Bobcat Trapping Tips: 9 Techniques of Trapping Bobcat

You’re set and in place and are waiting for his face to pop up. You must remain calm by wearing rubber hunting boots or any other rubber boots- this is intelligent warfare. You set up your trap, and your heart is pumping fast as you keep your fingers crossed. But how do you target the ghost of the forest – the mighty bobcat?

After years spent in the field (which is the most crucial element of hunting), I came up with the 9 most effective bobcat trapping tips that will definitely help you plan your strategy.

Follow these bobcat trapping tricks and bring that elusive white-faced cat into your trap!

Bobcat Trapping Tips and Techniques

Tip #1: Know Your Enemy

Most bobcats have a large territory, and probably you’ll have to wait (like hours) for some to show up near your trap. That’s why you need to plan it first, and the best way to do that is scouting. For scouting, you can get some cheap binoculars for under 100 dollars and then use that for your scouting. If you have ground blind then you can also use that for scouting too.

Get a proper recon by driving through your selected area, but don’t fall just for any place. Do not mark it until you see a track or a sign that actually might suggest that there’s a chance a bobcat just passed through that area. Luckily, they move in an elliptical pattern, so there’s a chance that if they go through one place, they’ll probably end up there again.

Extra tip: When you find a track, stay on it. That way, you’ll learn about bobcats’ behavior and travel patterns.

Tip #2: Hunting

We’ll begin with some general bobcat hunting tips. The basic thing is to locate the cat, and you’ll do that by finding a snow trail. If you’re not patient to drive around and look for the trails, you can use this technique. Find the thickest cover of snow in the area with a good rabbit population. Then find a road or snowmobile trail that runs through it. Go back there in the morning before the plow truck gets there first and covers the tracks. If you see the trail where the bobcat crossed the road, stay on it.

bobcat trapping tips

Next, you want to set up your location for catcalling. Ideally, you should choose a location about 200 yards from the road. However, you might need to change locations often – if on the first you don’t get any response, you’ll move another 200 yards from the location.

The best hunting tactic is to stay on the trail when you find one. Choose a tight cover to place your e-caller and decoy (read Tip#3 for more info on that).

Extra tip: It’s crucial to follow fresh trails and to move fast enough. If you don’t get any response after the first call, move forward. Be patient – or quit the game.

Tip #3: Calling

You can choose between a variety of sounds and decoys, but I choose to give you some of the top Bobcat calling tips I tried.

Don’t use coyote sounds – chances are you’ll scare off most of the cats than attract them. Go with the most popular one like the cottontail. Or you can try a less popular one like baby turkey. Both are going to work just fine.

Also, you can go with mouth-blow calls, but it’s not recommended for longer calls. Instead, try with a good load e-caller, so you can also divert the cats’ attraction from your position and make them focus on the sound.

Usually, the calling needs to last for 20-30 minutes in one location. Ideally, you will take some breaks in between the calling sessions just to keep the cat’s attention. If you constantly use one sound or one volume, the cat will soon shift its attention to something more interesting. Try to play it as naturally as possible.

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Extra tip: Choose locations within travel routes to and from feeding, watering and bedding areas. And don’t forget to camouflage your hands and face – Bobcats are oblivious to human scent, but they will react on the movement!

Tip #4: Trapping Bobcat Techniques

Although you can find a great number of bobcat trapping techniques, I will share some of the best with you. To start, you should know the behavior and travel patterns of a bobcat. When you find their favorite location (like a lane along the creek), you should definitely place the trap there.

The best technique is to use cats’ senses against them. They act like oversized house cats, so if you’re familiar with the fact that cats usually hunt with their eyes, ears, and nose first, you won’t have problems setting up a perfect trap.

bobcat trapping tips

Make very visible setups and try to use different lures or smells at each set. The Bobcats’ attention is not their strength, so you need to keep them interested and curious about creating a variety of looks, smells, and sounds with your traps.

Recommended Best Lures For Bobcat 

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Last update on 2024-10-09 / Please note that Prices and Availability Are Subject To Change /Paid links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Extra tip: Try to make a trap that is attention-grabbing, for example by placing some feathers or a piece of fur or rabbits carcass.

Tip #5: Trapping Bait

The best bobcat trapping bait is a combination of several different ingredients designed to attract and keep bobcats attention for several minutes. If you use a simple, one-dimensional bait, your cat is probably going to lose interest in short time.

Try mixing some trapping scent (maybe herbal oils or glands/urine scent), some fur or feathers and some grinded meat. That way, your cat will get interested and will spend some time inspecting the bait.

Recommended Best Grinded Meat Paste For Bobcat 

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Extra tip: Don’t go with fish oil, because it’s too strong. Also, try to age a meat before you put it in your bait.

Note: Regarding bait it is worth mentioning that if you are deer hunter and want to bait your deer then these best deer bait are awesome to use for baiting your deer.

Tip #6: Cage Trap

One of the best bobcat cage trapping tips is how to use baits and lures to lead the cat into the cage. There maybe some other tips on how to trap bobcats in a cage trap, but my advice is to keep it simple.

Most of the cats don’t actually know how to enter the cage and get the decoy you placed in the back. So, you probably need to figure out how to help them enter the cage faster and not circling around the cage.

You need to tell them where you want them to go – the best way is to use trailing scent to line up the bobcat into the opening of the cage. The best way to catch a bobcat in a live trap is to use their habits against them by placing the traps on their routes to and from feeding, watering, and bedding.

Remember, if you go with Bobcat live trap plans you should know how to deal with trapped cat. They are fierce when they are trapped, so you want to make sure to not giving them the opportunity to attack.

Recommended Best Cage For Bobcat 

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Extra tip: Start adding drops of the scent from about 4 feet away from the opening of the cage. Put drops every 6 inches lining it up to the front of the cage.

Tip #7: Homemade Baits

You should use homemade baits as much as you can because you can create several different baits by using pretty much the same ingredients.

The simplest homemade bobcats bait is meat. Bobcats are carnivores (they mostly eat meat), so they best respond to fish, rabbit, muskrat, and poultry. You can also use mice and squirrels, as well and mix the chunked meat with some bobcat scent glands or urine to get that extra smell.

Extra Tip: Play on their smell – choose the strong scents that will intrigue your bobcat to show up and explore the bait.

Tip #8: Snaring

Snaring Bobcats in challenging, especially after trapping them in a cage where they get really fierce and ready to attack. You want snares that are positioned for the cat – not too loose and not too tight. The lower part of the snare should be right under their chin, but not too low so they don’t step through.

Extra Tip: The larger the loop of the snare, the further the animal has to travel to get to the snare.

Tip #9: Trapping Supplies

You need a reliable set of bobcat trapping supplies in order to prepare for the hunting. Start off by choosing some clothes for yourself: gloves, jacket, and boots. You’re going to hunt in the cold and probably would stay outside for more than an hour, so make sure you have the proper clothing on your head, hands, body, and feet.

Extra Tip: As for the bobcat, you can choose a variety of trapping supplies, depending on your hunting technique. The best piece of advice is – go simple.

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