I'm reading Land sets and trapping techniques by Charles and either I keep missing something or he don't say what bait he used in his pre season bait sites, I've searched MTP today I can only find a few liquid food baits... Thanks

It was probably the Pre-Bait that he made and sold by the gallon.

I'd dump a bucket full of fish that's been sitting out for a while if you have spots you can prebait

cheap dog food and bacon grease are my all time favorite!!

I like the logic behide a free meal it just stuck to me, so you can pick any oil and make it the free diner bell??

you can also make a so so location a great location as well! Predators leave locations for food or lack of so give em a reason to stay. Not indefinetly but heck a month is better than nothing.

I did some experimenting on pre-baiting gray fox and coyotes for a couple of years. I aimed trail cameras at the bait holes, etc. It was pretty interesting. I can say that almost anything will be investigated by canines and probably coons (assuming you wanted to catch one), but if you want the most bang for your buck, concentrate on doing it in September and October. Summer time pre-baiting has a marginal benefit, mostly it will keep you in shape and boost your fuel bill. But when the weather starts to turn and the days get shorter, predators really focus on stocking up on food. Some bacon grease, melted lard, cracklings or any combination of them down a one inch wobble hole will show you where the critters will be on opening day.

i could'nt agree more laz I wont waste my efforts during the hot long months either I start experimenting in September come October ive got a real good idea on were to consentrate my effort to lock them into a specific area.

It's my opinion that any pre baiting Is a waste of bait and time and money.

Thx..

that's why I use stuff thats dirt cheap. As far as gas you will be using it to scout. I consider this concentrated effort scouting. as well as most of it is done in areas, I intend to make my core

im lazy. I scout by looking for coyote turds alongside county roads whenever im driving someplace. I look for bobcats by noticing where rabbits get squished a lot or I see multiple packrat nests in hedge rows. im to cheap to prebait anything

My yote density isn't as great as some states so I try hard to congregate them in a area. I search for sections with over laping territorys then pre bait it hard. in areas I can drive to farm roads are my first choice! easy to access and major travel ways for yotes

In my area the coyotes are where you find them no need to feed them.
WE caught 33 coyotes off of 6 farms and only one of those farms was 10 miles from the others. Most were only about 3 miles apart. NO need to pre bait coyotes around here.

This Is corn country and when the corn Is standing It's our main food source for coon. When the corn Is gone they head for water or the hard wood ridges eating mast.
If you find the local seasonal food sources just set those areas the critters will be there.

I also use to dig holes and pour In 5 gallon buckets of fast food oil and grill scrapings. Drew critters like crazy and they dug out every bit of bait and even increased the hole size by about 10 times it's original size. But when Nov rolled around lots of those critters moved on to seasonal food sources. Sure we caught fur at those spots but we had to wade through all the domestics and other non target junk too.
If you feel the need go for It but I think your time would be better off spending time scouting for local seasonal food sources. The critters will be there.

I've been mixing new cafe $&it "yellow" with an oil and have been getting an unreal response, I'm hopefull they remember that oil this fall...

I agree beav but my seasonal food source is deer gut piles and its hard to determine who when or were they are going to be. Hunting pressure might increase or decrease ultimately dictating the amount of food. To date I haven't found any scent that trumps a fresh gut pile. I can say with certainty they want a big rewards instead of a small hole full of good smells. Even urine is ignored in the time of plenty. Blind sets are king once the orange brigade leaves then its a deer carcass at every bridge.So now my #1 bait is very slightly tainted deer meat using a unbelievable amount at sets.

I think a lot of problems are misdiagnosed.

Last year I tried some prebaiting. I did this out in some open range land and ended up catching more skunks and coons than I normally would in such an area and I can't really say that I caught any more coyotes than I normally would. That's my limited experience in my area. I have done well in areas where we have disposed of dead cattle so maybe a large carcass is worth it.

Seth with your skunk and coon population I can see you could load up on them but that isn't such a bad thing. Skunks are a good money maker and I always like catching them. In fact they are over all more profitable then many of the coyotes out there. Adding up the skin, essence, pods and the fat value they are well worth catching.

Carcass beef, sheep and dump stations will bring good rewards if it has some history to it especially in your country.

The thing about carcass dumps Is that next year while there may not be a once of meat left there If there are coyotes in the area they will still investigate that bone pile.

We pick up road killed deer and place them In certain locations and gang set those fresh locations. If the bones haven't been dragged off we will re set that location. Maybe not as heavy but there will be a trap or 2 In the area.

I hear you about the skunks Bob. I saved an ounce or two of essence and some pods this year to play with myself and actually skinned a couple. Took pelts and carcasses to Mick( which is a great reason to go pick his brain about trapping). I actually enjoy trapping them now that I'm use to handling them. May even Target a few this year.

Problem I see with feedlot and dairy dead piles is mange. Coyotes get concentrated yes but they still constantly squabble with one another. Lots of physical contact. Soon as a mangy coyote finds the bonanza it isn't long before your tossing half or more that you catch.

Beav, I've caught a lot of coyotes in "featureless" prairie setting on scattered bleached white bones from a cow or horse. Taking the tbones doesn't seem to hurt the location and a tbone set is likely to hit. I think after while they just become a standout feature for urine marking. You know a lot of those bones been there long enough there is no way any living coyote ate any meat off them.

Mr. Beav, I beg to differ. In the lands of "SNOW" I have found that pre-baiting works very well for fisher & marten. Side note: only pre-bait after the bears & 'coons go in. In Maine the limits are 10/25. Would you sooner tag out in 10 days or two months?

spot on.

Pre baiting or just baiting?
Are you baiting during the season? Or baiting during the month of August? WE don't really call It pre baiting but we have deer carcasses placed out In 20 or so locations during the season but before we place our sets.
I have also come to a conclusion that placing large baits out In wide open spaces out preforms those large baits I drag back In to the heavy brush. Sometimes those baits don't even get hit during the season. But the ones placed out In the open are hit with In days.
Sometimes I feel some coyotes are just to paranoid to feed In the heavy brush.
Had a carcass that we hauled up On a small hill. Good heavy grass great spots to hang some snares. That carcass laid there for weeks. Actually until the season had closed. You know what those dogs did? They dragged that whole deer down to the open pasture and ate the whole thing In 3 days.

I bait after the season opens. I trap after the fur finds the bait. Fisher & marten only.

I think coyotes are caught lots easier out in the wide open no matter how much sign or how fast that road killed deer got ate back in the brush. I've caught coyotes back in heavy brush in fenced down crowded up and flagged bobcat sets. Have caught bobcats in flat sets on the wide open edge of wheat fields. I don't try to catch them there or with those sets like that though. Nothing is a hundred percent. Trying to draw animals where they aint going to be otherwise should be a last ditch effort, being done that way cause you just cant trap where they already are.

I think we've drifted away from Charles Dobbins concept behind liquid pre-baiting... And into large bait pile discussion, I believe his theory of a good smell associated will a free meal will work for me, it's not about feeding large dinners and numbers of coyotes but for an alpha to bring the safe dinner smell back to the den and when the others later in the season smell that scent they'll work your sets...

by the time fur season starts those coyote pups have wandered away from their den and dad will whoop their buts and chase em off if they don't skeedadle.

Use the blood and left over bait solution from making baits....works like a charm.

I believe Charlie had some success tapping into the left over restaurant greases and oils from the grill for pre-baiting. Punch in a deep hole and poured the grease down. I use a lot of left over greaes from my wife's cooking bacon, pork, fish frying grease, etc. Any bones left over from these meats can be used in bodygripper boxes too.
Maybe Paul could comment here.

I'm just saying that pre baiting during august or July Is going to be a waste of time when It comes to Oct and Nov. Critters grow up their feeding habits change. Mama hauls them off to the ridges where they dine on mast. Or when the corn gets ripe It's off to the corn field. Talking about coon
Now I can see pre baiting at seasonal locations during or just prior to the opening by a few days. But to run around In the summer months putting out bait or lure I just don't see It.
Now If you want to test a lure or bait fine but feeding a bunch of non targets all summer long Isn't going to get It done for me.
And Danny makes a good point when It comes to coyotes same with fox.

You fellas need to heed what the Beav is saying, he is spot on with his assessment in my experience as well.

Some guys don't know what they don't know. I do not recommend baiting before the season, but I did bait this site for almost three months and I caught a bear , fisher & a marten here in about 10 trap nights. Bear was caught five days after the fisher photo.

BTW. my above post was baited for bear hunting/trapping. I didn't get the big one in a trap but did get him with the dogs. No small traps while the 'coons are out.

Great pictures.

Thanks Beav

Love those bear and fisher pictures.
Thank you for sharing.
mac

I drill small holes and fill em up at choice locations starting 10/1 to check populations and to put them in the mood. I never set the holes. By the time 11/1 roles around I have a heated up location that gets visited often. I use bacon grease, used cooking oil etc. etc. I believe it puts them in the mood to work sets.
Yes I got it from Charlie's book too.. Does it add numbers to my catch? Maybe, but it sure seems to make em more cooperative. IMO it works better for red fox but it does well for coyotes too..
Cool pics!

I agree with gbus its more like conditioning them to work dirt holes more readily. Yotes learn fast,make it a area of interest. Im not saying prebaiting will pull in a thousand yotes a year! But it enables me to make a spot for a easy dozen. Few dozen spots like that and it makes a season easier! It hasn't made my numbers jump but it has kept them consistent year after year. Again population density plays the biggest role in anything when it comes to big numbers

I have fryer oil from deep frying turkeys. It isn't real bad, but it is all I have so I might try that. I have some other essential oils like shellfish etc I could add. My goal is coyotes, would shellfish get them looking and digging? Any other ideas of essential oils I could add?

I'm going to start late September to try to get them coming just to make my couple weeks vacation more productive.

thseeker find coyote sign and listen for them singing also. buy a good prepared bait. find some good urine. (I know its not easy to find but worth the effort) set traps with the bait and urine where the coyotes are

any oil thats cooked meat will work all by itself. Save your essential oils for a change up smell.I don't try to put my bait holes on major travel ways my preference is the small secondary ones. I never set the immediate area of the bait holes to help reduce grinners skunks and coons. bait holes are no different than carcass piles or salt blocks all are intended to draw animals and do

I have been pre baiting spots for years, for coon I start out with test sites June to Sept. Then the spots I want to trap I put more bait in 2 weeks before I set the traps. I want to make it clear I am not just going out and putting baits anywhere or all over, I am picking spots based on the target animals movements and when I think they will be using the area. Again as Beav and Bob as stated there are areas where the coon will be depending on the time of year, and the good trapper knows this. I pre bait by digging in the baits or oils or dry powder. I really like oils or powders because they stay there, and that creates a habit in the critters to check the spot out when in the area. For fox I bury carcass of the animals I catch in fur or wildlife control jobs. These spots go for years and again creates a habit to check out the spot every time they are in the area.

ya ron I don't set mine toxi turvey either they are in spots of known activety I avoid coons like the plague I catch enough once I get close to timber! I believe in my area coons are the new grinners. I have a handful of spots I hit with grease ever year. Those tiny mouse holes are holes for corner posts now.It absolutely amazes me how long and hard they will dig for something that's never produced a meal. But they are determined that something good is waiting at the bottom of the hole they never reach!

The only stuff I add to the liquid is honey and/or Sac oil in small amounts.. I give em something to pee on within 6 feet..

I have a neighbor who owns a fish and chips shop. I get his spent cooking oil by the 100 gallon lot. Sure as heck works great for me. I don’t have possums, coons, and skunks to worry about either.

Would you like some?

IMO if you’re going to pre bait with the idea of concentrating animals to a central location (mainly canines) with the thought of coming back later to get them fast, than you have to pre-bait with something that offers them a full belly.

They’ll come back more frequently and consistently to something that offers them a full belly than just something that offers an interesting smell.

When I ran a lot of big bait stations, the number of coyotes taken, and the speed with which they were taken was ALWAYS greater at the sites that were pre-baited for several weeks prior to setting gear.

Locations that were baited with “smells” never produced like the locations that were baited with “meals”.

Now that is a fact ! All the farmers here dope up their sick animals to the point yotes wont touch them! Unless they are starving and I don't care to catch those anyhow .Usually bad mange critters. From my notes a bad mange catch that location goes dead for the season

Im not looking to stack them up as much as get them 10 to 50 yards off their easy travel path. My problem is too much visibility in built up areas. Im hoping to drill a 1.5 inch hole, shameless plug for Josh Weiks at FurShedFabrications as his drill is a work of art, then pre-bait with turkey fryer oil fortified with some other smells just to get them used to checking out an area just off the normal travel route.

Andy's video shows him doing something similar with fish renderings where he puts a hole well up a draw to keep the orange masses from seeing the set location as they drive by.

Right now I'm leaning towards liquid smoke in the fryer oil. I have others to sort through too.

I buy cheap bacon at Walmart, grind or chop it fine then brown it. Add this to fryer oil so they have meat and fat to come back and feed on. A bit of honey for taste adds to it also.. I'm trying to pull from areas I don't have access to. Seems to help.. Took 20 from one location..

I’ve got raw honey so maybe I’ll try that mix!