Most of my cats are taken in cubbies. I bait with a large bait, a beaver carcass, or ½ a beaver carcass, or a beaver tail and feet left over from skinning. Even though the bait is in a cubby, I usually do a litte scratch-up over it.
It didn't take me long to learn to wire the bait to a tree, log, wire fence or fence post, or to stake it down.
I do not do elaborate cubbies, as I have seen pictured, or in books. I do not make cubbies, and transport them to my set-site. I locate a suitable backing in a suitable area, and put my bait in place, and secure it.
What I want is a natural backing in the area I want to set. The backing can be a tree, a stump, a rock, bluff rock or dirt, along the trunk of a downed tree, a larghe stump or a V- formed by a large downed branch. I have had good results in making a cat walk the trunk of a downed tree to the root ball where I put my bait.
When my bait is in place, and I have done a little scratch-up over it, I'll make my cubbie.
Nothing elaborate. I make what I call a "Brush Arbor" cubbie, by fencing off a V with the bait in the small end. For fencing I use what is at hand in the way of sticks and brush.
With the cubby made, and the bait in place I place my trap a step or so into the mouth of the cubby, and offset to one side or the other. I use a stepping stick Ok now that every thing is finished, I lure the set. I use cat urine as my primary lure.
"Store bought" urine from a reliable source is ok, but bladder urine is better. I have had trappers tell me that a cat releases all his urine on being caught. I do not find this to be true. After skinning my cats, I open them up, carefully remove the bladder, and "milk" it into a clean jar. I do not mix my bladder urine and my bought urine. Once I have drained the bladder, I place it in another clean jar.
I set the collected urine back, and freeze the bladders until I have enough to use. I course chop the bladders, and add some sodium benzoate to them. In a couple of days, I add the chopped bladders to the urine. In most cases it does no harm to mix urine and bladders from different cats. However, if you catch a female that's in season,you might want to keep these
"collectables" to themselves. If you want, you can save the anal glands, and a short piece of the colon. I chop these, and let them mildly taint. Again, add the sodium benzoate. Mix them with the bladders as you chop them, and add to the urine.
I fling a few drops of urine over the bait, and leave it alone. If I am using bought urine, I'll do a light spray over the bait. Some folks worry about a cat tearing down the cubby. So what? It's so simple, that it can easily be re-built.
Some things I have learned are that: A skinned beaver carcass works better that one fully furred. A scratch-up works better than a naked carcass. A tore-up set-site works better than when it is new. Drag the carcass usually from two directions in front of, and into the cubby site.
I once trapped with a man who had an uncanny ability to wire a beaver carcass to a tree, set a body gripper out from it, and catch a cat on the first night. I cannot do this, but... ,
What I can do, is, if I have a miss with a foot hold, I can begin weaving a body gripper into the cubby, and the cat will walk thru it. I know that this use of large body grippers is not legal in all states, nor is it advised in a community containing large numbers of pets, etc.
Use some judgement with body grippers on land.
The best cubby I ever had was an eroded cut bank below a man made pond. This cut bank was where much of the dam dirt had come from. It had eroded in a manner that left a tall column of dirt standing within the front of of the large V formed by the run off. The edge of a major creek swamp lay only a few yards from my natural cubby. The damp fan of washed-out dirt in front of the cut bank showed scores of cat tracks coming up from the swamp, and returning.
I put a beaver carcass in the back of the V, and on the first night had two cats. I changed out the carcass about once a week. Most folks don't believe how many cats I took from that set, so I don't say any more. It was a real honey hole, and paid for my time and trouble to check it even after the bulk of my line had swung away from that area.
Remenber too, that if the circumstances are right, you can use snares effectively at a cubby.
One last thought, IMEx, a bucket is a poor substitute for a cubby.
Adios,
45/70,
RKBA !!!
.Think of it as a structure that protects your attractor more or less and forces the animal to approach from the direction you want(over the trap).Building materials are only limited by your imagination and what is available at the location you selected.Rocks,sticks,branches,bark,leaves,dirt and anything else easy to move are all suitable building material.Don't be afraid to use natural features as a starting point.A crevase in the rocks,stump,low branches or spur roots on a tree can all be incorparated into the cubby.
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