How often does a bobcat come around. I caught one so far in a trench set and had pictures on my trail camera of another nice cat two nights in a row at a beaver carcass I have out. Two cat limit here and I never got my limit yet. It has not been back since. How big of a loop do they run? I have sets out and thinking it will be back soon. Tow blind sets and a trench set with one trap in the trench and the other trap just off of it incase it wants to walk around the set.

Could be as long as 10 days.

Here, I have experienced anywhere from a week to a month. I have had traps set for a month before I caught a cat. Dont know if they just didnt commit til then or what. But they take very big loops here. I herd someone say a while back that some of these toms can travel 30-60 miles on one of their loops.

Or , could be somebody else let the air out of him.

I've had bobcat on my camera for a week or so, and never show back up. Maybe killed or caught on it's loop. I'm after one now that makes a big loop. It's been about 2 weeks before i seen sign again.

About 2 weeks I think

too many variables

This. I have road kill deer bait stations out here in the winter and some cats are on my camera every day some times twice a day. Others show up on a new carcass then are gone for nearly a week while others stay. They like to wander.

Osky

Jeff Dunlap told me with our season being only 10 days, a big tom may not be back by the time it ends........

I am far from an expert on the subject, but via trail cams mainly I have some thoughts on this subject. The answer is: it depends!

I think if a bob is having hunting success in an area then it is far more likely to show up often, as in daily. If another area is a "pass through" area then it seems like it is about 7-10 days in between pics. I had a big pond dug on my farm in 2016 and as a by-product I ended up with several very large brushpiles...which of course drew plenty of rabbits and mice, etc. It is not uncommon to get pics every day/night adjacent to the piles...whereas a few hundred yards away on the same farm, I will get a bobcat on a given cam once a week or so.

Interestingly...a couple of weeks ago when ice formed on the big pond I had pics almost every night of a bob walking the ice in front of a cam that I put along the waters edge. I found this interesting, as I guess I would not have thought that they would get out on glaze ice so often.

Had a cat hit a bait the day before season once. Figured that cat is in the bag. Got tired of checking that empty set and told myself this is the last time walking in, I'm pulling it. There was my cat, 39 DAYS later.. Pretty sure it was the same one as he beelined out of the cedars right to the set like he was on a mission.

I reckon it really depends on if it's a male or female, time of year, territory/habitat, food supply, etc. I did some research on this a while back & it said females have smaller home ranges, could be 5 sq. miles & a toms home range is much larger, could be 5 times that of a females.

Keep making cat sets till you catch another. If you get more than one when they hit turn some loose. Dont count on one set good as you think the spot is. Sometimes what the trapper thinks dont mean spit to a bobcat.

And I use two traps at each set for cats

Seems like 10 days on some 21 days on others once I had one take 34 days to come back through,depends on food source and gender.

Our snowfall this year has been really advantageous as far as sign goes. It seems like we've had constantly fresh tracking snow without a lot of accumulation. I couldn't ask for much better conditions when it comes to checking for sign.

I'm finding cats to be predictable and unpredictable at the same time. Some guys say find a cat track and put a trap under it and you'll have that cat. They might follow a general course of travel as they move throughout their range but I'm not finding that kind of consistency, not often anyway. It just stands to reason there's plenty out there to distract a cat and alter its path. Grouse and hare/rabbit being a couple.

I am finding some cats that seem to be much more localized and using the same cover for days on end. It might be the sex and/or age of the cat or it might be the abundance of food holding them in the area. I don't know. I have up to five sets in these areas and the cats still manage to elude me. This is what I've been experiencing here in the northeast.

I’ve patterned them by camera here from February into season. Ran about 8 cameras one year watching them. Our cats tend to run 10-14 day loops. If you happen upon females they’ll come a little sooner. I once had a male check a hole with beaver oil 5 nights in a row. He must have had a kill close. That’s why I love chasing them. Set them up and pull your hair out while the coons/possum plug your set and the cat probably made his 10 day appearance. If I set for cats I set very heavy for that reason. I’ve got 24 sets bedded in cat tracks now for 11 days. Snow showed no new visits up until melt off two days ago. I did have one pullout in front of me this morning when it hit 10 foot of open drag as I pulled up in my truck. They’re simple to catch, but sometimes it feels like the stars have to align.

If you're in a good cat area you will catch cats before a coyote I've found they are very small area they travel if you wait a month you should move you're set

I moved two rub sets that sat for more than a month with nothing hitting them. A week later both sites had cat sign on them. That's how my season has gone.

That is interesting