One of the most important things for a trapper to have besides his or her traps are lures and baits. Except for blind sets, lures and baits are needed to draw the attention of the animal to the set. There are four main types of lures that are currently produced and they are: gland lures, including matrix lures, curiosity lures, food lures and call lures. Gland lures and matrix lures are lures containing the glands and or sexual organs of a certain species of animal, matrix lures are those gland lures made from female animals that are in heat. Curiosity lures are lures that are a combination of food lure and gland lure or sometimes a mixture of glands collected from different species of animals. Food lures are lures that are are made, usually with food stuffs, and indicate to the animal that there is food here. Call lures are just that, the call animals from a distance though they are not used to call animals across a river or canyon, they just can't get across. Besides lures, baits are another important attractant to trappers.

    There are many different lures and baits on the market and they all attract the animals they are intended for some better than others but you don't get as much satisfaction from those lures an baits as those you made yourself. All you need to have to make your lures is a knife, rubber gloves, for cutting the meat or glands, a light ax, a chopping block, bottles and jars for storing and aging the meat and lures, and the ingredients.

    The simplest attractant to make for trapping are the baits. Baits can be as simple as chunked or ground meat from an animal of your choice to a lure with many different meats and other ingredients. Now I won't give out my more complicated recipes for some are unmade, untested, or I just want to keep 'em secret for a while.

    A simple and easy bait to make is a chunk or ground bait. This can be made from groundhog or woodchuck, beaver, muskrat, horse, cat, rabbit, fox, mutton, squirrel, mice, turtle and other food meat that the animals you desire eat. For the smaller animals you need to remove the head, tail, and intestines, beaver livers can be saved for other baits, and skinned, you could also leave the hide on to give the bait more appear. After this step is complete, you need to cut or chop the carcass into walnut-sized chunks that can be used as is or ground to make a ground bait. After this done you have the option of freezing or aging the bait. To age the bait take a piece of cheesecloth or T-shirt material and hold in place with the lid if using a mason jar or rubber band if using a jar that has a one piece lid or if the mason jar you have is missing its lid. The purpose of this is to keep flies and maggots out of your aging bait. Place your bait in the sun and let it be for a day or two, you should notice that the meat on the outside has changed colors but the meat in the center is still its original color, stir up the bait and and let it sit until all the meat is of a uniform color and reached the desired odor, making sure that it is a spoiled odor not a rotten one. After this is done use 20 Mule Team Borax, sodium benzoate or glycerin to prevent the bait from going rotten. Store the bait in a dark, cool spot until season begins. If you want to add more ingredients to your bait to make it more appealing, go ahead just make sure that you don't use too much or you'll ruin your bait.

    Lures are a little more difficult to produce than baits and require more time, patience, and money. The two simplest lures to make are castor lures, a gland lure for beaver, and fish juice, a food lure. Beaver castor is made by taking the castor glands and oil sacs, optional, from a beaver. Simply grind up the castor and if you want to use the oil sacs, cut the bottom of the sac so that the oil comes out and mix the two together. Fish juice is simply made by letting fish parts decompose in a jar or bucket till only a black juice is left, this is used either alone for coon and mink, or added to baits or lures.

    Gland lures are made by taking the glands and sexual organs of the animal you are seeking and grinding and aging them for maximum effectiveness and adding urine if so desired and adding a preservative listed in the bait making section above.

    Food lures are made by taking juices, liquids, and oils that smell like food to the target animal and mixing these together in the proper portions.

    Curiosity lures are made with many glands from different species with or without other ingredients suggesting food. Well what are you waiting for go get started.