Catchin' Cats

[Silver]

One of my closest neighbours appears to be having his horses tore up by a cougar. No one up here knows much about these cats, they are pretty scarce up here. He had a stud scratched up and a foal killed the same day this spring, and a foal scratched up today. And now he's noticed a mare with infected scratch on her neck. Now one of the other neighbours is thinkin' maybe a couple of his yrlng losses may be related. Reason we think it may be a cat is we've never seen damage like this done by anything else we have around here, and certainly never seen anything get infected so quickly.
So the question becomes: without the use of dogs, how does on go about catching one of these critters. I assume they don't come to bait, if they do can they be trapped or snared? How big of territory do they have, and how often do they get around it? Are they mostly nocturnal? Any help appreciated.

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

We have mountain lions here in texas, sometimes called puma's or panthers, we've lost only one calf to them in the last 15 years that we were sure of. Yes they can be trapped, but dont hear of many talking about trappin em these days. Remember grandpa talkin bout trappin em. Only thing you hear of now days is huntin em with dogs. We've always heard that they have a 10 mile radius 'home range'.

[nr]

We've had cougar sightings since the 1990's, videotaping, certified cougar prints and skat and deer kill here in the wild, wild east. One was videotaped near a school. The state police placed a man on full time cougar hunting. He even brought in Colorado trained dogs, but it all came to naught. We assume he had a very pleasant year at our expense.
Last we heard the state believed these had been captive cougar at one time which would make you think they'd be more easily caught. Evidently not. They seem to be feeding here on all the white tailed deer and plentiful Canada geese, no human attacks fortunately.

Couldn't your govt. provide some assistance with positive identification?

[George]

I bought a house in Fort Drum Florida in 1996 for my mother and step dad to live in. It is on 5 acres about 30 miles north of lake Occachobi ( sp) right in the middle of a large dairy.

There are a couple of large cats that make regular trips thru the property right at sundown.

At first Mom was freaked out but after calling the animal control people and talking to others it is now a source of entertainment . It seems they are great at controling the armidilos and other pests. If you are having problems I would guess that you have an old or injured animal that is having problems with the normal sources of feed. It is unfortunate but if this is the case the animal will need to be captured or distroyed.

I have only seen one of the cats there. I was going to town there on my Goldwing ( very quiet) and pulled out onto the access road when a cat that was bigger than any German Shepard I have ever seen crossed the road in front of me in one stride . Very beautiful - - - solid black! and was gone in a second.

[Northern Rancher]

geez not sure how you'd get a specific cat without using dogs-I think they cover a bit of ground. They do come in to a predator calls at times. Go on realtree.com in the varmint hunting forum and they might be able to help.

[TXTibbs]

of course you can trap them....just like you would trap anything else....and the great thing about them is that they are cats...and curious....about like a bob cat. You can catch a bob cat by tying a ribbon in a tree and putting a trap under it. Curious little buggers they are.

[Silver]

I've caught lynx using that same method. Great thing about them is you only have to catch them by a toe, they'll just sit there without fighting. I didn't know if the same sort of sets would work for the big guys. I wish someone around here ran hounds, that would be fun.

[Faster horses]

My husband used to trap and he could catch bobcats by putting toilet paper around the sagebrush!! They really are curious.

[Jinglebob]

Maybe if you set a trap with some reeeaaallll big mice in it..............

[Mike]

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

I'd never heard of nutria until hubby came home one mornin from work. (Prison guard at the time) He was workin the trustee camp and said some of the guys had caught a nutria and fixed it for supper.....I had to ask what it was, n when he told me...I bout gagged. That's just nasty!!!!
Yeap I say send em some to bait their traps with to catch cats.

[Silver]

I guess you'll have to explain.... nutria?? I hope it's not rats, cuz I hate rats.