Bobcat hunting

[Danny Batastini]

Do any of you hunt bobcats? Everyone is always talking about coyotes. I'd be willing to bet most of you would rather get a nice cat then a coyote any day, but most guys have a hard time getting cats. Do we have any CAT hunters here? how many bobcats have you taken over the years? Please give some of the non cat hunters some pointers, thanks and Good Hunting

 

[Bruce A. Kennedy]

Now Danny, you know we are all coyote hunters first, and what shows up other than that, is second. I consider Bobcats about the stupidest thing we call. Of course, we all set up, and we look out there about 100-200 yards (where possible), and we are looking waaaayyyyy out there for coyotes. Then all of a sudden, we look at 20 feet in front of us, and low and behold, there is a Bobcat, just sitting there on his arrrrssseeee looking at us.

Then we say, "Where in the hell did he come from?????"

Bobcats, most of the time, come in like a house cat; they use every bit of cover, and they snnnneeeeaak in, just like a house cat, and waaallaa, there they are. Now, I have had some come in a dead run, but not many, in fact, very few.

Use the bird sounds, or the cottontail sounds, and hunt the brushy areas, and one should do fine, especailly where you find tracks and scat.

How many have I killed, well, you will never see me post a kill number of any kind, for any animal, and that way, I don't have to get caught in a lie, or tell a lie, like somebody I know.

(not you Danny).

 

[Danny Batastini]

Yeah I know the guy your talking about lol. Unlike many predator hunters, I go out hunting bobcats. As I'm sure you know we have alot of them in our local hills and mountians.
We can hunt at night making it easy for us to see cats with them BIG gold eyes.
If a hunter can only hunt in the day, bobcats are not easy. A hunter would probably have to make many stands before he or she ever saw a bobcat and in some cases they may never see one.
Bobcats see more people then people see bobcats thats for sure.
The reason I brought up the subject was in hopes of other hunters input helping newer hunters.
The reason I ask for numbers was to show guys what can be done hopefully lol. Hell I don't know, I was just trying to bring up a subject folks would like lol.

 

[Bruce A. Kennedy]

I think if a person concentrated on just calling Bobcats, he could do pretty good. You don't have to worry about the wind direction, and that helps. It has been my experience, if you find tracks or scat, you have a pretty good chance of calling one up.

I remember a couple of years back, I found where a dirt track made "T" in the road. For some reason a Bobcat turned that "T" into a dump station. I tried 3-4 times to call that cat and never did. So you never know.

Of couse, here in Arizona, we have no night calling. I think it would help if we did.

Take care.

 

[T Bone]

This summer I called a bobcat in. Being out of season I had to pass even though he looked to be a large male. He was the first and only bobcat I've called in. I picked him up about 300 yards out and he was moving SLOW. He'd step and look, step and look.

I've never tried night calling. I take it cats don't shy from the light?

 

[Danny Batastini]

TBone, bobcats are real light shy, a red light is the only way to go for cats and even then you have to do it right. I've used white lights on cats, but that was before we knew about red lights. It was real hard to get them to look long enough to get a shot with a white light. TBone, you guys got some real big bobcats up there in Nevada. You can use lights, you need to get after them big old bobs.

Slydog, Bruce and I know about the numbers game lol. Not to many guys can prove what they say when it comes to numbers thats a fact, but some folks can.

I'm not going to call it a mistake, but I have said how many I've taken on club competition hunts or how many I've called on a stand. I've never told anyone how many I've killed in all the years I've been hunting because I don't have a clue lol. My club counts are on record, but I ain't telling lol

Hey guys, No matter what people say, I believe most predator hunters would love to take cats. Something very special about them besides just being a great looking animal. Good Hunting Guys and Gals

 

[Slydog]

Danny B,
You realy like to stir the pot,LOL Numbers games seem to always start the crap slingin contest so I'll respectfully decline but you are right about day vs night calling for cats.

In my area, I only call in a few cats a year down on the flats but if I hunt the higher elevations the numbers go up quite a bit.

If I was a new hunter and having a hard time with coyotes I would stear clear of cat huntin untill I got the coyote thing down pat, as I think, at least for me the cats are harder and take more patients.

good question Danny !

sly

 

[Calif. Hunter]

I'll have to ask Chopper if we can take any bobcats off his place when we go there in January. We saw quite a few while we pig hunting there last year. They will be in season, so I will need to find out if I should buy tags. We saw lots of quail, and we all know how much bobcats like those.

As an aside, while deer huting in New Mexico, Wayne spotted what he first thought was a Coues deer. It turned out to be two bobcats procreating! A neat sight that not too many people can say they saw!

 

[Danny Batastini]

Calif Hunter, to bad Hollister is in San Benito county, it's one of the two countys you can't use any kind of light to hunt in California. Lot's of bobcats in and around Hollister, also gray fox, coyotes and some badgers, you'll have fun I'm sure. Don't you guys forget to take pictures and let us know how you did.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

I know that around Parkfield we were unable to do any night hunting at all, or F&G would be all over us. That area was, I think, Monterrey County. (It was hard to tell, as Monterrey, Fresno and San Luis Obispo all come together around there.) There was a lot of night time poaching of deer and especially hogs around there.

 

[tnctcb]

my club is covered with bobcats and very few coyotes although 1 was killed 2 weeks ago. when deer season ends in january i am going to give a shot at calling them in. one saturday during dog drives 30 bobcats were seen by our members so hopefully i will have some luck. maybe ill get to use my 17hmr on them and get a nice mount.

 

[Calif. Hunter]

Tim - You going to bring that .17 HMR to Chopper's next month?

 

[Slydog]

Tim,
I been killin coyotes and badger with my 17HMR just because John Henry at coyote gods said I could'nt and one thing I will warn about,,, you may be able to drive tacks at 100 yards but don't shoot any of the biger predators at much over 50 - 60 yards,, the little bullets loose a lot of steam real fast and won't get to the vitals.

Last season I shot a coyote at about 80 yards and tracked him for over 400 yards before I found him piled up and I have seen guys hit them hard at 75 and never find them.

cats die even harder so heads up.

sly

 

[Danny Batastini]

Slydog, cats do die hard. Man, I can tell some stories about cats that didn't want to die..........Good Hunting.

 

[T Bone]

Alright you bobcat hunters...help a rookie out....

I went out this morning where I'd cut some cat tracks last week and called. I picked up a cat immediately but he was over 400 yards away. I continued to call intermittently for half an hour. The cat SAT down and watch for a full 30 minutes, then walked away....

Is this typical behaviour? Or should I have stopped calling to bring him in?

 

[Norm]

Tbone,

I haven't called that many bobcats, but if you could see it 400yds away, I have to assume it was pretty wide open area between it and the call.

A bobcat is leary of exposing itself out in the wide open like that.

One thing that I do think works better for bobcats versus coyotes, is a decoy made from a feather. Hang this over your call or away from you if you are using hand calls. That fluttering movement 2 or 3 ft off the ground seems to spark curiosity....

Danny, sounds like we should all move to apple valley and help you with some of those bobcats in that area.

 

[Danny Batastini]

Norm, Apple Valley has rocky hills and mountians all around it, perfect for bobcats and even a few lions. TBone, I have called a few cats in the day, but most were at night. if I had a cat hung up on a hill to far away to shoot, I'd just walk up on it. For some reason cats think they are safe if they are up high. I have never had the problem of a bobcat hanging up at 400 yards in the day that I know of, Norms advice sounds good to me, Good Hunting

 

[BalaPlata]

Ive got to throw in with Bruce, I think the bobocat is one of the easiest predators to call in. Most encounter problems SEEING the damned things when they get to the stand. There have been more than one bobcat that has come to the call looking like a coyote, bounding over brush, coming on a dead run, but most do the sneaky,housecat approach. Ive never fell in step with the idea they come in slow either, requiring the caller to toot his call for 30-45 minutes. The bobcats Ive called come in just like everything else, just cat stepping and sneaking thru the brush, so it makes them more difficult to see making their approach.
I believe most times when you finally see the cat squatted behind that brush, he's been there a while, you just didn't see him coming. A fifteen minute stand is just as good for bobcat as it is for fox or coyote.

 

[Slydog]

T-bone,

I totaly agree with Norm on this one, cats like a visual and are spellbound by feathers and the movement they have. I don't agree with the thought that cats come just like fox and coyote.... I have found that most cats come in slower and more cautious than any of the canine counterparts. I said MOST. Some will come right in and just, all of the sudden be there but most will come in slowly. when I see them I go to the lip squeek and watch the body language.

and for the most part they don't like crossing the open areas but thats just a rule of thumb not anything written in stone.

BTW good call Norm and good advice.

sly
slydog custom calls

 

[BbarC]

Got a large male bod cat last nite and an extra large male red fox. Missed one cat. Couple nites ago called 9 grey fox, got 6 and one female bobcat. Best year ever had on bobcats called and got 52 one year, one nite 5 in one pile [ female and 4 nearly grown kittens with her]. Largest we've ever gotten weighed in at 42 lbs, but most are 25-30 lbs. Our cats have really good spots, but dont have as heavy fur as the more northern cats. They're my favorite thing to call but lots slower coming than the grey fox who will sometimes be on you after only a couple minutes calling. They will often "mess up" a good cat calling stand. Bob