does everyone else use the same lures and baits every year? Like say caverns moonshine on coon? Or Backbreaker on beaver? Or should you rotate thru about 3 or 4. I always stick to just one on everything except canines. And even with canines. How many different lures and baits should you be throwing out?

Seems to me the guys with less lures and baits in their bags catch more coyotes. Same with the types of sets they make, those who use fewer types of sets catch more coyotes. Least that's what I see with guys like Bob somebody, Waddell and a few others that know how to put up #s. And from my understanding they don't change unless they find one that works better. Just a humble observation from a want to be wolfer.

I notice the same thing. The folks slamin em use pretty much 1 set except maybe a special situation and generally the baits and lures.

A lot of that is a numbers game. To catch high numbers you need lots of traps out. Getting in a routine will allow you to develop habits that let you make the same sets over and over again faster. Which means more steel in the ground, and if you have something that works, why change? High numbers guys are usually very good trappers, but they are also usually creaming the population and moving on. To catch that wised up one you may need to try something different, but if you are looking to catch numbers it is more profitable to leave it for seed and move on to areas with more game.

That being said, even for the moderate trapper, if you are setting traps after work, you're going to get more in the ground if you have a routine down and can make sets faster. And there is something to be said for having confidence in your sets. Making the same set you have caught your last half dozen canines in you are going to have more confidence in catching something in it.

Personally I have four lures in my canine bag, and tend to rotate through them as I make sets. Now two of them are gland lures which I don't normally use at dirtholes, so I generally end up with about one out of four lured sets being dirtholes, while the others are flat sets or post sets. I am finding myself going to a lot of pee post sets, either blind with nothing added or just with some urine added. But then I take forever compared to a lot of guys to get a set in the ground.

When I'm setting I tend to set, flat set, then a dirthole, then another flat set, post set, then either a dirthole or flat set again. And will set every natural pee post that is conducive to doing so. Occasionally making my own at a gang set location, but generally rotating through the same three sets and four lures to give them a choice but not get too elaborate. Then of course I run into conditions that dictate something different and all my plans of routine go out the window.

My lure cabinet could fill two or three catalog pages easy

99 % of the time I'm using 1 set and only 2 baits. I put in 2 sets at each stop, with 1 different bait in each set. Have gotten away from using lure, and my catch has gone up. The key is to be on location. Using stepdown dirtholes almost exclusively. Keep trap 4 to 6 inches below ground level. When they commit, they're caught.

I used to buy every lure under the sun, but I too have taken the Bob approach. I use Bill Nelson formula bait, and switched to high quality urine that blows the doors off the stuff that the warehouses sell. Location is key, and if you can’t pick a good location then you’re gonna be behind the 8 ball. If I can’t pick a favorite spot then I set more traps. In my pipedream sets I’ll run something tastier down the tube.

I just use the same ones for the most part. Don't need to get too fancy, set where they travel and a little bit of scent and eye appeal to bring them in

I think you have to go through a bunch of different lures to find what works for you. I tried just about every luremakers lure until I got what works for me and now I use just those. Can't explain why the others weren't as productive they just weren't. If 1 or 2 or whatever works then that's what you use.

I have a theory that might shed some light why some weren't as productive for you as others.... the animals you were targeting didn't find them as attractive.... if everything thing else is equal its the attractiveness to the target animal that decides what is the better lure or bait

Yes sir you might be correct. I read on a forum on here Mr. Paul Dobbins himself said that he and his dad would trap using the same lure and his dad would catch with that lure but he couldn't. His dad wrote some about this in one of his books. I can't figure it out. I just use what does it for me.

I read the same thing and mull it over in my mind once in awhile also. I do believe there could possibly be some slight variation in their techniques that they don't notice that does have some effect on the animals reaction to the attraction....??? The big hold up in my thinking is do you think a coyote is going to react differently to an ounce of spoonbill oil poured down a test hole by you than how it would react if it was me who poured it down that hole?Without being able to talk about it with the animals there always will be things we don't understand. But from my humble and narrow bit of experience it comes down to whether your attraction is attractive to the target animal. I've done what I consider a lot of testing on coyotes and there are definitely some only fair at best lures and baits being sold to the trapping public. Some that I even thought were pretty good a few years ago, but when I started doing comparative testing found out they were sub par or at least in the region I trap in they were. I've started to send some formulations to trappers in other areas to try to see if there is regional differences in animal preference. I'm a big believer in comparison testing to determine what is more attractive.

Very interesting. I'm just thinking out loud. But I wonder i you can overuse a specific lure in a area. Say I use bounty hunter year after year in same location. If perhaps it will be ineffective after sometime

The short answer is in my opinion and experience a top shelf lure or bait is in general going to be as effective from one year to the next in same area. In my mind I can make a case rotating lures could improve your catch if the ones you are using are only marginally attractive.

I used to be very concerned with lure habitualization. At 1 time less than 5 years ago I carried as many as 15 lures in my coyote trapping pale. But about 4 years ago I got hooked up with James Lucero lures and now that all i use is about 5 or his lures for coyotes. I still am catching 300 plus a year. Just doing it with less lures in the pale. I also run SMC urine. Its worth the extra money to me. And i only have been running Flat Sets for the last 3 years.

To answer the op's question...yes, I use the same lures and baits every year. After experimenting on a specific line, I found what they like...and hit when they come thru. My canine bait in a hole is a homemade beaver based bait, with some good stuff added. My pipe bait is a very special homemade mouse bait that they will lick every drop off the pipes. I have a supply that will last me until I quit trapping.

My lure, again, is homemade...that the canines really respond to. I also use homemade gland lure when applicable.

For coons...I use Moonshine year after year. And homemade DP bait that works real well.

I rotate lures and baits (both brand and type) sometimes daily when setting up same property for predators.

I also use totally different lures for remakes than any I used on initial sets on same property.

Does this matter? Probably not.

Hey ST where do you get SMC urine from ?

and where can I buy lures from. James Lucero?

Look at pg.7 of the James Lucero thread here in strictly trapping. There's contact info for Mr. Lucero.