I caught a few today. I debone the meat. Do I need to grind it or use as chunk bait? I was going to add little castor. What other ingredients do I need to put in it? I going to freeze it . I have sodium benzoate and bait solution ordered. My first attempt at making bait.

You could probably taint part of it for use when it gets colder. Tainted bait reaches out there a little better than fresh bait. Little castor, fish oil, maybe a couple drops of skunk essence and glycerin and you have a kick butt bait.

I like both ground and chunk. ground meat will preserve faster when you stir the sodium benzoate into it. I have a few different chunk baits and a few ground baits I think I like the chunk baits better and it only takes a few chunks down the hole and a lot of the time I leave one chunk at the mouth of the hole as an appetizer. I like a bait that the animal wants to eat and tastes good to the animal. if they taste it and don't like it they are gone and not wanting to investigate further. I have also had good luck with ground super stinky meat bases with certain attractors in it. play with it and test whatever it is you make.

I like ground bait for my own screw ups. Sometimes because of my limitations an animal doesn't step where I thought it would when if first commits to my set. If it grabs a chunk bait and leaves I may not even notice the bait is gone when checking for several days. I feel with a ground bait that animal will stay longer, moving its feet around to get it all.

How can that happen when you sposd to peg the chunk in place?....maybe not many twigs to peg with in your hood.
Pegging, theoretically, makes them shift their feet when the chunk won't move, when they try to grab n go.

I can grind fast than I can chunk, i can smear faster than i can peg. Ground product gets better and more even distribution and penetration of ingredients than chunk. Speed at set leaves less scent and more sets but up more #s.

How much sodium benzoate do I use for 2 cut up ground hogs? How long do I need leave it set in a glass jar in sun?

a cup of sb for a gallon of ground meat is about right. I age mine about 50 hours in hot summer weather then add the sb. I don't want it rotten. after a few months it loses that rotten smell. add a 1/4 cup of methyl paraben too. wont get moldy on you.

I like to gut groundhogs then chop their head feet and tail off. that is all discarded. then I chop the carcass up a little with a hatchet. run the pieces, hide bone meat and all through my grinder for a base. That 50 hours of taint isn't written in stone either. 72 hours is good too. I prefer it not rotten though. I don't add any spices till it has sat long enough with sodium benzoate in it to quit stinking. Several months at least.