I drew my first cat tag here in Wisconsin for 1st period. I have a few properties that I had been getting trail camera pictures of cats basically throughout the summer but now it almost seems as if they disappeared. I have now been moving trail cameras around and letting them soak for a few weeks before checking them without any cat pictures recently. I'm not sure if I should go looking elsewhere or if I should load the property up with a dozen sets and hope for the best. The property is about 1.5 mile by 0.5 mile. Would cats just abandon an area like this? Or are they still there and my cameras are just not on their exact travel routes?

Look for sign and set on it

That's what I'm trying to do. Without snow I have found it difficult in my area

My guess is (and it's only a guess, since I'm 2,000 miles away) that the cats are still there. After all, they would only go someplace else if there was something more attractive to them on a neighboring property, or if there was something threatening them on your property. Are you using some sort of bait or lure with your cameras, or just setting travelways? While the cats are probably still there, they could temporarily be using a different food source or area of this property.

I understand what you say about finding sign is difficult -- but for entirely different reasons. In your area, you have heavy vegetation, soft organic soil, frequent rains, etc. In my area, we have rock. And more rock. Tough to find a track in the rock, but the cats in my area leave droppings and it's so dry that they usually last a while. That's why cameras are so valuable. All you can do is keep track of where cats have been seen and keep moving your cameras around to locate more cats.

Put out some game cams on the edge of thicker cover cats love their cover. I bait my barrel cubbies a few weeks ahead of the opener with cams to see what’s around the area.

I would not waste time setting traps where you find no cats. Go find them and they are not to interested in bait right now. They like us like the chase and fresh food. Find the rabbits!!!!! and set your cameras there.....jk

Good thread

Thanks for your reply. I agree, I do feel like the cats are still there but just strange I haven't had one on camera here in a bit now. I have been moving cameras every 2-3 weeks. The only change is the start of bowhunting so there are more guys in the woods. It's fantastic cat habitat from the little I know about it. A nice creek with a feeder creek coming into it, beaver ponds, thick cover with rabbits and turkey, cedar thickets, and a decent amount of topography for my area including some decent ridges. I think my plan will be to just throw a dozen traps at this property once my season opens and let it ride. I also am wanting to catch my first fisher on this property too and have seem one in person one time here but also can't get them on camera

I'm not sure I can pre bait at all

… no snow here

I have two cats that show up about once every two weeks. Just when you think they moved they show up again. I got a picture of a Tom spraying a little cedar bush about 4 inches tall in June. I got some cat pee from mn trapline and spray some on that bush every week. Everytime he comes by he sniffs around and leaves his mark. The raccoons leave their calling card too. Can't wait for the season to start.

What Savell posted…everything has to take a dump. A cat pile here is a guaranteed spot to catch a cat, and not just one either.

Yeah I am a novice to trapping cats. I will have to spend a little more time looking harder for sign this time of the year. When we have snow on the ground I had a lot easier time finding sign

Cats like thick cover... but they also travel on the outside just cause it's easier. CRP fields surrounded by heavy timber is a gimme in most agricultural areas. If it looks like good cat country to you, even if it seems like there are no cats nowhere now, and it's your "home range" keep trying ! I betcha they didn't pack up and leave. Lot more cover too at the end of summer than in spring or early summer. I am sure they are traveling thru or will be. Remember.... "curiosity killed the cat".... Over the years I have found this to be true !!

Find prey and you’ll find cats. Find turkeys, there’ll be cats. Find rabbits and there’ll be cats. Heck I’ve seen cats with big ole snakes in their mouths. A concentration of squirrels and there’ll be cats.

Crazy how the region is different for trapping……Very rare to see cats in WA or AZ
WA is there thick,,,,,, AZ guessing the sound travels

And this property has all of that. Hoping I'm just missing them on my trail cameras and once there is some fresh bait and lure there, that one will find my trap

I find this interesting too. I have watched many videos on cat trapping and each region is vastly different in the way cats are targeted from what I have seen

… spend some time looking at the ground

… hope to see you post a pic once you get him