Baiting

Well, my Daddy always said "a blind hog will find an acorn once in a while." So I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
 
Never knew there was a baiting section, so....

I'll be spending a lot more time hunting dogs now that I scooped up a NV scope, so to further (hopefully) my success, I have a few questions, specifically salmon. I catch a ton of salmon during the year, and rather than dumping carcass after carcass down the grinder, I thought of using them as bait. I can freeze a bunch of carcasses from 16-25lb salmon, so I don't want to dedicate a lot of freezer space if it's a waste of time considering how big these are. I threw a few walleye carcasses in the woods a few months ago, but I all I got on my cam were vultures, coons and fishers. So, has anyone used salmon/salmon carcasses as bait? If so, any luck? Waste of time?
 
I've never tried salmon, but a hungry coyote is going to eat most anything to stay alive. I think once your cold weather sets in, they might work. Since you are now in the NV business you may need to find something to cover the bait during the daytime so birds and other animals can't eat it all. Coyotes can probably carry off something that weighs as you described so you may have to figure a way to stake them down.

Welcome to the Baiting section--lots of info in these pages. Would be a long but good read.
 
I am going to try baiting this year.. A deer was hit near driveway and I moved it off to the field. Well within a week it was gone The flesh that is. The high heat and flies just destroyed it in no time.. What would be favorable for bait.. I have read dog food. Is there a certain brand or flavor that works better than others.. Dan
 
A deer carcass is prime bait for coyotes, but as you've found won't last over a few days in heat. Wait till cold/colder weather on deer. I used Ol' Roy for a while with success. I got them started on it with heating some bacon grease and mixing that in the dog food to help them find it initially. Cooked meat will last a little longer in hot weather than raw meat. Table scraps work well. I have pictures of coyotes eating pears off my pear trees, so most anything is in their diet.
 
Ok thank you.. I can get all the used fryer grease I want.. So just mix that with the dog food and I can just dump on the ground or should I scatter it some in a small area or put it in a hole as I read.. What is the best way that worked for others.. Thank you.. Dan
 
Putting it in a hole will make them work to get at it, but for the most part that isn't needed. You may have to do that if the bait stealers make it hard to keep baited. Yes, just dump on the ground to get them started. Scatter to make it harder once they find the bait. Don't overdo the grease. You just want to add some scent. It will turn rancid quickly in hot weather. Cold weather will be your friend in baiting.
 
Speaking of baiting, the burnsome bait pile struck again last night. Pretty good sized male came to visit my AO around 9:45. My first outing using 60gr VMax ammo in my 223. End result is one less coyote here. He's been running the deer and fawns pretty hard the last couple of weeks. Hopefully I got him before he got a couple of very young fawns I've seen close by.

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Here's an image from my scope about a half second before sending one...a close review of my scope's video indicated the bullet impact was about 2 inches to the right which pretty much took out the left shoulder and other things.

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and an image just before the finishing shot...

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Nice work Burn. Glad you got him. Keep up the removal. I guess you haven't killed enough to make a decision on the 60 v-max? I know 6mm06 seemed to like them in the 223.
 
Thanks DU. Correct, that's the first I've shot with the 60gr VMax. It wasnt pretty though, as my review of the video indicates my first shot hit about 2" to the right of where I wanted it to hit and it took out his left shoulder and leg. He spun around quite a few times before I got a final closer in him. The bullet did quite a bit of damage so yes it did its job. Another one showed up on the trail cams last night so hopefully will get some more "data" soon.
 
So far with dog food and some fryer grease this is what got caught on cam. Possums, red foxes, skunk, feral cat. I know I got coyotes here because I shot them here. Maybe they don't like the RK dogfood along with the fryer grease. Might have to cook a lot of bacon up and get some grease from that. Been about a week so far..Dan
 
Originally Posted By: KrockusSo far with dog food and some fryer grease this is what got caught on cam. Possums, red foxes, skunk, feral cat. I know I got coyotes here because I shot them here. Maybe they don't like the RK dogfood along with the fryer grease. Might have to cook a lot of bacon up and get some grease from that. Been about a week so far..Dan

Sounds about like my bait area Krockus. I've been feeding the critters, especially coons, possums, fox for the last 3 years and they look like it. I've found it take time for the yotes to find it, then it takes time for them to decide to come in and visit on a regular basis. I record their arrivals by time and date and put it on my calendar. Once they start coming by on a regular basis (like 3-4 times) then I hunt. I've also found looking back at my calendar, that a lot of the times they'll hit the bait area then not show up for 2-3 days then repeat. Seems like its every other day or every 3rd day when they actually become "regular" visitors if that makes sense. Could be that they figured out that a lot of them get whacked and are pretty cautious about over-committing their exposure into what I call the "kill zone".

I look at it as a long-term, never ending process and thats why I monitor the dates and times of their arrivals. It never ends because once I knock one down another one (or two) show up fairly soon thereafter. The more I've been at it the more in tune I get with their behavior. But.............then again, once I think I have them figured out they'll throw a curve ball and change everything I think I've come to know. I reckon that what makes it challenging.

I use dry dog food (Ol' Roy) and sometimes throw out table scraps or a can of sardines and the nasty juice that comes with them. I also have a big tub of bacon grease and occasionally microwave a bit of that and throw it out there, mixing things up a bit. Not sure how much it helps but I know this --- bait them and they will come.

Watch the critters when scanning, especially the coons and foxes. They know waaaaayyyy before me when a yote is in the area and take off like all getout. Early warning system....
 
If you bait it, they will come.

Like Burn, I was using Ol' Roy from Walmart, but I doubt that makes any real difference.

Here is a picture from when I first started baiting them with dog food. At that time I was putting it in a cut-off 5 gal. bucket. They would eat out of it just like dogs. Actually in the picture you'll notice fruit on the ground. That is pears that they started eating originally, and then I started baiting them with the dog food.

MDGC0092 by Double Up, on Flickr

Here is a black one that was feeding off the bucket located in another place in my yard.

MDGC0003 by Double Up, on Flickr
 

Burn, nice job on the coyote. As to the 60 gr. V-Max, my experience with that is limited to a hunt in New Mexico with Tony Tebbe. The coyotes I shot with that bullet hit the dirt instantly. Tony at one time used that bullet too. Since then I have used a 6x45 for most of my coyote hunting, but if I were to go back to the .223, that’s the bullet I would use. Not saying it’s better than anything else, but just that it worked for me.

Your experience is much like mine with baiting. A coyote would hit the bait and may not return for days, weeks and even months. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to them returning. Makes it difficult to hunt like that. Last year a coyote hit my bait site so I stayed at the cabin the following night. No show so I stayed the second night. Still no show, but I decided I would stay one more night, and I got him on the third night. I have gone over a month before without one returning. You would think they would return night after night as long as bait is there, but they don’t.

Baiting is not as easy as so many think. It actually requires more work than calling.

 
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