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what should i use as bait and can i use a live trap that i trap my coons with

coondawg1972 wrote:what should i use as bait and can i use a live trap that i trap my coons with

Gee bud, is it season were your trap setting ? I wouldn`t think so ? Course you have allready considered that angle I suspose !?

no i haden't even checked i guess i should thanks for pointing that out

coondawg1972 wrote:no i haden't even checked i guess i should thanks for pointing that out

Ya I understand, but I like your state some terrably game hounds has come out of Ga./and its border states and I envy yas too your hunten around all that lineage of hunten heritage there !

Bobcats don't like to go into live traps so you will realy have to work at it. The smaller traps that work fine for coon will likly not work for a bobcat. Use a bigger one that is atlest 6 inches higher than a bobcats back. Cover the floor with dirt or leaves so its not walking on wire. And for bait dead animal is fine or just a can of sardines and/or scent/lure from bobcat glands, bought from any good scent maker should work.

Yea and make sure season is open before ya try

thanks cecil i hunt three times a week year round and i love it june and july are my off months cause of the heat and rattlers but the rest of the time i hit it hard got some real good land owners who allow me to hunt all the time even during deer season although i have to stay out of certian places when they are deer hunting i moved here from fl 4 years ago and in two days was coon hunting and i really love the swamps and marches and the hard woods in florida i hunted mostly orange groves easy to catch coons. but when i moved to ga i found out what real dogs were

Used unsented cat litter. Dig a hole and put the trap on top. Hang a feather from a string in the back of the live trap.
The trap does need to be large as describe in the previous response.
By using cat litter you do not catch a bunch of no-target game.
Good luck. JTG

Sorry I have to disagree with bobcats not liking to enter cages. I trap with cages and that is all I can use, just like AZ, CO, CA. I know of many trappers aside from me who put up better numbers of cats with cages than many do with steel.

To set a cage for a cat, firstly you need a cat trap, no coon trap will work. The cages I build are 18 inches high and 36 inches deep. The pan is set at 18.5 inches from the front of the cage (cats stride). The width is not all to important as many would think. I run 8, 10 and 12 inch wide cages and get cats in every size.

To set for a cat once you have your cages, you must be on location where he will pass. A cat toilet is the best in my opinion. You want your cage to be set so that it is angled towards where he is coming from. I set a fur critter in my cages. They are made with faux fur and doll eyes. I hang this 6 inches from the top of the cage and 5 inches infront of the back side. This acts as an attractant. Kitty sees in the trap as he walks by or up to it and the fur hanging from a wire moves in the slightest breeze. Ever tie a feather to a string and see what a house cat does, its no different with any other cat species. Curiousity surley killed the cat.

I find my location where I want to set my trap. I make the ground level so that my cage does not rock side to side. Place the trap on the level ground and look to where the pan sits. Then remove the trap and dig out a small area where the pan will be. This keeps the debri underneath the pan from keeping it from triggering your door. Also, when the ground is wet and then freezes, many trap pans get froze to the gound and dont set. In the hole you dug, place you lure. I make my own lures. I use a bobcat gland lure placed in the depression. I use a freshwater mussel shell placed in the hole. Put your lure in this. The lure placed on dirt will eventually soak into the ground and be less potent at the needed time, especially if it rains, the pan keeps the lure dry and the water draining into the hole doesnt wash away your lure.


Once thats done I place a smal golf ball size of beaver meat in the rear of the cage. I wire this to the bottom behind the pan. This is your bait. Cat meat works well also, but beaver or muskrat is my first choice. then place the trap so the pan covers your hole and lure.
Next step would be to sift dirt over the wire and a little on the pan, cats dont like walking on wire. Once your done and the wire is covered good now its time to cover the cage. I use branch material from pines here or old driftwood pieces if setting at a water location. Cover the sides top and back of the cage.

Flagging is very important on a cat set. I use a feather or a piece of real sheeps wool. Hanging about 3 feet above the cage and off to the side. This is another visual attractant, gets kitty close to your cage. this movement cant be walked by when a cat sees it.

I place a small drop or two of LDC lure (long distance call). Once again, I make my own, but you can buy gusto from any supply house, Tim Cavens makes it. This lure is put on a branch above the set and off to the side. Another curiousity thing with cats, the smell the animal glands and skunk in it and have to check it out.

Lastly I check over the set, make sure everything is nice and perfect, then I spray it with bobcat urine. I put this in a spray bottle and mist the dirt floor just a bit and the brush I covered the cage with on one of the sides. Makes your prey thing another cat was here and marked his territory.

Wait and see, but you can set 100 traps in the wrong location and never catch a cat, or you can set out 100 traps in the right locations and get double digit days in the right areas.

Good luck, it will take some trail and error, but as a fulltime cage trapping cat fool, I would have it no other way. They can bring steel back here and I still will run cages when it comes to cats.

a picture of a cage built for cats. Not my design, a good friend designed it, I make the same cage but changed it just a bit to better my needs.

steeliekingfisher, Those are really nice traps, Ever think about biulding some and selling them, I'de be interrested.

Well what I ment was the average traps that you use for coons ect are realy too short for bobcats and they don't like to enter them. Not saying you can't catch them in a shorter trap but the taller traps are going to work alot better. Steeliekingfisher is using taller traps and doing real well. The bobcats don't like to have to crouch down to enter the trap. Thats what I ment by not liking to enter caged traps.

I see says the blind man, and yes I am blind.lol. I used to run a few cage trap lines in AZ. Did my best in the 4 peaks area north of scottsdale area. Also did quite well down on the outskirts of the San Carlos Reservation. If I don't get lucky and draw a tag here for cougar, I most likely will be headed your way:0)

You are 100% right on the height, but the most important dimension is actually legnth. My friend, the original designer of the cages I run, started out at 30 inches long, no cats in them. Made them 36 and started to get em in. Bigger is always better when it comes to cage trapping :0)

I have designed a new cage for cougars, I was thinking the state would buy them for studies and such, we shall see what happens.

As far as selling, I build a few and sell them, they help me save the fortune I need for fuel cost. It might be time to buy a biodiesel converter after all!!!

Mr.cook:
I will be building 65 this summer for myself and if you wanted one or two, just let me know. They go fo $85.00 plus shipping.

I tried some old hava-heart traps that were only 12 inches high and 12 wide. A cat could get in there np but I never caught any until I found some cheap traps that animal control was off loading. These were big and had been used for stray dogs, I had to do a bit of repair on them before use but they worked great. They are 24 inches high and 24 inches wide and 36 inches deep.

Steeliekingfisher I like the look of your traps too! The ones I have are beat up and hard to haul around and realy way bigger than needed. I don't trap much any more, just around the house abit but it might be time to upgrade.

tanks for the compliments on the traps. Like I said, they originally were not my design, I just changed a few things on them to better suite my needs. Great thing about them is they are designed to be broken down. The door frame comes off with a few bolts and the entire cage folds to a flat panel. I can store 100 cages in very little space. I like the 12x18x36 best but like I said they all work well. I have a batch that I built that starts at 12 x 22 x 36, the next cage is 10 x 20 x 36, the next is 8x 18 x 36. When you remove the door you can slide the 8 inch cage into the 10 and the 10 into the 12, meaning you can carry alot more assembled in the truck. I don't make them like this anymore though, there is a load of wasted metal when I do this and cost go up to fabricate.

All my steel is 16 ga. metal. I have a custom fabricator make my channel and angle for these. Its the thinnest steel I see fit for anything else is not strong enough. Doors are constructed out of 1/4 inch steel rod. The wire is galvanized after welding and is 14 GA 1x1. They are not real heavy to carry and when I set a long line, I just put them together at the trap site. I can put one together in about 10 minutes with a 7/16 wrench and a cordless drill fit with a 7/16 bit.

I will be starting to build them this year around July and have them ready for shipping within a few weeks. all I will be building this year is 12x18x36. They are perfect for cat, badger and fox. They work well on coon also.

Steeliekingfisher, I'll buy a couple from ya and try them out! PM me some info on when were and how and we'll make it happen

I just measured those traps I was using and they are acualy bigger than I thought. 24"x24" and 42 inches deep, very unweildy and they have seen better days for sure. Sounds like that is way over-kill for bobcats... these old things served me well but its definatly time for an upgrade!

Steeliekingfisher sent ya a PM.