I've trapped both bobcat and lynx in WA and AK but never had the ability to trap bobcat without using cage traps. This year I'm trapping Idaho and can finally use regular traps. With all that said being from Alaska I've trapped lynx most my life. I use snare pens almost exclusively for them in AK. I also use open topped cubbies, walk trough style setups with double long springs, and the occasional setup under a giant fur tree that just looks to good to pass up making a cubby but usually with multiple entrances.

What do you guys think? If someone targeted bobcat just like lynx do you think they would do as good? Besides setting under fur trees I generally didn't use cubbies and only really used lure and an attractor of some kind.

In my opinion because you are in the same climate and general environment, it's my opinion that most things that would work for lynx would work for bobcat there. I would check to see if there is a closed cubby rule, I close them anyways because atleast here any raptors would get trapped if I didn't. I think you would do fine and if you were going to use snare pens, you would do more than fine, but population density is everything. Looking forward to your results, take pics if you don't mind, thanks for sharing.

I never trapped lynx. Bobcats can be crowded. Sets that look like a little kid made them work. The hardest part of catching a bobcat is finding one to catch. Just like with everything else location. I really crowd them onto the trap. I also make them so the cat doesnt have to back up if he wants to leave the set. walk through will increase your catch. If they see something that interests them but they will have to back up to leave, you get more refusals. I like several different attractors also. A good prepared bait in a hole, some urine, ( good coyote pee or red fox pee is as good as cat bladder pee) and a lure. Tomcat sold by John Graham works good and so does Magna Glan from Russ Carmen. i dont use flags most of the time and if i do its low to the ground right by the backing. If the cat wants to check out the flag I want him to step on my pan. i only use them if i think I might be off location 8-10 feet. I want my set right in front of them when they come through.

I trapped a few bobcats in Idaho in the 1970s and again since I returned to Idaho in 2008 until now. In between, I trapped and snared a few lynx in Alaska. In my opinion, lynx are easier. Bobcats down here are relatively easy to trap or snare, but just finding them is a bit trickier. Too, you won't see the highs and lows in the population of bobcats like you saw on the lynx. The cycles with bobcats are here, but not as obvious.

Jack

figured snare loop and set height about the same as a fox? I know with lynx I usually use about a 7" loop that set 11" off the ground. Fox I use a similar loop but only about 7-8" off the ground, figured a bobcats height would be more similar to a fox than a lynx.

With the Idaho bobcat season not opening until mid-December, I set my coyote snares about 14" loops and 10 inches off the ground, and will usually have bobcats slink through the snares and continue on. After bobcat season opens, I reduce the loop size to about 10", and usually pick up bobcats in the coyote gear. At 10 and 10 (loop size and distance from ground), I get all three species, fox, coyote, bobcat.

Jack

No Bobcats here just lynx,but they are both cats so habits/instincts/movements/senses will be the same,maybe some slight variations due to anatomy..
I like a small loop for cats -6-7 inch,and if set at a jackpot 6 inches off the ground.
In a trail I hang the loop 8 to 10 off the ground.

Snaring cats and fox is just like snaring rabbits.