Hello, I am new to the forums and this is my first post, thanks for having me/us. I am pretty much self taught when it comes to trapping, I started mainly just to get rid of skunks and raccoons around the farm but now my kid is older we enjoy doing it together. We mostly have been using the Duke DP traps since they are so easy to use and set.

I have used several different baits in the past including peanut butter, marshmallows, cat/dog food but have mostly settled on cat food now days, what have you found to work the best?

I've seen a few threads here while waiting to get approved talking about mice and other small animals cleaning the bait out of traps, this has been a problem for us as well, we have tried golf balls in the past but they don't always work the best, I think it messes with the success rate as in the raccoons don't find it as easy or the wind blows it off etc. What do you guys do to keep the bait from cleaning, any good tips for us, maybe a different bait that the mice can't clean out as well. A couple weeks ago we were shoving marshmallows in the top to plug the hole but the next day the marshmallows and all the bait was gone lol.

We are up in ND where we get alot of snow, what do you guys do when the snow gets too deep? In the past we have just called it a year since getting to the traps starts becoming a pain in the butt.

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for your responses. My son is twelve and I always send him out to deal with the fur dealer, he sets up in the parking lot of my store every other week. I just wanted to see what others said to boost our success rate up a little bit.

Before long the coon will semi hibernate and not move for weeks ,,,,, barns and feed lots will still connect ,,,, I have used goober peanut butter , peanut butter , marsh mellows , mackerel , cat food and fish oil and have found just keep it simple and use 95% cheap dry cat food .. Love the dp s simple and quick . Keep us posted

Floating catfish food pellets and molasses has worked for me. This year I'm mixing cheap chocolate syrup with molasses. Never had to deal with deep snow just rain then freeze.

Dry cat food here too, BUT only about 1/4 full and marshmallow UNDER the trigger

Welcome fudge80!!
About anything sweet or fishy will work for bait.

Check this thread out for a recipe - don't know if it works, but it should!!
https://trapperman.com/forum/ubbthr...s-over-time-to-hit-the-coons#Post6383374

I have gone to running cheapest fishy cat food mixed with cherry juice from Maraschino cherries for bait. As for the mice problem I have chained to all of my DP's a plumbing 3/8" floor flange with a 3/8"x2 1/2" nipple threaded to the flange. So far I have cut down on catching cats with this set up. Was hoping that would keep the skunks out of my sets, but not so lucky. ha ha

I must be cheap. I put about 20 pellets inside the trap, sprinkle the rest of the handful on the ground around the DP, give it a shot of trailing scent and move on. I have never had one set off that didn’t have a coon in it, and I catch a pile of coon in DPs.

Our traps are never set off, just the bait is missing, they seem to get cleaned out over night.

We've never used a trailing scent before but will look into it, thanks.

Z-trap makes a metal cap we tie on with thick string. With a good smell in the trap and a little fish oil squirted around the trap the coon will pull the cap off while skunks, mice, cats, and grinners won’t.