will bobcats come to a bait pile consistently?

I can only answer from my personal experience.

I've never had a cat eat off any of my bait piles and this area has a lot of cats. I've gotten pics of them walking 10 yards from a fresh roadkill deer and not even turn their nose at it.
 
I shot a deer on december 1st 2020. Dumped the trimmed out bones about 50 yards from my house, just inside the timber edge. Christmas morning looked out the window and saw a bobcat chewing on the rib bones. Hes a rug now. Maybe they dont like stinky carrion, but if its winter time, freezing temps, that 3 week old kill is still "fresh"
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Also, bobcats go into baited traps all the time, so the idea that a bait pile wont work seems a little absurd to me
 
I have had them come to a deer carcass I was using for bait twice. One time I got to watch the bobcat scare off about 20 buzzards in daylight, that was cool. I know others on the baiting forum have bobcats come to bait piles but to call them consistent, might be a stretch.
 
In Washington a beaver carcass will bring in cats if cats are around. Many trappers pre-bait and set traps after a cat hits it. With a 24 hour check and cage only you don't waste time and energy on dead sets.
 
Murl B said:
Bait pile won't work, Bobcats don't eat carrion, only fresh ppl
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Sorry to tell you this, but that is incorrect. Bobcats “WILL” eat carrion. Here is a collection of trail camera videos I put together. These were at my coyote bait site using a carcass that was not fresh. As you can see, this carcass has been there a while. The dead chicken was a couple days old. I have multiple videos of such.

 
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Another example. Road killed deer about two or three days old. This bobcat was all over it. I shot a coyote earlier in the night, then the cat showed up and shortly afterwards a red fox. The cat paid no attention to the dead coyote nor the fox, but was actively eating on the deer carcass.




Bobcats have been coming to my bait sites for years. They are pests actually and I generally run them off. They keep me awake a lot during the night, pinging the alarm.
 
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It's not the first time i've been wrong it's normally very warm down here and dead critters get to stinking real quick, no such thing as snow, my experience is different than you all's I killed and trapped 63 Bobcats last winter here and have pictures of most of them, go with what you know that's what I do. Good Luck Murl B.
 
Just like geography and temps play into coyote hunting/trapping, it’s the same for bobcats. Our issue down here is buzzards. If they like it, they’ll have in to nothing in a day or two. If buzzards don’t like it, then nothing does.
I’d imagine colder temps and snow would have just about everything on bait. Down South, food is never an issue.
 
Good luck to you, Murl B. You have quite a number of bobcats to your credit. Hope you have a great season.

I have an opinion that bobcats prefer fresh meat, even more-so prefer to catch their own. I have had cats eat at my baitsite at various times and temperatures, snow and no snow, but I don’t recall any coming to the site during summer months. They normally come during fall, winter and early spring here. Perhaps food is more plentiful in summer months, and much more plentiful in your area than here in the mountains. DoubleLung, your theory may be right. I don't know for sure, just know what they do here.
 
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I see bobcats around the town dump but suspect they are hunting rodents. I feed a couple of feral cats here at the house, they keep the ground squirrels and other rodents in check.

They will kill on occasion bird but won't eat on it other than when it is fresh .

Just an observation of cat behavior.
 
What's interesting is regional differences. Some places beaver is a poor attraction and others the only bait that works. I'm sure freshness is an issue in warmer climates. Maybe due to parasites and bacteria? We had a dead elk go all last winter without a single bite out off it.
 
Softpoint said:
In Washington a beaver carcass will bring in cats if cats are around. Many trappers pre-bait and set traps after a cat hits it. With a 24 hour check and cage only you don't waste time and energy on dead sets.
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Here they love porcupines, sometimes I prebait an area before I set a trap.
 
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