Good luck to all of you who drew a tag

It's been brutally challenging so far. The weather couldn't be much worse. I don't think I've ever seen so much rain in the winter as I have the past week.

Good movin nights.

I am new to trapping in Wi. We have a lot of bobcats in my area, in Southern Wi. Is it pretty difficult to get a tag? And which is the preferred season?

How hard is it to get a bobcat tag there? Do you sell your cats or keep for trophies?

Keep them.

It's harder to draw a late season tag than it is an early season. And it's harder yet in the northern zone vs the southern zone.

It took me 3 years to get my tag. Bobcat trapping here is tough, even though season is over a month long.

I like the late season partly because of the weather but I'm having second thoughts about that based on the weather we've had the past week.

Population seems to be on the rise in the southern zone, despite increased harvest quotas.

In the southern zone (south of Hwy 64) you cam get a tag every 2-3 years. In the northern part of the state the earlier season is usually preferred for trapping because there should be more snow on the ground in the later season. Not sure about how the snow factors into the southern zone.

Snow can help for seeing tracks, although the snow/weather this season has been bad for identifying tracks.

Also, hounders like snow. Predator hunters also seem to prefer snow.

I've gotten them on trail cams on rare ocassions, but they don't seem to follow the same paths much, at least on my properties.

It's easier to use cable restraints in snow too.

And the late season doesn't conflict w/ my deer hunting as much.

Sometimes though I wonder if a person targets a cat only for a person in the early season to get it before the late season tag holder has a chance.

Colder weather makes it easier to keep some non target furbearers out of bobcat traps.

I'm not sure if they move more in the winter

The southern Zone has only had a season for about 10 years so a lot of people don't have much experience Bobcat trapping in Wisconsin.

There's pros & cons to each.

The population is healthy.

It's not overly uncommon for a yote trapper here to have to release a cat.

Seems like cat trapping there is a whole different ball game. Im not a great cat trapper yet, but talking to the guys who are, around here if you find a cat track, you make an exposed set with lots of blocking in the nearest pinch point and in 2-4 weeks that cat will be back, and if you made your set well you will catch him. No tags, just a trapping license, no limit. Season runs November 12th through February 19th this year.

I’ve made it my mission to catch a big pile of bobcats and fox next season. I will have enough PTO at work saved to run 75-100 bobcat sets for the entire 3 month season, and a similar coyote line for the month before bobcat opens.

I agree AJE, this weather is really being a hinderance to the cat trapping.

We got a couple inches of snow last night and it's going to turn a tad below freezing, so maybe the next week's weather will be desirable

The only thing on my cameras during the nastiest weather we could possibly have here have been cats. No deer, K9’s, coons, or possums. Cats just don’t seem to care.

Since I'm not from Wi. and it would take years to draw a tag. If any of you are trapping in the area of 35 and cty m, I have been seeing a few sets of tracks on a regular basis. Message me for a better location.

Cat's haven't found any of my beaver meat yet. Maybe they're to froze to pique their interest

With all this crappy weather maybe I'm not re-luring enough

Cat trapping in Wi is so challenging.

Curious, do bobcats spend much time in trees & what kind of spot do they sleep in? I suppose they spend their nights in different locations depending on the day ( and maybe the time of year). Maybe they don't sleep much, I don't know

Around here they don’t go up trees unless trying to escape something. They like to nap in shallow caves and overhangs in the cliff faces where their backside is protected and they can see a long ways out in front. But they probably act different here because we have a lot of lions around that’d love to kill bobcats.

We have very very few lions

... good luck to guuuuys lol... put a picture or two in here when y’all get em

Maybe the early season is better, I'm not sure

Aje you probably need to do a little more walking after a fresh snow. Instead of tying to get the bobcat
To find you. Try and find the bobcat, might have to check out more public land or ask
Around for permission. I don’t know what area your in but up here there are alot of cats.
And most people don’t want them around. Maybe check your local Facebook talk page, lots of
People post about bobcats in there.

I was talking to a local guy here who’s been trapping cats in this country since before I was born, used to run 200+ traps before his back and knees gave out. He told me he used to go out starting in September with a chainsaw and start cutting brush and blocking off every trail in the canyon except the ones he was gonna put traps in. He’d force every bobcat, coyote and fox in the area to use the trails he wanted them to use. If you find a set of tracks, you might want to try that.