Your Favorite bait

[IlliniTrapper15]

For all you coon trappers out there what would you say is you favorite bait to catch coon in a live trap?

[CROWKILLER]

There are alot better trappers than me on here but in a live trap I have found marshmellows will catch coon great and it seems the skunks possums and other critters dont take to them as much.

[Mike Tucker]

Illini,
I have a wildlife control business and use several different brands of the commercial paste baits in cage traps for raccoon. Most work well, but a couple of my favorites are Blackies 'Fatal Attraction'( a shellfish type paste bait ) and Fur King ( a sweet type paste bait ). A lure that has performed well for me in the cages is Forget's 'Pro Coon' - a sweet, intense liquid lure that really pulls them in - I dip both ends of a Q-tip in the Pro-Coon and stick it in a marshmallow hanging from a wire at the rear of the cage trap, along with a bait of some sort.
As far as off-the-shelf, or out-of-the cupboard baits, marshmallows, canned cat food, sardines, jack mackerel, grocery store extracts ( vanilla, cherry, anise, etc. ), molasses, honey....
Lately, I have been using Apple Flavor Horse Treat Wafers as a bait holder for the paste baits. These wafers smell great on their own - like molasses, licorice & apple - and are handy to spread the paste bait on before placing in the cage trap. Just a few ideas for you. Good luck with the raccoons !
Mike

[(;hunterboy;)]

Meat based baits work well there very stiky cling on to ever thing and the smells attract a long ways. This bait works good for me in water sets.
                                            Sly

[jim-NE]

in off season, I watch the grocery stores and "dollar general" type stores for deals on any canned fish such as mackeral, sardines in oil, etc. and buy all that I can at lowest price. Then I dump all of it together in a big mixing tub and add a container of table salt and a quart of honey. For a change-up I add a block of limburgher cheese. I pack it in smaller plastic peanut butter jars and freeze it fresh...then only thaw out what I need for sets in couple days worth supply. It is a "paste" form when you are done mixing and mashing all of it together, and seems to work well on coons, mink, fox, and coyote for me. I use this both on land and water sets with good results. I also use some commercial lure in addition at my sets.
Jim-NE

[KYtrapper17]

I like marshmallows, cause it seems to cut down on non-target animals, but coons love em. The white really catches their eye.