Collected a pint of bone marrow to play with. Always see coyotes chewing on old bone and guessed they are after the marrow. Will put some down some test holes to see their reaction. If it looks promising I'll test it beside ground deer meat. If it appears to get a better reaction than deer I got a couple of other good bases to test it beside. If it passes those tests we are of to the races to try and formulate something special to put behind some traps next year.

Any experience with it or thoughts and guesses how it will test out? If enough intrest I'll try and take some pics and tell you guys how it's performing in the tests. Maybe take you though the formulating and testing if it makes it that far.

Bone marrow is very high in fat, so certainly shouldn’t hurt. What is your source for the marrow?

I worked with some beef bone marrow years back when we raised some beef cattle. Like many things it all gets some interest but it is a low odor material by itself. It is also labor intensive to work with and acquire in volume commercially. For personal use it is something to experiment with a lure or bait additive.

That was why I was asking about the source of the marrow. Maybe similar to liver, they aren’t crazy about beef marrow but love pork marrow.

I understand the labor intensive part.....I was definitely wondering if it worked well how a guy could get a little easier supply. I found another base that kind of falls under that low odor spectrum but it seems that when they find it they really like it and it has a few other qualities that makes me like it as a base. Feel like I can always spice it up with something else a little if they really like it. But not everything I think would be a good base makes the cut. When I first started fooling around I really thought I'd it hit out of the park with after birth. Coyotes come from miles when we start calving and my dog would almost fight me for it. It was difficult to work with but I managed to come up with a way to make it into a very workable base. After a lot of test I had to concede it was barely an ok base as far as attractiveness. I can spice it up and make it into something ok but why start out with a middle of the road base is my thinking. If it wasn't for the afterbirth idea and thinking I for sure had something special I might never went down the lure making "rabbit hole ". Lol

Cow

Matt a friend of mine got pork liver and his dog wouldn't even eat it. He gave me some to test and I couldn't get anything to hit on it. He got some lamb liver and it tested pretty good. I got a two part base that has deer liver and it's testing real good....???

It kind of reminded me of brain material which is also high in fat and is one of the few forms of fats k9s can actually digest

That’s interesting because I’ve had decent luck with it, though I mostly use deer liver. I can remember reading a post on here where Asa said his coyotes wouldn’t touch beef liver. It would sit in their pen and rot. But they would snatch pork liver out of the air. I spoke with Clint Locklear one time on liver, and the addition of organ meat in general. His words were, “Don’t forget that liver is a filter, so those hog livers that Asa was feeding could have smelled a lot better than commercial livers, depending on what the hogs were being fed, or the overall condition of the hog when it was killed.” That statement is a good bit of the reason I generally stay with deer liver.
I’ve read several western studies that rated the attractiveness of pork liver higher than both beef and lamb liver, and stated that it was at least as effective as the best commercial lures. One of those studies also claimed that pork liver was the only meat tested that was found to be attractive to coyotes all year long.
Back to your bait base though… I think that even if the marrow doesn’t test out to be more attractive than some other bases, it could still prove to be a useful addition. I have my doubts that it will prove to be more attractive by itself than say, spoonbill oil, or catfish oil, or brains. But that doesn’t mean it won’t make a nice addition to your bait in combination with those bases. I have been grinding pork fat through my large plate and adding it to the last few baits I’ve made. I don’t know if coyotes are crazy over pork fat, but I do know that I really like the way it stiffens up a bait and lets you smear it where you want it. So maybe you don’t need to test it head to head against those other bases specifically. Perhaps you just need to test it in combination with something of known attraction. For example, the marrow doesn’t have to test better than the brains, if the addition of marrow to the brains tests better than the brains by themselves. Or, if the addition of the marrow to the brains makes the bait nicer to use and no less attractive, then it’s still a win. If you can stretch your rat glands with marrow, while also improving their usability, and not diminishing their attractiveness, again, it’s a win.
Just some random thoughts,
Matt

Matt

All great points. The liver being a filter and with the additives in commercial hog feed rations I've wondered the same thing as you. I've also thought the same about the possibility of the marrow as a side odor. I'm kind of ocd about first testing everything by itself so I know were I stand. If I don't get much clear reaction testing by itself I'll add it to something else as u you suggested to see if it at least makes an improvement. I really try not to use anything that doesn't add a positive attraction to a formulation or anything I've never tested. I even tested the affects of MP and glycerin when added to a bait. Even when using something as a binder or thickener I like the challenge of finding something that will get the job done PLUS still add attraction. If something doesn't add to the attraction most of the time it is then just acts to dilute the odor in my mind. There are some things that I will use as a fixative or tinctures that don't follow that line of thinking but even then their are fixative that their odor in small amounts add attraction.

Always seem to have better luck with deer liver than beef or pork. Maybe your on to something with the diet/filter.