Good point. Saw one cross, made a set and caught a female. Next day an old male and they day after a young male. Think that female might have been all the “attraction” needed, lol.

I've used a cows pelvis usually propped against a tree dig out a trench up to it, helps with snow proof and gives a lot of eye candy. I got the idea from Wayne Derrick who uses this bone when trapping in among livestock. I try to release the girls they are as good a lure as any!

It seems like around here the cats don't follow the same route

Trail sets, walk thru sets and rub sets are my go to for cats. I have tried and used cubbies and have caught cats.

Too much time in construction and rebuilding after a catch and can attract curious eyes as well so they aren't used anymore. In high snow areas I can see the advantage to cubby use and the visual affect. If you are on the cats travel ways and hunting areas they aren't difficult to nail.

This has been the hardest thing for me to find but I'll see what I can do. I don't know it seems like they just wander aimlessly around here

Cats do wander as do other predators. They will however have a predictable behavior in where they prefer to go. If you find their tracks they will be back again if they aren't delayed, detoured or harvested.

Cover as many of the trails and easy access travel areas as possible and you will eventually connect. In the East I catch cats everywhere.. Open pastures along two track tractor paths, power line right of ways, water edges and along woods roads. Any brushy wooded edge area are all preferred hunting areas. I hammer cats around brush piles and bale storage areas.

That helps.

I have some logging roads I might set too.

The creeks might be froze by then

Frozen creeks are bobcat Highways!!!!!

I guess then trapping along a creek should likely be good regardless of whether the creek is iced over

Beaver dams are great places to snare cats,before or after freeze up.Beaver houses/ponds are great places to snare cats(and trap and snare other fur) after freeze up..

What leftlane said. Those little brush choked water ways where the creek is only a few feet wide, hanging a snare over the water so its there when it freezes up is a real tactic to use. soon as it ices up cats like to walk on the ice. all kinds of prey right on the banks.

That helps, thanks. I'll probably stick a foothold on the edge (i e. on shore).

1 thing I'm considering for a bobcat set is using a tire laying flat on the ground, w/ the trap in the center & bait in the tire. I have a wheelbarrow tire and car tire to try

Theye said walk through is our fave

Walk Through Sets

I can't unsee...

The day I missed three Tom's (average price that year for western cats for me was $723) in western Nebraska at smokin' sweet cubbies..... forever changed my bobcat trapping.
The day I missed a Tom sneaking down a rock ledge to check out another nice Tom because I had only set ONE trap at each location.... forever changed my bobcat trapping.
The day I missed a Lion at a rub set where he had rubbed the surface of that rock so many times it was shiny.... forever changed my cat trapping.
The day I used catnip in a lure and yet another cat acted like a spaced out hippie strung out on dope and rolled, clawed up a sapling, jumped up and around in the snow.... and entirely missed my trap zone.... forever changed my bobcat trapping.
The day I used too many visual attractors and missed a bobcat along a Missouri drainage forever changed my bobcat trapping.

I HATE missing cats. Period.
And if you learn as you go along, eventually we filter it down to a MUCH HIGHER catch ratio at a cat set.
If not, you catch some and you miss a bunch and so....

I'm still wide eyed and in the learning mode at 54 years so far as a trapper.
Charlie Dobbins was a premier trapper, not because he could set more traps or set traps faster, but because his thirst for learning was NEVER quenched.

I pray mine never is either.

Kill 'em with a walk through y'all. Constructed well and with certain features. Learn as you go and don't unsee things.

Blessings,
Mark

I live in Northwest Montana where we can get several feet of snow overnight so I love cubbies just so i can keep them working in bad weather !


But a good walk through works like a charm