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Post by sixbits on Apr 22, 2007 17:32:55 GMT -6
just looking around today noticed the cats were using the same locations that most of you talk about. I also notice they use big pine trees when cedar trees are all around .humm?? most toilets were under rock ledges.any one else see this.
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Post by huntinglonewolf on Apr 22, 2007 17:45:03 GMT -6
Rock ledges are always a good place to find cat toilets.
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Post by sixbits on Apr 22, 2007 17:59:55 GMT -6
what about the pine trees ? Always the largest pine and cedars all around . also alot of rabbit fur at the toilets .I walked alot of timber kept seeing the same type of toilets under the pine trees.alot of tracks too !! The rock ledges are old toilets some fresh sign there too but not like in the trees
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Post by bfflobo on Apr 22, 2007 18:08:29 GMT -6
South side of the biggest cedar or juniper tree closest to the rim.
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Post by sixbits on Apr 22, 2007 18:13:19 GMT -6
Most of the rock ledges are west face .The trees run down long ridges N.&S
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Post by thunderbolt on Apr 22, 2007 18:16:23 GMT -6
It would help if we knew what part of the country you are in.
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Post by sixbits on Apr 22, 2007 18:19:25 GMT -6
just a quistion I never looked for cat sign under the big pines before?
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Post by sixbits on Apr 22, 2007 18:21:01 GMT -6
western CO
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Post by timbob on Apr 22, 2007 18:44:39 GMT -6
 This set was at a toilet |
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Post by bulletbox on Apr 22, 2007 21:02:45 GMT -6
I have found cat toilets in some of the weirdest places...
I always check around a gate or cattle guard, if there is a cat turd to be found, you will usually find one there... I think it is because the gate or guard is a dividing line between 2 cats areas...
I have also found them in pecan and oak motts... I think they are there because of turkey.... In my country, if you find the turkey, you will find the cats...
One of the largest toilets I ever found was in a road intersection, there was a toilet on each corner of the intersection... I took 4 cats off that spot in 2 days and 5 or 6 more in less than a week....
The funny thing about cats is once you think you figured them out, the suckers will change on you...
Another thing to remember about toilets are if you have pack rats in the country, a turd will be as hard to find as a skinny gal at a buffet line.....
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Post by mostinterestingmanintheworld on Apr 22, 2007 21:21:28 GMT -6
Some of the most productive cat country I ever trapped had some of the fewest cat toilets I've ever "not" found.
I'm not sure if there were dung beetles or packrats or what but I found very few toilets and lots of cats.
The reverse can be true as well, especially in very arid country where the turds last for decades. (seriously).
In my country the closer you get to California and Oregon where the ocean has slightly more influence and there are more Juniper trees I find less sign.
Out in the dry country I find more sign, and usually less cats.
Kind of the opposite, not always, but enough that it is noticeable.
Joel
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Post by bulletbox on Apr 23, 2007 10:53:17 GMT -6
That is VERY true Joel...
I have trapped country and seem to never find a turd, but there are cats in there...
But, I once was in a hot spot... took 10 cats there without as much as find a single bit of sign, the day I was pulling traps, my dog went about 50 feet from the hot spot, and sure enough there the toilet was, up on the edge of a rocky bank, not head high... it reaked of cat... I picked up a 3 gallon bucket of droppings, and left a bunch of them...
My brother sold that ranch, and I haven't been on it in several years, thinking about calling the new owner and seeing if I can slip in there next year for a month or so...
Packrats and tumble bugs can sure make it hard to find any sign of cats in an area... Roadrunners are bad also... but sometimes I just don't look were I need to look to find them....
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Post by Zagman on Apr 23, 2007 12:11:32 GMT -6
Funny story....
First trip after cats this fall out west......never seen a cat terd in my life.....up in the rocks, come across TWO sets of cat tracks ........followed them for a while.....one went through a rock cave about the size of a basketball....perfect.
I am following them, salivating, and get into some cedars, and both sets of tracks come into this big torn up area......and there are cat terds EVERYWHERE......and I mean everywhere. By the hundreds......
I start yelling for my partner, an old salt on this 'cat thing. I just had to show him the Mother of All Cat Toilets....
He humps on over, and I am sitting in the middle of the toilet like the cat that ate the canary.......
"Look at ALL of these cat terds!" says I.
Buster looks down, and deadpans: "Those are elk droppings"
____________________________________________________
Interestingly, on the same trip, we set up a location on a two track where he had caught a cat the year prior.....the catch circle was still there, and it was full of cat terds. In other words, his catch circle was the start of a new toilet......is this common?
Zagman
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Post by shagnasty on Apr 23, 2007 12:33:25 GMT -6
no rim rock here, and a pine tree behind or beside every bush in the woods. serious. i like to set on a set of tracks wherever that is.
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Post by SteveCraig on Apr 23, 2007 12:43:33 GMT -6
Joel,
Something that I have noticed, that in areas of little cat sign, I find an incredable amount of BURIED cat crap. I would not have even known it was there but for my Airedale pointing them out to me. I mean lots of buried turds in a small area, all covered. Other areas turds all above ground and laying all over. I did notice some very small bobcat scratches however in the area of the buried turds.
This holds true for lions too. In Ricketts book, he spends quite a bit of time covering(pun intended) this very subject, of covered vs. uncovered.
Just mine and my dogs observation.
Steve
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Post by mostinterestingmanintheworld on Apr 23, 2007 23:08:00 GMT -6
You could be right Steve, I'm not 100% sure about Rickett's conclusions all the time.
I think the territory thing may be a bit different in some places for what ever reason.
Kind of like bank beaver and lodge beaver and stuff like that.
Joel
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Post by mountainman on Apr 24, 2007 3:58:47 GMT -6
There are 3 locations here that I commonly find cat toilets in:
1 Saddles and gaps, especially the first one on a high ridgeline intersection and the ones that connect large watershed areas.
2 Ledges. Some of the best ones here overlook highways. It seems cats have a thing for watching the cars go by. I guess its their version of TV or something.
3 Sandy washes or sandy places in logging roads.
In the first two locations its common to find cat toilets with lots of dry old droppings in bird nest looking toilets in the ground litter or laying loosely scattered in the ground litter or sand behind or under rock ledges. In sandy areas I find cat scat mostly covered, sometimes fresh covered.
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Post by trappnman on Apr 24, 2007 7:24:27 GMT -6
A question for cat trappers: if we have cats here, they are very, very rare. I hear people all the time tell me they have seen cats or cat tracks. Last I saw cats, was in 1964 my beagles treed 2 of them near Rochester.
Yet, I cover a lot of territory for both yotes and coon- major parts of two hill counties,and I've never seen a track, scat or a cat- plus, more importantly, I think, I've never caught one.
I've seen many cat tracks and scat (now that Wiley showed me what their scat looks like) in the Black Hills, so know what it looks like.
So- my conclusion is- there are no cats (or very rare) here. Or I would have caught at least one over past 22 years.
Fair conclusion or not?
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Post by mostinterestingmanintheworld on Apr 24, 2007 8:02:41 GMT -6
More than fair. They would have shown up in your coyote sets from time to time if they were there.
Joel
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Post by huntinglonewolf on Apr 24, 2007 9:45:18 GMT -6
I agree 100% as alot of cats are caught in coyote sets.
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