American Gamefowl

[roosterhavoc]

I made a set 90 degrees off a two track road and flagged it up big, scattered feathers in and around the cubby... really made it look like something...

We had a skiff of snow and you could see from the tracks the bobcat stopped, turned toward the set and made one step and then turned back and continued the direction it was headed originally....

You just can’t seem to turn them, but put that same set at a bend in the road so that it catches its eye as it approaches and the same cat will walk right in.

I make up for lack of skill with extra traps. Might be a whole bunch smarter than me but I can out work em.
Sometimes even a raccoon won’t step 6 inches off their trail regardless of bait or lure used.
My #1 biggest issue that I struggle with constantly is over luring. I know it’s a problem yet I continue to do it.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

What attracts them to antlers?

That set was on the edge of a soy bean field with a thin fence line running up between the beans and a hay field... there is a plastic deer hunting blind that gets infested with mice...

The antler got tossed there so it wouldn’t end up in a tractor tire... and was hanging in a tree...

So long story longer, the fence row provided the travel path with cover, the deer blind was likely a place the bobcat stopped to pick up a mouse every time it came by... I just used the antler to pull it over and across my trap set...

So I guess that’s a pretty good example of 90% location and 10% eye appeal

 

[B123]

Got it! My dog likes to collect them for chew toys, but I didn't think cats were chewers.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I make up for lack of skill with extra traps. Might be a whole bunch smarter than me but I can out work em.
Sometimes even a raccoon won’t step 6 inches off their trail regardless of bait or lure used.
My #1 biggest issue that I struggle with constantly is over luring. I know it’s a problem yet I continue to do it.

I do the same thing on the over luring... I think that’s part of why I set back so for coyotes... I was hitting them so hard in the face with the lure I started setting back to meet them half way...

Then I noticed I caught fewer coons and possums in my coyote sets, so I like that... and like you I just added more steel to the ground to catch them on the dance... I seldom catch up close even if I put one there

I am particularly proud of my self when I occasionally catch on a proper text book dirt hole with a trap set up close, though

 

[roosterhavoc]

Location is everything. Standing on a field edge and looking down the field, where ever brush, tractor or whatever is sticking out and breaking up the straight line the animal will travel is where to set.
These locations work far better then corners for me since they will be right on top within a foot or two.

 

[roosterhavoc]

My favorite kind of trapping is still with snares and blind setting for mink. I’m still amazed that it works so well. Makes me feel real good about myself.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Location is everything. Standing on a field edge and looking down the field, where ever brush, tractor or whatever is sticking out and breaking up the straight line the animal will travel is where to set.
These locations work far better then corners for me since they will be right on top within a foot or two.

I probably ought to trap more new ground, because I’m pretty bad about setting the same spots that always produce on places I know... and don’t sharpen that skill of identifying good location ‘from scratch’ enough

 

[SOHC-FTW]

Auction bird junk all of em!

 

[roosterhavoc]

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Auction bird junk all of em!

Outstanding rooster and super cute little girl. I’m just gonna leave the terrorist out.

 

[roosterhavoc]

I probably ought to trap more new ground, because I’m pretty bad about setting the same spots that always produce on places I know... and don’t sharpen that skill of identifying good location ‘from scratch’ enough

I do the same thing. It’s easy to get stuck in the same routine. You almost have to force yourself to try all new spots. I did that one year with muskrats. Guess what? The water was a lot deeper than I thought and my waders have a leak conveniently in the crotch so the cold water doesn’t go unnoticed.