I live in missouri, I watched the clint locklear cat collector dvd ( i found to be ridiculous)and a dvd by mike bailey called cat trapping, i didn't like the locklear video because he was in texas trapping 14,000 acres had out over 150 sets and averaged a cat a day, well to be honest his average really sucks, i don't have that type of terrain here in missouri, i have cattle pastures, bottom ground and fence rows, i don't have all these roads these two guys trap and what i do have you can't flag because of thieves, any advice would be great, also wanting a good midwest coyote dvd

I can not recomend you a good dvd but will try to give advice that might help. Bobcats have very good eyesight. You want your flagging to draw the cats in close enough to your trap that they will work your set. This can be done at times with only one or two small feathers. You can flag a set so it would not stick out like a sore thumb in some places. A feather or two hung in the fence might be enough to catch a cat on and not be noticed by most people. The thieves you talk about are they trappers also or just random people stumbling into your sets?

I do not know how the cat population is in Missouri but it would be impossible to catch a cat a day here for any period of time if you had a thousand traps out. Don't set your goals so high they can not be reached.

thank you castiron, i guess i will ask you the question, i am starting to trap along a river that is about 100 yards wide, there are thousands of acres of crop land, bean stubble now, along the river is timber that ranges from 50 yards wide to 10 yards wide along the crop land, i see tons of coyote tracks, no cat, i set out several dirt hole sets today in the fields, as well as a couple cubbies kicked in the briars along the field, so, i can tell by the lack of cat tracks in the field that the cats aren't in the field, so by nature would the cats be in the thin band of timber running along the river, should i be setting in the timber itself instead of along it

I have never caught a cat out in the open. Cats like to hunt around brush piles, briers, and other thick places. Old growed up house places is hot spots also. Cut overs where the timber has been cut and the brush is coming back are good places. Is the feed still in the timber that runs along the river? Cats feed on rabbits, mice, squierls, birds to name a few things. You will find the cats where the feed is. The cats will be hunting food and if it is not there the cats will not be there either. If you have any swampy or wet areas that would be a good place to look. Hope this helps you.

There are some good ones out but I think I benefited the most from JC Conner's video. It has both west and east trapping. BTW make your cat sets right on the edge of the top of main bank of the river. Lots of time there's some sort of trail there.

yes there is a small trail that runs along the top of the wooded river bank, i will set it this week, we are finally going to get some perfect trapping weather (below 32 degrees day time/15 degrees at night) i found a snake in the middle of the road on christmas eve, in missouri we should have been well below freezing by that time.