Is castor a favorite ingredient in a lot of canine baits both home brew and commercial?

Yes. Dont over do it. Add a little stir it in wait a few days and sniff. Then add a little more if you need to

Is castor something a canine would like to eat??

I doubt it would be eatable

Cant say on yotes but I know coons will eat castor. I'd assume they will, my dog will devour it. But then again she likes eating cat poop! So that might not be a fair test! Castor in baits is a lot more then just a side smell.

Only reason I can see to add castor to a edible bait and and turn it into a possible not edible bait would be insurance as in just in case they don't want to eat it maybe they will still be curious enough/ to work the set and be caught. The bait worked but only because of the added castor . Not saying this happens 100% just saying it,s possible. Why else would castor be added if it wasn't for the curiosity factor?

It is for curiosity . Just like everything else you add., When you put multiple scents into one jug you are creating a curiosity. Animal has never encountered that before. IMO every bait and lure with more than one ingredient is a curiosity. Even gland lure. It may invoke a territorial response but its primary reaction is curiosity. A smell that animal will never encounter without a human involved.

If you put down urine often even that is a curiosity if it contains urine from multiple animals.

If you add the proper amount of caster to a meat bait (APPROXIMATELY and only a starting point) 64 parts meat to one part castor, it not only has a good castor odor underneath, everything eats it that eats meat.

Castor is still used to flavor some human foods like vanilla.


A coyote will often lick straight castor, then rub on it, then pee on it. cats tend to sniff for several seconds then rub on it

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Good post. If you can find Mike Marsyada’s bait recipe in Trappers Post issue from a couple years back it worked good for me with groundhog. Like Danny said, castor was used rather sparingly but was there with the groundhog chunks with hair on still very detectable.

That makes sense. Getting the right amount of castor so as not to over power it.

So basically what we have with most baits is that there are so many different smells added that we don't know for sure which ingredient or ingredients actually attracted or peaked there curiosity enough for them to work the set.

what we also have is a combination of scents that attract more animals onto a trap pan than any of the scents used alone will

I do think some baits have so many extras added that they are more of a lure than a bait but a few extra very mild secondary odors can increase the attractiveness of a bait to the majority of animals and still be eatable. A good bait that represents food will usually not lose its attraction to predators, I've seen animals keep coming back working a bait for months, were IMHO a bait that is over loaded with curiosity smells can sometimes be a one and done attraction. With at said, if the animal puts its nose within an inch of the attention and I miss it I figure the miss is on me. And some of more loaded up baits can not be as effective on the spookier coyotes in my experience.

I see where dried castor is chewed on just like a horse hoof. and I see where my taste baits that I make that have castor in them are eaten with no hesitation what so ever. Also remember that castor is use in some of our own food products.

I guess I never thought that castor could taste good to anything. Prolly pretty basic stuff for bait and lure makers but being it's the off season and slow on here figured it's a good time to bring this up. Thanks for the info and keep it coming.

I had a yellow lab that ate a huge pair of semi dried castors, in about 2 seconds flat.

I've tasted it. It's not that bad. It was once sold in drug stores as a calmative. .But, it was tinctured in high proof vodka when I tried it. That may have helped.

I remember the pics and stories of kids holding their noses and nasty look on their faces while having to take a spoonful of castor. I guess there are things we make assumptions about that aren't completely true.

Castor oil is made from the castor bean, not beaver castors.

So there is a difference? Lol

Yes, the castor bean grows on a plant, and beaver castor is a scent gland from the beaver.