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Post by mostinterestingmanintheworld on Mar 18, 2007 13:08:39 GMT -6
I use it but I'll bet 60% of what I catch would get caught without it. Maybe more.
I have wondered if it slows their stride or stops them at walkthrough sets where if it wasn't there they might have traipsed right through while thinking about something else.
So in some cases it very well could be a detriment.
Joel
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Post by bfflobo on Mar 18, 2007 13:25:16 GMT -6
Joel; Your thoughts are in line with what I have been wondering. When I first started trapping cats I never used lure of any kind. Just eye appeal and blocking. Been using some the last few years. Not sure if it has helped that much. Location and giving the cat only one place to step is for sure the most important things. Good eye appeal travels farther than lure and works in all directions, no matter what way the wind is blowing. John
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Post by bobwendt on Mar 18, 2007 13:54:04 GMT -6
what you western guys don`t grasp is in the east and heavy vegetation areas there are no cliffs or rim trails to block. its a jungle with few or no trails. and often nary a rock bigger than a pebble. without lure in the east or central areas, bobcats would be scare as hens teeth on the fur tables. just like we can`t grasp 96 hr cks or driving 200 miles in a straght line and stop and set anywhere we want and never ask a daggone person for permission, or that it might go months at a trime with no rain, and sun every day. 2 worlds, and each requires different methods.
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Post by Wiley on Mar 18, 2007 17:38:19 GMT -6
RW: "Who in their right mind would go bobcat trapping with out lure?"
Lots of guys depending on their rabbitat.
Location - walk through - eye appeal - cat odors (all far more important than lure in MOST situations)
Lure is way down my list too.
What Joel and bfflobo said.
~SH~
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Post by trappnman on Mar 18, 2007 20:06:28 GMT -6
the question was not "can you catch cats w/o lure"
it was "will you catch MORE cats w/lure?"
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Post by robertw on Mar 18, 2007 20:16:00 GMT -6
Wiley;"cat odors"
Well if your not using bobcat (or house cat) lure to produce your cat odor there is only turds and urine left on the list of possible "cat odors". Many consider both of these two items to be lures or ingredients in lures.
Trappnman;"it was "will you catch MORE cats w/lure?"
YES, beyond a shadow of a doubt!
Doesn't matter if your in Wyoming and New Mexico or Missouri and Mississippi, lure will catch you more bobcats than with out it.
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Post by mostinterestingmanintheworld on Mar 18, 2007 21:02:01 GMT -6
I'm not sure I agree with that.
The biggest numbers guys I know don't hardly use any. Their sets are all blocked up trails in key locations.
Like Bob says we have a lot of structure, whether rock ledges, rock piles, tall brush draws, willow patches etc.
Much of the trapping we do would work just as well with a snare.
It's really snare mentality using traps.
Would you put a bunch of lure in front of a snare? I never have because I just want them traveling along thinking about something else.
Lynxcat (Brent) says he uses lure to keep the coyotes out.
Idea being you warn them to pay attention when approaching your uncovered trap with the drag showing etc. The cat will get caught usually and the coyote might circle.
Cat trapping I've found is completely out of the box when compared to other animals.
I find myself using lure down the trail way more often than at the set than I used to.
I still make flat sets where I find a toilet, but the walktrough sets on the trails coming in are better.
Joel
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Post by robertw on Mar 18, 2007 21:41:00 GMT -6
Joel, Your talking about an environment with structure (and trails), not every place that bobcats live in has this type of structure. In a lot of areas the closest thing to a trail that exists is a beaver dam.
Ask any southern trapper how many bobcats they have brought up out of deep water on drowning slides taken in coon sets or castor mounds.
What do you do when the only trail is a logging road?
I recently read on another forum where some one was impressed that another person took three bobcats out of one set. I have had at least 5 different locations on my trapline in Mississippi where I have taken 5 (or more) cats out of one trap in just a 2-3 week time period (along with yotes).
Bobcats and coyotes are not the same the world over.
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Post by thebeav2 on Mar 18, 2007 21:57:03 GMT -6
Trapping cats In the south Is a whole different ball game and a showy canine set will put some cat hides on your stretchers. A conibear cubby on the ends of a beaver dam will rack up some numbers. If you can use snares on these dams that would be the ticket. I always use some type of lure at these cat /canine sets. I know a cat isn't a canine and you can't catch cats In numbers In canine sets but don't tell that to these southern cats.
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Post by robertw on Mar 19, 2007 7:21:13 GMT -6
Beav;"I know a cat isn't a canine and you can't catch cats In numbers In canine sets but don't tell that to these southern cats."
There has been an awful lot of coyote trappers that knew absolutely nothing about bobcats rack up some pretty good catches the first time they trapped in areas having bobcats.
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Post by lynxcat on Mar 19, 2007 7:24:07 GMT -6
Now bob... be "nice" to Cody... ;D
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Post by mostinterestingmanintheworld on Mar 19, 2007 8:37:19 GMT -6
Oh I understand that there is a difference between habitat types. I catch cats in places without structure in the West.
My point was that where I'm at I don't know that lure is totally necessary. Some of the guys that rack up the biggest numbers out here don't use it much. That's all I'm trying to say.
As far as canine sets catching cats I'll bet those sets have caught more cats over time than the cat methods we are using now in the structure.
Does that mean they are better methods? In some circumstances and not others.
In my life I've seen cat methods in Nevada and other Western States evolve from modifed and even not modified coyote sets to sets that are totally focused on cats.
The change has been gradual but it seems to be almost complete from what I see anymore.
I suspect that a Western trapper could figure out how to use these methods down South, East, and Midwest.
Not criticizing anybody or anything I've just watched the guys fight it out here for 30 years (including myself) and finally adapt to it.
It's a paradgm shift in thinking for a canine mindset in some ways.
Joel
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Post by bobwendt on Mar 19, 2007 8:44:12 GMT -6
lynx, he does seem rather large doesn`t he? kind of like predicting fur prices a year from now. cats will be worth $1,000 next year, even tho they never were this year. uh huh. maybe so, if so great, but I`ll think prudence would indicate we see the cats first. lot of stuff hapens, women troubles, job troubles, health, change of heart, job transfer, price goes down to 50 bucks, truck breaks down, b.s. arrest on bogus charge. lot of chickens never make it to the coop each night no matter their best intentions. the one running to the coop in the straightest line and the fastest ialways the onre the hawk nabs first as his eyes are only on the coop and blind to everything else. ahh, youth!!! if I was you I wouldn`t sweat it as no one really cares anyway how many chickens make it to the coop, except for the dead chicken.
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Post by shagnasty on Mar 19, 2007 10:20:37 GMT -6
im no cat man by any stretch, but the majority of mine have been taken in hole sets with lure combo set on a track wherever that was.
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