Getting everything ready for this coming Friday - I will be leaving for my camp and spending the next 10 days trapping!!!!

I read some place that you can use tin foil as a Bobcat attractor - true?

Reason I am asking - running out of turkey feathers!!!

Any other ideas for attractors?

Thanks,

I flyfish and tie my own flies, So I use a bunch of different materials that I have. But you could go to a flytying shop and pic some up for cheap. It all depends on the territory, but in the woods I use a piece of artic fox, which is snow white. In the fields a crows wing, and it stands out like a sore thumb. But for a mix up in either situation some red, yellow, or orange marabou feathers from a fly shop work really well. And they move with the slightest wind. Caught both my cats this year with black and yellow marabou attractors. Hope this helps.

Thanks Brian........

Now I need to run up to Bass Pro Shop and see if I can make it out of there with just the fly tying stuff..... lol

Joe

That Christmas Tree tinsel...ya know...the kind on a string. Cut off about 12-15"...the slightest little ol' breeze makes the stuff come alive. The cats will definitely notice it.

squirrel tails, the white fur off a rabbits belly, bird wings

Fox sqirrel thanks..... What do you do just tie the strands of tinsel togehter?

Dcampell - have used squirrel tails and wings - problem is that I do not have any now... looking for something to use until I get a few more bird feathers or fur...

I use tin foil and like it, it catches a reflection off any amount of light,( including moon). I get those baking pans made of alumin at the dollar store and cut the bottoms into strips 1" wide and differant lengths punch a hole close to one end and put a piece of very thin wire through. (I use copper wire about as thick as heavy thread) After you put the wire in join the ends and twist togetjher bend it over so the wire forms a circle. Take another piece of wire however long you need put it through your circle and twist it back on itself so you have two circles hooked together wrap the other end of the long wire around whatever you want to hang it from. Take the foil and give it a twist like a drill bit. This way it won't wrap around everything when the wind blows it, like fishing line does.

Get a bag of polyfill from WalMart.The white cottony stuff for filling quilts etc..It works as well as any attractor if everything is not covered in snow.My favorite way is to get a piece of 19 or 20 gauge galvanized wire(from hardware store)and cut a length 20-24".Twist this around a wad of polyfill,real secure then wrap the other end around a branch behind the set.This gives you a white wad of the stuff suspended on about a 10-12" wire that dances on the breeze.Bobcats can't seem to resist it.I would bet that a wad down a dirthole would work well too.

I've never trapped cats but Dobbins suggests using cassette tape in one of his books. He says to wad it all up and then pull some strands from it as well as tie around the center of the wad

900 cats and I never used any added visuals other than a visible, eye appealing set with lure. I trap sand and snow where tracks are visible 75% of the time and have never seen a cat pass a well lured visible set. Ace

i like the poly fill also. i tear it up and spread it around the set and even push in a limb and hang poly fill all over it.

hey asa i caught a cat today using your cat call lure. it was the first one i've caught while using it.

Here in our low pops we need to use whatever we can to get the cats in range. I like the rabbit fur strips but I use monofilament to aid in the movement. Our trapping is focusing on the edge of the mature softwoods and the alder swales or open barrens, basically the edge of any open ground as cats here are reluctant to leave overhead cover. Its very hit or miss except in proven locations which only grow with time lol. I used exclusively till this year a wad of cotton balls with the call lure on them suspended on mono, but use more fur now.

Offshore writes...hey asa i caught a cat today using your cat call lure. it was the first one i've caught while using it.

Thats great, congratulations! Ace

Asa, do you consider a set that has taken a cat to be improved as with fox and mink ?

ive heard of Cd's being hung by fishing line. or take very skinny gauge of wire and make like a 3" ring make two of them. and makea 3rd ring 2" big by that i mean from side to side at longest point. i dont remeber what that is calleed maybe diametere or something anyhow take 3" inch ring and put 2" ring then 3" inch ring so there into eachother. in eachother like if you take your two pointer fingers and lock them together like hook em together... i cant explain well but put 1 3" ring then 2" then 3" and tape or use the very very skinny wire to wrap on a couple feathers a piece of light weight yarn or so almost make a dream catcher/windchime deal. well i suck at explaining but those are good ideas if you can understand it lol.

I use alot of the stuff already mentioned. I notice nobody said anything about tree bark...sounds silly but it works. I dont have alot of good pictures of it but when I'm setting under a ceder tree I'll rip stands of the bark off so it hangs and flutters in the breeze. In the picture below you can see what I mean (the bobcat ripped some more off for me on this set) and you can see some polyfill also.

Cattail fluff looks great around a set and in certain situations, more visible than feathers. It flutters well on the ground or on a trash pile too.

I caught all of my cats at a dirthole set using fox bait and fox urine. sometimes I put a cotton ball in the hole for curiosity maybe hold the cat a little longer. I saw a cat trapper at a trapping convention said that shiny Christmas tree balls works well. Seems like a small running light reflector wired as mentioned above would work.

You can buy a whole bag of feathers at wal mart for 99 cents or any hobby shop will have them I just use the white hang them with a short piece of fishing line. Put a little lure on the feather and it will swing in the breeze casting the sent everywhere

I think anything that stands out and flutters on the breeze works. Movement is the key i think. I trap in some pretty thick places and to keep my attractors from getting tangled, I use a peice of wire usually 14 ga.about 8 to 12 " longwith a small loop twisted in the bottom end,I use a swivel of the type i use fishing and a peice of monofilament line 3 or 4 " long to atach flag to wire about 2' over or slightly behind trap, Attractor wont tangle as easy and will spin in varible winds.