I mostly age my coyote glands for 2 to 3 years I have good results with I have about a pint of fresh frozen glands I thawed out I'm thinking of preserve them and see how it works anyone use fresh they really have a good coyote smell even without any urine.

yes, I only use fresh preserved in my lures and as long as my customers keep telling me its working, then I'm good.

I know Paul and others rot glands for 2-5 yrs, though, and also have successful lures.

I was thinking one of the profesional lure makers stated on here not long ago that aged glands were good when down a hole because they got a rolling response but fresh worked best for scent posts.

Golden colored cat gland is good for what ails you. Everything wants a sniff. Has to age, rot down, for a couple years minimum. That golden color isn't from urine either. Its just what good cat gland looks like after its aged.

Red Fox gland comes close to cat gland. Coyote gland is at the bottom of the three for usefulness IMO though I still use some. At times.

For red fox, rotted and aged are far superior from my experience. The reaction is more intense. I want a fox to want to rub and/or roll on an odor. I found that some of the best lures provoke this reaction. Foxes will also readily urine mark an aged gland lure. Lots of trailcam footage verified what most of the old school eastern trappers have known all along. Hard to be a good aged red fox gland lure.

Thanks we don't have many fox anymore the fox and cats come to coyote glands good I'm going to make some see how it works thank. Dave

I catch more fox off yote glands then I do using fox glands actually its visa versa! Fox on yote glands, Yotes on fox glands. Cats from all three with skunky fox glands being the biggest producer

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It all depends on what response you want. rubbing or hard digging you may want a aged gland. a pass by scent post or flat set or summer scent you may want fresh preserved.

It has been said here many times. there are 2 ways to formulate a lure. formulate on a given reaction you want or formulate and see what happens. both need testing.

Was doing some digging in the archives here and I was wondering if I could ask how to go about aging glands? I've got glands from 9 otter and was going to age some of them and use others fresh. Do you age them in a container? Sorry for the stupid question?

Not stupid, I use a glass jar and cover with good urine, not trimmed clean,Surrounding fat,hair included.Add a couple things after year and a half and use shortly after. No preservative.

So submerged them in good quality urine in a glass jar? Room temperature okay? Do I cover the jar and burp it occasionally? Thanks for the help.

I age mine a little differently.They are cut pretty clean and ground fresh.I like mine fairly thick,at least not runny,so I hold the urine till later,after it is aged a year or so and then add just enough urine to get the consistency I like.I age them mostly at room temperature.Figure a way to let gas escape but keep flies off.I will add a little glycerene just before season.

Thank you both, that helps a lot. I will have to experiment. Are you adding any sodium benzoate or just letting them literally rot?

I personally just let it age.It just gets better.

I do the same.

For my cat gland lure, I use both. At the end of the cat season, I divide my glands and keep 25% in the freezer. The other 75% I rot down all year ...or longer. Then about two weeks before the season opener, I grind the glands that were in the freezer and add them to the rotted glands, along with some goodies like mink glands, rat glands, etc. (tiny amounts of those). It has great attraction.

Tracy have you ever tried anything similar on yotes? I like the thought process behind that formula.

Got a batch cooking right now. Gonna wait until mid-October and add the fresh stuff.

lol I figured you had! I got half a gallon cookin as well a pint of fresh ones should be close to 25% .Been saving my rat glands for a special occasion.Ive got almost a pint saved! Pinching yotes is pretty special!

Thanks guys I really appreciate the tips to get me started. I'm sure I'll screw it up somehow but it will be a learning curve. Using the otter glands as a curiosity lure/experiment for canines. Will age with some good fox urine I get from Marty Smith.

Well I guess I'm the odd one, I grind fresh red fox, coyote, mink and Muskrat glands combined together preserve with Blackies Stop It. Add enough glycerin to cover and let it sit all summer, then add Red fox Bladder urine come September. Nice mild gland smell that makes em pee..

Gbus,there are plenty others that prefer preserving them fresh and others that like to add fresh preserved to a batch of aged.I'm positive,all of it catches canines,so a guy has options

I want to ensure I do this right. To "age" glands you just put them in a glass jar, vent periodically, and let them rot down over the course of a year or two? I've always used fresh, preserved glands with glycerin and either castor, tonquin or asafoetida tincture. been reading through the archives here and it seems most prefer well aged glands?

We prefer to age all glands indoors. It may take several years for good breakdown to occur. However, they are very consistent in age, odor and color. All of our glands are a gold like tan to beige color and the resulting odor is that musky natural gland odor of that animal species . Key is starting with clean cuts without feces and minimal hair as is reasonable.

Starting with poorly handled glands with feces, excess tissue, blood etc. will yield a sour sewer like odor when aged with all that bacteria. Some like that type of odor however I do not. Animal reactions are different with each process.

Grind everything as fine as is possible before aging as this will speed up the tissue breakdown. It also will make working the material after aging much easier. Stirring occasionally will ensure consistent breakdown throughout the material. Once the glands have reached the age and consistency you want, you can preserve them well , and they will last forever until such time they are needed for use.

Outdoor aging is all over the place with temperatures and can alter the final odor significantly, as well as risking exposure to flies and animal concerns getting into your products. Try different batches aged indoors and outdoors and see what smells most natural and has that subtle musky odor as glands should possess.

In formulation work consistency is desired and needed to keep product quality high and standardized as much as is possible.

It’s surprising how much of a odor fresh glands give off, nothing wrong with having some available during the season to change things up. It’s easy to make up small batches when needed.

What should be used to stop or preserve fresh glands ? I’m assuming SB or salt or borax would all work equally but is one preferable over the others ?

SB that’s it role in the food industry.

I'm thinking of trying to make some with fresh glands. Grind fresh and mix in SB then wait until it has had time to work before adding urine, or add urine at the same time as SB?

Made some fresh preserved the last time it came out gummy like a puddy, whipped it up in a blender to be able to work with it easier.

I caught a couple wolves last week and ground up their glands to use as a recognizable fresh gland lure on a few sets for the rest of the pack. Added some glycerin to them to keep it from freezing since it is getting into the low teens at night. Now I wasn't really thinking and I added glycerin to the whole jar rather than just a little bit to take out on the line with me. My question is, will the glycerin affect the aging process on the rest of the jar?

Glycerin is not a top end preservative unless used in higher volumes per batch. However, Glycerin added at 50% volume or greater will give good anti aging properties and anti freezing properties to a formula or other materials. Most do not or should not depend upon glycerin alone as a good long term stabilizing anti aging material.

Glycerin is a good anti freeze as is P.Glycol. Depending upon the temperatures to be encountered, 20-25% volume will usually provide adequate anti freezing for most materials unless being used in sub zero conditions for extended periods then more would be advised..

Smaller amounts of glycerin added for its anti freezing properties will certainly retard or stop the natural aging process of glands, or other organic materials that are wished to be aged further.

Well this is a little less than 20% glycerin. But I may be making a small batch of fresh gland lure whether I was wanting to or not. I just wanted a small amount of fresh glands to take on the next trap check to try and interest the rest of the pack in the smell of their missing members. about the time I was screwing the lid back on the glycerin jug I thought, "now that was stupid!" Looks like I have about a pint of fresh gland/urine/glycerin mixture after I took an ounce or two out for using on the line.

Has anyone tried adding liver Bile to coyote glands? Maybe it will speed up the ageing time? I will have to collect some this winter and give it a try. Mercer Lawing on Face Book has a video on using Bile with bobcat glands. I thought it was pretty good. Is anyone else using Liver Bile with good or bad results? Thanks!!

Old timey recipes often call for some bile.
I make 2 different lure name brands. It's interesting to see the contrast in beliefs about glands.
One only wants anal, bladder and hock. All else is considered filler with little value.
The other wants liver, bile, kidneys along with the anal bladder and hock.
I lean toward the first option for my own business. But both catch for