Bobcats in 220 buckets

Whats your favorite bait
just

I don't know anything about bait but I read you need blue buckets

I flagged mine with a old CD or DVD.

None. Especially in SE Iowa. You'll catch more domestics than cats. Use some sense, man.

We can only use 160s in such sets here, so they aren't all that common for Bobcats, but I would say beaver

For someone that used 220s almost exclusively in road ditches in SE Iowa you have a strange opinion. I know people around where you trapped.
just

Bucket set make it difficult to release females, and yoy

You have no idea what you're talking about, lol. The one year I trapped Iowa I used nothing but DPs, #11s and 1.5 Dukes, lol. And a couple snares.

I'll go get the popcorn.

a rabbits head works great

You Iowan’s are lucky to have the right to trap ROW’s and to use 220’s, but in my opinion a baited 220 in a bucket set in a row is asking for trouble, and possible law changes. Here in WI I caught several bobcats with a simple welded wire cubby with a small opening and had the 220 on a stand over a foot back from the entrance and a chunk of beaver wired to the back. I would cover with balsam bows and brush but you could weave a little grass in to cover it. They stack inside one another for hauling and a couple 3/8”x24 stakes woven down through the sides with a tie wire across the top keeps the cubby firmly on the ground. These sets were mainly for fisher but caught many more bobcats than fisher.

220's in road ditches when used without bait in coon trail sets are very safe and selective as ROW sets. Baited cubbies have their time and place but it's nowhere near the ROW.

I have caught a lot of cats in baited 220's and had a lot more circle the set and avoid it. If I were specifically targeting cats a baited 220 would be my LAST choice. My first would be a Victor 3N followed VERY closely by snares. Actually I would even take cages over 220's as long as I didn't need to haul them very far. I have been able to release a lot of cats from #3's and cages that were females or young of the year. 220's don't give you that option not to mention the risk's associated with BG's.

A cubby with a half a beaver built in a brushy area,set with a foothold or bodygrip at each end,and 8 snares hung in openings in the surrounding brush.
you wont miss any,and if you have an extended check time,you can catch multiple animals.

You have no idea what you're talking about, lol. The one year I trapped Iowa I used nothing but DPs, #11s and 1.5 Dukes, lol. And a couple snares.[/quote]

Not so.
You had a 220 in the road ditch across from a farm house owned by the brother of a buddy of mine.

If you say so, lol.

Not so.
You had a 220 in the road ditch across from a farm house owned by the brother of a buddy of mine.
[/quote]

Were you looking for advice on your question or did you just want to start a urination contest with YT30? By the way, you are welcome for the advice that I offered.

Just wanting information on bait.
I've been trapping for 40+ years. You figure it out.
just

FYI you guys. A bucket set in a road ditch would only invite theft.
We are limited to 220s in road ditches several feet from a fence.
Also a couple of hundred feet from a building occupied by humans.
just

How did your buddy s brother know whose trap it was?

I would suggest Tuna fish or sardines then.

Dunno for sure but
If someone set a trap across from your house wouldn't you go look at whose name was on the trap tag?
just

I think its illegal to interfere with a legally set trap,No?

This post surely has me confused because A) I didn't set any 220s in the Iowa ROW and B) I didn't set any traps near anyone's house. I did have several traps stole, but again, none of them were 220s.

Ya OK right.
We were talking about you but
Must have been some other woman with Illinois plates wearing carharts that would just stop ,drop in a conibear and off she goes.
just.

You're nuts and I'm done here. I ran 4 dozen footholds, mostly #11s and about 3 dozen DPs, dukes and Z traps.

Here's my pics of traps I posted on Facebook back then. You can look at the rest of my pics from that line as well and see if you see any 220s.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10200839302893950&set=a.3194964602093
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=3749668989356&set=a.3194964602093

I have trapped for years with 220's in cubbies. Never had one in a bucket though. I have never caught a cat in one. I have had them circle the cubby but never had one stick its head in. Mine were set for coon or fisher. I have guys in this area build boxes and have had luck catching cats. Most of them were using beaver meat as bait.

Looking at a trap tag is interfering?

I would say yes but depending on who sees you. The only reason I look is if the trap is set where it is not suppose to be.

Yes looking at a trap tag is interference. Unless you are a CO/ law enforcement/ or landowner.

It falls under trap tampering. Harassment. Misdemeanor charge.

Beaver and some skunky lure.

And I think the people catching cats in boxes are doing so in a slightly elevated set.

When I'm trapping coyote or coon in footholds on land, my trap tag is buried in the trap bed. No way to check that without interfering.

I didnt use buckets, but I am bound and determined to get a cat in a 220 RGB down here.

I've thought about trying a 160 RBG

When I think of a bucket for body grip Bobcats, I'm picturing those square white buckets. Are you guys slightly elevating such a set? I thought I heard Bobcats don't like to crouch way down for a small bucket

Good call

Beaver fleshings and a lure that promotes a cat to rub.
Put some skunk up high.
Lastly, be careful where you set.

Is a gland lure what primarly gets the cats to rub

Sounds like a great way to catch a pet dog unless you are in extremely remote country; I can't imagine too much of that in Iowa.

There are far more satisfying ways to catch cats.








This is my LEAST favorite way and has always lead to the most refusals. This is an old picture from before we were required to have an overhang.

Castor will make em rub- anything added to the castor is just a bonus.

160- That white stuff looks cold- better limit the number of cups of coffee you drink up there.

I am already sick of this white stuff! It is over knee deep and the Tundra is still in the pole barn. I am ready to load it in the back of my truck and just start driving South until someone asks me "Hey, what is that contraption"? That is when I will know I have gone South far enough.

That's quite a load there 160user

It's nothing the Super T can't handle.

I say the same thing about this freeze and thawing out every 6 or 7 days and then it rains and the mud is 2ft deep. I will take all the snow I can get and as long as I can keep it in 2012 it was white all winter best season I've had.

At least I haven't had any mud to deal with this winter

Conibears in buckets are dog killers. Use other methods.

160s are what Wisconsinites use if they use a conibear for bobcat (unless it is on a leaning pole 5' off the ground, then 220s are allowed, though I don't know anybody that uses a leaning pole set for Bobcat

That looks like a small cage. Maybe it's just a big cat. I have a Fisher cage that's like a high quality Coon cage that I'm thinking about setting but I didn't think it was big enough.

As for your picture with the Conibear: we don't need an overhang for 160s.

I only have 1 body grip trap out for Bobcat right now.. just not many places right now that I'd prefer such a set (although I'm glad it's an option we are allowed in our 'toolbox').

Here's the 160 I put out in the swamp.