Around here large mature trees are typically a significant component of our good cat habitat. Open areas not so much, but closer to or back in the wooded areas and the sign picks up.
Jim

I'd assume biologists have done telemetry studies on bobcat and could answer that question. My guess is not. I don't see how a cat can come through a particular area once every couple of weeks or even once a month and be bunking at the same place every night. They might have a particular tree limb they use when they come through.

Curious about this also, not so much about where they sleep, but do they walk in pretty much the same pattern each time? We set on big tom tracks and caught him in 4 checks, so I'm not so sure about the two week thing? Also we caught another big tom a day later only maybe a quarter mile away.

3 years ago I caught 3 big toms in the same 50 ft area in 9 days, two of them were in the same set only 2 days apart. I'm sure that it's rare to have that happen

On the wide open prairie it might take until a neighbor realizes the old tom isn't there any more but along a good sized creak it might be the very next week. That's what the guys I trap around and I decided. Those amazing high bank creaks change the dynamics a lot. Once they freeze over and get a skin of snow they are great for taking census and seeing how much seed stock you are leaving each year

Yes, Wi has a lot of collared bobcats. I'm not really too sure what kind of data DNR is finding with those collared cats. Maybe someone will chime in.

If you look at the dates on these pics you'll see it was a considerable amount of time between the visits this cat made. Same camera, same tree but different angles. The cat in the YouTube clip just came around again about four days ago. The last visit was early November. My camera failed to trigger but the track was right near my set which the cat ignored. I use trail cams a lot year round and have a pretty good feel for how cats use my area. Combine that with tracks on the snow and I think it gives a pretty detailed account.



https://youtu.be/VbZUx2NDg6M

Posco, curious if y’all have limits on how many can be taken or how long the season lasts. Then again it could be the amount of food in the area. I would guess more food would equal more cats or quicker routes.

Hey, Wanna Be. No limit on the cats and we have snowshoe hare in abundance this year. I noticed one area that was awash with hare tracks and I didn't see a single predator track in there over the course of a couple weeks. I was really surprised at it. We have a two month season on cats that ends at midnight tonight. Pulled my sets this morning.

That is strange with that much prey around. We don’t hunt rabbits on the plantation for just that reason. Rabbits give the predators something else to eat besides the quail...especially the aerial predators.
We also have a long season, Dec1-Feb28 no limits. But we don’t have the trappers or anyone that hunts them like y’all probably do up there.

Maine has an average take of around three hundred cats a year between hunting and trapping. I've never seen a figure on what they estimate the population to be. I'm the only one in my area that I know of who puts any serious effort into trapping them. Our cats have to be tagged by department personnel and he keeps me filled in on the activity.

High bank streams better for bobcat... Makes sense, I suppose. It creates more of a funnel?

Oh yeah! I caught 7 on a half mile of creak bank thr first yr I trapped on dry land. Th4 next yr i caught 7 or 8 more on pond dams. Always set them and set heavy
JMO anyway

Ahh, I have just the spot in mind. 1 of my 3 properties has almost exactly what you're describing, w/ the high bank, & I've seen cat sign there in past years. I think I'll scout it this weekend.