Bobcats

[Blue]

 Humptulips...   I was trapping north of Bishop CA. All cage traps in California no foot holds. I ran thirty six cages total. I had four traps stolen by the stinking greenies who walk there dogs out in the middle of know where in there flip flops and dreadlocks. It's all high desert country and sagebrush. I would start checking traps and constantly moving them around 7am until around 5pm, then start skinning and fleshing until about 11pm and start all over again every day. As far as baits and lures, I'll never tell. There were quite a few other trappers in the Bishop/ Big pine/ Owens valley area. Some trappers had over fifty five cats. A lot of work but a lot of fun also. I guess it's not work if you love what you are doing.

[Blue]

All the cats are going to Fallon Nevada fur auction. I also caught some gray foxes and coyotes that will go also.

[Humptulips]

Humptulips...   I was trapping north of Bishop CA. All cage traps in California no foot holds. I ran thirty six cages total. I had four traps stolen by the stinking greenies who walk there dogs out in the middle of know where in there flip flops and dreadlocks. It's all high desert country and sagebrush. I would start checking traps and constantly moving them around 7am until around 5pm, then start skinning and fleshing until about 11pm and start all over again every day. As far as baits and lures, I'll never tell. There were quite a few other trappers in the Bishop/ Big pine/ Owens valley area. Some trappers had over fifty five cats. A lot of work but a lot of fun also. I guess it's not work if you love what you are doing.

Blue,
Didn't intend to get you to divulge any big secrets. I was really curious though what kind of cat population that desert country has. We hear about trappers getting what I would call big numbers down there. Sounds like you did really well. Just trying to get a handle on why no one in W WA is reporting large catches. Population bigger down there? Do they enter the cages more readily? Some other reason?
Of course I know the biggest secret that good trappers have is hard work and it sounds like you've got that going for you.
Thanks for sharing with us what you can.

[yote]

holy smokes

[huntingfool7]

Nice.  It's good to see a guy putting up some fur.

[boneaddict]

Thats absoulutely incredibe.  I hear prices for cats are really really good too.   Like low 800 to high 1700, so is that like $43,000 hanging there for two weeks of work.

[Blue]

Humptulips      The cat population in that area is very high. One reason is the price of cats were low for a long time and it took a while for people to get into cage trapping after they outlawed foot traps. The other reason is the rabbit population is out of this world in that area. I have found out in my years of trapping that if the rabbits are plentiful then so are the cats. The fewer the rabbits the fewer the cats. Where I live in Washington there used to be rabbits everywhere, and a lot of cats. Now the rabbits are few and so are the cats. 

[Blue]

boneaddict        The average cat price will most likely be around $500.00. Sometimes you might get a few cats that bring higher prices and it brings the average up. We can only hope.

[Humptulips]

Humptulips      The cat population in that area is very high. One reason is the price of cats were low for a long time and it took a while for people to get into cage trapping after they outlawed foot traps. The other reason is the rabbit population is out of this world in that area. I have found out in my years of trapping that if the rabbits are plentiful then so are the cats. The fewer the rabbits the fewer the cats. Where I live in Washington there used to be rabbits everywhere, and a lot of cats. Now the rabbits are few and so are the cats.

I've been thinking about my cat trapping and kind of come to the conclusion that population is at least one reason I'm not catching many. No snow so it is tough to see sign and there is a bit of guess work so I could be wrong.
Never been a lot of rabbits here but we always had a ton of mountain beaver. I could always do well around a good colony of mountain beaver. For what ever reason the mountain beaver have disapeared. Still a few but just one here and there. I just don't see the food supply for a large bobcat population.
I loved trapping out of state but for the forseeable future that is not in the cards for me.
Not sure what I will do next year.