MN Bobcat season 2017/18

Lets see those cats.

Nothing yet. I'm targeting fisher for a few more days and then I'll switch gears to try and catch a few cats.

HOUTS

*

I've been wondering who would start it.


I drug out my welder yesterday and put a couple big pans on some number 3 long springs and dropped them in to mail for someone - really hoping to see some pics of a boy with his first cat in a few weeks. It really made me want to go set a few traps, but the temps and the low price is holding me back. On second thought I do have one really hot spot I could set heavy and check a couple days just for fun.

Yup. Waiting until closer to the holidays.

Osky

I will get him out to set them but conditions are tough right now. THANK YOU for sending Logan those traps! Those will be the first traps he owns.

Still working 50 plus hours at my job trapped 73 beavers since the 18th of november but have some big bait piles out so hopefully when i check them i can set snares but at this rate it wont be cold enough until season close

A little snow would be nice .

I caught my first after a 30 year break from trapping

By the way, has anyone had luck catching cats in power line clearing or would they be better for coyote?

I guess I will jump in!
Never had a year like this, three cats in three days.



Here is the obove cat again.

I would think it good. I have done well with Sid years ago in new and year old clear cuts before they got super bushy. Lots of mice In all that branchy residue left behind on the ground.

Great work Friar!

Osky

Mind if I ask how you did that? I've had traps set for two weeks or so "on sign" in multiple locations and still have not seen hide nor fur of a bobcat yet. I've captured them on scouting cameras but they haven't showed up again since I set the traps, not yet

I had best luck with coyotes in recent clear cuts for the very reason you suggest.

You may be on a travel route where they only come by once every few weeks. The closer you are to were they live the more times they will walk past your set. There are also travel routes where multiple cats pass on a regular basis.

Don't forget that cats are cats, and they might walk by your set every time and never give it a look.

A couple things I did different this year:
I spent from 5 am to 4 PM setting 41 sets on Saturday
I used some bait I made myself this summer so I could use a lot of it. Beaver chunked, SB fresh, with some Castor and salmon oil.
I used Andy Wieser's Montana Long Call lure
I trapped problem beaver all summer for the forestry, so I was in the woods almost every day, keeping track of where I saw the best sign.

Probably the biggest factor was luck, some of the ones I was most sure of have not shown a thing, and a couple of my least favorite sets scored.

Thanks for the help, guys. All of my sets are on locations where I have caught cat pics with my scouting cameras. I've got dirt hole sets, walk through sets and scent posts.

I may be picking up the same cat or there might be several in the area, I have no way of knowing. We had a bit of snow two days ago and I've done a fair bit of traveling in the area, both on foot and on my wheeler but I didn't cut a track.

I will endeavor to persevere.

Awesome Friar, on pace to get a Minnesota limit which isn't achieved easily!

There should be some pics after last night. The weather, the moon, no wind, it was a perfect cat night....

caught this big male Last Thursday. Not many sets out yet. The orange army is still in the woods.

Nice bobcats.

Beauty Back... Happen to get a belly pic?
Osky

Southern Illinois cat 25 lbs 32 inches nose to rump.

Cool pics!! Don't have bcats around here so always neat to see them in hand. Frair Tuck, are those bodygrippers 220s, I suspect you guys in MN can't have anything over an 8 inch bodygripper out of the water--that's our rule in SD, I think its pretty common in a lot of states.

No belly pics Osky didn't even think of that. Nice white belly though with lots of spots. NonPCfed we cannot use anything over a 220 out of water either. I have tried Bobcats in body grippers but never had any success.

Yes those are 220s. We need them in a box with 7" overhang if bait is used. I sure like boxes for cats.

I used to run a lot of boxes but have made the switch to cages, snares and #3N's after the fisher season closes.

Any new ones?

Seen 2 sets of fresh tracks this morning, made me think about dragging a couple #3s out. Thats about as far as that thought went. I will probably make a few sets at Christmas time when I get a few days off in a row but I wont be going out of my way.

Daily Bump

ttt

My Grandson Remmy with his first Bobcat.

Nice

I hope to get Logan out to set his #3's this weekend.

Great cat Ken! Hope to get out and set some this weekend. Seen 3 cats that were caught by a guy I know on the rez this morning too, they must have really been moving in the cold last night.

Any luck over the weekend?

We put about a 1/2 dozen sets out yesterday. Some spots had LOTS of fresh cat sign and other areas that traditionally produce for me had nothing. There is one big cat that is spending too much time in one area and we hope to have him this week.

Got the first of this year last night. 35lb male.

Nice looking bobcat and awesome picture.

Awesome.Congrats to him.

Snow flurries up my way the next 5 days. No sets out but should have the cats moving for the other trappers.

The cats are being cats for us. Sign everywhere one day and then POOF........gone.

Two close calls last night. Had a bear drag a box about 20 feet and then had a a cat come and sniff the box. Had another cat miss a snare by about 5 feet as well. They will be back.

Shower More Often!!!!

Next you are going to tell me to use soap and change clothes too.

He's probably wearing his luck "cat trapping" union suit that hasn't been washed in fifteen years.

Any action over the weekend?

Zip here. Not even a fresh track. I plan to pull later this week and admit defeat on cats and coyotes.

There should have been, but I don't think there's many people trapping cats this year.

These are not mine but a friend caught these the other day and sent me this picture to rub it in a little:


They are out there....he caught these in snares where they crossed a beaver dam.

That's incredible!!! Biggest I've ever heard of around here in west TN was 26-27 lbs. That's huge, congrats on the catch.

Nothing here this weekend, but I did find a couple fresh tracks and made a few more sets. Got one more to get so I spose it will take forever.

Closest I'm going to get to a cat this year. Experience tells me he is 35ish pounds. He wandered less than 50 feet from my bait pile for coyotes.

I have high hopes for today!

High in the sky-- apple pie-- hopes.
Dang Rob,now you got me singing that song.
OOOPS there goes another rubber tree-OOOps there goes another rubber tree,OOOps there goes another rubber tree PLANT
Good luck.
Tom

I had you pegged for more of the "Bye, Bye Miss American Pie" type.

The Byrds flew off from the fallout shelter. 8 miles high and falling fast.
Tom

You guys have been sniffing your lures again!!!!

When the jester sang for the king and queen in a coat he borrowed from James Dean......

The Day the music died.
Tom

Wasn't that the buddy holly plane crash? Don McClane wasn't killed in that crash was he?

It was Buddy Holly,the big bopper and Richie Valens.
Tom

Any new action over Christmas?

Picked up 6 coyotes and 2 fox in the last couple days, no cats. Had one walk right by a big cubby with a beaver wired to the tree- he didnt even give it a second look. Cat being a cat, few weeks after season he will climb around on that cubby.

That's some good work, bait piles and snares or still running footholds?

All coyotes in snares, 4 on trails near bait piles 2 at fences where they cross the road. Both fox were caught at big bobcat cubbies with #2 bridgers

Yesterday

Nice work Les

Nice bobcat trapper les

Cats are sparse up here right now.
That's the new SVS #4 offset cast jawed trap right there .

Few days left, anymore luck?

Forgot about our post,it gets buried pretty quick with not many trapper's targeting cats or catching cats.Here a Big Tom with a 1/2 belly weighed in at 38lbs,here's a picture of the open pen set and the cat.Caught on Wieser's Super Cat and his Waterline Call lure with a Sterling MJ 600.Some ruffed grouse feathers,sheeps wool,christmas garling and a turkey feather flag blowing in the wind.

I pulled ours a couple of days ago. The cats wouldn't even look at them or walk in the same place twice. Seed for next year.

Seems to me cats are harder to come by this year. I have had boxes out for 2 weeks now, 3 on fresh sign from two weeks ago, but that's the only sign I've cut in the two weeks. The other 3 were in locations which contained sign in previous years. Fox, coyotes, mink, and weasels checking out my boxes on a consistent basis, but no cat sign to speak of. Anyone else seeing the same thing?

Tubby !

I dont think he missed many meals.

I've had cats walking right by set after set this year. Sometimes they'll sit in front of my cubby or dirthole and just look at the bait, and then walk away. They won't even look at a conibear box. More cat sign than I've seen in years, but there's too much food out there right now, and they ain't hungry. Not enough snow to hurt them yet either. Lots and lots of snowshoe hares where I'm at, plenty of grouse, and even some cottontails way back in the woods where I've never seen them before. And turkeys and lots of young fawns too.

Should be plenty of cats next year.

I'll leave my sets out to the bitter end - just hoping one or two make a mistake before then!

Here's a better picture of the belly,not enough time to finish putting up,flying out sat for Cali.Nose to base of tail 40" on the board i'm sure it will go 46".Will put up when i get back in late Feb.

Picked up a 20-25 lb female off my short snare line this afternoon. Wasnt expecting a cat at all at that location. Had a snare set on a fox trail that went under the end of a blown down pine tree. Snare loop was only about 6" and the space under the tree was less than a foot high but she ducked down through. Have taken 2 fox from the same location prior to the cat. Have been in that spot for about a month now and that is the first cat track I seen cross through that property.

I'd take luck like that right now! I've been in cat areas where I consistently see sign year after year, but this is the first year really trying to get after em. No sign to speak of this year.