them 550's are a great trap

A 550 will do fine I run bridger dogless 2's but I have 3 550's in my mix and they do great. Clean them wax them and go. Any critter that sreps in one is caught
J

Welcome, I’m not a cat trapper but have 650’s, 750’s, and a couple 450’s good traps right out of the box. As far as stakes I use rebar and freedom brand disposable, depends on the location and if I think I can pull the rebar due to physical probelms. Always remember to have fun especially starting out, as you get into it, it’s easier to find fun in the little things because the big things become easier.

Keep things simple. Don’t buy into the thinking that you need the latest greatest traps and mods to be successful. trapping and hunting can be as simple or complicated as you believe it to be. Cats are curious. Good luck.

You won't regret getting the MB 550's. Great trap.

You can trust what Batman says!

Welcome to the site, a wealth of knowledge to be had here for sure. 550s and bridger #2 and 3 dogless are my favorites, but experience will be your greatest teacher. I started with duke 1 and a half and 3's and still use them as well. Good luck in your pursuits

MB 550 I prefer closed jaw both os and cl are great traps out of the box and are ready to catch and hold consistently any raccoon, fox, coyote or bobcat that decides to check out your set. You will save much time and hold more fur using these quality traps.

If you have not applied for cat tabs b4 it may take 8-14 years to get a tag. This allows you a lot of time to learn to set and catch other species common in southern WI. I have always been a small steel guy but I can see the advantage in larger jaw spread traps and especially for cats. There are numerous new and used 1.75-to #3 size traps that will work well for you. You have a lot more coyotes in your area then cats so traps that are good for yotes should work well for cats. Cats have big feet and thus larger jaw spread. Cats are not hard to hold compared to similar sized coyotes but getting a good coyote rig should work well.
If it were me I would start scouting the areas that you feel are going to be better cat habitats and where you can funnel them as well. Cats will take to thick cover more than some predators so start looking for large sloughs, swamps, dense forested area along edges etc. Nothing wrong with catching some 30-50 dollar yotes as you get ready to lay out the cat line.

Bryce

X2

Hey, Motley. Not sure if you're a WTA member, but each district has a smaller rendezvous in addition to the state rendezvous in Marshfield. My district rendezvous is on Saturday, June 1st in Reedsburg. We'll have trapping and skinning demos all day and trap vendors you can buy supplies from. It's a fun day and an opportunity to buy supplies and learn a lot.

You can visit the WTA website here:
https://wistrap.org/

Click on "EVENTS CALENDAR" and then click on any district rendezvous on the calendar for details. Not sure who is closest to you, but there could be a great resource near you.

Patrice

Knowing where your cats are traveling will help you a lot when you finally get that tag. Nothing builds your confidence like recent intel. I saw this cats tracks a couple of weeks back and set a camera in hopes of catching it on camera when it came through again.

https://youtu.be/CnJGUT08Jig

Welcome. Haha but you didn’t need to announce you were new. The question gave it away. You’ll learn quick that asking what trap is best and what set is best are about the worse questions that can be asked on this form haha. Best advise is to buy a few single traps this off season and play around with them. Then decided from there. I personally love the 550s because they are ready to go. With our western cats, we don’t really complain about how much the traps cost. But some people like to tinker with traps so a cheaper trap like a Bridger or Duke would work great for them.

When it comes to traps and sets, everyone is right and everyone else is wrong. If that doesn’t make sense now, it will soon haha.