Lures for Bobcats

[BuckNAze]

Was curious on the lures you guys use for trapping bobcats in particular. Starting to trap some this year on top of running my hounds. Where I live we can still use foot traps and I don't have a problem catching them with my dogs just want to try my hand at trapping. I spend most of my time in the woods and know where bobcats hang out but am clueless on what type of lures to use to get them to come in. A lot of local guys use beaver to lure them in. My question is does the beaver meat itself attract them or do you have to use some sort of beaver scent on top of it to get them to come in? Thanks in advance to any replies. Like I said I'm a rookie at this so any advice would be very helpful! Thanks

[BKMFR]

I have live trapped 30-40 a season in Eastern Wa. back a few years ago. I always used the top of a metal coffee can cut in a triangle, then punch a hole in the end with the sharpest point and use a good heavy duty fishing swivel and hang about 4-5' above your trap area 5-10' away- Cats hunt with there eyes a lot-"visual aid" to get them to your set. Then the best (for me), even if it's self made, is a cubby set, in your case a steel trap, even a 220 conibear will work great (watch out for the hounds though).... Then that's where a big piece of greasy beaver wired to the back works real well. I also would take unscented "used" cat liter and spread it inside the cubby for a confidence builder.... A few feathers around never hurt anything either....

[BuckNAze]

Awesome, thank you. Do you recommend using anything like Cat-Man-Do, or Purrfect from F&T for scents? I've heard of people using CD's or something similar that shiney to get the cats attention. What does the cat litter do?

[BKMFR]

I have used catmando before, but never ended up using any scents after doing what I described earlier. The domestic cat scat hits on one more area...... You have Sight with the reflector, Food with the beaver, and the other cat smell is Territorial....

[Triplej]

I am myself a first year trapper and trying to trap some cats as well i have done all the above and still have yet to have any animals come up to my sets? I had fresh tracks in the snow about a week ago but nothing around the trap, I have had them out for three weeks now any suggestions??

[TeacherMan]

Beaver carcass!!!

[Humptulips]

Myself I do not generally use anything but a good chunk of beaver meat. Not saying anything against lure as I have caught cats with lure. I did not seem to catch a better percentage with the addition of lure. I did make lure only sets back when we could use foot traps and yes they caught cats so in your case you could try some post sets, flat sets, rub sets.
In the case of cages though I just don't see the advantage to adding lure. The exception to this may be a long distance call lure outside the trap. I have always kept away from them in the past because they usually incorporate skunk essesnce in the lure. That is an invitation to civets and I have enough coming to my cat sets as is. I might change my mind on that with my new civet trap but in the past they were a pain to deal with.

I would add one other thing that might  be an encouragement to new trappers having problems currently. In my opinion cats are much easier to catch late in the season. February and March the cats are breeding and the males cover a lot more ground plus I think they are not hunting so much and maybe a little hungry so they come to bait better.

[Triplej]

thank you for the info i will keep you posted!