Pre scouting for cats before snowfall(before you can see tracks here)is easy.
I wire a beaver carcass to the base of a tree,on the ground,every mile or so along the trail.
I go back in a week and its easy to see the ones that cats are at.They eat out the ribs,and cover with debris.

Cant see me (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman) around with trail cams at a couple dozen different spots.

Boco, for two seasons now I’ve tried the wired beavers on cat ground. Doesn’t get the same response here. I’ve also found beaver for bait to be sub-par. They prefer their own meat here. Every time I set up a beaver it sits untouched until it’s cold enough the coyotes decide to eat it. The camera this year showed a coyote urinate on the beaver for two weeks before he even thought to eat it. As to the cameras I don’t live in the bush I just drive my truck right up to where I set cameras. It’s not a lot of work.

Some good tidbits of info here. Great pics too!

They like it here. I might have got more pictures of this guy
if this guy hadn't shown up. Cleaned it out in a hurry and that is one healthy spring bear. Hundred and fifty yards from my cabin.

That looks like a big fella!

Considering it hasn't had much to eat in the last six months. I set out three beaver carcasses in hopes of getting some cat pics. It didn't take long. Can't wait for the upcoming season!

One nice bear. What else have you tried?. Muskrat per chance?

Haven't tried muskrat. I've put out roadkill deer, beaver, remnants of grouse, coon, porcupine...


Deer and beaver seem to be the top picks.

Do you find the cats using the same 1/2 acre in all seasons? or do they move over a mile (or five) when/if the prey move?

If your question was directed at me, the answer to both is yes. They use the same areas over and over but I can't speak to their range. I'm not a cat but I suspect their areas are measured in square miles. Some cats frequent an area once a week where others tend to come through much less often. Our hare population peaked three or four years ago and I thought the cat population would drop off along with them, it didn't. My turkey population has taken an awful hit.

There is a small, ancient logging road just across the pasture from my cabin that all animals in the area use regularly. Bear, deer, moose, cats, fisher, coyote, coon, porcupine...they all use it. I've captured several cat pics on that road but haven't yet managed to get a cat there. I'll be after it again this upcoming season.

When I had the cameras running for the cats I found that the locations where I was getting multiple pictures per week they were there throughout most of the year. The thing that seems to stay consistent on these locations is females with litters. I don't think their range is near as big as say a traveling tom looking for love. Come late season though I don't think you could beat a female in heat to draw every tom around into the area. That's what I tell myself is the reason those locations I seem to catch more cats and quicker.

The visits at least for me seem to stay consistent. If I'm only catching them on camera on a location in July once every two weeks that's about the same shot I seem to have at them when the trapping season rolls around. We don't have an over abundance of cats here like some places in the south and I think that's why I enjoy trapping them the most.

First of all you have to be on location, then you have to have enough traps to deal with the coons/possums/skunks. Then you have to hope the cat is interested the one day out of two weeks it walks by your sets. I envy the guys out west that can really block them down on trails and catch them regardless of how they are feeling. It's a different world here in farm country. They really can go just about anywhere and I've caught them in locations most cat guys wouldn't even look twice here.

I pulled up some of my beaver pics from just this last winter. This beaver was hung on a tree in cat territory where I had tracks and have had cats on cameras in the past. It didn't take long for the coyotes to find it. They just didn't seem to care for a while. The dates are correct.



Two weeks after finding it he returned to urinate on it.


Interestingly, the coons came right out after it. I've always had luck on coons with castor. This just kind of backs that up.

The coyote returned often marking the beaver, they did not actually tear into the beaver for about three weeks time.

The thing I have noticed with the coyotes which is certain parts of the country I've seen mentioned with the bobcats is they will continue to return and mark the location long after the beaver is gone. This coyote came by every few days and the last picture I have of him marking the location was three weeks after they ate the beaver.

I haven't given up on the wired beaver completely but I've found that cats in our area seem to be easier to get to come to a location using the simple kitty litter approach than packing a beaver around. When this topic has come up in the past many have suggested if you know you're on good cat country in the mid-west to drop a couple bags of sand just off the trail. If you've ever seen a kid's sand box where house cats frequent you'll understand.

This will probably get some disapproval but.
You will after a few years of catching cats if you caught a cat there once sooner or later you will catch another one there. Some places are every year .
Territorial boundaries are money in the bank once found because of the overlap,,, that Taximan is eluding too.
Some guys call this a colony of cats. Warning if you find this you can and most likely will trap yourself out of cats for a couple years at this location.

Another member here sent me a PM mentioning the same thing. Cat litter and bags of sand. I haven't tried it yet but I intend to. I assume you place them along known cat routes?

You forgot to skin it.
Cant see a frozen beaver having much appeal to anything with the hide still on it.For sure it wont attract the small mammals and birds that is the real long distance attractor of a larger bait.And there will be a lot less scent dispersal.
Here the cats wont be attracted to beaver if its frozen into a large chunk even when skinned.You have to feather it with an axe.Cats don't have the jaw structure to gnaw on large chunks of frozen meat like canines.
Once it is feathered with an axe they get right on it.

That does make sense Boco maybe I’ll give it another go with some meat exposed. I haven’t gave up on it entirely.

I had a beaver carcasses wired to a tree this winter. Whatever hit it pulled it around to the back side of the tree. I was thinking fisher. I readjusted the carcass back to the front and had a cat the following day. They don't seem to show much interest in them until winter is in its throes and they start getting really hungry. I will remember to feather the flesh.

How do you chose the trail cam/bait locations to begin with? based on sightings or sign? or just just feels like a good place?

When I create a bait site/draw station for coyotes with beaver carcasses I always leave the castors on one and score them with a knife. Seems they yotes hit and eat sooner. Perhaps cats will also. The unskinned beaver sit for weeks while the skinned with castors attached get hit instantly. I leave the castors and sacs on just one and its the one that always gets hit first. Trapped 20 yotes of one site 3 seasons ago doing this, the milling rolling and peeing and scratch kicks were a big eye opener. I don't have many cats here but I would imagine it would work well for cats too. I set these up on hot locations that seem to be borders of multiple groups late season.