Best Bobcat Traps: Capture And Relocate Red Lynxes

Ah, Bobcats, the thieves of joy.

No, seriously, no one wants these cute-looking yet deadly kitties running rampant. And that’s why people need to trap them. Red Lynxes sometimes give off a medium-sized cheetah-like vibe. 

So it’s normal for kids to feel terrified when they see one of these bobcats lurking in the backyard. 

What do you do about them? Well, you have to capture them in a trap to relocate them. And not all traps would work. So we’ve put together the best bobcat traps for you. 

We also made some comparisons as to how you should approach them. So let’s dive right in without further ado.

Why You Should Choose Cage Traps

Here’s the thing. We’ll only be featuring the cage traps for this article. And we advise you to stick to these types of traps only. 

The other types of traps include using foothold traps and coiled spring traps. 

And if it’s not obvious, those things could easily hurt the Red Lynxes that you want to relocate. So, make sure you stay away from these things. 

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, you can go for either bobcat traps or cage traps designed for all wild animals. Honestly, it’s all the same. You don’t have any special mechanism that can capture a bobcat.

This means it’s no different than the simple cage raccoon traps, either. Yes, a large raccoon cage trap will work with bobcats too. 

How to Lure and Catch Bobcats 

Traps aren’t the only things you’ll need while dealing with bobcats. You need to lure them into the cage traps with some lures. But if you’re doing this for the first time, I think you should call Animal Control.

Regardless, we’ll give you a few tips on how to catch a bobcat. So let’s get on with it.

Step 1 of 4: Placing the Cage Trap

Firstly, you have to set the cage trap up. These traps are more humane and also beginner-friendly. Place the trap in sheltered spots if you can. Make the most out of the debris if you can’t find sheltered spots. 

Step 2 of 4: Setting the Trap

Next, you have to cover the bottom of the trap with soil. Keep soil off of the pedal, though. Otherwise, you can’t trigger the cage door. 

Use some debris and branches around the trap to hide it in plain sight. 

Step 3 of 4: Placing a Lure

Use a good-quality lure as bait to lure the bobcat into the trap. You can place bobcat scent glands, or urine lures around the trap to draw them towards the cage trap. If it’s already around the vicinity, you’re lucky.

Step 4 of 4: The Waiting Game

The bobcat won’t just come running into your cage trap. You need to wait. We’ve seen people waiting weeks to get a bobcat trapped finally. So you know how long you might have to wait. 

Best Bobcat Traps in 2021

Now that you know why you should aim for cage traps, we’ll be heading into the reviews. But take a look at the short comparison table at first. 

Comparison Table

This was a short comparison. But if you want a better graphical view, we might have just the thing for you. Check this out-

OxGord Live Animal Trap: More About the Product

On top, we have the OxGord Live Animal Trap. So why’s it on top? Well, if we had to rate this one, it’d get a solid 8.5. so it’s not amazing, but it’s better than the rest. 

It’s also on the cheaper side of things. SO you don’t have to burn a hole in your pocket while trying to relocate a Red Lynx. 

In terms of material, this is simple metal. It’s heavy-duty steel, according to them. So it’s the same thing they use in the Havahart and Tomahawk cage traps. 

The build on the metal meshing was decent. I mean, we didn’t notice anything bending while this was in our custody. So that’s a plus point. 

As for portability, this would earn the highest points. You get this in a flat state. And you can get this back to the flat state once you’re done with this. Thus, you don’t need a large space in your truck if you’re planning to carry it around.

The transforming ability is missing on the other cage traps of the list. So this makes the OxGord cage pretty unique.

I’d say that the worst thing is they don’t include any instructions. So you might even be confused when you see this in the collapsed state at first. 

We were also skeptical about how durable the springs are. They seemed fine during our usage. But if you’re in a neighborhood that gets attacked with bobcats a lot, I’ll be interested to see the results after a year of use.

Unfortunately, this one doesn’t come with any gimmicky features. It’s as basic as it gets. They didn’t bother innovating any new features into the trap. And I think the traditional system makes it stand out.

Things That Need Improvement

• You might notice a few sharp edges. Anyone might get cuts from these. If you want a perfect, rounded-edged build, try out a more premium option. 
• It’s on the smaller side. But it would still fit bobcats easily. If you’re not convinced, you can easily opt for a larger cage trap. 

Havahart 1045 Live Animal Two-Door Cage Trap: More About the Product

Do what the company name says. Have a heart. No, seriously. We haven’t seen such ingenuity when it comes to aptly naming a brand.

Enough of that for now. Is this good? How’s it worse than the previous one? Let’s find out how the 1045 Live Animal Cage Trap from Havahart performs. 

It’s a two-door system. So your target bobcat can get in from both ways. Yes, this is the only two-door cage on the list that we featured. So it makes it unique. 

You might call this a gimmick, but I’ll give this some points nevertheless. 

It’s slightly larger than the first one on the list. So you can guess that it’s also heavier. 

But don’t worry, it’s still not the heaviest on the list. So it’s still portable enough if you ask me.

You can’t fold this into a flat piece like the first one, though. so that one still earns most points for being portable. But this isn’t a slouch either. 

Havahart tries a bit too much not to hurt the animals. So props to them for this initiative. But I still saw a couple of sharp edges. It’s not as bad as the first one from OxGord, though. 

In terms of materials, this uses alloy steel. So it’s comparable to the first one and most of the others too. 

It’s a bit bigger in size than the previous one. With a little help from Milligan’s lure, you can easily get a medium-sized bobcat into the cage. 

Things That Need Improvement

• It’s not the most portable option. If you want your trap to fold, you can choose either the OxGord or the ZENY traps.
• It does weigh a bit more than the previous one. If this bothers you, you can opt for the OxGord one that we just reviewed. 

Duke Traps Heavy Duty X-Large Cage Trap: More About Product Name

Coming in at third place is the X-Large Cage Trap from Duke Traps. It’s another fan favorite, so we had to try it out. 

The special part about this one is the use of material. They use a material blend that is different from all the other traps on the list. This also makes this the lighter trap here. 

So if you’re solely looking for a cage trap that won’t hurt your hands while carrying, this could be it.

This doesn’t come without flaws, though. The blended material makes this less durable than alloy steel or other heavy-duty steel used in the other traps. 

I’m not sure if this trap could survive a fall from the roof of a single-storied building. So, try not to drop-test it. 

There is a tiny second door on the top of the cage. I think they designed that to pour bait through the top. While this shouldn’t be an issue for bobcats, I’ve seen raccoons squeezing out through that tiny hole. 

So keep that in mind if you’re dealing with smaller animals. But bobcats won’t be able to squeeze through that opening. 

Things That Need Improvement

• This isn’t the most durable on the list. If you want something close to being unbreakable, pick a sturdier trap.
• The material choice is far from top-class on this one. If you want to avoid such blends, try out the trap in the last place. 

ZENY Live Animal Cage Trap: More About the Product

Next up, we have ZENY’s Live Animal Cage Trap. It’s another small bobcat trap. If you want specifics, this is of the same length as the first one. So you can guess that it’s smaller compared to the other cages.

Just like the first one, you can fold this into a flat slab of metal. So this makes it another portable beast, in my opinion. You can slide this one into any thin space and forget it’s even there. 

But I’d say that the best part about this one is the price. It’s the cheapest one on the list. So if you’re not willing to spend a lot of money to catch one odd bobcat, this is a decent choice.

In terms of the build quality, the ZENY trap is on par with the first one on the list. They claim that they used alloy steel with this one. So it’s similar to most of the others on the list. 

But I’m not really sure how they managed to keep this one so lightweight. It’s a tad heavier than the first one. I guess they did use a bit of iron in it. Who knows?

In terms of practicality, the door almost always closes. So, the sensitive triggers are working. The animal just has to touch the pedal slightly. So you can guess where you can place the lure, right?

A bit of urine lure around the trap should do the job decently. 

This is also pretty easy to set up. The low profile helps it lay low if you surround it with debris. Luring bobcats into the enclosure should be fairly easy. 

Things That Need Improvement

• It’s on the smaller side. You can try out the bigger cage traps ranked 6^th and 7^th on the list if this bothers you.
• This tends to rust due to the higher iron content. You can opt for a trap that has lower iron content.  

Humane Way 914050 Heavy Duty Live X-Large Cage Trap: More About the Product

This one’s pretty similar to the Havahart when it comes to naming. I swear the companies are getting better with the apt names. Enough of that.

It’s one of the largest traps on the list. Even a full-sized person might be able to fit into this one. But don’t try that.

With the large size comes a lot of weight. And trust me, it’s a LOT of weight! So I won’t recommend this if you are truly unsure about it. 

The higher weight also owes to the use of thicker wires. I guess this was made for more wild animals than just bobcats. And that’s a good thing. 

It’s one of the only black-coated ones on the list. So you don’t get light shining off it as much as the others. 

This allows the big trap to lay low at night. A lot of companies miss out on the camouflaging part of traps. Well, Humane Way didn’t forget.

But I think you should only invest in it if you actually saw a bobcat that’s larger than usual.

As a matter of fact, I’d rather call animal control if I saw a Red Lynx that big lurking in my yard. Let the pros do the job. 

Things That Need Improvement

• This might seem too big. If you don’t have a truck, you might struggle to carry it to places. If you want something that’s medium-sized, pick a slightly smaller cage trap like the one from Havahart.
• It’s not cheap. If you’re not willing to pay this much, opt for the budget option that we previously reviewed. 

LifeSupplyUSA Animal Trap: More About Product Name

I’m not sure how to begin with this one. If the previous one wasn’t big enough for you, this is just extra. 

But you want not to be too pleasantly surprised with the price of this thing. If I wasn’t being obvious, it’s freakishly expensive.

This is also the heaviest trap on the list as it weighs almost forty pounds. That’s higher than even the first two traps combined. So you can imagine when you might be needing a piece of this.

Unlike the previous one from Humane Way, this lacks a black coating. So you can imagine that bit of light will reflect off it. Well, that’s not the only concern. 

Hiding something this big needs a lot more than camouflage. And you have to be really creative when you’re trying to hide this under debris.

If you want the absolute big unit of a trap, pay the price. I’m not sure if it’s going to be worth it, though. It’s around ten times more expensive than the one from ZENY that we just reviewed.

Well, I guess you have to pay for a bigger size, right?

Regardless, I think this is reliable. Your bobcat or Red Lynx won’t be going anywhere once it’s trapped here. So it’ll be safe for you to relocate them. 

Things That Need Improvement

• This might seem too big. If this seems concerning, you can opt for a medium-sized cage trap. 
• This is way too expensive. Pick out a more budget-friendly option if you can’t spend that much money. 

Tomahawk BC300 Bobcat Trap: More About Product Name

Lastly, we have Tomahawk’s BC300. You might argue that this one deserved a better position. But I’ll gladly explain to you why it didn’t end up higher on the list.

The first thing that disturbed me was the price. Maybe it is made out of more solid material, but they don’t list it. It’s listed as alloy steel which is the same as most of the other traps on the list. 

This one is one of the two traps on the list that have a black coating over the wires. But I still wouldn’t pay this much just for a darker-colored finish.

If we compare this to the other 36″ trap on the list, which is the second one from Havahart, it’s almost twice as heavy.

I’m not sure why that is. But they claim that they used the same material. 

It’s likely that they use denser metal while using this one. Although this adds to the weight, I don’t see anything good for the practical aspect. 

What makes it unique is the “gravity-operated door.” But everything is gravity operated if you think about it, right? So, what’s with the name?

Their so-called gravity-operated system isn’t foolproof. Or at least the raccoon we tested this on wasn’t really a fool. That little guy took the bait and walked right out. And that’s a problem. 

In terms of portability, no, this isn’t foldable. So this one loses points immediately. 

I’d say that the build quality is where it stands out. But you need a lot more practicality for this one. And I think there’s a lot lacking. 

Things That Need Improvement

• Too heavy for the size. You can get a lighter option if this concerns you.
• This costs a bit too much if you compare it to others of the same size. There are cheaper options if you’re not interested in this one. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I use a bobcat lure to trap them?

Yes. Using lures to lure bobcats or red lynxes into the traps is a very efficient way. You probably won’t have any bobcats going into your expensive trap like a nice guy. Using a lure is actually the best way to do it. 

Does catnip work on bobcats?

Yes. Bobcats are just a bit aggressive versions of house cats. Okay, well, that wasn’t a good analogy. But surprisingly, catnip or salt licks work quite well for luring bobcats too. So if you own a cat, there’s a chance that you can use the leftover catnip to lure a bobcat into the trap.

How can I scare away a bobcat?

If you don’t want to trap them for some reason, you can always scare them away. You can clap loudly to frighten them. And having something to throw at them also works. 

Final Words

As we said, try to do this in the most humane way possible. The bobcat probably got into your yard while chasing a squirrel. No need to hurt it, you know.

We tried to find out the flaws with all the traps on the list. And then, we made some graphical comparisons. So we hope that the comparisons will help you decide the best one for you.

All the best bobcat traps are listed here for your convenience. You might disagree with our rankings, though. So feel free to let us know how your search went.

Till then, good luck catching that cute-looking oversized kitty.