Scott, your dead on.

While I haven't used ADCs baits, I have smelled them, and I have absolutely no doubt that they will work exceptionally well.

I know there are many different trapping methods used throughout North America,but to me I cannot grasp buying bait.To me Its akin to people buying bottled water.I put tons of protein back into the food chain on my trapgrounds every year.

id get some appalachian lure you can get it from minnesota trapline products

Thanks Dave. I'll have some free samples for you at Central City the end of the month if you want to play around with them.

I think this one had a little to much asphalt to eat!

I didn't read the thread but Dollar Store Jack Mackerel is my answer.

most of these home made bait recipies you see posted on here included ingredients that do not really need to be combined. If buying jack mac why bother mixing it with honey or molasses, it does not need it. If buying a sweet smell like honey or molasses why narrow your range of bait odors by making it smell like fish.

Buy yourself a bunch of jack mac and use it by it self.
Buy some pelletized sweet feed for cattle, you will need to investigate the brands as some are way sweeter than others but you could add extra molasses to the dryer types.
Save your muskrat meat in season, coons and everything else love it.

I am a big fan of DaveP's lures, you can't go wrong with them.

I'm with the wr otis school of thought. Don't overcomplicate coon bait. They'll eat anything. Location is the key. Set where the coon walks right by it.

the guys who are in road trapping states where the competition is five feet away from you are is a different ball game than most of us, and would require different and probably superior tactics.

You can catch coons with tinfoil on your trap pans too but my opinion is that a good prepared bait will catch a few more coons for you. It'll easily pay for itself in no time. As for lures for coon, in this day with all the sets such as DP traps and PVC sets that require the coons to want to eat all your bait, not just a sample, you need to be careful to try and use lures outside the trap/pipe or make sure they taste good to the coon in order to maximize your catch. For example if a lure has a nasty bitter taste, I'd think the coons would be way less likely to reach in for a second sample to your DP trap, where as with a good bait they will reach in many times trying to polish it off. The longer you can keep their interest at the set the better your chances of catching them. Another thing is if your only using fish for example, the smell will not carry as far as a good prepared bait. As Buck said set right where they will walk by but there are times they walk by 10' away and if they don't see or smell your bait, they will keep walking by. My $.02

~ADC~

I agree. We have to try to get them before someone else and move often to keep a decent catch numbers. We can't always wait a week for the coons to find our stuff. Good point!

~ADC~

I've made all kinds of bait. I made one that used dried cat food moistened with water in which I had boiled some of those packets of shrimp flavored top ramen noodles, back when they were 10 cents a pack, and added leftover shrimp tails. I used cat food wetted down with shellfish oil. Cat food with fish oil and chopped up jack mackerel. All kinds of stuff. The goal is something cheap that smells fishy or shellfishy. Nothing too fancy. Cheap and fishy.

I've also made a kind of smear bait out of marshmallow paste, artificial vanilla extract, and honey. Great bait if you are setting a trap under something like a bridge abutment where you can't dig a pocket and need to smear the bait on the concrete. Works good on a fishstick set, too. Won't wash off a stick in the rain.

Only lure I've ever used was Dobbins Coon Candy. Sometimes when I can't put a pocket right in a coon's way and I have to draw him off a little ways, I'll stick a little dob on a stick and poke it in the roof of the pocket just for more appeal. Don't know if it really adds to anything, but I catch coons that way, and the trick to trapping coons is repeating what you have confidence in over and over.

Well said ADC!! I am of the same school on thought on coons Also agree that if they are gonna taste it, it should be tastey.

x2

Very well said ADC...my thoughts exactly!

A lot of people get confused about what type of attractant to use in a DP. Many want to use a lure down in the trap...you may get the coon to reach down in there once, but when he gets a taste of it he wont reach down in there again, meaning your odds of catching the coon just went down significantly. You had better hope he grabs that trigger the first time, because there wont be a second time.

IMO, if you want to use lure with a DP or pipe, put the lure NEAR the trap, not in it (or the pipe). Put the bait in their and you'll get them to work the set much longer.

To be honest, I rarely use any lure, besides a trailing scent - and that I don't use extensively; I only use that in order to try and pull a coon off a trail or to get them focused in, in an open area. *Disclaimer*: My belief is that you must use trailing scent carefully! I always start the trailing scent on the near side of the trail that I am trying to pull them off. For example, if I have a high bank trail running a few feet above the water line, and it's visible from the road, I will try to pull them down to the water's edge. I will take the trailing scent and start it on the water-side of the trail. My reasoning is that I think if a coon hit some trailing scent that is just haphazardly splashed across the trail, he wont know which way to go. If he hits it and follows it the other way (away from the water), I don't believe he is smart enough to turn around and follow it back when he hits the end of it; so you just sent him away from the trap. That's why I am semi-careful when applying trailing scent (which I don't use often). I start it on the near side of a trail and lead it carefully to my set, in a convenient spot.

I always carry salmon oil and molasses in the bucket, and use each for trailing scents, and am not the least bit careful about using them. If I can get them to stop and start milling I figure I have a good chance at them.

I ran mostly the pelletized cattle feed in black hole triggers last fall and had excellent luck with them. The black holes need a little fine tuning to really make them shine but i believe they can work just as good as the other dp's, while still being able to release some small coon which i would never do out of a griz type trap. My black holes will trigger on very short pulls and side to side motion as well.

As for lures for coon, in this day with all the sets such as DP traps and PVC sets that require the coons to want to eat all your bait, not just a sample, you need to be careful to try and use lures outside the trap/pipe or make sure they taste good to the coon in order to maximize your catch.

~ADC~ [/quote]

Read and reread that statement.
My experience with running dp's is exactly that. And as far as commercial baits go, ADC's Trail Mix hammers 'em Hard!

I make my own bait as well because I enjoy the process of catching critters on something I made. They have to want to eat it to maximize your catch...