Any advantages of using fat meat ie. beaver of fat bobcat vs lean in making an preserving bait. Any differences in working with them tainting and preserving. I have noticed the meat that is heavy in fat gets really hard to stir while tainting fixed that problem and used a drill paddle mixer made for stirring buckets of paint and drywall mud. Any thoughts on the matter.

yes predators crave fatty meats in the cold! Fat equals heat..

I thought I read somewhere that Beaver fat and horse fat are the only two types of fat that canines can digest very efficiently.

I work a lot with both beaver and cat meats and have for many years. They are completely different meats to work with. You can age them both the same and they will break down and age at very different rates. Each meat or material is unique to itself and you must learn this as you work in this area of lure or bait formulating.

That is why it takes so many years to walk the walk in all these different areas. There is lots to learn and an ongoing educational experience for those who do this annually.

All meat type products can be worked into a bait. It is all in what you wish to do or you will be going thru a trial and error process to determine which way is best according to test results over time. It is finding the right age and materials that make it all what it is, then keeping it that way and duplicating that same process over and over each season.

When an animal finds a food opportunity I don't suspect they spend much time deciding whether or not they should eat what they find or not. Good fat or bad fat. It will be a pretty quick evaluation on their part to eat it, mark it or leave it.

Their instincts are ingrained in their DNA and in some cases their learning experiences so you wont force feed them if they don't think its right. It also depends upon how desperate or hungry they may be as well.

yes sir those are just the top picks for many big time commercial bait makers, and easily obtained in bulk. But from my tinkering ive found they will eat any fatty animal to some degree. lol Even coons when times get lean! but like many others ive never once saw where any critter has even nibbled on a otter carcass. My favorite picks are skunk, beaver ,feral cat, Muskrat, ground hog

I did find where I read that k-9s have a hard time digesting fat because of their short digestive tract. It was in one of Russ Carmen's books. He said the only fat that could be digested easily to his knowledge was horse and groundhog.

I read that as well but he also went on to say fat equals heat so once it get supper cold the quest for fat is on!

Point being give them what they prefer

I DO i use deer

That is why IMO,IMHO,JMO it would be more beneficial to an individual learning what these animals eat, want, and must seek out for bulking rather than just throwing a bunch of crap together and hope for the best because so and so said so. Although sometimes that's not a bad idea and works to some degree, but knowing why you're adding fats, carbs, and lean proteins to a bait will land you more critters. Especially when it comes down to taste bait. jmo

tdhp if I was to worry about the taste it will be for coons not yotes I prefer to have them in shackles long before they get a taste. but I do understand were your coming from in that statement! Even a highly edible bait is just as likely to be rolled on by a yote as ate.Now if it was starving that's a totally different story but I don't believe a yote can starve here! my trapline dog is always dragging up deer parts at most any time of the year!Mo has a better than good deer population some areas they are border line over populated! That's why I stated I use deer its a major food group here.

I don't believe everybody has your expertise in trap placement. There are some folks who need that animal to commit and put a little more effort into their sets. Just take a look at all the threads regarding trap placement. They may roll on any bait but some baits are wanted more than others.

NO im not perfect 100% of the time! I do on occasions have bait drug out of holes and its usually still in close proximity but smeared into the ground. And my dogs will devour it so I know its edible to a k-9. I have witnessed yotes rolling on deer carcasses get up urinate on them then commence to eat them. And saw foxes do the same thing to fresh kills! IMHO its just the nature of the beast. Its not saying they dislike what they smell but the exact opposite. Maybe they like it so much they want to wear it as well as eat it!lol bragging rites to there buddys. There is only one response I don't want to see from a bait or lure! That them dropping a duece on my attractor to me that a sign of udder disgust!

I prefer lean horse meat, most horses I've butchered are very lean anyway.