As always, I'm new to trapping and of course I'm doing it on a budget. I've made some bacon bait and am going to make another batch for the early season since I added antifreeze to the first batch. This is my first full season trapping as I started this past January in freezing temps.

My question pertains to my lack of knowledge pertaining to the use of LURES. Would the Bacon Bait alone serve as a bait and lure or would it also be beneficial to add some sort of lure to the set?

A quality lure is definitely a big benefit, especially in land trapping. And particular in cold weather, you want something with some calling power. If I only could use one lure, for all furbearers it would be a mix of glands and musks, definitely want some mink musk in there, or a bit of skunk.

What are you going to target?

I'm betting Bacon will catch just about anything.

PA, thanks, I appreciate it. I just wasn't sure if the smell of the bacon on it's own would serve as a lure, if not a LDC. Because I can smell bacon a heck of a long ways off myself. LOL

Beav, I'm sorry, I should know by now that I need to specify such things. I'll be targeting coyote and fox. Of course I'm sure that I'll get other things. That's ok with me because I'm new and I need to catch anything to have fun. Plus it'll just get them out of the way early so they won't be messing me up later. But mainly I want coyote and fox.

Again, just didn't know if the bacon based bait was strong enough to do the calling.

The thing about bait and lure Is It's not worth a hill of beans If your not on location. To many trappers think lure and bait are the silver bullet. This stuff Is not magic and if the wind Is wrong or your 30 or 40 yards Off the location that lure or bait Is not going to help you out.
When on location a empty dirt hole will take a critter that hole has eye appeal and they can smell fresh dirt. If your on location just about any type of bait or lure or urine will get a response. Some are better then others but they all will get a response.
Look for sign that will tell you the critter passed that way for a reason. It's going to take time to learn but location Is the X factor learn that and the rest will come easy.

I made a batch of this last week- looking forward to trying it out.

To me it seems similar to Locklear's Federales. Any thoughts?

I do understand that Beav, and I truly value your input on every topic that you comment on. And on the topic of location that you brought up, I'm not going to sit here and say that I'm a pro at picking out spots. For some reason Location, Location, Location is the hardest thing to learn in my mind, but I'm trying.

Now back to my question, what I wanted to know is whether or not a lure should be used with a smelly bait such as Bacon Bait. The answer that we came up with is, Yes it should be used.

I have Violator 7, Pro's Choice, Yodel Dog, and Gusto. Although I know that these are all good lures in and of themselves, are all of these lures ok to use in the early season or are any of these lures developed for cold weather to be used as LDC's?

You're not the first guy to draw that comparison.

Big1 all those lures you mentioned work well all season, just use less early and more later. Pro Choice works well with bait. For me anyway. The bacon bait also works well by itself.
The best way to learn location is look for sign then patterns will emerge, soon you'll only need sign to verify animal presents. Think edges first where thick cover tansitions into open feilds or clearings. If you where a coyote where would you eat and how would you get there safe ??

Thanks Gbus, I completely understand. It's all good to read about it but once you get out there it becomes a little overwhelming. I'm trapping a farm and I know that there are literally fox and coyotes everywhere. How do I know? The farmer tells me. So when I get out there I see this spot, oh that spot, well don't forget about that spot, what about over there, oh that looks good too. See what I mean?

If I were to set 2-3 traps per spot that I thought was appropriate I'd have 4 dozen out on 100 acres. LOL

And to be honest, I think that's what I'm probably going to do. Then I can track which ones are productive and most likely why they're productive. Then this will translate into a better understanding for next year.

Beav is spot on (but don't let it go to your head :-) )

Location is key, but let the bacon bait help. Go out NOW and drill some holes, fill them with bacon bait then come back in a week. You'll know instantly if you are on location. There will be a big crater where the hole was.

That's very good advise Laz, that's how to create a hot spot. Big1 if you do this pay real close attention how they get to the hot spot and what they do besides dig. Remember they are only dogs.

Laz, Gbus, and Beav, thank you very much. I do believe that idea is the easiest way to test where exactly the best spots are. Of course our season starts this Sunday and I'm taking my daughter out for the youth rifle season on Friday and Saturday. I have a thing tonight and then I'm driving 6 hours back and forth Thursday after work to get my dad so that he can join my daughter and I for the youth hunt. Hopefully she'll be getting her first deer at 9 years old.

Now to find time to go up to the farm and dig a few tester holes. LOL

I think that I'll just add a 13th and 14th hour to my clock like in a commercial that I saw. That should do it. LOL

Urine and scat and fresh dirt are all natural calling cards.

Understand time constraints but it only takes one hole to get the show started, well worth the time..

Even with calling stations and being on location and all that, I bet all these guys use lure too. In fact, on the other thread, beav is promoting lure being needed, so I'm a little confused. Two smells are better than one, whether they are at two different sets or two smells to one set. And how much odor is that bacon putting out when it's ten degrees?
No, you're not going to pull them a long ways, but sometimes we can't always set on the prime location and have to settle for the secondary choice.

Sure I use lure/bait but It's not placed at the set to try and call a critter In from 100 yards away. I'm on location and lure/bait just gets them to make that next step.
I have had carcass dumps ignored So I will place a loud call lure to let them find those dumps. But It all depends on the wind In this situation. And I'm pretty close to known travel ways. What I'm trying to do Is to find tracks so I can hang snares On these approaches. Some of the known travel ways aren't snare friendly so I'm trying to move them to where I want them.
But the bottom line Is I'm close to known travel routes.

10-4, no lure is going to make up for being way off on location.

Just trying to make a point. There Is no magic In a bottle. LOL

Bacon always helps.... Constant of the universe!