I just went threw the ark's. and could not find the answer I was looking for..My question is what can I add to my casters that I have been grinding..I have always used glysern(spelling?) and has worked great!!!

Problem is I am out of the stuff and the store wont have any for a week..Do you fellas have an alternative to this that will work?? I have herd of other oils(peanut-corn-...) I would like to know tried and proven methods...I dont trap alot of beaver but the casters I have are like GOLD TO ME!!!
Will warmed up vasline work??
I have also herd CRISCO works melted down??
I started a project befor I had all my supplies in hand...

Chicken,

I've used vaseline and caught beaver with it. However, the resultant lure is not as strong as it is with glycol, which I normally use.

I would not hesitate for a second to try crisco...I bet it would work just dandy.

what about corn or veg. oil?

I have used vaseline with good results.

Mineral oil is OK in a pinch. Personally, I don't use it any longer. Some same it will kill or tone down the castor over a period of time. I don't really know if that is fact or fiction.

Never used crisco or other veg. oils. But what first comes to mind is the possibility of the shortening or oils going rancid. You know that smell I'm talking about. Not sure if that would even be a problem on a beaver lure?

If nothing else, just freeze your ground castor until you can pick up some glycerine.

Good luck and have fun!

Possum Skinner writes...Some same it will kill or tone down the castor over a period of time. I don't really know if that is fact or fiction.

Mineral oil is never a good choice as a lure base. It is a fact as you heard, mineral oil can actually nullify the odor of some lure ingredients and reduce or tone down others. Ace

how do ya'll feel about fish oil as a base?

Thanks Asa! Know I know it's fact.

Vaseline tends to crust over locking in some of the odor. Lanolin is a much better base however it will begin to liquify in hot weather.

I will guess fish oil would be a pretty good base for any lure. Beaver for example are not fish eaters but fish odor would certainly be natural along with the odor of castor. Also, if there is such a thing as universal attracting ingredients, fish oil and castor would be on the top ten list. Ace

Aren't some if not all of the commercial "bait solutions" that are sold to be added to your ground or chunked meat a blend of fish oil, castor and other ingredients?

possum skinner asked...
Aren't some if not all of the commercial "bait solutions" that are sold to be added to your ground or chunked meat a blend of fish oil, castor and other ingredients?

I have no idea other than a few basics what lure makers formulate in their bait solutions. No doubt castor is an ingredient in a lot of them but i've never heard of fish oil being a staple in the solutions. Back in the days when my Dad and myself sold chunk baits fish oil was never used in the preparation and formulation, never even thought of it. Of course years ago fish oil was not so readily available like it is today so that is probably why it wasn't tested or considered. Ace

Chicken oil from sun rendered or dehydrated chicken fat {skin}.

Peanut oil is great for keeping the skunk essence working. Fish oil is used in most all bait soulitions.

The peanut oil mention is a good question. Johnny Thorpe recommends peanut oil as a lure base. I would like to know the reason for Johnny's specifying peanut oil vs corn oil, canola oil, etc. Anyone have an ideas about that??? Is there something negative about using vegetable oils other than peanut? Ace

I have found no significant advantage to the use of one oil over another for formulation. Peanut oil has a greater vicsosity tendency in colder temps and is more expensive to use as a matter of fact.

I never did understand the reference regarding the superiority of peanut oil over any other similiar oil for solubility and distribution of another ingredient in a formula. Skunk will permeate and disburse throughout a formula quite easily if stirred periodically and sealed well.Personally I have never used an oil for that purpose.

Glycol will distribute an active readily as will any fluid material actually. Oils of that and a similiar nature tend to seperate and rise in a formula. Skunk essence attaches quite readily to anything easily however the key is holding it in formulation as much as possible.

Holding skunk as Asa knows is a challenge regardless of the use of peanut oil or any other oil. The primary purpose of a fluid would be for a more even and widespread distribution of that slurry active in that mix.

When I made my bait this time last year the bait that I put skunk essence and peanut oil in still has a loud smelling of skunk. The ones I didn't use peanut oil in are alot less smell of the essence.

^

Thanks for your input Bob J and Huntinglonewolf, good info! Ace

Asa, Bob or whoever ... what about the potential possibilty of the oil going bad/rancid? Will this create a problem on down the line? Just curious.

I know I have had a can of Crisco sit on the shelf too long and get that rancid smell. I'd throw it out as fars as eating it was concerned, but what would that smell add or take away from a lure. I reckon if used for coons it really wouldn't matter.

All I know about oils is peanut cooks fish mighty good. Handles the heat better than veg. oil too.

Done made myself hungry now thinkin bout it!

Good question possum skinner! I have neer used the vegetable oils in lure making so only learning here myself. Bob J might enlighten us on that one. Ace

Pure skunk mixed in heated (liquified) vaseline (it hardens back up when it cools)is the mainstay lure for marten & fisher trappers here in Maine during really cold weather. You slap a gob on the tree. Next time through you rub it with a stick to expose more, so the scent being released is stronger. It works the best for us in real cold weather. Alot of other oils/greases reduce the strenght of the skunk odor some what.

I usually use ground beaver castor, marten/fisher glands mixed in fish oil on sets before it get really cold.

As with any well prepared product whether it be a lure or bait a preservative should be used in the formula to guard against bacteria growth. Vegetable oils are processed very well and will hold nicely for a consumer based lure product. It would be good advice to add a preservative to the mix to prevent bacterial development or tainting of the product ingredients.

Beaver tail oil and seal oil are excellent bases and will adhere well to most oil based ingredients. Like Asa and Bob I see no advantage to peanut oil over any other vegetable oils.

Yes but who can get seal oil in this day and age except the Inuit or Canadians.

I wouldn't use it with my castors, but I have mixed musk and catnip oil with kaster oil from the drug store and caught fox and coon. I've also used cod liver oil with good results.

I keep wondering why the guy just didn't freeze his castor or go elsewhere for his glycerine, my goodness every trapping supply house sells it! Why even "MTP" who sponsers this very web-site sells it for $26.00 a gallon. Did no one else think of just going somewhere else? (The trapper stated the store that he usually bought it from was sold out and wouldn't have any for several weeks.)

LT GREY, I'll quote myself this time. LOL

Dang Possum skinner, My appology. Sorry I overlooked your reply. I kept wondering why no one told him where to get some.

Oh NO!!! Who are "THEY" and who you been talking to??? LOL

lt...froze them!!!! just looking for new options...and an idea!!!

the guy!

Well Possum, your reputation proceeds you, lets just put it that way! I am some one who "knows" a lot of people. Having been a trapper about 40 years and a lure dealer,(although certainly not a big one but I sold my 1st lure and bait in 1977) and a member of The NTA and several trapping org.s ,one could say I've been around and have a lot of "friends " in the trapping industry. I've met almost everybody who's a somebody......but what does that matter, right? As for the "chicken plucker" , when I'm out of line, I say I'm sorry. More people should try it. I'm not always right but I do always have an opinion!

BOK..BOK!!
just plucken casters...opinions are alot like other things everyones got one...some just stink more than others..

I have some genuine sunrendered seal oil made by me but cannot ship any to the USA... Sorry..LOL

Yes we know that, eh! When I trapped white fox in Northern Manitoba, we used it and (I hear )it was smuggled into the US as a fish "by product". In 1987 members of The NTA and Ohio State Trappers Assn. tried to close my booth down when they got wind I was selling it to trappers. Of course they didn't. Who, but the privledged ,can even tell the real stuff from 20 different kinds of fish oil? EXACTLY my point! Well then! The white Alaskan trappers claim they can not even posess it, only the Inuit. You don't say! "Ou ta qualoo tuk qa nee eioo nai" (sorry I know my spelling is off).

I like to use lanolin in some of my lures for a base. The lure second from the left has a lanolin base. You can see the yellowish color. It gives a good thick but not to thick consistancy.

Man them looks good and stinky, I can almost smell em from here.

I use some part of seal for make my base formula in some k-9 lure with stopper cut decomposing , but the first quest is for castor base, answer just glycerin it's the best, peanut or vegetable oil freeze by very cold time

Fergustrap

Better get those bottles closed KY Boy, coyotes might swarm you like honeybees by the looks of them. I agree one can almost smell them, LOL! Ace

No lie there Ace. I have had coyotes come in my back yard and try to chew the lids off of 5 gallon pails of lanolin based lures.

These Upper Michigan coyotes are a bit to wary for that. Over the years I have had on many occasions bear, bobcats, timber wolves, fox, coons, otter, mink and wild dogs try to get into my lure shed but the coyotes just circle around the periemter of the area and i've never seen one closer than 50 yards or so from the building.
Last Summer I had a bear start right inside of the building when I was stirring a barrel of coyote lure with the door open. Another time last year when I started for the lure building one morning there was a bobcat sitting on the steps sniffing through the crack along the door. Ace

Well, we'd all like to trap just outside your lure shed no doubt! The ones about the bear and bobcat are definetly good ones. I think we should set a few traps outside the lure shed and catch some animals that come snooping around and take some pictures. I imagine these guys would get a kick out of it!

Ace Id bet theres plenty of trappers who would like to get in your lure shed as well,LOL