Do many of you do it...I'm talking like in or along the edge of a food plot, for example

I know some guys here have good luck getting cats along the edges of fields but I don't see much sign in my area telling me to set there. Just twice last winter did I see cat sign anywhere near a field edge and have seen nothing of it this winter.

In my area any kind of grassy, weedy opening deserves a look. That’s where I see the songbirds and rabbits and they hold more potential than woods for food. Logging clearcuts always get set.

I trap SWGA...pine plantations...2 track roads...small fields...etc. I don’t have to deal with cold or freezing temps, just Noah type rain and mud.
I have only set for a cat once in my life and that’s with a set out right now.
My best percentage bobcat catching set would be a dirt hole set. But, it’s not a normal dirt hole. Take two burned logs (4-5” diameter) and make a V along a curve on a 2 track or the corner of a field with the prevailing wind in mind, where ever there’s sign and the set will be most visible. Small pines or where clear meets thick is always good...anywhere prey is prevalent. Dig your hole. Bed your trap. Reposition logs where they almost cover the hole with the point of the V. Take another small log or sticks and cover the very tip of the V. Place pulled grass, brush, etc at the tip and down the sides of the V. Place a few limbs scattered near the point as well the “try” and keep anything from working the back side.
Bait hole, give a squirt of bobcat urine on the right log and coyote on the left. (Fox attracts too many deer). Now sit back and wait.
Like I said before, I don’t set for cats but that’s my most productive set where I catch them. Yes, I catch coyotes on it too. And of course possums and coons, lol. And I use the same logs at different properties. No since in wasting a good lured/urine soaked log, especially one with multiple catches.
And read my name before any advice is taken. I can just tell you what works for me.

Here’s an example. Right along a 2 track. To the left, in the picture, is a huge log pile after clearing from the hurricane and select cutting last Spring. To the right is where a feed trail meets up with the 2 track. The burned (black log) was the backing. The other 2 were the V and the small broken one was the top. The grass is pretty obvious.

I’d set that spot for cats any day of the week. Looks catty.

Nice picture/post. Interesting.


I did a lot of hiking today but didn't find any tracks. At least for now I'll go back to square 1 & focus on the couple sets of tracks I have seen, thinkinf it'll come back through.

After you've been trapping cats awhile you'll learn to have faith in setting locations. I wouldn't set hardly any traps for cats if I just set on cat sign, it's hard to find here. There are certain things I look for and if I see the right location I'll put in a set or cage. It's nice to find a track or a turd but it's not a requirement. This is assuming there is a good population of cats.

Found a pond dam separating two ponds this morning with cat and coyote tracks. Set the ends and the middle. We’ll see what it produces over the next few days. I’ve found they both travel the same paths for the most part.
If you can’t find tracks or scat, just set where you’d normally set for coyotes. Better yet, set with the sole intention of catching coyotes and cats will clog your sets, lol.
You’ll connect, I have no doubt.

I made a couple more good sets today. Fingers crossed.

AJE
Most of my cats have been on the 4 wheeler paths that are going into a food plot or pasture and the border between the plot and woods line. These sets were for coyote and the majority of my cats have came off of pipe dream sets. I'm kinda surprise I have not caught more than 2 this year here at home I have had a lot of trail cam pics this year of family groups.
J

That gives me some ideas, thanks.

I'll do more scouting but just can't seem to find any spots where the cats have been frequenting with any sort of regularity. I still have over 3 weeks left though so maybe it'll come back through.

I might make a pipe set leading to a food plot tomorrow...with an exposed trap.

When a coon is in your cat set and he misses the trap on the other side of the road too!! He knows something is there though...he or the coyote that checked it out will be back again...I hope!!

My pond dam cat this morning. Had to remake this set yesterday evening due to deer tripping it.

Lucky, I hope I get one this morning.

Set every trap you own that will hold a cat. I took just one this year and I took it on a pipe set set along a logging road near a beaver dam. I had a big advantage over you as I don't need a permit to trap for cats and I run scouting cameras year round so I know where the cat activity usually is.

It's hard not to become discouraged but don't give up.

Same tree, different angles. The cat in the nightime pic was heading straight toward my flagged set but walked right on by at six paces. Over forty days waiting for this cat to show. Had the same thing happen on another set. Over forty days and he snubbed my set.

The good news is, I put out a pipe set on a logging road near a beaver dam where I had seen cat activity and had him in under a week. Don't give up.

That is one husky looking tom,Posco.Nice job.

I'm learning cat stuff from you. Thank you, I appreciate it.

Thanks. You guys are helpful and encouraging.

I added another cable restraint today. Hopefully I did it right so a cat won't go thru it w/out getting caught. I kinda eyeball it after the set is made to see if I think it looks right. We can add small sticks, but no entanglement.

I should probably get some 160 cubbies out. More importantly though I should probly put out more footholds. Will 1 3/4's work for cats? I'm thinking of even putting some of them out.

Tough not to get discouraged. It's taken me 6 yrs to get this tag, and sign is proving incredibly hard to come by for me this year, & I've done a lotta scouting. It's proving much harder than I expected. I've never done this before. Heck I've never even seen a bobcat in my life, dead or alive, except a few on deer cams over the past 25 years.

1 3/4s will work for cats. Got access to any beaver carcasses? Throw everything you have at them.

Outside of a trap, I've seen just two bobcat in the wild and I saw them fifty or sixty miles apart two days apart. What are the odds of that?

I have been using beaver chunks. I got 7 chunks out of this 45 pounder. I have 2 more beaver in the freezer that I can use.

My first season I took my two bobcats, one that I shot while it was stalking my chickens and one I caught on a buried trap on a trial to the taxidermist. I told him about the dirt holes I was making and he told me he didn't dig holes any longer and only made walk throughs.
So I came home and googled something like "bobcat trapping walk through" and hit images. Trapperman came up red hot and was/has been a bed of knowledge that took me until the next season to read. The archives here are an incredible source, I copy/pasted so much stuff and put it in files to read when I had time. I had a cat within the first 5 days of the next season and another one 2 days later. This is my third season and my best yet and with the least effort. I suggest looking at images of what other do and copy them where ever you've seen sign. I looked at images and read a lot about Nevada trappers, there was some pretty good stuff.

Thanks to you and your threads, I read about the "halo" cat tracks have from them stepping more straight down than at an angle like a dog. Something that is gonna help me as soon as we get more snow

Good post Hermit.
The halo tip has helped me.
I've been thinking lately that I need to figure out more about walk thru sets. I'm running out of time though but if I don't get some pass thru sets figured out and made, and subsequently fail to fill my tag, I'll be kicking myself.

Wire that beaver to some trees where you've seen sign and see what develops.

Maybe this full moon will help.

I did more scouting today at the property. There's lots of food plots that seem like cats would approach, but finding where they're moving is tough. The landower owns a bulldozer & likes making trails. So much so, that while it seems like a good cat area, there doesn't seem to be a particular natural funnel.

Maybe I'll try tying down a beaver in the thicker stuff and setting traps on narrow paths leading to the beaver (maintaining the legal setback of course). Or I could try to get a road killed deer.

I got this one last year using a beaver carcass wired to a tree. I saw the bait had been hit and pulled to the back side of the tree. I moved it back to the front and tightened the wire. He came back the second night and was waiting for me in the morning.

It came in 2 nights in a row...interesting, Posco.
I suppose the key is to get them to find the stash in the 1st place