Halloween has come and gone, and so has most of the trick-or-treat candy. My kids still have a small pile left, and this morning we had the idea of using it in dogproof traps (along with dry cat food or fish pellets and a dab of Lenon's super all call) for raccoons. I also have a pile of "sweethearts" (the little heart shaped candies that say 'be mine' and similar). They have a slightly fruity, very sweet smell. I can't imagine them doing any harm to a dogproof mix, other than maybe attracting oppossums.

What do you think? Any candies that you would be sure to include? Any specific candies that, in your experience, don't attract coons?

Those gummy Life Savers work.

don't waste a gummie candy on coon they are too good. im a sucker for anything gummie candy lol

Update: I went ahead and filled a large peanut butter jar full of sweethearts candy, with a couple of drops of vanilla for good measure. It smells really good! Come December, maybe there will be some left to add to the DP's...

Any DP bait I pre make for coon unless it is fish based contains a bag of black licorice, Twizzlers I think its called. I cut them into small pieces with scissors. 1 bag to a 10# batch of fish pellets, sweet feed and molasses stirred in. Personally I don't know how someone can eat black licorice, sure not for me but coons like it.

Several lure/bait makers I know use cereal mixed with broken cookies and marshmallow bits and small pieces of chocolate candy and hard candy and market it for DPs. I’ve heard candy and cookie companies sell broken bits by the ton. If you have a cookie or candy maker near you, check them out.

There’s a place near Princeton, MN called Lucky 7 Bear Baits (or something like that) which offers factory overruns etc. you can get all sorts of edible stuff there. By the 5 gallon bucket load to ton pallets. Coon and bears seem to love it.

there are places that buy cereal , donuts old bread etc. grind it all up and sell it mostly to poultry feeders. they have contracts with all the bakerys and stuff. thats who you will need to buy from.

You can get the same result for less by getting some anise candy flavoring.

It’s almost like these were made for DPs.

https://www.candystore.com/candy-types/gummy/gummy-rings-candy/

I don't use a lot of dp's but when I do I use a cat food fish oil mix. I fill a pint jar 2/3 full of dry cay cat food. Put in a tablespoon of spoonbill oil and shake it up good. Pressed fish oil doesn't work anywhere near as good. Not enough smell. I have yet to find a good use for that stuff (pressed fish oil) and quit buying it years ago. The cat food will stick together after a day or two but just break it back apart with a twig. I pour it from the jar into the trap.

My mix is similar, I use dog food and R&M Midnight Death. I just pour some on the dog food and shake it until it is kinda shiny and has good odor coming out of the top of the jug.

Has anyone used fish eggs In DPs? I thought about creating some fish egg bags that fishermen use for salmon, not sure the terminology. If you could tie them up and leave a small loop on the sac you could try and get the loop over the trigger. Or maybe just dump them In with out the made up sac. Seems to me It might just be a good system for those DPs.
They are pretty oily so that may keep them from freezing up In cold weather.

Same here Danny, I use a cheap bag of dry cat food. I put it in clean 1 gallon containers and add stuff to it. Make it about a couple months ahead of season. Molasses added works great, plus fish oil or strawberry jello. Give the containers a shake once and a awhile. The dry cat food soaks everything up and pours very easily by the time I'm setting and baiting with it.
Its clean, fast, and works great. For a kicker whennsetting I'll add a few drops of moonshine coon lure or hawbakers coon lure right into the DP with bait up to the trigger.
Jim

Whatever gets used, I think this is key to making more catches using DP's. He don't need to taste it, he just needs to smell it and attempt to pull some out. If he has to work his way to the trigger, he may give up and move on. Coons run around eating bugs, worms, and tidbits of all sorts of stuff. Don't take a lot to get their attention, especially if you put the DP in the trail.

Marshmellows under the trigger work good if you can keep from eating the bait. But, I've never caught a coon with just a marshmellow, and I tried. Squirt some fish oil on top of it and you got a winner. Probably about any smell on top of the marshmellow would work, it's just hard for the coon to pull the marshmellow up, even if it never touches the trigger, without firing it off. I have to mash a regular big marshmellow to get it under the trigger of a Sterling Grizz, so he's not getting it out without firing that trap. When it rains, or snows a little then melts, on the marshmellows they can be a little messy and sticky. That's the part I don't like about marshmellow.

I like fish pellets, cheap cat food, field corn, and a little anise for a slight licorice smell, all mixed together. It's simple, it's pretty cheap to make a lot of it, and coons eat and like all of it. If it seems like they aren't interested, a squirt of fish oil or another smell brings them around. About this time of year, any kind of fox gland (just a tiny bit) on the inside lip of the DP really grabs the attention of the boars in my area when they have other things on their minds.