Does anyone know if Floyd Macbeth used the entire snake in his lures or just the black oil? I was told he only siphoned the oil off the top.

Reason I ask……

In my limited experience with snake, Im sure the top oil would be a useful product. How ever, I use the whole snake except for the head.

I’ve had seven rattlers in a gallon jar two years. They’re broke down. Added castor, several food type oils, and getting ready to finish it. Thinking of Asafoetida and honey. Maybe make three different finished lures. Have six rattlers so far for another batch in a couple years. A friend of mine, Leon Smith, brought back a rattlesnake lure from Colorado when he retired as a govt. trapper. I got the last of it and it’s a good lure. I’m treating it as a food/curiosity type lure. Snake has always interested me in a lure. I can remember Mr. Macbeth’s big adds in the Fur Taker paper when I was a kid.

BTW, I’ll tell one on myself. First rattlers I had had the heads still on them. I stretched one out to behead and when I ran my hand down the snake it somehow forced open the mouth and I stuck a finger in a fang. It got pretty sore. Now their heads come off before I get started.

Andy Weiser's Bad Company I believe is made with the whole rattlesnake minus head.

The snake base I use is the whole snake (rattlesnake) ground up.

It's a change up lure for sure.

For those using snakes, is there anyway to keep them intact for a chunkier lure or bait? I put a rattler in a bottle and it was complete liquid in about a week and a half. I was hoping it would just get a little taint and could be preserved. Do I just need to add sod Benz from the get go?

I grind mine fresh, just keep adding to the buck.
Age them right in the bait room and gets to some liquid on top.
Just stir it once in awhile, but stays pretty thick.

I don't add S.B. till a year later.

What temp does your bait room stay beartooth? I had mine in a broken fridge outside. IT stays a bit cooler than outside temps, but we had an exceptionally hot summer. Wondering if I need to age mine in a working refrigerator to keep it in a solid form.

Im on the same page as beartooth trapr but a different pragraph. I coarse grind mine, I preserve half right now and let the other half taint for 2 or 3 days.Then preserve that. let them both set for a year and mix them together.

I’m a very novice lure piddler. I cut my last batch up with skin and bones and let break down six months. After that time it was pretty rotten smelling and I stopped it with SB. I added castor first. That toned it down quite a bit. I am shooting for a strong food/curiosity smell so I also added gator oil, BTO, spoonbill oil and sac oil. It’s been simmering about two years and is completely broken down. Now, I’m getting ready to regrind and will try Asafoetida and honey in the first batch. It smells like an animal would look for it to me. Guess I’ll know later.

BTW
I aged mine right in the fur shed from March to around Sept. I placed the glass gallon jar in a heavy black zip tied trash bag to keep out flies.

Sounds to me like its ready to be put down a dirt hole. hope it works for ya.

Do you guys intend to use this stank in a dirt hole or on a post as a rub set .

It is intended as a food lure and I will apply it as such. Cant speak for the other guys.

Yes, I’m thinking food/curiosity that creates a digging reaction. It doesn’t smell like you’d think a rotten snake smells like.

Ok, the smell I’m used to is that of a lawnmower killed garter snake. My Jagd could not walk past one without trying to cover every inch of his body in that foulness. I’ve often thought of grinding one and giving it a day or 2 in the sun then preserving it to use on a post or a deep hole.

I've never tried any non-venomous snakes because their defense mechanism is that repulsive odor they emit. That's why your dog goes into convulsive hacking, barfing fits when he tangles with a blow snake, etc. Venomous snakes, on the other hand, don't have the obnoxious smell because their defense mechanism is their venom. Just a thought.

Youre on target Lazarus. Watch a bull snake get hit on the road. Nothing eats it. A rattler gets hit and its gone in short order. Wiley Carol would just put a dead rattler in a soup can, bury it and catch coyotes.

I watched Billy Taylor (third generation government trapper and traps Wiley's old country) make that set. Get a soup can, clean it out, and put a 3-4" chunk of rattlesnake in it. Bend over the open end and put a flat rock on the can against a small backing with a trap out front. The snake keeps "gassing" for weeks and any coyote worth his salt will stop and try to dig it out. No other lure needed. Real good set for coyotes that have seen all the other sets. The set was made to "age" (i.e. not go near it except close enough to see if a catch had been made) and get better as time went on.