On there catches during the season. I have always done it to find out what they are feeding on and what the main food source is in a given area.
This can also give you a good indication as to the health of the animals you are after. These efforts can pay off big during the season. You will know what food they are actively seeking and also what lures would be the most effective.
A little study of the animals you target during the season will help you in ways you never dreamed of. lets say you are using a mouse as bait but all your animals are full of rabbit. Which bait would be better.

never thought of this. learned another thing today. thanks deer

I do not have time to do that.

I know what they are eating anyway because my bait is on the menu.

If I caught them, they have been eating or trying to eat bullheads.

I have done that routinely over the years, mainly with red fox, out of curiosity carryover as a wildlife research biologist - not to "match the hatch," so to speak, with my trapping efforts for them.

However, on more than one occasion, I have saved undigested, larger identifiable contents - chunks, bits and pieces - for use later in the bottom of a dirt hole. Never actually measured the effectiveness of that practice, but it seemed to be a logical addition in the "bait/curiosity" appeal at a set for a change up element in addition to any lure or urine offerings.

Jonathan

I have on yote, fox, and mink. Not worth it on coon in my opinion.

Just because a coon has some crawdad shells in his stomache doesn't mean he is going to turn his nose up at a marshmallow or a piece of fish.

If a fox got lucky and caught a cottontail doesn't mean he's feeding exclusively on rabbits and won't eat a mouse. Don't make it complicated.

What you find out is what the animal is at the time of take actually in search of and by looking at the contents you can be selective in what you offer. Sure he ate your bait but what if you looked at the contents of his tomach and saw in a coon that he was after lets say persimmon fruit. Now wouldnt that suggest to you that if you used the persimmon fruit as bait more coon would be responding to your food bait. Thus increasing your catch and not trying something hap hazardly. Meaning he just happen across it and decided to eat it. Where as you would not have many refusals by serving them what they are actively seeking. He may walk right by your bait for some persimmon fruit. All animals will do this as a general rule they will feed upon whats available at that time. so it would reason to supply what they are actively seeking at that moment. Thus improving your catch numbers and rate of catch. Jonathan what was the major portions at the times you checked just for my own curious nature. As animals from differnt parts of the country feed upon differnt food sources at differnt times.

I disagree strongly!!!!! Sorry, just do......Coon will not be drawn to persimmon over fish and definitely will not have the drawing power. DH - most coons in the midwest are feeding on corn and acorns predominantly with sides of fish, amphibians, eggs, and whatever else the opportunistics find. I would never tell someone to go out and use dry field corn, even though that is what is evidenced by scat during trapping time. Think about Iowa - coons are drawn to corn.... SET LOCATION!!! Most important with anything....Do you think most carnivores have skunks in there guts when it is used in formulation as a lure - of course not - cause it is LOUD and reaches a ways....

Also - if I am examining contents of a stomach - uhhh, my fish worked pretty well.....I would rather use a loud calling bait then what the animals may be feeding on, but if some of you would be willing to buy some corn for $12/4 oz let me know.....

A coon will feed on corn when available and fruit when its available not all food sources are available at the same time. I think from personal experience that coon will go for sweet fruit over corn if available and they will take a crawfish over fish. So it all depends on what a coon is after at that time. Thus checking contents of stomachs. If you dont check it wont hurt my feelings. But i think it helps. But remember all coon are not caught around water. They can be taken in heavy timber and fields alike. They arnt just a water animal. But thats where most trap them. Why! Because most dont set any where else. They might be surprised by what enhabits those deep woods or large open fields. I didnt mean for this to be just a coon thread but all animals coyotes, bobcats, fox, mink, weasels and skunks. But we shall see where it leads us.

I check all the cat's stomachs that I catch. Tom

I'll check a turkey crop, or a bass stomach, but that's it.

Hunter, Most often there was an admixture of contents, ranging from grasshoppers and grapes to voles and pheasant, and parts from just about any available animal in the territory - a combination of major food sources and snacks, or dessert? Once in awhile the stomach contents were homogenous when the fox was selectively feeding on mice, or filled up on a rabbit or pheasant.

Jonathan

Most people in the mid-west know that coons feed on dry field corn during trapping season - it is available and will generally be found in many coons stomachs where available. I would still rather use fish in the middle of a corn field instead of corn to draw them. Cats - I'd rather use beaver with skunk essence even when they generally feed on smaller rodents/rabbits more often. Coyotes - I'd rather use tainted meat along with glandular lures when you generally wont find that in the stomachs......Skunks - I'd rather use rotten eggs mixed with fish oil which you wont find in there stomachs.....and so on.....some baits just have been "stong indicators" as WORKING.
If I am correct - Gerald Schmitt probably still uses bullhead heads for hundreds of mink even though you probably wouldnt find them in most of the mink stomachs.

A fox has a very large array of foods to choose from out there. Around here its been mice, persimmons, black berries, moles, squarrals, and rabbits. Ocasionally ive found birds on there diets as well. Even found a frog in one. Its amazing what you can find in them.
I think the wildest item i have found ingested was tree bark from a coyote. I mean alot of tree bark still havnt figured that out as to why.

Tom what were you finding in the bobcats that you checked.

I agree with TreedaBlackdog. Just because it's in their stomachs doesn't mean it's the best bait. Actually I think it could work against you. Let's say you find a coon with a belly full of persimmons like you said. So you go to a persimmon tree and make a set with only them. Now a coon comes to have breakfast under the tree. Now he knows there's persimmons in your set, but why would he want to work to get them out when there's a ton of them laying around him. It's much easier to get them laying on the ground than dig in a dirthole to get the exact same thing.

To me checking stomach content is a good idea to know where they are GOING. Not to know 100% what to use as bait. Say again that I find a coon stomach full of persimmons. Now I know exactly where to make some sets, right by a persimmon tree, but I'd just as soon rather use a crawdad in the set than a persimmon because it's something different than normal but coons are still attracted to it.

I check my animals except coons. It's interesting, I wonder how many of you all would of guessed that a large percentage of the mink I catch even in deep winter have frog parts in their stomach contents...

~ADC~

Once you know he has been feeding at the persimmon tree's by checking the contents of the coon which you just caught from a creek bank on fish. Now with that scenario you go to the persimmon trees and find ripe fruit on that tree. I can guarantee you that there will be trails leading to this tree blind set the trails leading to the trees. Now being as we check for stomach contents we can see the persimmons are ripe and now because we checked the contents of the stomach we can. set another area. Ya see where this goe's hand in hand with what your trapping. Some may not even know where the persimmon trees are at. But by checking the contents they will know somewhere in there area is a persimmon tree with ripe fruit. And the coon are hitting it. With out checking the contents of his stomach you would still just be catching the coon along the waters edge. Its a tool to further your trapping skills whether you use it or not is not the question. But what we are looking for is how to use the information you find to better your skills as a trapper.

As far as fish go I allways check bass and catfish, I have even be known to use what I find for bait.