This cat set is about 5' off a logging road they travel - what do you think? Too open or crowded too much? Guide sticks are about 1 - 1.25" dia. What can / should I do different? Thanks!

I'm very far from a expert. Never caught a cat...lol. But, replying to remember to follow the post......

And, I THINK the trap may be tight. I know many cats are taken with tight traps....but, you may do much better with it back from the main attractor..16-20" is what I gathered from my cat research this year.


Otherwise, I like the set a lot. Looks inviting, has a lot of eye appeal.... the cat really has to commit to get to the trap though....from what I've read, many cats will take a look and maybe sit or stand or walk around and investigate the set..but won't work it like a K9 which is why guys like the trap back a good ways.

Gonna make me one of those sets one day. I catch cats in my coyote sets without trying for cats.

Dude, where's the trap???

It looks great and yep, will catch a cat. I'd leave the trap exposed though that way you don't have to worry about the weather. Takes a leap of faith, but exposed sets are all I'd ever consider.

You cannot overcrowd a cat. Always set to where there is now where else the cat can place his foot. They are easy to guide, but I prefer to give him no options of where to step. I like exposed traps for this reason. Put something on the pan that he wants to step on and nothing else. I use short sticks stuck in the ground sticking straight up, both inside the jaws and outside. I catch an occasional coyote in sets like that, go figure! Cats are lucky....don't give them a chance to do anything but step on the pan, even though it looks stupid, it works on cats!

The only thing I don’t like about it is that you are 5’ foot off road. Can you legally set on the road? If so I definitely back that set up with a walk through type set either directly in the median of road or hugging the edge of road. But other than that I think your original set looks fine.

Here's a couple before/after. These simple sets account for all my cats every year. With the trap exposed the cat's target is going to be the pan, especially if you enlarge it with a shingle or something. Only critique I could see with your set is the area inside the guide sticks could lead to a miss or toe catch if they step around the corners or on the spring levers. Like Lee said, you really can't over guide them, little sticks, big sticks - make the pan the place they'll step. Great looking set location though...a cat is going to check out that set for sure, you have a couple great locations on the stumps/rocks for your lure and a food based bait in the back. I'd put some lure and bait on the left under that log and back in the right too. That way you have the most attraction for the cat to work the set when it comes back. Lets see some pics when you get one there!


Walk thru/rub set on a trail (some lure on the tree):



Cat had been working a wolf bait in this area so I just made a dirthole and covered it.

nice, people get mad when I tell them cats are easy to catch ,hardest thing is finding them .

Location is the most important variable in trapping.

Figure out where they are traveling and they are a snap to catch (pun intended).

Thanks everyone - will uncover & run exposed. I'm getting pics of different cats coming down this trail at least once/week. Should I put a shingle or something else on the pan since my MB450s aren't that big? If so, I assume cut it so it's just inside the jaw width? How do I attach or do I just lay it on?

I must be a bad trapper. I had a cat walk passed 3 sets last week. Scouting showed me where he was walking. I didn't have a real good walk through scenario though so I put 3 sets where he was going. We never had much for snow after I set....except some stuck and accumulated to some logs in the area...when I was pulling, I was able to see his tracks on the logs. Within 15yds beelining for one set and within 10 beelining towards the other 2. Still don't know what happened. Did he not get close enough??? Were my traps frozen?? Weather was tough. Rain freeze thaw all week....but I soaked the beds with glycol and then put I heavy layer of waxed dirt in and then bedded in waxed dirt. No signs of any disturbance.


Though one day I found a flag down. It was tinsel and secured via the wire in the tinsel....it was about 5-6 foot off the ground. I kinda wonder if he didn't take a leap at it...5-6ft high probably is in a cats jumping range...


Snow is humbling. Especially hearing how easy cats are to catch but seeing tracks and not catching him lol

I was in the same boat. I had two dozen traps dedicated to cats in the field for over 115 days. That's almost three thousand trap nights and many a disappointing check to finally get a cat. One thing I intend to do different next season is place my traps further away from the cubbies, walkthroughs and scent post. I might have had more cats this year if I had done so.

There's a good example of if you're targeting cats why you should just run your sets exposed and not worry about the weather. Cats are easy to catch if they feel like being caught that day. Some days a cat will be a cat and for whatever reason will file right past the best looking mess you can throw at them without a second glance. I think that's why they are fast becoming my favorite thing to catch. They aren't hard to catch if they want to be caught, they're coming through the location on their 1-2 week loop in our parts, you don't have a coon in your set, you don't have a possum in your set, and they didn't get ran over 1/2 mile a way crossing the highway.

I'll tell you one thing the cats have taught me is you have to have patience. I've had cats caught 8 hours after I set the trap and I've had cats (two this year) take up to 14 days to come back through on their path. If you have your trap functioning, you're directly on their travel path, and you can get by leaving them out eventually you will catch the cat. I set 40 acres that I caught 7 off of last year in 10 days yesterday. So far this year there's been two off of it in about two weeks time with more cats there. I'm only able to set for a week so I bombed the place, but I might not catch one regardless. It's really anyone's guess when they will come through.

I normally run exposed pan for cats but this year I am covering them with waxed dirt. I have caught them both ways. I keep my trap back around 20" for cats because they don't work a set like a coyote. I had to many tracks stop before the trap so now they are all back. Like said above guide the heck out of them. I use small sticks inside the jaws and around the trap that will break when the trap fires. Don't use to big of a stick laying down for guiding as they will step on it. Learned that the hard way. Cats will step on the right side of things so I position my pan so the dog is on the left for them entering. I use MB 650 so there is no dog but so you understand. Make flashy sets like a bomb went off. All eye appeal for cats. I also use multiple smells at a set to try to keep them there a little longer. Use flagging. I cut cardboard into about 8" x 8" and push a piece of a corn bag through it leaving the ends run wild and then hang a larger stick on the bottom of the cardboard so the wind can't blow it up and get caught.

I really like Clint Locklear approach to catching cats. Look it up on YouTube. It makes a ton of sense to me when it coming to these frustrating animals.

Setting for cats is a bit different than trying to get them to move to your area if your not right on location !

However there is one constant for cat trapping and it's their curiosity that they possess, it will most always
fail them for trappers if they learn how to use it against them.

There are other ways to bring cats into the set area, besides lure's, baits and scents, these all help of course to
have them investigate longer but are not necessarily the bring in factor. They engage after the cat shows up most times as a creature of habit, running it's circle of territory.

Have your sets where you feel you need them, set with covered or open pans, block how it needs to be,
but never under estimate the cats use of it's sense's, all of them !!

OK trap is now exposed & I put some sm sticks around the jaws to force him to step inside the jaws, hopefully on the pan. Should I put another trap in front of the stick & offset a few inches in case he doesn't fully commit?

I never set a cat for a dead end....always walk em through all four!!!!

OK - how can I make this set into a walk through then? Or should I build a new set?