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.