, fish oil, marshmallows, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, maple syrup, peanut butter and my coyote baits.

After extensive research on this I’m basically sold on the fish and fish oil doing the heavy lifting. Unbelievably, the bacon based baits I’ve run have been wildly disappointing. Also, my biggest, meanest, stinkiest coons have fallen to straight up coyote baits in coyote sets.

 

[Doug B.]

I teamed up with a buddy last year and used deer and beaver leftovers from last season. Tainted a little and added salt. keeping in the crawl spaced, sealed and cool in a jar.

Saved the castors and have enough of that to last me a long while. everything loves castor.

Also chopped up beaver tails to make oil. They have been rendering since April and almost ready to bottle.

Didn't take a lot of time, and very little investment. Location and well-made sets are key, and bait/lure is the least important variable in my opinion.

I chopped up some beaver tail and it is rendering. I also kept a few beaver castors. I read where Paul Dobbins talked about putting castors in wine. I have a couple that I have soaking in cheap wine that I will grind right before I start trapping this winter. I also have a few mice in the freezer that I plan on grinding and adding other ingredients to.

 

[buckpasser]

I teamed up with a buddy last year and used deer and beaver leftovers from last season. Tainted a little and added salt. keeping in the crawl spaced, sealed and cool in a jar.

Saved the castors and have enough of that to last me a long while. everything loves castor.

Also chopped up beaver tails to make oil. They have been rendering since April and almost ready to bottle.

Didn't take a lot of time, and very little investment. Location and well-made sets are key, and bait/lure is the least important variable in my opinion.

Oh, your post reminded me. I’ve also been using some homebrew BTO. I think it’s about like beaver meat as far as I can tell for getting a response. I don’t know that I’ll continue with it after reading opinions on Trapperman.

 

[stonecreek]

I’ve made my own coon bait not real complicated. Cat food maple syrup and sardines ground into a mush with mini marshmallows on top. For yotes ground deer meat sardines and salt. Coons ain’t complicated for me yotes are tho.

 

[sportsman94]

Oh, your post reminded me. I’ve also been using some homebrew BTO. I think it’s about like beaver meat as far as I can tell for getting a response. I don’t know that I’ll continue with it after reading opinions on Trapperman.

I got some from a buddy a couple years ago. I don’t think I’ve had much response to it from what I can recall (I didn’t trap last season). Too bad, cause I hAve a bunch of tails in the freezer I was gonna do that with. Will probably make some anyways and give it away, or add it to something. The hard part about lure/bait making to me is knowing what scents get certain responses. And then formulating recipes based on the desired responses.

 

[Throwback]

Not me , but it does seem interesting . I’m kinda in the same boat as sportsman94 . I’ve already got to many hobbies , a full time job , oh yeah and a wife and daughter . I hardly have the time to remember to order bait .

Same here but did save a bunch of pop tarts that had been destroyed in shipping to use for a base for raccoon DP bait

 

[Doug B.]

I got some from a buddy a couple years ago. I don’t think I’ve had much response to it from what I can recall (I didn’t trap last season). Too bad, cause I hAve a bunch of tails in the freezer I was gonna do that with. Will probably make some anyways and give it away, or add it to something. The hard part about lure/bait making to me is knowing what scents get certain responses. And then formulating recipes based on the desired responses.

That is where the time would come in. I would think to really test a bait or lure you would at first make a lot of sets, possibly without a trap but with a camera to see the animals reaction. Cause you would want the animal alive if you needed to tweak it some. Then maybe see how many you could catch if it worked good. I ain't got time for all that. If I can come up with something and catch one here and there on it I'll be satisfied. The bobcat meat with the blue cheese dressing really does work though. I have caught a few with it.

 

[Doug B.]

Same here but did save a bunch of pop tarts that had been destroyed in shipping to use for a base for raccoon DP bait

I bet that would make a great base for coon bait!

 

[Throwback]

P

I bet that would make a great base for coon bait!

any idea what to add to it? I would like to make it something that’s not really attractive to anything but coons (no fish/meat added). I’m trying to decide what consistency I need to make it

 

[Throwback]

Has anyone uses dobbins bait solution? I have some deer meat I’m thinking about grinding up and adding that to it

 

[deermaster13]

We've run bobcat and beaver thru the grinder and use sodium benzoate to keep it from tainting. Dad swears by it in a dirt hole for coyotes. Use straight beaver thru the grinder and sprinkle cat nip in at as you grind it works for.cats and we've caught coyote with it as well.

 

[Doug B.]

P

any idea what to add to it? I would like to make it something that’s not really attractive to anything but coons (no fish/meat added). I’m trying to decide what consistency I need to make it

It may be fine to use them like they are. Just crumble them up in a DP. Especially if they are frosted.
Or maybe try mixing some spearmint oil in some and experiment with it a little.