I realize nothing in this world is a lock, but is there a trapping method, terminal or not, that is least likely to attract a domestic long haired cat, but will work on a coyote?


I'm "almost sure" I know the range of our lot cat, and I have coyotes that are getting braver around our livestock (goats), and I'd like to be able to put a hurtin on them, but not the cat, who I actually like.

Practically, I have some foot holds and have used them successfully, and have done some snaring, successfully, and have some connibears, but all this was way out away from my house.

The short answer is no. You can generally avoid catching cats by snaring, but there are no absolutes. If I really did like the cat, I'd stick with snares in cover that lead to a bait station. Set the bottom of your loop at about 10" and have a 10" loop. This should alleviate nearly all non-target catches.

How heavy is the cat? If you keep pan tension at 4#, you would be less likely to catch the cat even if it stepped on the pan.

An offset laminated trap is unlikely to hurt the cat even if you catch it, unless it gets eaten the trap.

+1 on the 4# pan tension. I've been trapping coyotes for a few years and only the biggest tomcats will get snagged by a trap with 4# of tension. I rarely catch a housecat.

Urine posts are about as coyote effective as anything even on trap shy yotes and they don't attract cats. Haven't tried it but being omnivore, opportunists, and if they're in close proximity to humans maybe even a sweet lure like raccoon would cause at least a curiosity affect that wouldn't with a cat.

Stay away from meat based lures and baits with one exception. A large exposed or smelly bait within close range of a small mound, 20-30'. Canines sometimes use the high ground to oversee the bait before moving closer, cats won't. Don't put traps at the bait, illegal in a lot of places and catches non-targets first.

Use a small enough trap to release the cat if you do get it. I use MB450's where I am just as likely to get a gray fox, raccoon, as a coyote and even though I occasionally catch a domestic cat I never had to kill one because of a broken leg.

As for offset jaws, I wouldn't own a trap with them. Nothing like setting yourself up to lose every toe catch that you get. Laminated jaws are going to work just as well in preserving leg integrity and you'll still have a 100% effective trap. I run as close to zero pan tension as I can get and go with a hair trigger. As soon as they begin to commit, it's too late for them to back out. I'd just lock the cat up for a week or two and do your trapping, no worries then and you can use the most effective sets.

With no pan tension, you will have problems with toe catchs. I keep 1.5-2#'s on most of my traps and have no toe catches and no pull outs. Offset jaws and pit pans.

With zero you won't just get toe catches but also complete misses because they have not committed to the step by shifting body weight onto that paw and can still retract it quickly. That problem is completely resolved with a couple pounds of pan tension as the trap does not fire until after the shift in weight onto that paw.

You may have a point, the old timer that I learned from swore by zero tension. I do have an occasional miss and toe catch. With that said, I can rack up 40-50 coyotes and a dozen red fox in two weeks out of 40-50 sets doing what I do. Can't be working too poorly. I might give a little more tension a try and see what happens.

I have found that I get better catches with more pan tension, and where I trap there is lots of domestic dogs, the deep catches are really easy on the dogs, they are fine the next day, toe catches not so much, for this reason alone I have been using my traps at 3.5#s of tension.