I'm tired of all these bizarre DP bait concoctions I keep reading about. Go to the feed store and buy a 40 lb bag of fish pellets. No lure, no trailing scent, nothing. For 5 or so coon pelts $ you have enough for a couple years of bait and pelts. Sorry lure makers. Had a parade of coons going by wifes horse barn. Set 5 caught 5! I'm new to trapping though, 55 years plus.

If it works for you then that's what you should do.
But I want a bait / lure that has some drawing power. Because sometimes you're not on the exact location. And I catch more skunks using meat type bait.

give them fish pellets a spritz of liquid smoke and see what happens!

You can put liquid smoke on a paper towel and get the same results. I've done it.

put about a tablespoon of jamesons trout trout oil in a couple cups of dry cat food. shake it up good

You guys have the perfect house cat and possum bait. Yeah it will catch coons. I’ll stick to my strawberry marshmallows. Tried the Smokey fish when trapping coons in around barns But too many cats.

If you already know what you want to use why did you post? PS instead of city trapping move out to rural America where people are civilized

For 80% of the coon you're correct. For the other 20% you need a bit more.

It's not about how many you catch, it's about how many you don't catch.

Last year I tried something new and it was trail mix I had left over from baiting bear the previous year. It worked just fine. Some of the ready made dp bait gets like mush when it rains. I picked up some SheTraps dp bait at the convention after to talking with them and they said theirs does not get like mush. So I am trying something new again this year.

You catch lots of cats in DPs?
I tried marshmallows but they would turn to mush with every other day rain and dew in the mornings. Do you use a cap on the dps with marshmellows?

I would be nice if there was a perfect DP bait. Truth is, coons will walk right by a DP sometimes, no matter what is in it.

Not if you add those glow in the dark eggs you're so fond of.

when trapping around chickens I found if you can put the DP at the base of the den tree they take the bait.

if you try putting it in the lane they travel to get to the chicken coop , no catches , in those lanes blind sets with cage traps worked the best , I am sure 160 would have worked also but farm cats so no body grip

if they already have the eye on the chicken prize you need may need to back up and catch them at the den

same thing trying to get them headed to a sweet corn patch

Don't you have some bread to bake or something?

Mix up some fry grease with your bait and it becomes somewhat waterproof.

Even if it turned to mush, if it was attractive to coons before, it still should be.

…. Only Girl Scouts use dp’s

… get yourself some 1.5 sleepy’s on a light chain and drag and a couple cans of jack mackerel… make it sporty lol

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Try an attractant to add with the bait in the DP. Living adjacent to a golf course provides me plenty. They also help
keep mice out, and shed some rain. I drill a shallow hole in them in case I want to add a drop or two of fish oil. If you’ve ever drilled into or cut into a golf ball, different brands have different materials and colors. I’m not a chemist, so I don’t know if the fish oil reacts differently or not. I’ve learned their favorite color, and just about learned their favorite brand.

My partner discovered it’s not the bait that gets them to commit, it’s a movable light colored cap on the trap. Golf balls work. We use Ztrap covers. They move when the coon touches them and this creates curiosity. Cats leave them alone. Big skunks and the occasional possum sometimes get caught. But big coon are curious enough to pull the covers off and reach in.

You can make your own with 3/4-inch plastic pipe, a fender washer and some glue. Duck decoy cord keeps the caps attached to the traps. Even if they get chewed apart, you’ll have about 40-cents into them. The Zcaps are a bit more but they last forever.