"The Greatest Cat Lure Ever !!"

[FWS]

And so many of em' are made by Eastern luremakers who don't have many, if any, cats.

My own experience, in the leghold days, was that the majority of commercial cat lures were not effective.

And that my own mixture of pure cat urine, glands and gut beat everything.

[cameron2]

Oh boy, here we go again.

"I'm the best cat trapper ever!"

"No, I'm the best cat trapper ever!"

"That wasn't the topic of this post."

"I don't care, I'm still the best cat trapper ever, regardless of what your post said, what it meant to say, or what it should have said."

There, we got all that out of the way. Now we can address cat lures, and not cat trappers.

My own experience has been that it's tough to beat good glands, good pee, beaver castor, mink, muskrat, tonquin, valerian, catnip, mint, fish and skunk. Not necessarily in that order, and not necessarily in those combinations, but there are a limited amount of smells in the world and these seem to be the one that trip a cat's trigger, day in and day out. I'm sure there are others, but these keep showing up on the ingredient lists of the more than 100 cat lure recipes that I've collected.

Having said that, not every cat, every time, will fall for any or all of those odors. My experience has been that cats are much more finicky than coyotes or fox. Not necessarily smarter, just more finicky. The old TV commercial about Morris the finicky cat was true. That's why visual attractants, distance from the cat's intended travel way, and about a million other variables will determine whether the cat checks out your scent or lure, and how intense that reaction will be.

Now I'm sure that someone will post on here that they catch all their cats on this or that lure or bait or visual attractor, and that they're catching all the available cats in the neighborhood. I just don't believe it. I've spent too much time following cats in the snow, and with trail cameras and lure combinations to believe that someone is catching every cat that goes by, every time. The majority, maybe. But not all of them.

I've had good luck with the same combos that FWS mentioned, but I've seen (through trail cameras) a much more intense and consistent reaction to a greater combination of smells. And those combinations vary. I've never tried any cat lure made by eastern lure makers, but don't doubt that they would work, assuming they used some or all of the above ingredients in the right combinations and in the right amounts. All the cat lures I made this year were made with beaver from MN and MI, but I'm betting they attract the local cat populations as well as beaver from another state.

I know some very successful Nevada cat trappers that sometimes don't use any bait or lure, so I wonder if FWS's experience is a reflection of good location and technique, rather than a statement about the abilities or deficiencies of a particular commercial lure. Just a thought.

I'm interested to hear other folks' experiences.

[FWS]

so I wonder if FWS's experience is a reflection of good location and technique

Yup, there is no 'magic in a bottle' on cats and for the time of year that I take cats the urine/gland mixture was consistently the most effective in conjunction with good location.

[cameron2]

Again, without starting a battle about what should, or shouldn't go into a particular lure, I was interested to hear more about the "gut" you said you use with your urine and glands.

[FWS]

The anus and the first 6 inches of intestine attached. I keep everything frozen fresh and then whip it up in a food proccesor with a little glycerine. Fresh cat urine, gut and glands has a powerful musky odor.

I also collected dried cat scat and used them as visuals, still do that in cage traps.

In terms of variables, my primary trapping areas are in very brushy coastal mountain ranges where there is no snow, little rain (at that time) and generally no freezing temps.

[lynxcat]

AMEN brotha!!! That has been and IS my #1 cat getter...good urine and a GOOD chunk of glands mixed in...110% CAT when you open the lid!!! ONLY other thing I do is use some skunk/lanolin near the set..SCARE off the coyotes!!!
lynx

[lynxcat]

fws said:

And so many of em' are made by Eastern luremakers who don't have many, if any, cats.
.

AMEN....guys "MAJOR lure guys" that you KNOW havent caught SQUAT for cats making KILLER CAT lures...hello!!! ANYONE can make a "basic" cat lure...NOT a hard thing to do...the PROMOTION is where it's at!!! Kinda like "Ray" the stompers...
lynx

[bobCATching]

ya! ya,, ya aaarrrr matie,,, nobody makes good lure,,, don't need no stinking lure,,, if i had your cat numbers I'd catch a billion,,, all i need is trap,,, you're a fool.... aaarrrr.. you wouldn't know a good lure if it was stuck in your nose

[Wiley]

Great posts guys. Excellent information. Everyone is right and nobody is wrong. You all make excellent posts.

Anyone want to take any bets on whether the banty roosters will find something in that to bitch about?


~SH~

[lynxcat]

............. YEP!!!

[FWS]

Anyone want to take any bets on whether the banty roosters will find something in that to bitch about?

They really can't because they're all back East of the Mississippi where there ain't no cats to speak of. ;D

Besides which they actually want to catch those stinky ass coyotes.

[bobCATching]

Seriously, I don't think where a lure maker lives has any bearing on the quality of his product.
Good quality lure is good lure wether it's made in NY city or SF,,, in fact the SF lure might work better on both males and females ,,, think about it

[jake]

;D jake

[FWS]

I don't think where a lure maker lives has any bearing on the quality of his product.

Perhaps not, but how many of those lures are just a reprise of others formulas and how many are using the original ingredients ?

For my own use I prefer what I make that I know is effective.

The cat lure Stef makes, Pikauba, seems to be effective but the majority of the commercial lures I tried over the years were not very effective.

[Wiley]

Cameron covered this topic pretty well. It seems like the mainstay cat ingredients are (in no particular order), beaver castor, skunk, mint, and catnip. I also like urine, droppings, call lure, and gland lure. I don't think you can scare a cat with too many attractions but I don't claim to be the world's greatest cat trapper. Better get that out of the way. LOL!

Personally, I think sight attractors are more important than nose attractors for cats but I believe the combination of both is best.

I'm currently helping a young man from West Africa who is conducting a radio telemetry study on bobcats in the Badlands National Park in SD. I think he has 7 bobs collared now and these collars will be taking continous GPS readings througout the winter. Should be some interesting information because we tried to take the cats in varying types of habitat including a timbered river system.

I always make walk-thru sets and prefer two traps but again, what the hell do I know? Better throw out a reminder again.

Hope I didn't mislead anyone or contradict anyone's opinion. Sure wouldn't want that to happen. If so, I'll retract my opinion. LOL!

This nicey nice really sucks. I think I'll throw another firecracker in the brooder house and see if the bantys are awake. LOL!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a weasel in a brooder house? Man what a rush that must be? Sorry, went to the Bahamas.


~SH~

[FWS]

the SF lure

Frank Terry, who made James Mast's lures for many years, was just a bit North of the SF Bay.

I forget where old "Backwoods Bob" Painter was out of, I'm thinking Northern LA County.

Those guys have been gone for years.

[FWS]

and catnip.

Which only a percentage of cats have a reaction to BTW, it's been studied.

Ever check the price on real unadulterated catnip oil ? Not a tincture but the real stuff. When I see it listed as a lure ingredient I have to question if it's real and if so in enough volume to elicit a reaction in cats.

[Brad H]

Wiley,
Will the information from that study be available somewhere when finished?

I think that area, and here, are similar enough in cat populations and topography that I'd be interested in seeing how the GPSing went.

Brad

[Stef]

The cat lure Stef makes, Pikauba, seems to be effective but the majority of the commercial lures I tried over the years were not very effective.

Don't forget that Pikauba was made for Canadian lynx first.
Colorado just bought another case recently for their third years, for their lynx project... So it should work.

Some western trappers especially asked me over the years some questions about Bobcats and lures... I was the first to tell them... I don't know anything about Bobcat, i have reports about my lures and bobcat catches only.

One thing I know is that some of my K-9 lures like Cachottier, XLDC and Indispensable are great cat lures from the reports I have heard

Its all I know about Bobcats.

Stef

[bobCATching]

Excellent excellent points (but let me clarify I'm not an expert either) I think Wiley hit some great points. I've also alway felt my finished set was an attractor in itself. The actual set construction, the visuals and lure are all greater together than each is as an individual luring agent. Kinda like a football team! (or for Stef, a hockey team) ;D