In my neck of the woods we have Russian olive trees. They are an invasive species and line every waterway in the area that are not cleaned out. Coon eat the olives heavily from what I can see. Piles and piles of scat full of olives. I have an abundance of these trees on my property. Curious if anyone knows of a good method of putting the olives to use as a solid coon lure/bait. Besides of course just putting olives in my dp's which does work but then i am just baiting with something that is everywhere all the time. eat from a trap or the ground no different.

The coon in these areas react differently to bait that i have used for years to hit coon with. For example I have been using marshmallows with a watermelon extract lure on the lip of the DP for years and i have not gotten one bit of interest. I also have been using Mark Junes coon chum for years with great success as a corn based fish smeeling bait and also get zero hits on that as well. Cat food with smoke flavoring still gets them but i am getting a lot of denial traffic. Looking for something regional specific to work for me and something new to try.

You can make jelly from autumn olive berries.

For added punch, I like to add about 4-5 drops of my food based PrimeTime coon lure to each DP and watch out...
I have to get raccoons cleaned out many times on the ranches here in Texas as they muck with my pretty dog and cat sets. So I need them gone quick!
Or if I'm trapping delicious cat country in NW Nebraska, I set two DPs upwind and two DPs down wind of the high dollar bobcat set to ambush the little boogers before they find the sweet set. I have found this to be a A-1 combo that stands the weather and keeps on reaching out.

MJ

Interesting.

If the coon is hitting the olives then freeze them or pickle them. I have also had good results using everclear to fast preserve and tincture certain meats, shellfish, and other baits. Maybe it will work on the olives. The everclear evaporates off when left out in the air very fast. You can also pull them from the everclear and place a little glycerine with them to keep them moist so odor is released easier. you may want to see what stage the olive is in when the coon eats them the most.

Mark thank for the advice. I am thinking your bait is going to be a little more handy when i move to the water and lake to trap here after pheasant season dies down. right on or by the water i think it is a rock star. I will try some of your lure when i get a chance to blow some hard earned trapping money on goodies lol. Jonesie i like the idea of pickling them. I think if i just froze them or put them as bait directly in the dp I would be basically be setting a grass trap in a meadow for rabbits if that makes sense.

I do however think it is very interesting how things that work perfect in one situation don't work as well in another with the same creature.

Anyone ever tried, or have an opinion on juniper berries for similar applications/reasons?

They definitely have a strong smell, and I am guessing that most everything eats at least some of them.