After suffering a rather frustrating first round of trapping during which only two female bobcats were collared (refer to News Archive for details), trapping is beginning anew. I’ve made several changes to my trapping technique this round. During winter trapping, bobcats visited traps without entering them on several occasions. To entice them to enter the traps, I’ve purchased frozen rabbits to replace the beaver meat I previously used for bait, hoping they will present a more natural, and thus tempting, bait. I am also focusing trapping in Saint Croix and Nemadji State Forests because trapping records from last December suggest bobcats are abundant there.

Upon arriving at my first traps I was greeted by a set of tracks which I initially discounted as my own from the previous day. Upon closer inspection I realized that the tracks were from an American black bear and were coming from the direction of my first trap. Bears present a challenge when trapping bobcats because they, unlike other bycatch, cannot be caught and “discouraged” from returning subsequent days by banging on the trap or wacking them on the rear as they exit the trap. They are also quite capable of destroying a trap if the mood suits them. During preliminary trapping last fall, a bear became fond of the beaver I was baiting the traps with and returned several days in a row before I closed the trap with the bait still inside. The following day I returned to the trap to find the rear door of the trap caved in, the bait gone, and a message, in the form of pile of bear scat on the collapsed door.

Lesson learned: Don’t leave bait in a closed trap. Because of this, despite my pleasure at seeing the bear tracks I was concerned about my bait and traps. Luckily, this bear did not seem to notice, or be enticed to visit my traps and they both retained their bait. Unluckily, neither contained a bobcat. However, walking between both traps I saw fresh fisher and wolf tracks. Despite my failure to catch any bobcats the first day, I nonetheless took the tracks as a good sign.

During subsequent days I have trapped skunks and raccoons, had bears attempt to steal the bait (and dug up the ground surrounding the traps in their attempts), and had a fisher carrying what I think was a fawn leg jump into the road in front of me, but have not caught a bobcat. The summer is still young however, and after a brief break to allow me to do some more scouting and prebaiting and wait for funding to arrive, I will begin again, and hopefully manage to capture a few more bobcats.