Cage Trapping Bobcats tips

You can still use birds and feathers in AZ just not from a bird which occurs in the wild- I think you knew that..

The entire quarter off of a bobcat.

The head and skin of a cottontail.

ML
 
I use store bought feathers but find it a little more difficult to find non native birds to use in a trap.

Anyone ever pre bait any spots? Kinda get the animal used to coming to the area for a meal or a sniff of lure.

I have never used and bait in my cage but from the sound of it I think I'm missing out not putting a paw/leg from a previous catch.
 
Since I set the same places year after year it has created many toilets. When I go back to set those places I find that the cats have been busy sniffing and doing their thing where the trap was the year before.
I have used this for years and have just used lure to start a place out prior to setting a cage. This works well when I am in an area that holds cats but they won't travel a place consistently, put a lure station in then a cage the next year.
Try to use any method you can to gain the advantage, more fur!!!
 
Old sets do often become toilets. I went out last week and checked for some activity on a few spots.

I have talked with one or two guys who "start toilets" by placing turds and pee. Never tried it myself.

The problem with everything we put in our traps and then cover the cage is we hide the info from the cat. I have watched hours worth of trail cam catches and in 6 years working with the cameras I can honestly say that I have only seen 3-4 cats appear to go in the trap with their eyes.

I have had many 'drive byes" with a quail hung in the back of a covered set but never have I not had interest in an uncovered set with a quail inside.

Everyone wants to go on and on about how cats are so 'visual" Some guy puts it in a book in the 70's and it gets repeated enough times ... Seems to be the first piece of internet advice offered to questioning trappers.

Visual attractors are certainly usefull for foot hold trapping but there is something about hanging attractors in a cage trap that seems to reduce their effectiveness. I am beginning to think that they fail to contrast when in the back of the cage. Kind of like when you varmint hunt and set up in the brush. Wearing just your street clothes you can call varmint into your feet so long as you don't move.

Thinking back at all the different things I have hung in the trap and all the catches and misses I have on trail cam I have never ever found any attractor that the cat appears to "SEE" and have to investigate. It's always the odors that appear to make him enter. Once in the trap a hanging attractor or "rats nest" gives him another thing to want to put his nose on and end up getting himself caught.

Yea. I'm bored and on night shift.

ML
 
I agree with you Mercer somewhat about the attractors, I only use one above my cages and as stated before most times just lure and urine inside.
Doing this gets the cat on location the scent does the rest.
Yes I back track alot of my cats to see what caused them to get to my sets and have found where they turn when the attractor was in sight for them.
I have seen where the attractor has pulled cats to my sets from quite a distance, my favorite type is a piece of silver mylar (cheap space blanket) 6" square, it actually floats in a soft breeze, I use duct tape on a corner to attach it to a swivel and string, they do not hold up under stiff winds and bitter cold but I have caught a lot of cats the first couple days after I put them out.

Please get a job!!!!
 
I have a question on how to place traps, Mercer and George, meaning this for you, but if there are other pros here, what do you think? Should I put more than 1 in a 1 mile square area, 2 or 3 maybe, or about how close together should I put them, based on how big a cat's territory is, and if other cats come on it? Thank You.
 
For me it all depends on the amount of sign in the area, and whether or not there are any places that a cat won't cross to get to my set. Meaning very rough washes or high rims that run long distances.
I always try to put traps where a cat will come off the top of a rim but will also put one on the top where he may travel which may put two cages fairly close sometimes only 50 yds between them.
For me I try hard to find the only place that the cats will travel going to and from hunting and cover, this is tough to do at times.
There is no set way or limits to how many cages per mile or area it has to do with numbers of cat in the area. Lots of cats more cages, few cats less cages but put them in high use areas.
Just how I look at things and how I work my sets, I am no expert just a guy who loves trapping cats!!
 
Well Im not Mercer or George or a pro... but I have to do things a little bit different than George because of the difference in terrain.

I trap a lot of washes and random rocky outcrops here so sometimes my sets are pretty close. If I have two or three washes that are fairly close together and all have good sign I will set them all.

It all depends on your area and the amount of sing that you have.
 
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You mean you set them on the tops of rock cliffs? And if I set 2 traps back to back, would another bobcat be in the same area and be attracted to the other cat, or does that just depend? Thanks
 
Not much I can add to the previous answers and I am in no way experienced enough in Colorado to offer any advice.

Way to many variables. Cat density?, how many traps?, how much time?, How much money in your pocket? on and on.

There are no steadfast rules per square mile or anything like that. Place traps at key spots where the cat has to go by them. Depending on how many traps you have progress down your list of locations from highest to lowest until you run out of traps. Work one area and manage your line with expenses in mind then move to your next area.

ML
 
Well that didn't take long!

Used Roy Bradley's double door on a damage control job today.

Caught this bobcat 2:27 after setting the trap this morning.

The cat visits, goes in and out a couple of times and then tries to push past the trigger wires. Had a critter hanging from the middle wire with lead-in scent on it. Cat pee on the floor.

Clearly leaps forward at the release of the doors.




ML
 
Nice Mercer, I like Roys reverse drop doors, but prefer my pedal, I think the cat would not have backed out the first time.
Roys will probably not freeze as much if the weather turns bad.

Let's see more!!
 
I don't know about that TT.

He could and did go around the trap. No reason to go through it. It was just sitting in the open.

I put the lure in there to try and get him interested in the inside of the trap. He smells the lure on the critter and the pee on the floor three times.

Realize that the video comes from two cameras. East and West.

ML
 
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To keep cage traps from freezing I use some fat from a beef that we have butchered,I rub it on every part that slides or moves.It also adds some scent,I also cover my cages when it is bad weather.
 
beef fat... thats a new one. cant hurt to have that smell at the set as long as your sents in the cage interest him more that the smell of the beef.
 
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