With the season approaching, and the grim outlook on coon prices I decided to try this year to set up multiple bait sites with different baits. The plan is to get as many species as I can to these bait sites, and trying to figure out what works and what doesn't. It's a good year to fiddle around, and since my baiting coons post is locked out I have started a new one. I have four cameras out right now on 3 of these baits, and I'll try to keep them going throughout the year to observe how the different animals respond to the different baits including weather/temperature. I also have a camera on what I hope to be a cat toilet that I've made using cat litter.

#1 so far I have a combination of fish, two roosters that were killed on the farm across the road, and scraps from a local meat processor.

#2 Just scraps from the local processor

#3 Just fish and cat litter

#4 Will eventually be a deer only pile. It's been an active pile for about 5 years, and every year during season the remains of 9-12 deer get thrown on the pile.

The piles will all at some point have deer carcasses as I have multiple people that have said I can have the remains after they de-bone this year's deer.

Here's a look at the meat scraps I am getting from the local meat locker. It's pretty much straight fat, but there's some meat mixed in there.




Here's a picture of used cat litter on top of a draw on the edge. I've got two gals with 10 litter boxes so more than enough to spread them around.



Here's a shot of one such cat litter. In the right of the picture you can see the trail exiting the draw that I hoped to pull animals off of. Two weeks later there's now a trail coming from the draw straight to the cat litter pile. It's about dead center in the picture. That trail wasn't there two weeks ago.



This is one of the bait stations. This has the trimmings, two dead roosters and a bucket of fish. Interestingly enough the coons in the area must be used to killing the farmer's chickens. They went straight for the chickens with trimmings and a bucket of fish merely two feet away.




This is the toilet I'm hoping to entice cats into that I have a camera on. Before I got the camera on there were new droppings. The grass was bare under this tree like a kick back, and it looks as though they've at some point used this as a toilet in the past.



This little girl has been with me most of the times baiting which is going to make it worth it even if I don't get multiple predators to visit. She's already made some demands such as she gets the small coons, and I get to keep the larger ones. She's also told me we can't shoot fox because they are "good." We'll have to discuss that more in depth as season comes in.



I put the cameras in for two nights and wanted to check placement. Here's a couple results.

Great Topic
I will be trying a similar experiment. After seeing the activity at most of our bear baits, I will be setting up a few select spots with "griddle scrapings". My local bar owner has been scraping his griddle into 6 pound cans and freezing them until he had a truck load and then took them to the landfill. I told him I would save him some money and time and pick them up from him weekly.
I had a few bear baits using only fryer grease and scrapings that had large and small k9s on them daily. In the next week I will be placing a few scraping sicles in key spots to allow for easier access.
I might have to let the kids get a cat after you show us your cat litter activity
I always enjoy you topics, please keep us updated, good luck.

Stay safe

It's been slow going so far although I am starting to pick up some activity. Interestingly enough the straight meat scraps don't seem to be much of a draw at some places.

I have a couple locations deep into ditches etc. My thinking is I want locations I can snare easily right before a snow. Here I've noticed that a pile may only have birds/small animals on it for most of the season, but the moment it snows they become bomb shells.

The location I've followed for a few years with multiple deer I had put a trail camera on, and the majority of my pictures were three things hawks, buzzards and possums. After a small snow last year of a couple inches the creek going to the dump site had become a highway. Multiple fox, coyotes and cats had been traveling to the bait site. Even though I didn't have any of them on camera they knew exactly where the food was. I can only imagine the snow made it harder for them to find simple prey. I ran into an issue trying to set the creek they were traveling as there's a natural spring on both sides. It was impossible to stake and my dirtholes would fill with water over night. I'm prepared this year as I've rigged up some traps on drags, and I plan to make simple flat sets on the travel routes I know they will take.

The other locations I've tried to put into deep cover as I want multiple snare locations coming into them. I'll be setting some footholds a ways away, and I also want to make sure they are all snared the night before a snow storm. This has created a problem as the birds don't seem to be finding the baits which in turn I am hoping will draw the predators in. I had one location with only scraps that hadn't been touched for a while. I used a homemade lure I received from a trapper from New York, and after a few nights I had my first coyote visit a bait site.

Since he's been drawn in I have rebaited two times with scraps, and I recently got 100lbs of spoiled pork loin from the processor. This location is now scraped clean every time I've been back. I'm having some issues with the camera there I hope to improve shortly. Although I did catch one shot of him. Hopefully he's bringing friends.

One other bait I've been baiting since July on a friend's property. It happens to be along the main waterway for around 5 miles. The creek is not easily crossed, and I have high hopes this location will be a prime travel route for the canines. We took out about 50lbs of spoiled deer meat, and I took another 5 gallons of fish remains out there. The last three weeks he's had coyotes howling at least every other night.

I'm still waiting for the local bowhunters to start hitting the deer. Once it freezes off and the flies die I will start picking up roadkill. Right now they are bloated and maggot infested entirely too quickly when I've found them. I have a few guys that shoot multiple deer a year that have promised me the remains after their meat is mostly processed. Then I can hopefully get these piles larger, and start to draw in more animals.

One more interesting note on one bait across from a farmer's house. The coons continue to come and hit old rotten dead chickens. They literally did not touch 5 gallons worth of fish, or two loads of fat. I did have a turkey buzzard come and make quick work of the fish after the coons passed. I'm not really targeting coons with these, but as anyone that's seen my previous posts coons happen to get my attention more than most other animals.

Coons are coming in to the scraps as always even though I don't really need them there. One location I've already got a family of coons fighting over scraps so it's only a matter of time before I have other predators on scene.

Here's the pork loin mashed in with some good old fat.



Here's what it looks like laid out. Definitely not a small piece of meat.



Here's one shot of the coons getting a little irritated over it.




Here's the drag set up I plan to run down the sides of a creek on either side leading up to a bait that's been going for a few years.




Here's the first confirmed predator on a bait. Unfortunately this is the only picture I got before the camera went on it's own adventure. I'll try to improve that soon.

Excellent topic Murse... I always enjoy your threads! Hope you have a great season...

Thanks. I enjoy making them. Well I had a hunch as I knew that when I put down a lure I was sent for canines that my first bait picked up. So I set another round of the lure on the bait that had primarily coons. This bait only had coons eating chickens, and not touching the fish or lard. I dumped one of the pork loins on the pile, and I drove a stick down into the ground. I then placed some of the lure directly onto the stick. Within a couple days by the looks of the cameras I checked today the coyote activity picked up.

If you look in the first picture you can see where the coyote skips the bait, and goes directly for the lure. The stick in front of his nose has the lure on it.



The next night he came back and started in on the meat.



Here's a couple day shots. I didn't want to post all the pics, but I now have multiple pictures of the coyote on this bait.





For the kitty litter experiment it is getting the response I was hoping. If you see above in the thread you can see how I had placed the cat litter under the tree. It's almost impossible to keep coons out of anything I am finding.




The good news is that eventually I did have a coyote come by, and as I was hoping it was unable to pass by without marking the tree.


Anyone who's ever messed around with any of these things I'd love to hear your input.

Continuing along with the journey it's been hard to not get out there and set some traps. I do have nightly pictures of coyotes now. We've been UN-seasonably warm the last couple of weeks. Crops are coming out, and we've had some days reaching in the 80's still. I don't intend to target canines if I can hold off until after rifle deer season, but knowing I have coyotes every night can make that tough. I for sure don't want to start until the coons are prime as even though the market has fallen out they are everywhere on my cameras. I'll have to have coon sets in just so I can get to the coyotes.

Animals don't seem to be all that hungry, and are investigating but at times not even committing to eating everything. Interestingly enough coons seem to be the pickiest so far. I do have my usual feeders out for coons with my dogfood/liquid smoke if you've followed my posts in the past, and they are getting hit rather hard. These bait piles though set for multiple species the coons don't take a whole lot of interest in. I sprayed down some of the scraps with smoke, and they cleaned them up in a couple nights.

I had a guy drop me off a freezer full of pork that had been freezer-burnt and the pork continues to be a great bait. The coyote returned nightly until all of the separate pieces had been drug off. I'm still waiting on deer hunters in the area as I have been promised a pretty large number of carcasses after de-boning. I've looked at road kills but unless I am in the immediate area the blow flies are attacking them pretty fast. Still waiting on a freeze here.

The good news is for the most part these piles are doing exactly what I'd had hoped they would do. I'm pulling multiple species of animals into one central location on the properties. So far I've got pictures of possums, skunks, coyotes, coons and even deer seem to investigate. Notably missing so far are bobcats or fox. I know each of the locations has one or the other so it will be interesting to see if and when they become interested in the piles. From my past minimal baiting I've noted the fox especially seem to like the deer carcass piles. Bobcats I really just think it will depend if they happen to come across the pile on one of their cycles.

Here's a few pictures from the most recent trip. I have multiple more, but these are just some of the highlights.

I know I'm going to catch flack on these guys, but honestly last year I started keeping them. At $7 on the carcass they might be better off this year than my favorite raccoons. I've dabbled with the thought of extracting the essence myself.



These coons still baffle me. Pass up the straight pork, and the trimmings and go straight for the three week old dead chicken. I think if the landowner every loses any chickens he'll know what he'll be targeting.




This is the coyote that's been on this bait nightly. The coyotes on this bait have visited enough since I started it that I can now track their entry/exits coming from the adjacent pasture through the fence. It will make snaring them rather easy. There's now a very visible trail running just along the top ridge above the bait on the edge of the timber in approximately 3 foot high grass.




This coon is getting large enough that his belly's about dragging on the ground. Maybe one of these days I'll get a scale out on some of these that get fed well.




Here's some shots on the cat litter. The coons go nuts over it just like they do about everything. I know a lot of guys say don't target coons this year, but if you're paying attention to any of these pictures I'm almost going to have to take a family off each location before I can even get to the canines.

Also the coyote returns. Anytime a coyote comes by this cat litter they have to stop and urinate. For people that have thought about using it, but haven't I'd encourage you to. It seems to always trigger the same response, and I can't see how it wouldn't be beneficial at a scent post. I do have cats on location here, it's just when they come through. Hopefully I'll at some point this year get to document their reaction to the litter.

Chicken scraps is good stuff. I have a freezer full of feathers and guts I keep every year for my boxes. Might be surprised what will stick their head in a box for sour chicken.

Looks interesting, nice pics

Glad to see your up and running again. Your old post is Archived, not locked out...LOL this one may have the same demise....Tom

Thanks for putting this out there, very educational

Hey Murse.I wonder if the fox arent out on the edge picking up and caching what is being drug off by other critters.Are you able to recognize the coyotes ?Ive pondered many times how far a coyote (dispersing) can scent or able to sense the high concentrate ,excitable coyote activity.Decent money you have there on a couple checks with enough traps and snares. Interesting. What can you share you have learned on k-9 behavior? Also are any of the bait sites close enough you can hear any howling or communication ?

I've wondered the same thing. Like I said previously I have one location that I've had a deer pile going for a few years now. I tried once to put a camera on it, and all I got was hawks, and possums. When the snow flies though the site looks like a bomb goes off. You can see a steady trail coming up the frozen creek from the river with multiple coyotes, cats and fox hitting the site. Although I never had any of them on camera they were aware that pile was there, and when food became scarce they flock to it.

Last year was the first year I tried to capitalize on that pile heavy. I wasn't able to actually anchor down in the creek which was their main travel way to it (underground natural spring everything would fill up with water even with temperatures close to 0). That really put me at a disadvantage as that was their main way to the bait. I've got drags set up this year to counter that problem. Even on the top side I was able to snare coyotes, and did have some luck catching fox in footholds. That trail is used much less than the creek.

One location that I do not have a camera on I started early this summer with fish, and now we've added in deer meat that someone had go bad in their freezer. The landowner lives a 1/2 mile from the creek bottom we've set the bait on. He'd ridden his four wheeler down all summer and dropped any meat scraps they had. I plan to add deer as the year goes as well. He's already told me that he can hear the coyotes howling at least every other night. Sometimes every night. It's on a main waterway for around 5-6 miles, and the creek isn't easily crossed. I'm hoping it will turn into one of the better locations.

The location where I have the coyote sniffing the lure, and also the chickens is within a 1/4 mile of the landowner just across the road. I've noticed that these coyotes are not afraid to get right up close, and with people. I know some areas of the U.S. they tend to shy away, but our coyotes don't seem to mind people at all. I'm not controlling scent at all. Coming in at times in tennis shoes to drop off bait depending on my schedule. They don't seem to have any concern, but getting fed.

We don't have a whole lot of pork farms around anymore, but I am noticing that they coyotes will return more often, and will hit pork a lot harder than beef remnants. I did drop in some spoiled roasts and round steaks that I got, and we will see how they react to it after eating pork for three weeks.

The other interesting thing I've noticed with the coyotes is they will come to the site, pick something out, and go eat it elsewhere. I have plenty of pictures of coyotes coming to the piles, and the meat is getting eaten. They just don't seem to actually eat right at the pile. They put in a lot of energy going back and forth, but they aren't like a coon that will just pile up on the bait. Sometimes it makes me wonder what might be just outside of camera view.

Don't give me anymore ideas TBN. I think the majority of people that know me are pretty well convinced I've gone crazy asking for spoiled meat, scraps and deer that are already de-boned. Interestingly enough a gal I work with is supposed to slaughter 30 or so chickens soon. I'm hoping I'm off the day it happens. They normally just toss the remnants.

im not sure how the laws apply to trapping but its illegal in mn to use any raw pork for bait for bear- I forget the reason but some disease issue. might want to check into it with all these pictures online now

Luckily in Nebraska I've looked into our baiting laws as I've been baiting raccoons for three years now. The only law we have on the books regarding baiting is hunting within 200 yards of a bait within 10 days of the bait being removed on big game defined as: Deer, elk, pronghorn, bighorn sheep and mountain lion also included are turkeys.

Regarding trapping with bait we cannot have a foothold within 30 feet of an exposed bait. There's no mention of baiting any other animals that I've found, and coyotes are considered non-game in Nebraska period.

I know this won't work in every state due to regulations, but I've been unable to find any specifically against these methods.

nice!

We used to have a place when several people would dump their deer carcasses off and that would sure draw cats in. Something we've done a bunch is wire whole skinned beaver to a tree where cats might be. I've set a camera up several times and I can tell you that cats will lay up in the area and feed on that beaver all times of the night and day till it's gone. This is from Christmas till the end of the season. It works well, we make sets close by. I'm interested in the cat litter attraction you find.

This last a while!

I wish I dabbled in the water a little bit. I like to stay fluffy and dry. I might have to see if I can find a few beavers this year to try on some locations I know I have cats. Is the beaver enough of an attractant for you or do you do more to get the cats in?

I can tell you what I've seen thus far on the cat litter. Every critter that comes by it is drawn to it. It makes sense it's a very strong odor as anyone with a cat at home would know. I've just got to get lucky enough to have a cat pass by one of these cameras with it there. I'm almost certain at one location I have cats visiting looking at scat, but it's in the open, along a ridge, and it would be tough to put a camera due to multiple trees/grass also the chance of theft.

Law dog I wish I could get a draw bait that large. Wouldn't have to feed these things as often.