Yellow Bob......

[FWS]

So did you try the ol' French's yellow mustard set on cats ?

[Stef]

Just hang me above a BIG CAT set and I'll turn yellow FWS



Stef

[bobwendt]

I plumb forgot all about it, went right over my head while I was out there. Fighting mud and snow and ice the whole trip kind of had me a little addle brained this time around. All summer a guy comes up with all this stuff he is going to do, somehow forgetting from one winter to the next that all that sun and dry dirt disappears about trapping time.

[FWS]

Speaking of big cats, my puppy got pounced on by a mountain lion while we were running traps last month. He has two fang scars on his head and a couple claw scars on his flank from it.

I had stopped to dispatch a gray fox in a cage and Buddy decided to go check out this little canyon off the ridge. I'm resetting the trap when I hear this yelping and then a couple barks. About 20 seconds later he comes racing up and leans against me growling with his hackles raised.

I saw the wounds and figured what happened. He's a GSP/Lab mix and is the son of my GSP Gus, who was taking the day off. And he weighs about 100 lbs at 18 months old, super strong and lightning fast, so no surprise he got away.

I've matched up the fang scars with the skull of about a 60 lb. female lion and from the angle of attack the lion was most definitely trying to kill and eat him. With over 30 inches of rain in the preceeding weeks I'd say that lion was probably ready to eat anything that came its way.

Probably a good thing that didn't happen to Gus because it would've been the battle royal steel cage match of the year. Gus wouldn't take an insult like that lightly.

[FWS]

I plumb forgot all about it

I never tried because it was low on the list of things to try and the weather made it hard to ever get going full bore. It was difficult enough to keep operating and experimenting with what I knew would work.

I did play with something that was just deadly effective on cats and gray fox in cage traps but it's expensive and time consuming to produce. But I'll have a lot more for next season regardless.

[trappnman]

whats a GSP?

[SteveCraig]

FWS,
The mustard works pretty good . I think the color alone is a good attractant. You got those pics yet that you said you would send me? You know I'm like an old bobcat and just curious as heck to see them! ;D
Steve

[FWS]

GSP = German Shorthaired Pointer.

Versatile dogs that hunt pretty much anything.

Unlike those yappy little bunny dogs.

[trappnman]

ah- my neighbor growing up had one- we hunted with it and our labs- real nervous dog- wore me out just watching him. Smart though.

[bobwendt]

research indicates the only color cats can see is green, thus the yellow attraction (red x yellow = grren). I had intended to spray paint all my chicken wings green this year too, but just never got aroundtuit

[musher]

GSP's make great sled dogs also. Racers that run the short stuff (+/- 10 miles) love them or their crosses.

I understand the mustard part but where does the red come in? Wouldn't it just be easier to spray paint as BW mentionned?

If green-winged teal wings were as large as goose wings they might be the ticket!

[NattyBumpo]

I thought the french's yellow mustard set was for coyotes.

[FWS]

research indicates the only color cats can see is green

The research I've seen suggests that cats responded to green, blue and some yellows. But I'm not sure they're actually attracted to those colors.

Movement is what gets em', which is probably why they're attracted to some, but not all, flashing lights.

I had an electronics buddy help me make some decoys that used a vibrating toy motor to shake them. And then hooked them up to passive infrared motion sensors like you find on trail cams. The motor noise actually sounds kinda like a bird whirring it's wings.

Any kitty that is within the 40 feet or so to trigger the sensor sees a wiggling piece of fur with an eye behind the cage.

These things are just plain deadly but they ain't cheap.

I'm working on some MP3 units right now that I want to play rodent digging, scratching sounds and a few other things.

Problem is cost, if I can modify toys or novelty stuff it would then be cost effective.

[bobwendt]

sorry to say, but once you get a prototype you need to go to hong kong to get stuff like that for pennys on the dollar compared to u.s. production costs. At least the chinese buy our fur, more than I can say for wallfart

[bobwendt]

oh ya, and you definitly need someone to "test" all that stuff in other areas of the country too. Beings we are buds and all I would do that for you. You want my address? I figure it would take about 80 units to make a real test, you know.

[FWS]

I'm thinking that spending the month of February next year in AZ with 100 cages would be an excellent location to compile more field data.

[bobwendt]

so now you want me to do the testing in az.? I can arrange that, just so you send me somewhere where it never rains. I am so sick of mud that I`m belching and farting mud at the same time when I cough.

[FWS]

send me somewhere where it never rains

In all liklihood there won't be "rain events" such as we just experienced in the Southwest next year. Gullywashing storms of Biblical proportion seem to be on a 10 year or so cycle.

So my bet is we'll have nice weather next year, couple clouds, lots of sunshine, maybe a light sprinkle or two.

My cat season ends on 1/31 and AZ's goes til 3/31.

And being that AZ only allows cage traps on public lands........

It really does feel good trapping in shorts and a t-shirt and I really sympathize with you on that whole frozen mud, snow, sleet, blizzard thing.

[bobwendt]

I can handle the blizzards and wind and cold and rain, it`s that farting mud that chaps me. I knew I was living large in ks. the last 7 years what with dust at 5 degrees- no water in the soil so no need to tote peat or salt or anything. I`m here to tell you, I paid up for all those glorious dust bowl years. My debt is paid in full, WITH INTEREST. And an exorbitant rate I might add. Heck, I could have stayed home and trapped in the mud and rain and snow, and no mange either.

[FWS]

I could have stayed home and trapped in the mud and rain and snow

But y'all ain't got no cat trappin' up yonder just the greasy, stanky kinda furbearers.

So you seek out the promised land year after year, looking for that special place where the bobcats all line up and say, "Take me Bob, take me."

The mud is just pennance for your good times and as wicked as you are Mother Nature just came calling for that balloon payment that was past due.