Tejas I agree, but try to tell that to a raw green coyote/bobcat trapper looking to make his/her first catch...lol with ALL of their excitement ...it ain't happenin' lol
Still though, you are correct even with experience after a while a trapper can begin to doubt themselves when nothing is happening at your sets.
With the recent surge in thermal hunters around me....It was strange to see good sets made at proven set locations just sit...without action...frustrating for sure.

How many folks make their own coyote bait?


Here is a new batch of coyote goodness for the 24-25 season.

Tejas you taint or stop it fresh. Take a little fresh and add some fresh strong smelling onion to it when you make a set.

I like my coyote bait to be as fresh as possible.

As soon as it goes through the grinder the SB is added to preserve that freshness.

What kinda base is it ? I know you do a lot of stuff with hogs , always wondered if they would make decent bait

Wolf, I like to show the coyotes what they expect to encounter here as far as attractants go.


I have not used pork at baited sets up to this point.

Looking back I cannot give you one good reason why I have not.

This season I will grind some fresh and put it up against my red meat baits and see how it does.

I bet it will hold its own against the other proven producers if given a fighting chance.


I'll post up the results when I do a little MB 550 taste test survey.

Tejas, I bet you have to keep that bait hidden from your ranch hands. As I can see a guy walking by that concoction not knowing what it was and sneaking over with some Saltines....lol

It’s funny you mention that MC.


We actually have an appetizer called “Parisa” that is a staple at the ranch.

It is lean ground meat (raw) mixed with cheese and Serrano peppers.

Lime is added to “cook“ the raw meat in the same fashion lime or lemon is used with fish to make ceviche.

And you guessed it. It’s eaten with saltine crackers.


Good Stuff!

With commercial bait prices at a buck an ounce plus, I’m surprised more trappers don’t make their own.


A molasses tub and boat paddle works well for mixing large amounts.

This batch weighed in right at 50 pounds.

Here is another coyote bait option for a little change up.

We have a huge pack rat population.

They are big and destructive.



A weasel set using a rat trap and cubby box was very effective but slow going.



The box description seemed appropriate for the "Rat Recycle Receptacle".



This set produced eight big rats in just a few days before the well went dry.

These pack rats are Giants!

I would guess they weigh around a pound a piece or more.



The trick is to come up with a way to catch them in numbers like a colony style muskrat trap.

It could be viable coyote bait if you could catch enough of them.

If anyone has an idea on this I would sure like to hear it.

pack of terriers I miss poking packrat nests with a stick and watching the dogs have fun like we did in my younger yrs

Dang Tejas, never seen rats that size before...almost looks like a gray muskrat...lol And I have caught a pile of rats before. As you know they can chew like no other....colony type trap would have to be made of some strong metal...stainless? lol I would try freezing them whole and chop up in the morning and use at the set. Almost the way we use muskrat carcasses in wooden baited bodygripper boxes.

James I have caught a few rats that size

Had to resort to a Bridger 110 body grip in a box

When I first started learning to trap I bought some traps off of a guy for coyotes and he said he used fresh gophers in a dirt hole to catch coyotes so I would bet a rat would work as well

Great thread TEJAS, nice of Wolfdog to bring it up.

One thing I've learned over the years is that a coyote can be caught with just about any bait when trapping under certain conditions. My biggest problem is keeping my sets working.

Thanks BC 13 !

I wouldn’t even know where to begin trapping in conditions like that.

Tejas,
You've got two options. You can either set in the snow itself, or dig down to ground and use freezeproof dirt. Depends on how deep the snow is and whether you are figuring it will melt off or not. It can be a real pain, but unless you get a big fresh dump of snow (or it freezes so hard you can't see tracks) you can always see if anything came by your set, and how they worked. Sometimes that can be frustrating and humbling, but it can be real educational also.

Here's a little something I picked up at a garage sale that might come in handy for catching pack rats in numbers.

It's designed for squirrels, but I didn’t think that would make much difference to the rats.




For two bucks it was worth a try. The little box trap was thrown in for a dollar.




It has two entrances. I like the door design as it turns up at the bottom edge.

Excellent find!

[quote=TEJAS]

Tejas ,

I guess I missed it someplace but what are you grinding up? Deer , pig ?