Well Trapperman, this is my first post. I’ve been trapping for a few years now with some success and decided to start making my own bait. I used Dobbins’ bait solution last year with good results, but I wanted to experiment a bit. I may have overdone it—tell me what you guys think. It’s powerful.

Recipe:

1 gallon ground beaver meat (aged 7 days at 60–80°F)
4 oz tinctured ground beaver castor
4 oz shellfish oil
1 oz tinctured asafetida
4 oz glycerin
10 drops pure skunk quill
1 cup sodium benzoate
1 tablespoon mineral salt
1 oz mink glands
1 oz muskrat glants
2 oz raw honey

Should work just fine. Beaver is an excellent meat base if processed properly.

Looks good, I've never used mineral salt.
Could you elaborate on its use.
I see you put in the SB as the main preservative.

I just use the mineral salt as an additional preservative and most animals also come to sources of salt. It may not matter much but I have a 50# bag so I thought i would add some.

Mr. Jameson, I quartered the beaver and froze it. When I got ready to make bait I thawed it, ground it though a semi fine grinder plate, and then added it to gallon jar being careful not to allow any flies. I stirred the meat at day 4. It was not grey on outside but it was definitely tainted. Im not sure where the distinctive odor is coming from. The tainted, the asafetida, and the shellfish oil are all very loud to me.

I try not to use salt in my bait because deer like it. Around here too much salt and the deer trip to many sets. One tablespoon to a gallon seems a small amount though.
Some of those loud smells may mellow with age. Time will tell. I would try a few test holes in the meantime.

The key to a particular meat base is to have "it" as the primary dominant odor either fresh or tainted. Multiple strong ingredients can alter that odor and give it a totally different odor foot print and most likely change the intended reaction to it to by some animals. More additives do not always make a better bait. Just some food for thought.

To develop a bait with all those ingredients in my opinion would be more in a lure category according to your listing. It doesnt mean it wont be effective it would in my opinion change its category completely. Meaning the amount needed per set would be completely altered. From a tablespoon to a dipping a stick into it.

Your field testing amounts used should prove this out.

don't take anything I say as reliable (I've only just begun this journey); but when you posted your recipe, my first thought was "that seems like a lot of shellfish oil".

but I'm sure it would depend on the strength/quality of the oil.

The animals will answer all your questions. It's like a dessert recipe, can't tell how good it is by looking at the recipe. If someone says it looks, smells or sounds good to them, it doesn't matter unless they are your target.