I am about to run out of lure and was wondering if fresh or green casters is ok to grind(chunk up) for lure..I am all most out and have some casters from this year??? What have you guys found I am sure they will work...I have had luck with dried casters and ground them...

Open the green castors scrape out all the contents and add glycrien and mix to form a paste and you have some of the best beaver lure going. It's all I use.

okay beav, i've seen you mention your prefered method several times ... not knockin it just askin WHY? what is your reasoning for having to "open them up and scrape out all the contents???" why do you choose not to just grind them as is??? don't take offense ... educate me cause i just dont see why?

i asked this question on another castor thread ... might be wrong but i don't think you replied to that one? i truely & honestly would like to know the why?

i realize it's just another way to skin the same cat but i'm the curious type

thanks for your time it's appreciated

I used castor yesterday that was inside a beaver the day before.

Had beavers flopping in snares this morning....

You may get a slightly more concentrated castor odor by scraping out the inside rather than using the whole sac but I wouldnt think it would be much of a difference. I have used the juice from full sacs mixed with a little urine from the bladder when dealing with "smart" beavs in the past. For general beaver trapping I still prefer a formulated castor based lure. Certain additives enhance the castor and have greater calling power.

Same here.

Just take the castors out and cut them up and use them.

I never dry any castor. I remove the castors from the beaver open the green castor squeez out any liquid Into a container. Then scrape out all the contents try not to get any of the sac material In the scrapings. I have found that by putting the green sac material In the scrapings that you will get a sour smell to your lure. I guess If I used some type of preservitive In the lure I could probbaly use the whole sac. I know If you would dry It out then grind then the sac material wouldn't have any effect. But In the green stage It does.
It's just the simplest way I know how to make a good beaver lure right on the spot. It seems to work pretty good. It's probaly the most natural way to make It.
I tried to add urine I didn't like it I tried adding a small amount of sac oil I didn't like It, It's just not natural.
Now I have used urine and I have used sac oil but not mixed togeather.
I know when I let It dry out lets say over the off season It does get a stronger odor to It.
A old bounty trapper told me about It.
Another thing he showed me was that he alway's tied a sring or a piece of wire from the trap to the lure stick. He said he wanted that lure stick gone when he made a catch. I guess he just didn't want the beaver to get use to that lure and wanted a trap In place when one came In. Does any of that make any sense?

I agree that adding sac oil to castor is not natural but urine with castor is as natural as you can get since it is the exact same way in which a beaver marks its territory. the castorium is expelled with urine.

Thanks Beav

yeah, if'n you're gonna grind "as is/whole" wet/green castor you gotta make sure they are clean or you'll have potential for a foul odor batch of castor ... then perhaps only suitable for predator baits

I too agree ... not a fan of mixing sac oil and castor ... for beavers anyhow ... although I know many do

gotta go with what works for ya

Sack oil and castor don't mix? They come out the same hole...LOL. I mix it and/or use castor straight and it'll hammer them either way.

Also you can save the sac oil and use it seperate for the smart ones that are castor shy.

Just because It comes out of the same hole dosen't mean It gets mixed. LOl

I just take the red off and let the outside dry for a couple hours. Never had a problem with a foul oder.

I use green castor and mix it with the oil sacs and a little glycerin to keep it from freezing.
I like the oil. Touch the water with the stick you used to glob out the castor on and watch the oil go find the beaver. The oil acts like a prevailing wind. I can't remember the last I bought commercial beaver lure.

Dave P. is exactly right on the castor "expelled" with urine . . . which is exactly the way a beaver marks it! Yet, you never find anyone who makes and SELLS it that way . . . which is the most natural. Also it doesn't smell as "sweet" as the lures you buy from a dealer!

If you hang up a beaver for about a day, most will have some urine in the bladder. I mix this with fresh castor when making a set for a nuisance or "spooky" beaver.

As for "how much" castor to use at a set, many trappers use far too much . . . and of course, if the scent mound is elevated, ( as most are) the wind current carries it uphill instead of out to the stream at water level where the beaver's nose is anyway!
Aside from that . . . while most lure dealers would like us to use a spoonful, it isn't at all necessary.

When I was a younger man, I was trapping with an elderly gentleman from Oklahoma. He asked, “Want'a know how much castor it takes to catch a beaver?” Of course I did.
He takes a small stick about the size of a drinking straw . . . sticks it "up into" a beaver we had just dispatched, twists it around a little, then pulls it out. "That's all you need" he says, as I leaned over to smell it. He goes over and sticks it in the bank a few feet from where I'm standing . . . no castor mound . . . just the stick!
Next day, (you guessed it) . . . Monster blanket in that trap!

I've tried just about everything over the years and I haven't seen a whole lot of difference in anything I did as far as mixing castor/urine/oil. About the time I thought I was on to something new, it would somehow be proven otherwise. As far as using too much castor, I don't think it's possible in the spring. I've seen natural castor mounds after ice-out that even I could smell for a long ways. I guess in the fall it might be possible, but I still can't see a beaver turning away because of too much castor smell. For me, I would rather have too much than not enough.

I have to agree with Goldy more is better castor/oil/and???? is my favorite

anyone add anis or birch oil to their castors

What your are your thought guys about female versus male castors, The best beaver trapper that i know of uses only females. What are your thoughts?

Beav. I think the advantage to tieing a wire to the lure stick and the trap would be to get the castor smell away from the area so another beaver dont try to chew on the one in the trap versus having them get used to the smell. Just an idea

I removed the castor froma beaver that had been caught moments befor this past season,caught a beaver from it that night too. Didnt' we dbljaw? I had forgot my beaver lure that day.