Late opener but the season goes to mid Feb put a cubby out for a couple of my past 4H students and one for me in my annual cat spot a few miles from there. We can only get 1 cat East River no limit West River.

A big draw that forks to the right of this cubby for the kids there's a big chunk of beaver for bait in the barrel. Lots of turkeys in the draw (25-30 today) that should attract some cats.



My every year location on a narrow drainage in the river breaks. The waters not running now I'm hoping the melt off and new moisture will get it flowing or the cats will have the option to run it if it's not wet. If the creek freezes over Ill add a set on the creek bank picked up a few there over the years. My cubby is on a upper bank shelf that a natural crossing for cats because of a high wall that brings them to the shelf between the wall and the creek it's a sweet spot. Tossed some leaves around for eye appeal added cameras to both cubbies to see what's working them.




Found some tracks on this piece of wood they were pretty washed out from melting snow.



A great snag in the middle of the creek with trails coming around both sides snared a cat last year there the first night I narrowed down the spots so they get accustomed to the changes.

Looking good! Need to get ready for the season myself! Do you hang snares in front of your cubbies?

Looks good, plan on doing the same this weekend. Good luck!

Snares will go in the brush pile covering both sides I’ll open up spots of easiest travel when I set or where the are pushing through it looks tighter then it is in the photos, With the cubbies they get either 3N or MJs with waxed dirt the traps are on drags for easy set up.

Law Dog if you find a lot of small tracks do you set or not. Went out today and check some bait piles and prebaited spots an man there are many small cats in this area this year. They must of had good litters this last spring.

I was pre baiting to try to get an adult to hit and take it over the cubby before I set hoping it drives off the younger ones by the time the season opens on the 26th. It seems the bigger ones show up later to the cubbies after it’s been there for a while or they might be passing through later when mating.

I find if you catch a smaller cat in a particular set it will keep producing smaller cats every season when it rolls around so I’m trying something different with the pre- baiting, plus this spot can drift out pretty easy making it difficult to get in there. It’s the only spot I have East River but it produces a cat every year so I trap it because cats don’t come easy on the East side of the river.

The guy over the fence I’m showing how to catch a cat I’m interested to see what size cats I find in there I’m on the outskirts of the main cat habitat he controls I thinks that’s why the smaller cats are on my side of the fence avoiding the adult cats possibly.

Do I want to catch a smaller cat nope but it’s the only game in town on the East side of the Missouri River so I’m trying a new approach. Set a cam up to see what you’re dealing with is the best way to make that decision I’d say.

Nice! Hope you have some success.

Season opens in Michigan lower peninsula on Wednesday. I went out today and put together some cubbies and made a few dirt holes. Small amounts of bait at each set to grab some interest.

I’ll be putting out beaver chunks on Wednesday when I set. What are you mostly using for bait, Law Dog?

Beaver here also that I caught a few recently and have more in the freezer I sectioned them right away it’s messy but beats whacking the frozen carcass with an ax in freezing weather.

Trying some sheep fence wire cubbies this year in the very remote locations will get some pics on that next week. I pulled several of by barrels last year the sheep wire pieces should roll up nice to pack in the breaks. I’m no spring chicken anymore. LOL

The old Bushnell trail cams spooked the yotes away from my cubbies. I’ll see what the Spypoint cams do I’m putting 4 out next week.

Be nice when you get you spy cams out. Can see what is happening as it happened. Always great threads you have and keep the pictures and events coming.

I had my SpyPoint over a deer carcass last winter and the coyotes kept coming back. Don’t think they liked it, but they seemed to tolerate it for a little bit.

Something with the Bushnell HD cams the yotes did not stick around much usually I’d get the front half or the back half of a yote in the first pic but seldom a second pic they were gone. Further away and other exceptions maybe weather noise blocked out the camera sounds but the HD cams spooked a lot of them.

Just back from setting up the last of the prebait cat cubbies and cams ahead of a storm that should of been here already. I needed to get some gear/baits in there ahead of the storm if not I need to sled it all in there. 2 of the 4 cell cams read 50% and 2 read 90% signal strength so that’s better than I expected I’m waiting on a pic to come through soon. I get 100 free pics per camera a month did not want to burn through them with test pics but I’m eager to get the first pic. LOL

Had to add a new barrel because a tree crushed the one I had in there it’s wider than it is tall now. Took an ice cream pail of waxed dirt with extra pan covers to the furthest set in there to avoid back tracking for supplies during the season. I like to stash extras along the line in deep snow the last thing you want to do is make extra trips for basic supplies.

Had a new Cabela’s chip cam that I put on the main creek where a set of tracks went under a downfall. I don’t think I could fit a basketball through that opening so I’ll see what’s fitting through that hole. It’s either a cat or yote by the size of the tracks leading up to the fallen tree but the tracks were washed out from the snow melting.

I though I pulled all the barrels at this spot last year but I just pulled the traps that were in there (getting old) but not the barrels so the setting went quickly just needed to dress things up a bit. Put in some big chunks of beaver to keep critters from carrying it away. Made the entrances look like they were being used by dragging the grass away with my ice cleats down to the dirt then pitched in some fresh mice to top it off.

Will check the other camera cubbies I baited the other day on the 15th East River side for activity. I talked to the kids dad today they spotted a cat in that draw recently plus the 25-30 turkeys will bring in the cats.

Good luck.Looking forward to the pictures

Looking forward to pics Law!!

So you will get the pictures as they occur real time back to you Right?

A short time later i get them is what it looks like once the wind kicked up I started getting notices so I made some adjustments to the camera settings less sensitivity and more delay between photos. I can do that from my home so after this storm I can tweak closer to where it was before. First cell cams I’ve ever used but this is very easy after a few times doing it.

All the cubbies I put in are getting buried in the snow. I don't know if I will be able to even get to them.

I should get involved in that but coverage is iffy at best. I inquired about it here awhile back and had some good responses but not sure I to spend that kind of money and then monthly charges.
I will contemplate it and maybe next year look into it deeper. Txs Law.

Will be checking for updates.

My cat season opens tomorrow and we’re getting almost a half foot of snow tonight. When snow gets deep I assume cats will find young conifer stands with shallower snow depths and prey for hunting. Is that safe to assume?

Poor info out there is the problem it was surprisingly easier than I expected starting the whole thing. With the Spypoint cams they come with 100 free pics a month per camera then it just stop sending them to you no billing games like some places. The unsent pics (over the 100 free ones) are still on the chip so you still get them like a chip cam would work.

They have several affordable options that you can get by the month or year or join their club $99.99 a year and you get 250 pics per camera a month then with other perks that come with that plan. If a guy turned down the sensitivity and spaced out the retrigger times you would cut down on the useless nothing pics that way. I’m tweaking my cams in this storm now and that seems to be working I can do the adjustments from home on my phone, PC and iPad.

Snowshoes here when that happens.

Problem here is its checks after work, so most would after dark and real late. Some are a ways in 1\2 mile or more hikes if I cannot use truck or atv. Sounds like I am complaining and I am. This happened a couple of years ago and pretty much shut me down. I have outback skis which work well like snowshoes but faster. Its just harder to pull or carry using these skis. We'll see what we end up with.

I’d snowshoe in and out a few times then you can use the hard pack depending how well it packs down skiing would be a breeze then.

watching and waiting, good luck

I’m curious what was going under that fallen, tree I did have a chubby coon on a cam last night I’ll need to add some cages for coons and skunks when I start trapping down that way.

Lets see a picture of something! Lol

Im still trying to figure that out but I’m working on that. LOL

Here's a buck from last.night the coon pic was bad.

Great picture!!! Thanks Law

Better angle I’m getting it figured out you know how much I love technology. LOL

Got a looker already that was quick it’s not a great color but this place has about every cat color there is.

Connected on day 3 of Michigan’s season. Cubby baited with beaver meat and a smear of castor lure.

Don’t have an accurate scale, but it’s a big, old female. Teeth are pretty worn down and gotta be north of 30 lbs.

Thats a big old girl. Great catch!!

Wow!!! You sure have yourself a honey hole there. Keep posted!!

Nice cat Leroy. Good to see you have some targets so good luck Law Dog.

That is a big female nice work you guys need to draw tags now or is that just upper or lower MI. No limit on cat when I lived there many years ago.

Tags are free and available OTC. Have to buy one before a certain date, I think it was Oct 31st this year. One cat limit in LP, but not exactly certain of UP regs. I think two cats?

I’ve been tweaking the cameras some I had to turn some down because it was eating up my photo allotments. I probably need to trim some weeds and branches to cut down on false triggers going in with a hand saw a weed whacked next time. Camera #2 and #3 are over 50 pics #1 and #4 are still in single digits the recent storms have been the issue and the constant wind doesn’t help.

I can adjust them from home at least so I put some on 1 pic an hour that were racking up the nothing pics but that ruins the chance of multiple shots then. I’ve tweaked them several times to see what works it a learning experience.

Have you adjusted the sensitivity settings? That’s helpful for nothing pictures

Yes learned that with the chip cams, the one with the deer pic is on a fence post I need to check how solid the post is set and the straps to see if they are tight. It’s next to a fenced food plot the (guys a big deer hunter) so there’s nothing close by to hang a camera but fence posts. The cat one fires too much that’s probably grass or branches moving I’ll trim that up. I did turn up the cat one to see if I get more cat pics now that the storm has passed.

I set these cams ahead of the storm I’ll spend more time on them during the next physical check.

Some new pics that went to my phone that my iPad has not down loaded yet I hate technology! Probably the same yote a half mile down on the same creek.

A good looking yote for that area mange has been a major problem there.

Yep he has a beautiful northern coat light and silvery in color.

Looks like I'll need to put in my Bushnell chip cams in there just to repel the yotes the barrel usually is enough to keep them at bay.

Law, are your barrels just baited or are you using lure as well?

You are going to catch one of them coyote. As the winter lingers they will get more hungry and brave.

Just baited for now I’ll add urine and lure after I can set traps after Christmas.

Now that the storms over they are looking for an easy meal probably they will mess the cubbies later in the season but never caught one or wanted to in my cat set not a great coyote down there. The cameras must of done more to repel yotes then the barrels did. I can put some chip cams in if it continues to be a problem just to keep them away.

Dang yotes are hitting every cubby without the HD chip cams there to running them off like usual and the 14 below temps is probably pushing that behavior. Fresh bait in a steel drum would not be my first choice to catch yotes ever but it could be this year. LOL All 4 cubbies show yote activity they are actually working the cubbies sticking their heads in the barrels pretty freely that’s nuts if I didn’t see it I wouldn’t have believed it.

Cat season opens the 26th so I’d rather not snag a cat yet and have to release it before the seasons here. I should slide in there and snare the coyote trails they are making now to discourage them as much as possible. Will put the chip cams by the cubbies in hopes of running them off also.

I know some are thinking why not just go after the yotes but if you just look closely at the poor quality of the majority of them notice the weak neck hair on them and poor colors but some look great. The whole plan was not to drive the 100 mile round trip check traps a few times a week unless I made a catch. Looks like I’m heading down tomorrow I should have some sweet snare trails to set up with big loops to avoid the cats in the area.

Notice the thin neck and off color on this one the mange was rampant a few years ago, it hit them hard there. They look better in black and white.

Coyotes hammered the one cubby that bait was gone I did find some stomach content near by. The other cubby they scratched the ground in the openings up footprints everywhere but that bait was still there I expected it to be missing.

I put Bushnell chip cams on the 2 cubbies the yotes are messing with, with the hope of repelling them. I’m curious to see if thats what kept them away in past years I though it was the cams and cubbies. If the traps would have been set 3 yotes might have been caught. I’d never expect a yote to work a metal barrel like that a set trap should not bother them I’d say.

2 cams that had unusual high photo counts so I did some trimming on 3 of the 4 and moved the 4th one to a different location closer not like they seem to bother anything so I set them close to see what happens now.

Scouted snare locations before the tracks melted even enhanced some of those spots. I’m thinking I’ll trap it like past years to get the yotes to move on then I’ll depend on the cell cams after I thin out the yotes first.

Cat season opens the 26th I’ll set it up then it looked like a cat checked out a culvert so I will need to do physical checks until I’m down to the 4 cell cameras.

Cat country that wall will cave in its kind intimidating.



Snare trail on the trail to the right of that tree the bank drops off to the left of the tree that's getting a snare for sure.



Upper shelf the cats/yotes love to run.

Get your knife sharp Jerry. You'll be skinning a couple coyotes.

Law, this is fun to follow. It does seem interesting the coyotes aren’t concerned with the barrels, but haven’t they been out for a while? Maybe they’re adjusted to the barrels and they’re hungry enough. You’ve got me thinking I might try barrels next year, and I’ll definitely be doing some pre-baiting in advance.

Hope you get a few coyotes and eventually a cat.

Few of the yotes in that county are worth skinning unfortunately but the landowner is into deer and turkeys everything else needs to go especially coon and yotes. I’ll put in 10-12 snares then do regular check that was not the plan but it is what it is. I’m keeping an eye on the trails they are running with them hitting the baits that help narrow it down.

A better yote for down there.

No more cat pictures yea?

I need to thin out the yotes first I’m thinking I might hit them before Christmas.

go get them , jerry,

My hope with the pre baiting is an adult will claim the bait and keep the younger cats away trying to see if it makes any difference thought I’d give it a try.

Yes, the thought of luring in a mature cat stuck with me from a previous post. Definitely some younger cats around our property, so I’d like to avoid them next season. I’ll be very interested to hear if this works.

So far the old Bushnell SD cams have kept the yotes out of the cubbies “so far” will see if that holds up. I put them on the 2 cubbies they were hammering constantly last night nothing was hit.

Big winds coming the next couple days I’ll need to turn down the cams to an hour between triggers until this passes or I’ll rack up a bunch of false triggers.

Pretty kitty!

Thanks!

Just in this one looks like a better cat than the last one it must of moved after the front went through. Looks like a lion color in this photo.

Cool!

looks good size

Law dog how were your roads yesterday? Saw the high winds and snow causing issues north of us.
Jim

Thanks. A nice post to fallow along with. Great pictures. Yep, thinning those coyotes out will make it easier for your cats to move around. You sure are putting the time it on them. Good luck !!

Very pretty and good photo presentation! I’m happy for you!

Well, you are most definitely in a good spot. I have no doubt when you set the steel you will be in the money.

I would set that forked tree in the right background personally, with a trap on either side of the fork on drags, with a call lure up high and a cat rub lure in the V of the tree. Done deal.

Most of the blowing snow missed us compared to other areas north and northeast of us that will get more of the bad weather then we do, that wind yesterday made the snow and most of the ice disappear pretty quickly. The wind is one big PITA depending on where it’s out of if we had a few inches combined it becomes blizzard conditions often with not much snow.

The wind can shake things up if it’s blowing up my cat draws but little to nothing if blows over them from the side angles. The cat country shown has higher walls some well over 100 feet high that’s impassable not even a cattle trail. No roads in most areas for a few miles the creek is my best travel route to get in there a ways but even that’s rough but it’s flatter. The county I’m in for cats I consider the banana belt of the State not far from Nebraska known for deer and cats I was blessed to get in this spot several years ago.

That’s where the barrel was last year and I caught a cat there but I moved it to this spot for the camera coverage but then lost the back of the barrel view. I might just put it back when I set it. I’m getting a lot of false triggers with that snag branches blowing around and I’ll get both ends covered at the same time.

I will dress up the cubbies when I set them up with more brush and guide sticks I’m just trying to get them interested in the baits now. The main trail is just to the right of the new barrel location directly to the right of that but to the left of this pic shot not much further to the right is a ridge wall that funnels them down this cubby trail.

Past years it was in that same spot you pointed out I’ll probably move it back there since the cam angles not very good. Thanks

We had “ride along threads” on the old London Lure page but it’s not something you can walk away from mid season so it’s a commitment once you get started.

Thinking of putting visible flags on wire (utility type) to indicate if I have a catch but the camera missed it. I’ll just work them into the drags or chains maybe.

I would keep your barrel set up where it is but add the other double set up with traps as I suggested. I use to spend time doing some of those things that you are doing: However I found other things less time consuming and just as productive. I use the lay of the land, trails, trees and windfalls for most all of my cat set ups.

I roll faster now and put out more traps & odor and cover more ground. They just have to investigate these things. They can't help themselves it seems.

Works very well for me. If you have the animals you can clean up on them every time they come thru. You can get those coyotes down in numbers as suggested and clear the area better for the cats to wander and work their way thru. Some of those coyotes looked good from what I can tell.

The weathers looking good for the opening so improving the area is the plan, I’ve got all day to mess around in there. I’ll run more bait and supplies in there if needed I should be good after that gear wise. Will set for yotes even though I’d rather not but it seems necessary if they keep messing with the cubbies snaring a few yotes is always fun. I can add a second cubby to that old location I have extra traps in there and waxed dirt.

Like you said it seems if it’s something new or stands out a cat is going to check it out. I tracked a cat cross country to see where it was going in the UP mid winter it came to a clearcut area that was drifted over. One of the stumps sticking out drifted funny out of the rest of them it created a shadow that cat headed right over to it to check it out.

I’ve not had any yotes around my cubbies since I put the Bushnell chip cams back in there with the cell cameras on the 2 that were getting pounded the other day amazing difference they make. Still amazed the coyotes even worked those barrels the way they did never expected that. The entrance to those cubbies were scratched up from the lip of the barrels out to a few feet away from them. Cats are not bothered by either cam the cell cams don’t seem to bother any of the critters.

Glad weather is improving and you’re starting to get the activity you want. You seeing any big Toms on cam?

That last one might be a tom looks like a bigger one.

Cams have repelled the yotes effectively I might pull them to thin out some of them for the landowner once I set up. Did get a bird pic today just random that baits way in that culvert tube.

Neighbor has deer cams on my other cat place east river he sent me this photo looks like a young one..

Great Pictures!

Flex-m, very good camera choice. I got 2 more coming in the mail tomorrow.

I’m adding some fiberglass poles with a booster antenna on the top to 2 of my cams they get between 50-90% signal strength and work great just trying to get closer to the 90% consistently on all of them. Will see if the 10 foot cable and pole improves it any. I’m surprised I’m getting any signal where they are at but they work well I have 4 looking at getting a few more.

Porky and another bird probably an owl. It’s been slow with the snow being gone setting traps on the 26th.

How often are you baiting, LD?

Every 10 days I’ll walk in with the kiddy sled tomorrow not as heavy and replace any missing or low amounts of bait. I made some antenna booster poles just to see if they gain any more signal that stuff came in today. I need to pull the chips on the 2 east River cams also and rebait them planned on doing that today but got busy.

Good pics. Maybe that the owl is getting rid of the mice that are going in and out for the bait

That’s probably it, the old chip cams did take mice pics they can work on that bait pretty hard.

Pulled the chip cameras today because the critters slowed down but by looking at the SD cards they kept the coyotes away but the cats or cat is still hitting the baits no problem. I need to go through the cell camera pics later tonight and check the cameras East River for activity tomorrow. It warmed up after lunch and was getting soft on the top soil so I didn’t want to rut things up.

Same cat different cubbies on the same creek? Tail tips look different it could be the angle.

Set that trail on the edge of the creek the before and after it drops of to the left of that tree.

He's back again tonight I was just there and redid all of the baits this morning. Funny in one photo it looks small then bigger in the next photos. That head on one pic I though it was a rat the way it looked. LOL Sneaking around the back in that first photo it gets a trap at both open ends.

Looks like a cat that’s going to have a sore paw prettty soon!

Great pictures!!! You are setting that cat up for failure.

I think a lot of the pics might be the same cat working that stretch of creek even that off colored cat might have been this one also just with shadows or the way the photo was taken. Could be a shooting star thing boom then nothing but time will tell.

I put in that 2nd cubby like Bob suggested instead of moving the one set close by the cameras cover both so it worked out. Did not freeze last night it should freeze tonight then I can check the other baits then.

Just in cat on the same creek same cat most likely.

More coming in my cell service sucks same cubby.

Checking out the new cubby I put in yesterday he’s hitting all the baits it looks like.

That cat is in trouble lol

2 more days.

Looks like cubby #1 was hit last night every cubby but #4 has been hit by a cat or the cat recently he should be putting on a few Christmas pounds by now. Never did freeze hard looks like I might get in East River tomorrow to set and pull the chip from that noncellular camera.

Last night pics at #1 cubby.

Your first check once the traps are set just mite be your Christmas present. Good luck !!!

Law, that second pic with the tail up. I got a similar photo two nights ago. Is that cat marking?

Best I did was 3 cats all within 100 yards of each other one year on the same check. Just hoping it’s not a one and done but a guy never knows. We really don’t have a lot of cats in most places. This is my dream spot with miles of rough timbered river breaks for miles so the potential is there for lots of cats. It’s vast they can go anywhere so this creek is a good funnel to keep them in thick cover when they are on the move.

That cat the other day was marking the cubby I believe this one’s out in the open not sure what he’s marking there. They love to mark those cubbies I’ve got several shots of them doing that over the years.

Looking forward to seeing some fur

I added some 8 foot fiberglass poles, ten feed of coaxial cable with hooks on the ends with a supposedly booster antennas to of the 2 cameras that showed the weakest signals but that did nothing from the looks of it. 50% signal works fine it just eats more battery they say no major battery drains from any of the cameras. Picked up a couple rechargeable lithium battery packs to see if the work better than the AA batteries will.

AA’s work great on my cams. Can last for months and months, but I have to use quality Alkaline AA’s and there’s an Alkaline battery setting in the camera as well. Gotta match the setting with the battery, otherwise things go sideways quick.

They absolutely hammered every cubby but one since my last rebait a few days ago both sides of the river. Even the kids cubby was cleaned out will look at the SD cards later today, I hope it was a cat this is their 3rd year trying to catch one I told them I’d help them this year I was hoping they would get one on their own.

Finally was able to set traps today “opener”, up at 6 the wife made me breakfast did the neighbors chicken chores just check waters then on my way. 26 degrees so I was able to drive it at sunrise before is softened up I was out of there. Bait was gone hope I get some pics from the SD cards after my nap and supper I did put a snare in the edge of that snag in the creek I modified a while back looked used more open. Went to the kids cubby a couple miles away same it was cleaned out I rebait both cubbies.

Headed to the other county it warmed up so I set that on foot pulling a kiddy sled of supplies I have a HD sled but it’s not easy to pull with or without snow mud it kind of sticks a bit. The first 4 cubby’s all the baits were pulled out a short distance it looked like a cat tried to cover (fill) one end of the cubby with tall grass it was noticeable because the coyotes had dug out the ends last week down to the dirt. Closed a couple snares to more of a cat size baited a culvert that the cats seem to like to mess with then headed out.

Just getting some cell pics coming in now from last night waiting to see how long it take to get my images from today to get some idea how long it takes.

I hope you post some up tonight. I would like to know how long it takes for you to get the pictures in real time. Thanks

Cat trying to bury the bait in the cubby;


Bait pulled out of same cubby the other cubby was the same.


Snare on the edge of the snag pile in the middle of the creek.

Nice!!!! Cold front coming through you might success in the next 48 hours.

Best of luck to you but I don't think you need any with the amount of time you have put in. Hope your traps/snares are full. You would of earned it.

I was busy I’d say 5 hours it might be at sync times or my slow phone service I’ll figure it out as I go I guess. LOL

Finished set the baits are covered now that traps have been set but birds don’t like the barrels they wait for the bait to be dragged out for them.



Freshened up the cubbies as I went and narrowed down the entrance to funnel them in position. This is why the 20 or 30 gallon drums work the best for this the long drum versions are the cat rear.

NICE!!

If a guy backed the trap out another foot it would be a better chance at yotes but the ones in this area are not the best I’ll snare a few for the landowner.