The Stay Puff Bobcat

Todd Woodall

New member
Two years ago we loaded up the kiddos and moved to the country. I grew up in the country and have longed to get back ever since I struck out on my own. All of the fond memories of my childhood came from living in the country. Something about a young boy being able to walk out the back door and take off on an adventure at any given time is hard to beat. From shooting birds, digging for worms, playing in the mud, and just learning about nature at every turn without even trying. Learning about nature is a necessity when you live in the country and my children have loved it, especially my 3(soon to be 4) year old son Kolby.

Ever since we moved in I have had a long standing battle with the local Raccoons. I think they built this house in a coon stronghold. They constantly tear up my trash and eat all the cat food. The last straw was one getting in our chicken coop and killing half of my daughters chickens.

Now I am not a trapper, I have never claimed to be, and for good reason. I have always opted to call my critters instead of trap them. Nobody in my family was ever big into trapping, so I never picked up the trade. I am not against it, just never done it other than some brief attempts when I was a young kid. For some reason nothing wanted to get into my steel traps sitting on top of the ground, go figure. Anyway I didn’t want to catch all our cats and chickens so I opted to go with a live trap.

Luckily my new long haired hippie looking neighbor (Glenn Guess) had one sitting around collecting dust so he let me borrow it. Needless to say within a month I was walking around feeling like a trapping legend, since EVERY TIME I SET IT I CAUGHT A COON! No joke my friends got tired of talking to me about it. I stopped counting at either 18 or 19 coons in a row. The trap didn’t even have to be baited just set it down by the chicken coop and you would have another in the morning. Kolby absolutely loved it and always wanted to be the one to pull the trigger. I don’t know why they call it a Live Trap, cause everything I drag out of it is dead? Oh well, I guess it’s the whole “park on a driveway and drive on a parkway” thing?

Well I finally got ahead a bit I guess and after checking a few empty traps we lost interest. It has been a few months since the trap has even been set, that is until I saw some coon tracks after a recent rainstorm. Kolby and I set off on a long journey to set the trap, all of 50 yards from my house. Kolby is a natural trapper and uses his keen wits and stunning ability to pick the bait for the day to bag his prey, usually it is whatever he is snacking on when I ask him if he wants to go set the trap. He usually picks marshmallows cause he can eat half of em on the way to the trap and throw the rest in. This day it was marshmallows with a little vanilla extract drizzled over them like some Food Network dessert. Sure enough the next morning we had another coon.

Last night I was working out in the shop and Kolby came and asked me if he could set the trap, being busy I told him to go ahead. He came back a few minutes later and told me it was set and he thinks he is going to catch a big one, of course he had his arms stretched out as far as he could reach. I told him I am sure we will and that we would check it in the morning.

Here is what we found!
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A BOBCAT ON MARSHMALLOWS!
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Kolby prefers the bigger marshmallows for larger predators like Bobcats, the small ones are fine for coons, but you really need more visible bait for Bobcats he says.

Thought you guys would get a kick out of this!

Take care,

Todd


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Looks like Kolby has been in dad's bandaid box.

I nominate Kolby for Trapper of the Year.

Can we expect more trapping articles and techniques to follow? How does he handle skunks. I heard ol dad caught one and could have used Kolby's help on that one.

Congratulations Kolby. I'll bet dad was surprized.
 
I do believe that Kolby deserves a "HUNTER OF THE MONTH" nomination for that one!

What are Kolby's thought's on using Twinkie's or Candy Korn?
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Congratulations Kolby...Just for future information, Giraffe and Bears like the Big Marshmallows too... That will really surprise Dad...

I used to go to the Zoo with my kids when they were little and I could get either of them to ignore everyone else for a couple of Marshmallows...The Giraffe would lean over the fence and take them right out of my hand..

So have Dad see about getting a bigger trap..
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