What is the best way to grind castors for making beaver lure? I want to make some lure for this spring for fun and to try aginst the commercial lures I have. Can I just grind them in my mead grinder a few times???

What are you fellas using?

Thanks!

I run mine through hand grinder then add glycerine to blender and turn on high and add castor with blender gointill I get consistency I like.

trying to figure out what to do with one of the extra blenders from the wedding?

lol

no, but now that you mention it... didn't get any from that, but we do have two of them for some silly reason.

I/ve used a regular blender with OK results. Don't just turn it on and leave it run long, though. The motor will start to smoke. Have to give it a little cool time in between grinding with a regular household model. I could see the addition of glycerin helping the process.

I use a hand grinder, with the castors frozen and cut into quarters they seem to grind better in the hand grinder.then I finish in the blender w/glycol or glycerine.

They are tough to grind once dried, no blender will do the job then!

I grind my dried Castor in a blender and have for years. You do need to pause during the process to let the blender cool. Works very well !

How long do you dry them in 65 degree temps before you grind them?

Thanks!

Someone sent me a recipe with red wine, terrasorb, and glycol saying it is the best thing out there. Anyone use anything like this? What the heck is terrasorb???

So grind them a bit before they hit the blender???

thanks!

Michael

I have dried Castors sitting in the blender container that are over a year old. Seem like as good a place as any to store them.

they must be REally dry! lol What does your wife say when she wants to make a smoothie?

Michael - For Beaver I grind the castor - in a hand grinder - mix it with vaseline (just stir it in ) makes a good castor lure that will stand up to rain ect...Oh and work's great on spring beaver..

Terrasorb is a thickener.

try the garden centers or nurseries where you live for the terra-sorb HTH

I usually make two different "flavors" of castor lure, before each season. They are just made from two different large beavers, or maybe a combo of smaller beavers. I try to use beaver from very distant colonies. The batches always end up smelling quite different to my nose.

Since 3-4 ounces of each is plenty for my annual needs, I dont even bother setting up my grinder anymore. I just use a single-edge razor blade and slice the semi-dry castor thinly (maybe 1/8" between cuts). A new blade will do a batch easily, then you just toss it out...which is a whole lot easier than cleaning the auger of a grinder.

Once I have the castor sliced, I add glycerine and then mash it up using a mortar and pestle (just a fiberglass fishing arrow shaft and an old coffee cup). Sometimes I do add some dissolved sodium benzoate if I am making alot and know it'll be sitting around all summer.

If I were making lure commercially I would definely grind it smooth, but for my needs the "chunky style" works just fine...



-NC

Castors can be ground green or dried... I have done it both ways.

Who on here uses bladder urine with castor...because you know, a beaver sure does!

I just bought a little hand grinder off the trap shed. Hopefully it will work for this. I have 2 of the LEM meat grinders but it is a bit much to grind a few castors besides, if the old lady caught me doing that it would be over! lol

I'll run them through the grinder a few times then hit the blender!

A hand grinder will work just fine. That's what I use. I bet you'll find the blender is unnecessary after running it through the grinder.

But, I felt like I was grinding $5 bills that last time I whipped up a batch.

When I did grind my castors (before deciding it was wasted effort), I was using our "Bullet" blender that my wife bought for the kitchen. It came as a set with various-sized plastic blender jars, so I stole the smallest one which is about 6-oz size. You just blend the castor + glycerine on the powerhead, remove the jar and screw on a lid. Use the lure straight out of the jar, nothing to wash.

-NC