bipedalist Posted February 10, 2011 BFF Patron Share Posted February 10, 2011 (edited) I think some researchers use the jar of peanut butter to try to get prints if the lid is removed. I have not gone to the latent print kit yet but I know some have. I once had a feeding station that had a hole the size a large fist with a jar of pb could fit into (live tree, hollow trunk). Though I know raccoons can unscrew and unzip most anything I was pretty impressed with the feat of emptying the jar and leaving it within the hollow confines of an area where such a set-up could barely fit. Though the area where this occurred was non-public I do know that at least one other person accessed the area (by interview and observation). That said I never picked up anything on gamecam positive or negative because I was at an early stage of experimentation without much equipment and without a determined strategy as yet. I had a jar of pb inserted into it and factory-seal cracked/lid loosened but not removed. Something removed the lid, emptied the jar of peanut butter but left the lid and jar intact within the hollowed out base of the tree. I believe I have pictures of this particular bait station and I tried to upload it but am getting server errors for attachments at this time. It is possible a raccoon could be dexterous enough to empty but I'm not sure in this confined space. Since discovery of that incident and early use, the tree has healed itself to the point that this experiment can no longer be performed, grrrhhh. It was fun while it lasted. Link follows: https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_fH5kO3lYMpg/TVV1LUR-ytI/AAAAAAAACdw/SFnsMKRL4xo/s800/2007_02230031.JPG Edited February 11, 2011 by bipedalist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 I don't know about luck in producing ill-refutable evidence, it is just plain ole' common sense and what work has been done with other primates. It makes sense what you are saying. In addition, since we don't know yet, what exactly we are dealing with.. I'll also go with Granny's advice also.. that everything likes bacon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ChrisBFRPKY Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 This question of what food to use for bait station set ups has taken up alot of my time with experimentation in the field. I've tried: apples,oranges,cabbages,and sweets. Multiple trips back to the area (every other day) to check the status of the foods. Not much luck on anything. About the end of Feb or beginning of March I'm gonna try again. This time with peanut butter and I have a couple gallons of blackberries in the freezer from last season. Hopefully, one of these options will spark an interest. At first I used oranges cause I figured, "What primate doesn't like an orange?" Then when the oranges went untouched I thought that maybe they didn't know what an orange was. Then I shifted to apples. The creatures will KNOW what an apple is because they grow in KY. Again, no luck. The apples were left to rot, and fresh additions weren't touched either. My Mother suggested cabbage, sound idea, didn't work either. Here's the thing that makes me wonder. One day while arriving at the baiting area, I heard a stick snap, and looked up just in time to have a sighting. The creature was actually in the bait area! But after a review of the bait, nothing had been touched. So it makes me wonder if it could be a trust issue rather than a hunger issue. I'm sure a free apple would look very good if you're in the habit of obtaining your own daily eats from nature, so why would you turn it down? The only thing I can think of is the question of trust. The creature did not /does not trust the free meal. I'm hoping the peanut butter and blackberries will override this "trust" thing. The impression I got though was there is some higher reasoning going on here. It's not just a hungry animal responding to a free meal. Some thought is being processed as whether to take the food or not. IMO Chris B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 (edited) This question of what food to use for bait station set ups has taken up alot of my time with experimentation in the field. I've tried: apples,oranges,cabbages,and sweets. Multiple trips back to the area (every other day) to check the status of the foods. Not much luck on anything. About the end of Feb or beginning of March I'm gonna try again. This time with peanut butter and I have a couple gallons of blackberries in the freezer from last season. Hopefully, one of these options will spark an interest. At first I used oranges cause I figured, "What primate doesn't like an orange?" Then when the oranges went untouched I thought that maybe they didn't know what an orange was. Then I shifted to apples. The creatures will KNOW what an apple is because they grow in KY. Again, no luck. The apples were left to rot, and fresh additions weren't touched either. My Mother suggested cabbage, sound idea, didn't work either. Here's the thing that makes me wonder. One day while arriving at the baiting area, I heard a stick snap, and looked up just in time to have a sighting. The creature was actually in the bait area! But after a review of the bait, nothing had been touched. So it makes me wonder if it could be a trust issue rather than a hunger issue. I'm sure a free apple would look very good if you're in the habit of obtaining your own daily eats from nature, so why would you turn it down? The only thing I can think of is the question of trust. The creature did not /does not trust the free meal. I'm hoping the peanut butter and blackberries will override this "trust" thing. The impression I got though was there is some higher reasoning going on here. It's not just a hungry animal responding to a free meal. Some thought is being processed as whether to take the food or not. IMO Chris B. Well? Common situation I think Chris. Bingo on the location & likely trust thing! Next Q is what have others used for success ? I would think there could be some feedback there. I have heard sweetfeed for horses for example.. peanut butter seems to be big and I have heard salty things.. Good luck with this.. !!! Edited February 10, 2011 by treeknocker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipedalist Posted February 10, 2011 BFF Patron Share Posted February 10, 2011 (edited) Never had any luck with citrus myself? Wonder if Mike of Enoch fame ever did? Or other skunk ape researchers for that matter? Apples, with no real pickiness I suspect have worked for me, no proof, just my impression. Possible use of things in thin paper packets that have been reported to have been taken from zippered backpacks such as quaker oats packets of oatmeal could be worth a try. I had something empty a pack one night by slicing the top open as if someone had used a single edged razor blade. Suspect it was a RACKKUNE claw but I'd be interested if others have had parcels of food opened short of an outdoor unlocked meat locker/freezer. Edited February 10, 2011 by bipedalist Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 10, 2011 Share Posted February 10, 2011 This question of what food to use for bait station set ups has taken up alot of my time with experimentation in the field. I've tried: apples,oranges,cabbages,and sweets. Multiple trips back to the area (every other day) to check the status of the foods. Not much luck on anything. About the end of Feb or beginning of March I'm gonna try again. This time with peanut butter and I have a couple gallons of blackberries in the freezer from last season. Hopefully, one of these options will spark an interest. At first I used oranges cause I figured, "What primate doesn't like an orange?" Then when the oranges went untouched I thought that maybe they didn't know what an orange was. Then I shifted to apples. The creatures will KNOW what an apple is because they grow in KY. Again, no luck. The apples were left to rot, and fresh additions weren't touched either. My Mother suggested cabbage, sound idea, didn't work either. Here's the thing that makes me wonder. One day while arriving at the baiting area, I heard a stick snap, and looked up just in time to have a sighting. The creature was actually in the bait area! But after a review of the bait, nothing had been touched. So it makes me wonder if it could be a trust issue rather than a hunger issue. I'm sure a free apple would look very good if you're in the habit of obtaining your own daily eats from nature, so why would you turn it down? The only thing I can think of is the question of trust. The creature did not /does not trust the free meal. I'm hoping the peanut butter and blackberries will override this "trust" thing. The impression I got though was there is some higher reasoning going on here. It's not just a hungry animal responding to a free meal. Some thought is being processed as whether to take the food or not. IMO Chris B. If I were you, I'd try pistashio's in a jar, or smoked almonds. Those two items go over big here with regular critters. As far as coyotes and apples our dogs go wild for applecake with chunks of green apples in it. A friend of mine had a pack of dogs an they will do anything for it, even turning down roast beef if there's a applecake on the counter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Painthorse Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Treeknocker mentioned hearing about some people using horse sweet feed. Here's a couple pics from my feed room from awhile ago, fall-winter time. Normally rats, coons and possums will tear into a bag from the bottom. When we set a cam on the feed room area we got a couple inconclusive pics of something and hundreds of pics of our cats, lol. Have no idea what tore the feed bag but when we used the sweet feed as bait in the woods we got nada, except for possums and crows. The weather here in the Ouachita's has been kicking my butt and a couple weeks ago we had stopped baiting and pulled the cams in. My husband got woke up early on a Friday morning with the wolves and dog going (in his words)-> berserk in kill mode. He heard an unfamiliar "bark" and thought there was a stray dog at the wolf pen, when he looked out the window towards the wolves he saw them lunging at the back fence and saw a biped black object standing just behind the back fence and watched it walk back into the woods. So, the next step is to use the dog food. The weather is supposed to get better in the next few days so it's time to re-set the cams. Question for DDA or anyone that has knowledge of the larger primates kept in zoos. Other than fresh fruits and veggies, is there a "primary dietary feed" given to the larger primates in zoos? If there is anything like a monkey chow I could buy I'd spend the money on a bag or 2 just to see what it attracts at the cam stations. ***Can't download the feed bag pics, error message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ajciani Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 The old lady up the street has too many cats? Yah know, the BFRO just posted two accounts recently, and both involved kittens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ajciani Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Bill Dranginis told me a story about some guy's barrel of corn being picked up, carried a distance, and opened. Don't know what kind of corn it was, but I think it was being used for deer feed. Bill has a bucket of feed (corn I think) that he monitors, but all he ever gets are deer and bears. Maybe squatches won't take it unless they think they are stealing it? Try putting something that you use regularly (e.g. dry dog food) in a large bin with a hinged lid that they can get to. Demonstrate that there is food in it by using the food from it for your dogs or chickens or whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ChrisBFRPKY Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Pistashios may not be a bad idea, heck maybe some chestnuts too. I've also thought about using Fig newtons. I think I'll start with the Blackberries first, then peanut butter, and then the dried nuts etc. Something should eventually catch their interest unless they've made up their mind not to accept anything. Horse feed is super sweet and smells good for miles. Shouldn't be too much of a problem to set it up high enough to keep the other critters out of it. Well, won't be long now and I'll find out for sure what works and what doesn't around here. Chris B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bipedalist Posted February 11, 2011 BFF Patron Share Posted February 11, 2011 Had a researcher tell me the Filbert's may be good from the standpoint of a source of selenium in the nut-meat if the creature is seeking out rare nutrients. They are probably as expensive or more so than pistachio's though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indiefoot Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 I was thinking about this while reading another thread. What if you used fruit that can be peeled like bananas and oranges. DDA in another thread referenced gorillas in zoos peeling these fruits and opening manmade items in their packaging when I asked him about bf doing it. Maybe if the skins or packages were left behind and they weren't torn to shreds, it might be an indicator that something with fingers took the bait. Bf might tear it up too but if they happened to do it cleanly like other primates do, It would eliminate the usually culprits anyway as to what took the bait. Unless there is a hungry human nearby. Maybe the use of finger dexterity in combination with another attribute, height. Make it peel a piece of fruit or open a package ten feet from the ground. That would be more telling as to what took the bait if they took it cleanly. Maybe. I only thought about this for a short time. Maybe someone could take the gist of what I am saying and improve upon it. Just try to make it so raccoons can't get at it. Maybe in a box with a heavy lid. eh I don't know. I should have went to sleep an hour ago. But the main point would be to take what bf and only bf has got and make him use those attributes. Fingers, height and strength combo. I've been experimenting with ziploc bags with food and non-food items. I have been studying the method of opening and dusting for prints. Interesting results but too soon for conclusions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ChrisBFRPKY Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Indiefoot, did he take a cheeseburger from the zip lock bag and leave those feathers in return? I'm joking of course, that's a great set up though. Very good thinking. Some non food items may attract even the most untrusting rascals. That curiosity will be their downfall. Chris B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tracker Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Pistashios may not be a bad idea, heck maybe some chestnuts too. I've also thought about using Fig newtons. I think I'll start with the Blackberries first, then peanut butter, and then the dried nuts etc. Something should eventually catch their interest unless they've made up their mind not to accept anything. Horse feed is super sweet and smells good for miles. Shouldn't be too much of a problem to set it up high enough to keep the other critters out of it. Well, won't be long now and I'll find out for sure what works and what doesn't around here. Chris B. Those pistashios wouldn't last long around me. Make sure you use the red ones so their lips and hands will stand out afterwards, it make them easier to spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest tracker Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Yah know, the BFRO just posted two accounts recently, and both involved kittens. did they survive? Can you narrow it down a little or post the link? thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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