as many of you know iowa will be having its first bobcat season. so there will be alot of iowans trying to connect and more than likely the season will be relatively short before the quota is reached. anyone have any tips to newbie cat trappers, like myself, such as types of sets, good bait or lure, etc?

thanks

a decent meat based bait and a visual attractor. Get some cat urine too. Make the same set as if you were setting for coyotes, just use bobcat gland lure along with an attractor such as feathers where leagal. If not, use cotton balls.

Hurry up and order you some bobcat trapping videos too.

Yeah, I have one.

Hurry up and set your traps, before someone else beats you to it

how do bobcats rate on a "difficulty to catch" scale? as compared to, say, coyotes or fox? harder? easier? there are many more yotes and fox in iowa than cats, but for an individual animal, how do they rate?

Most cats are stupid compared to coyotes. With that said though, their movement's make them difficult to catch at times as by the time they do decide to wander around where your traps are it's a sure bet a coon, possum or other undesirable will already be sitting in the trap watching them as they walk on by, lol.

They won't work a set hard, usually just walk up take a few sniffs then walk on off. Sometimes they will just walk right on by and not even stop.

Cats don't like to back up either so sets for them should have a entrance AND a exit away from the set, let them walk THROUGH the set rather than UP to the set.

Blind sets in trails they are using are my favorites if you can find any. Two traps placed in the trail are good insurance on not missing one, i also like drags at these sets so the animal can get away and not destroy the set area, plus using two traps once one makes a catch and drags it off you still have another trap waiting on the next cat/fox/coyote to come along.

Been raining alot here. Lot's of mud. Good track finding conditions. Go out now and look for sign. Since you need to connect quickly pick your set locations now and set as many as you can the day the season opens. Look for cat sign where rodent's, rabbits, ground roosting birds are thick.

Every set that will work on coyotes will also work on cats. Cats also respond well to fox urine and coyote urine, I could never see any difference in results whether cat or canine urine was applied at a set. Lures that are real musky smelling are an asset as cats like to rub on those musky odors. A cat with a full stomach will generally just walk right by a set lured with plain baits. Correct trap placement for the type of set being used and tight use of guiding techniques are very helpfl as like J already stated, they might just take a sniff and peek and move on, not working a set like one might expect a fox or coyote. A big cat can have a giant foot compared to a coyote so traps with a wide jaw spread are another asset. Ace

Just my 2 cents worth..as I am not a pro....just love catchingcats...i have used dirtholes with good success...but the first sign I ever saw of bobcatactivity was where one kiled a canada goose (amazing)...and cached it away for further dining..beaver meat is second 2 none here as bait...and I use muskrat carcasses also..and make a walk through stashed carcass kinda set, just make sure the backing comes up and over the bait..or you'l catch all kinds of crows...hawks...and ravens..and miss cats like jtrapper said...if yer just going after cats...you can used ridiculous looking guiding, and be successful....a coyote might turd on such a mess...but a cat will step right where you guide him to...hope this helps even a little bit