You should never pass up a place like this on your 'cat line!
'Cats will hunt these and also use them during spells of bad weather. Find these and the 'cats will find you!




A close up walk though using rocks as a natural guide. This is a two trap walk through with a step over rock between the traps.

Traps are in the sifted sandy areas....but you knew that, right?

This is a great thread, please keep the info coming and thanks to everyone contributing.

Down in the southern part of Mississippi, I trap mainly two types of ground. Pine plantations or Swamps, I have as good as luck catching cats in Pine plantation as I do in the Swamps. I have found that our cats do not follow the same pattern as that I read about and hear about people in other parts of the country talking about. Do not get me wrong I catch a lot of cats in heavy cover areas such as Brier Patches, Privet Hedge thickets, and such type areas. But I catch a good many in big pine plantations that are burned yearly and have very little to no ground cover. I catch nearly as many cats in these type of areas as I do in what most people would call prime bobcat locations.

I honestly do not make sets that are only intended for cats (I just make sets) unless I just come upon a location that is loaded with cat sign. Most of my sets are intended to catch whatever walks by be a fox a coyote or a bobcat, 99% of my sets are Dirthole sets, I look for spots that just look like a natural type cubby, I catch a few yotes and fox in these type but that is another Topic. My lures/bait are consistent when I set, I only use RK Predator Plus, on lures I use dobbins RDFX/Purrfect and have used Grey Buzzard a little this year caught a few reds and a cat on it this week.

This probably will not help anyone but I felt like typing something anyway.lol

If you could only put one trap anywhere in this landscape....where would it be?

Ok, LT. I don't get to trap in the beautiful southwest with cacti and rocks everywhere. Instead I live on a small rural NE Kansas farm. Typical pasture land with trees along some of the fence lines. There is a large pond and a small pond. I have seen cat tracks on the large pond dam and near a corner fence post. Would setting a trap near the corner post and some kind of walk through on the dam be the best options? What would be the best for fencing on the dam to encourage the cat to walk through?

put four dirtholes on the dam.... two at either end...

bed a trap under that post in the first pix and hang a feather off the post about 3' off the ground.. smear some good skunky (feline fancy/purrfect) on the post 18" off the ground.. you'll have a cat if there are cats using the area

good luck

kirk

Should he bed the trap against the post? Or, how far away from the post should the pan sit?

the width of your hand laying flat on the ground...

search the archives for winterized cat sets..

i looked at the picture again... typical that the trail has eroded in front of the post.... put a big rock on either side of your trap...

Thanks miller

Well Rattie, I don't normally run around pickin' catcus thorns out of my knees either!

Where I normally trap, looks much like your photos and we don't have a legal 'cat season here in Ohio.

What 'cats I have caught have been on out of state ventures.

I have trapped and snared bobcats but there are a lot better 'cat trappers on here than me....certainly ones with more experience!

That said, I have been around enough to know that if a 'cat hangs around me very long, he'll end up on a streather!

I have trapped 'cats in Oklahoma, which looks much like your area.

On stock dam/crossings, 'cats will just naturally work them, as will coyotes and foxes. It is a natural funnel.

Flags made out of feathers, if legal, from overhanging branches will draw 'cats and get them to focus on a specific area, where a dirthole doped up with either bait, castor, gland lure, urine or any combination of the above will take most passing cats.

I like turkey wing feathers on a fishing swivel hung from light wire, the best!

A few feathers scattered around the set, if legal, for eye appeal won't hurt either!

On that corner post, a rub set would be in order there. Beaver castor about shoulder high would certainly work, if you had the cattle out of the pasture.

Jameson had a post on here once about "rub" sets. Maybe he'll show up and grant us another look at his version!

LT.... i just told him to make a rub set...LOL

I have not taken the time to read every post on this thread, but from what I have read, there is lots of very good information and pictures available on here.
Lt. Grey, in the desert picture above, Even though bobcats love the rocks, in the dry desert, their food craves water, and while bobcats will go to the rocks and lay up, they usually hunt and travel below the rocks, more in the thick stuff if possible, or border it. For that reason, I found in the desert southwest that say where those rock cliffs point towards the bottom is most likely where a bobcat would enter or leave those rocks, so no reason to climb up to that location, but would set in the bottom draw, as close to that point sticking towards the camera in the draw, or find a drainage, leading from that point towards the bottom as likely travelway for cats to follow to go to bottom.
Bobcat locations vary across the country, as pointed out well in this thread so far. However, with that said, experience will give you a feel for where cats will travel if they are in any kind of terrain----By that, I mean that they do not like to travel too exposed, yet like everything else, including humans, they will pick the easiest travel routes if possible so they can get from one possible food source location to another possible food source location. Cotton tail rabbits are normally the preferred food souces if available, however rodents, such as mice, packrats, rats in general, or prairie dogs, are likely hunting locations for bobcats. Now with that said, bobcats will vary greatly in size in different parts of the USA, so that often large bobcats will seek, and regularily hunt for deer and pronghorn antelope during winter months where snow gets deep, and small bobcats on both coastlines will spend most of their time hunting for birds. Yet both will also regularily seek cottontail rabbits, and of course cottontail rabbit habitat will vary greatly from swamp lands to high mountain terrains.
I see that use of flags to attract when slightly off location has been covered quite well, but do not forget that bobcats hunt with thier ears, as much as with their eyes. The sound attractors, commonly still referred to as squeaker units will attract bobcat attention as well as sight attractions do.
Bobcats have a good nose, but for some reason or other, they do not use it normally to seek food sources. Yes they will detect odors and go to some better than others, but their ficle nature will often have them ignore some of the better normal attraction odors as well. However their curiosity gets the better of them if there is something they can see, smell, and hear, so use of all three near good bobcat travelways is almost a guaranteed cat visit.
Another thing about bobcats, is that they all act like female humans all the time---meaning that what is interesting today, may be ignored tomorrow. I have caught bobcats at well blended in flat sets for coyotes with nothing more than a few drops of coyote urine, and I have caught them near flags, with sets that were so dolled up with fur, feathers, cotton, wool, tinfoil strips, etc. that they could be seen even by a human for over a hundred yards. The difference is the flat sets were directly on a good travelway, while the other type sets were attempts to draw them from where I could not get directly onto locations that they would want to travel on.
Yes loud odors probably get thier attention better than mild odors do, but if directly on location, a very mild odor will pique enough curiosity for bobcats to want to check the source.
Not sure what else I can contribute that has not already been discussed, as bobcat droppings are always an attraction as is other bobcat odors such as urine, glands etc. I have never been too high on catnip, but will quickly admit that at times bobcats seem to be interested in that odor, while at other times they may just ignore it, like they may do any other type of odor, since they do not rely upon their nose like canines do as their primary sense to locate things. As I already said, combining, sight, sound, and odor combinations will usually produce cats if you are near a travelway from one food source to anther food source.

LOL.. no one wants to follow slim... wonder why???

Because he is one of THE BEST bobcat trappers in the nation...?

Yeah, I'll go with that one!

That from O'Gorman himself....and that's saying something!
Slim is no doubt a wealth of information on trapping predators and I'm glad to have his contribution to this thread. But yes, a hard act to follow...

Ok, someone can follow me then....

Thanks to all for your help. When I get that cat I will post it's pic.

We're gonna hold you to it, Rattie!

Those Kansas felines are some pretty nice 'cats from what I've seen in pictures!

i would suggest using a snare, they are much cheaper and very effective for bocats. i like a 1/16 snare with a camlock set about seven inches off the ground with a seven to eight inch loop. good luck