I have close to 150- 5 gallon "round" buckets. Now my problem/question is: I would like to make cat cubbies from some of these, and also take some coon and whatever other critter would like to poke in for a visit. I figured to cut out the back and attatch wire mesh across. Now what size trap would best fit one of these "round" (11" daim) buckets? Would a #280 work nice? I basicly want to know anything and everything I can on "Cats In Buckets"! Please express your minds on this. HWD

get ahold of bill crumm.he sells round conis.

i am new to cat trapping, but i found out the hard way, cats dont go in buckets. i had a dozen 220's in square buckets set and didnt get any. i read a post on this site by maddog (i hear a very good cat trapper), and found out you need to build your boxes out of wood. they do work good for coon and fisher though. i would suggest corn for coon to deter any unwanted catches.

Make some natural cubbies, 220 will work,280 is better. One of the cats I caught this year was in a 280,punched a hole in the side of a pile of rotten logs and put trap in entrance, Ilike trigger wires about 6" apart pointing down. Slip some small pine or cedar branches between jaws, Put bait far enough back that the cat cant reach it with paw. I now make a couple of foothold sets nearby, If there are two cats the other will mill around and watch the one caught. In my case the male went ahead and drug off the half beaver carcas after its mate got killed.

Check your regs on setting bodygrips on land...


mtbadger

i never caught one in a 5 gal bucket but I made some wooden boxes like maddog and used a 220 in it and caught a bobcat

Sounds like the buckets might not be a very efficient way to go for cats. Probably should still with the old fashioned cubbies, as I know they do work. I'll wait and see if anyone posts any praise of using plastic buckets for cats.

mtbadger, I don't foresee any problems as I only trap private land over here and also I obey the setting distance of public rightaways etc.

i used 220s and they work grea for coon and other animals.

Cats won't stick their heads in buckets??????

Most owners of hunting dogs and hounds feed and water out of buckets. A tired bird dog or hound will often investigate a bucket looking for a drink or a snack. In my mind buckets are not a very good choice for body grip cubbys for this reason.

I agree 2poor, I will only use them on private property, and if no one esle is allowed in during the time I am there. And most of all, if the land owner does not mind them.

A 34# tom in a bucket. We also caught 6 cats this year in 220 and 280s in trees. Some of them were 220s in wire cubbys and others were 280s on bare trees. You need a big tree and a shallow angle. A large peice of beaver meat and some visual attractor spinning near by. We can't set 220s and 280s on the ground.

Have caught cats in buckets but had better luck with wood cubbies. What you might want to try is cut the bottoms out of the buckets, put two of them together. Set a trap on each end bait in the middle. That way the cat can see through the buckets. Make sure you set the traps a little farther in helps keep dogs out of them. I only use 220's. Becareful when using buckets, dogs have been caught. I used them alot but have switched over to all wood boxes, with hardware cloth on the back. Have done well with them on coon fisher marten and cats.

Well, I am glad that I can get information like this from you folks before I went ahead and made up a pile of buckets. I see that cats will take to some buckets, but I wonder with what efficiency verses more natural type cubbies? Maybe I'll just make up buckets for coon, etc. Ya know, I am gonna post a thread about the uses of buckets for trapping. There must be a ton of uses for them that could be shared.