Help catching a wary feral

Hello Cat Siters! Long time, no see! I'll get straight to the problem.

About a year ago I noticed a black cat sitting in the grass along the highway at the end of our road (a few miles from our house). I panicked at first because I thought it was our cat. But when I said his name, he ran away and when we got home, I confirmed it was not our cat. I decided to try and trap him because him living near the highway (75mph...) is no life for a cat. And who knows, it could have been someone's cat that got out. Well, after that I didn't see him again. I presumed the worst and moved on.
Fast forward a year and I saw him again. He was near the same gap (in between the highway pavement and the underpass) as the one he disappeared into last time. Winter is coming and I said to myself ITS TIME.

I decided that I'd like to relocate him to our property since its away from the road and we have no close neighbors and 3 old barns full of mice. I looked up how I would need to house him, bought the kennel, etc etc.

Now comes my problem... catching him. I've got a Have-a-hart trap and have used it before with success, but he's not going for it. I've got food both in and outside of the trap and it doesn't look like he's eaten any of it. I know he's a mouse catcher because the workers at the gas station across the way told me so, so I'm worried he doesn't even know what cat food is. To be honest, I know NOTHING about this cat. I don't even know if its a boy or girl, its never seen me before today (besides a year ago), I don't know its habits, nothing.

At first I put the trap parallel to the highway right next to the entrance of his gap/home, but in the 5 times I've checked on the trap, he's only been there once. Usually he's in the grass to the left of his home, so when I checked the trap last time, I moved the trap over there instead in the hopes he'll get curious while he's hunting.

Does anyone have any ideas to improve my chances of catching him? It seems like my situation is harder than usual because its not like a neighborhood cat whom I can easily see and interact with and feed...


This is where he lives

This is the opposite side of the highway, but where he is sitting is the same type of junction where his home is.

Here he is hiding in the grass. He actually didn't know I was behind him at all because of the noise of the highway.

This does sound like a tough one, and I am sorry I don't have experience going out and trying to catch a feral - my experience is more with ferals who adopt our buidilng and we get suckered in.  you mentioned that the gas station people said he is a good mouser which  makes me believe her perhaps might consider the gas station as part of his territory too. You might have better luck trapping him there.  Have you let the attendants know it is your desire to trap and rehome the cat somewhere safer?  If I knew I had a home for half the cats I see out there, I would put more effort into befriending them.  Maybe someone at the gas station will feel the same and will join your efforts.  If they seem willing, then you could leave some treats there they could give the  kitty when they see him.  My bets are that he would start coming around more for the yummys and you could formulate a better plan at that point.

When I asked the gas station employees about it, they first said they didn't know about any cats hanging around. Then someone asked if I meant the one that lives under the highway. They've only seen him around the gas station once or twice in the year he's been there. They said they only ever see him in the highway grass. He's also completely feral at this point. He will not approach people at all. He's never been given cat food by them (or anyone else that I know of). I'm not even sure he knows what cat food is.
I was hoping they would say they've seen him around the gas station otherwise I would have them feed him..

I would experiment with really stinky kinds of food. Fishy ones are good.

If you have to, tie the trap open for a few days. It will get him used to going in and he may be tempted. Once he goes in, you can untie it to spring.

If all else fails, can you get a drop trap? Of course, this will only work if he goes for the bait.

Good luck with this one!

That's an interesting idea to tie it open. But I'm thinking, would it make a difference? Would he be able to tell it's tied open? Because if I leave it as it is, he only needs to be curious once to catch him vs curious many times.

If you think you have a shot at getting him the first time, go for it. But I thought you weren't sure he'd go in. If it's the trap, you'll probably have to tie it open to get him used to going in.

If it's the food, you'll have to experiment to see what lures him in. You may not know until he's trapped.

Is there someone who is going to watch the trap? You don't want him in it too long and you don't want someone who doesn't understand what's going on releasing him.

I'm happy to say I unexpectedly caught him!
When I last checked the trap (Friday afternoonish) the food was being attacked by ants and I was feeling defeated so I just left it. That night I forgot to check it. This morning (Saturday) I noticed it was slightly tipped over on the way to work and asked my bf to check it when he got back in town. He checked it at around 3ish. I told him to close it because it's particularly cold today, but he forgot. On my way home (9ish) I decided to check it for the heck of it and close it up so nothing would get caught in the bitter cold of the night.
Surprise, surprise, guess who was in the cage?!
He was unhappy (understandably) but looked otherwise good. We got him in his kennel with no problems; he literally just walked in, got a heater set up and he ate a good small meal.
I'm very very happy

my 2 cents- get a can of tuna, a laser pointer, your trap. get as close as you can? set up the trap/tuna. walk away.. wait.. wait more? then if the cat is busy or turned away try to get a bit closer? use a laser pointer to try to get him/her to go in trap. Obv. harder to do at might, but worth a try? Also if its possible on a day off watch where this cat goes to sleep...

Hurray, hurray! So glad this fella will be taken care of.

Blessings on you for helping him!

Congrats on trapping the kitty.  Hopefully you have a long happy life together!