Any Lynx Experts here?

I’m seeing more Lynx sign this year than ever and was wondering if there were any Lynx experts with advice to give. I’ve tried a small bit with no luck using snare pens in the past. My son got a pretty big one a little while ago in a trail set for coyotes, now I want one of my own. I’d take any advice I can get. I set out a few fisher boxes today for something to do and snowmobiled over lynx tracks on every trail I was on.

I'm no expert,but I know a few and they all get plenty of lynx gang setting snares around a beaver carcass in the bush.
A good lure for lynx is a castor wrapped in a hayball and hung in a double ended snare pen,build right on their travelway.
Lynx are really easy to catch when they are plentiful and a snare is an extremely effective humane tool to use on lynx.

Trail snares are one of my most productive sets. Just wall off your trail with brush but leave an opening where the lynx will pass through. Set your snare in that opening.

Our southern cats seem to favor any set they can walk through as opposed to enter and then back out of. That being said, I know the guys up North catch a lot of their cats in cubbies so I always imagined when food is harder to come by and extra calories are needed they apparently will cooperate a little more.

If they are around, I would have a hard time believing they wont fall for a variety of sets. To me setting where a cat should come by seems to be the biggest factor in success and then they start gearing up to breed the big tom cats everyone wants can pop up anywhere.

Good luck- cats aren't afraid of traps so don't be afraid to throw a lot of different things at them. Even if I don't catch the majority of them on trail sets do not think I set far off a trail. I set the travel ways hard and it rewards me.

My never fail basic set is a double end brush cubby with snares and also snares hung around the set in all tight spots. With outside cubby snares you will often pick up doubles and occasionally three or more. I use basically no bait other than a squirrel or bird wing with lure on it as an in-cubby attractor. Being that lynx hunt by sight as much or more than scent, in addition to this “in cubby” attractor it is very helpful to have an attractor outside the set, in close proximity to it, which can be seen from a long distance from several directions to draw the cat to the set location. Thus, these sets are best located along straight stretches of old roads, skid trails or trap line ATV and snowmobile routes. Anything that will flutter in a slight breeze will work.

Love it

I wish

Me too

Although snares are killer for lynx I quit using them many years ago after about the tenth one getting eaten.( from wolves to shrews, everything loves lynx meat. Even other Lynx)

I found I can easily catch them with a foothold trap and a piece of pink ribbon and a goose or duck wing hung above it, head high. No Lure. No bait.

The last year I trapped lynx I caught 80 using only that set.

I have a video of my set on youtube in my signiture.

Thanks for all the tips guys. I’m going to make a few sets today. I’d like to try the foothold route but there are enough other neighbors that will snowmobile or atv through the timber across the road from the house and I’d rather them come across a dead cat than one alive in a trap.
I may try that foothold technique somewhere that is more difficult for pleasure riders to access.
Those trail sets look simple Yukon, any further tips regarding loop size and snare height.?

Wow! Outstanding.
I would agree with the footholds or cages on Lynx or bobcat for good reasons.

I have had great success with your foothold set as well Jeff.

Holy cow 80

I find a 6-7” loop set 10-12” above the ground level ideal. With larger loops set low you will often have lynx jump or walk through the snare and at times get hip caught.

I used to miss a few with snares, then went to the 9-11 method and rarely ever miss one now. 9-inch loop, 11-inches off the ground. I just use my hands to get quick measurements so its not exact, but close.

At a jackpot a 6-7 inch loop 6 inches off the ground.
At a walk in 8 inches off the ground 8in loop
.

Thanks for the advice guys, I appreciate it. I built a few cubbies and a snare pen today. How far apart do you like to make your sets?

When I'm running a longer line I will set up my established jackpots near their rabbit hunting pockets and walk thru or trail sets on their travel routes between their hunting pockets.Takes a few seasons on a new line to identify these spots.Tracks will clue you in.Hunting lynx leave much different sign than travelling lynx.
Some years cats are everywhere and other years they can be fairly scarce where I am the cycles are very noticeable.
make sets accordingly.Better not to set at all when they crash and a couple years after so as not to hinder their recovery locally.This is especially important if you have some core lynx habitat on your line that harbour and sustain a pocket of lynx when they are at the bottom of the cycle.

Thanks Boco. I’m not in a high lynx population area. There are some each year but we don’t encounter sign that often most years. This is obviously a high cycle year as we’re seeing tracks almost everywhere we have been coyote snaring, following the lines through the timber. Rabbit sign seems to be everywhere. How do you identify the areas that are better than others? I don’t want to set the trails I’m using the snowmobile on as it’s private land and others use it for other forms of recreation.

Give it a few days I bet your snare pens and cubbys will connect.
A good cat lure and a visual in the pen like tomcat shows will get them to commit sometimes even if they are not that hungry.

I caught a Lynx once. So ya, I’m kind of an expert! What the other guys have mentioned is good advice!

Lynx will be where the hares are. Find pockets of hares and you should find lynx. Lots here again this year, I think this winter will be the peak, here anyway. If you cant set trail snares, use Jeff's set. Lynx can be very picky about bait if the hare cycle is high, which it sounds like it is there. Not a lot of rabbits here this year.

If you're looking for Lynx experts just ask the Minnesota guys. We have them nearly wiped out down here!!!

So did you get one? See any tracks around your sets?