What kinda habitat should I be looking in? Right around here I have foothills and I also have river bottoms.
So what I look for is second growth from say 10 feet high to let's say 25 feet high. Variables to that depending on how thick it is. Think of it this way the bobcat are where small game is so you're looking for an area that has rabbit, mountain beaver, mice, voles and birds. To fresh of logging and it's not thick enough for good hunting for a cat, to old the small game drops off.
Now you have a place that meets the habitat criteria but where to set? Cats will walk roads but they prefer the less traveled roads so think about that old road going through that logging that is just about growed shut. Maybe still a good trail but not much vehicle traffic. Now you can start combining things. A crossroads, a road that goes out to a bench (cats like to walk along a rim to look down), maybe an intersection with a fire trail or a stream crossing. All these things give the cat some structure to follow so he's wandering hits the road or bench he will be apt to follow that structure.
So now you have habitat, structure for the cat to follow, maybe an intersection of multiple stuctures. The topper is if you have something there that a cat will remember and come back for. Things like a big brush pile (great place for rodents), a big stump or my favorite a colony of mountain beaver. Multiple reasons for a cat to show up.
So if you find all that stuff in a convergence that's great. Not going to find it all at one spot very often but those are things I look for.
Another place I like is that patch of second growth that is getting a little too growed up for small game but that old road let's in a little light creating a narrow strip of opener ground that is a draw for any small game left in the area. A cat comes through it is walking that road. It's the only place left that's good hunting.
One thing I would advise too is set a number of traps in a number of locations. Real easy to pick the wrong spot but the more traps you get out the better the odds are of connecting and once you find a good spot reset next year and eliminate the poor spots.
