Favorite Summer Time Coon Bait?

[robertw]

Whats your favorite summer time coon bait?

Not just bait for the occasional live trap but a full trapline?

I use a lot of carmel ice cream sunday toppings and strawberry preserves, both come in squirt type jars.

looking for additional ideas?

[trappnman]

now thats a very good question Robert!

put me in the occasional summer time cage/foothold camp- and as such, its always marshmallows and lure.

but on a full time trapline? I think you are on right track with sweet stuff-

[SteveCraig]

Peanut butter always worked for me when nothing else would.

[robertw]

Much problems from squirrels?

[SteveCraig]

Not out here!

[robertw]

I emailed trappnman some pictures, hopefully he will post them when he gets a chance.

[trappnman]

will be much later tonight Robert

[robertw]

cool

[jbconnected]

RobertW, any tricks to deal with ants?

[trappnman]

nothing in my email Robert..................

[Wright Brothers]

Edit, he wants full time experienced summer trapper guys to reply, not me. Sorry.

Robert W.
Cheetos baked to a crackily crunch.

[robertw]

Wright Brothers,
Would appreciate any suggestions ou might share with us.

Tman, will try forwarding them to you again, had sent them to [e-mail]?

Realized I sent to wrong email, sent this time to [e-mail]

[robertw]

jbconnected;"any tricks to deal with ants?"

As a matter of fact yes! Been using bags of the Lawn & Garden ant killer granules. Basically just scattering a 1/4 of a cup or so on the ground around each Grizz Getter or Live trap. Have not seen any adverse affect in catch ratios due to using the ant poison during summer months.

My delima is working coons around certain types of deer feed is that the coons are so aclimated to this type of feed that it is very hard to bait these coons reliably and it would seem....that any given bait is only affective for "X" amount of catches and then the remaining animals associate that bait and location as dangerous. Not every job, just certain land owners feeding one specific brand of deer feed (Cargill). The only way that these coons can be baited is for the feeders to run dry (empty).

These locations are generally in planted pines with NO understory, no coon trails to trail set making baited coon sets the ONLY option.

The pictures that hopefully Tman will post were taken three days ago on a deer feeder that I trapped in mid Febuary. Camera survilance proved that I had caught and removed ALL coons present at that time. The coons in the picture are transients that have moved in (probably because of flooding conditions) and are now working these feeders.

Anyway, getting ready to hit these coons again and looking for additional ideas. All input appreciated.

[robertw]

Wright Brothers;"Cheetos baked to a crackily crunch"

Why would you need to bake a "Cheetos"? How are you using them for bait? Just stringing them into live traps or in other types of sets?

I'll definitely try them!! I like the idea of using a "cheese" odor.

[Wright Brothers]

That's what they say on the bag, crackly crunch. Have a animated cheetah pic on bag. They come in several variations. The ones we (the coon and I) like are the hard ones. Color, flavor, scent.
The soft ones "melt" in rain.
Used yes like you said.
They work great in my limited summer coon caging. Kitties didn't bother as much as other baits.
Mcdonalds scraps worked good too, that was for city raccoons.
Lures don't do that great for me in those situations, I'm sure that's the operator not the product though.

I missed the "Not just bait for the occasional live trap but a full trapline?" is why I edited. I'm just a fur trapper and not ADC, for now.

If I was pressed for a new or change up ADC bait, I'd talk to Mr. Bob J.

[robertw]

Wrightbrothers,
I appreciate the input. I use cheese type baits through the summer for coyotes, just hadn't thought of it for coons.

As for ADC versus fur trapping......it is still just trapping, definitely not as BIG of a deal as some try to make it as being. You either do a good job or you don't.

[jbconnected]

May 8, 2010 20:52:02 GMT -6 @robertw said:

jbconnected;"any tricks to deal with ants?"

As a matter of fact yes! Been using bags of the Lawn & Garden ant killer granules. Basically just scattering a 1/4 of a cup or so on the ground around each Grizz Getter or Live trap. Have not seen any adverse affect in catch ratios due to using the ant poison during summer months.

Thanks, I never tried poison granules. I was afraid it would cause refusals.

[robertw]

Jb,
This is definitely a "southern thing" dealing with fire ants. Trappers in the midwest and north have no idea how much fun it is having to trap with fire ants.

[trappnman]

[e-mail]

[Bob Jameson]

Robert we do alot of commercial trapping in the summer for coon and skunk grubbing and in early fall, Aug and Sept for golf courses. Basically a similiar kind of scenario. They are conditioned to grub and garbage feeding and at times not very interested in other presentations.But still they are coon and opportunists.If you are on them and it looks and smells good they come pretty fast.

Problem is on golf courses you have random damage areas over hundreds of acres and you have to determine the routeing points to head them off before hitting the turf and green areas.

I have developed several good baits that do the trick with good visuals. I use large marshmallows as eye appeal and white plastic walmart bags tied on the cage tops by the handles. This allows the bags to balloon with a slight breeze then crackle/pop in the wind when it picks up.I use griz traps and footholds where locations leading into the damage area permit. So as not to be visible to golfers and doing any more turf damage then needed after the catch.

Our Peaches & Cream, Fireball ADC and Urban Wildlife bait all get the job done. I mix them up when gang setting so they have a choice of food odors. When sticking with one odor in these summer feed sessions I have found in my work that you may miss some do to a pre determined preferance of a previous noted food source.

But in the end the odor interest of these baits overwhelms them and we get the job done.We take hundreds of coon off of different golf courses in 10 -14 day summer programs each season (June thru Sept). Most are big coon on the avg as a result of living around primarily domestic settings with good food opportunities and little travel needed for feeding.

Ants are always a problem with baits of any type that are ground placed in summer temps. In cages I can elevate most of the bait suspended on a wire hook on eye appeal to reduce the ant attack. But in most cases we are catching most animals in 1-3 nites and rebaiting anyway so the ants dont get anywheres near all the bait before doing its job.

Using any type of protein or sugar contented odors you will draw a horde of ant interest so no real practical way besides useing a good insecticide to break up that party.I have never had to worry about that as the coon are gone fast enough and I move my traps after each catch a few feet to reduce ground damage after each catch.