Bobcat came into howls...???

[Husker98]

I was always told and believed that if you howled you were coyote hunting and if you wanted to try to get a bobcat, by god don't howl. Well, I was hunting a couple weekends ago with my cousin and I was basically howling like crazy. We were trying to get a coyote to come in. Then 30 minutes into the set, my cousin shoots. I turn and look at him expecting a reaction, and he says I just missed a bobcat. I thought, no, you must be mistaken. And sure enough I looked up and saw a bobcat running for his life. It would have been his first bobcat ever, so you can imagine how disapointed he was. I was just in disbelief that it came to the edge of the field where we were howling. I did a little rabbit distress, but at least 80% of my calling was howling. Have you guys seen this very often? I don't claim to be an expert by any means, and I guess this proves it. It sure surprised me!

 

[Kowotie]

Fist bobcat I called in came into juv cottentail just after a few minutes of howling. It just goes to show that you should have all licences becuase you never know what's going to come in. Joey

 

[quackwacker]

Husker98 What part of the state are you in? If I am trying for a cat I don't howl either. I have never heard of a cat coming in to a howl before. I am wondering what part of the state you are in to get an idea of the coyote density. Crazy! It's to bad your buddy couldn't have gotten that cat though.

 

[norohohutch]

Husker98

I entered this post on 2-7-06 (Strange bobcat tale)

I don't know how to reference a "past post" to you, so I just found it then copied text and pasted into this post. I did not want to retype the text. I am sure there is a better way but I don't know how to do it, so here goes.

Went out after work one day last week and called up a bobcat using my compucaller 2 and predator supreme decoy. When I first saw the cat it was sitting behind a bush about 150 yards away. I tried everything in my bag of tricks to get the bobcat in, but nothing seemed to work. Cat got so bored that it layed down on the ground and turned its head away from the caller and decoy.

Its was getting close to dark and I was about to give up when I decided to turn on the coyote howl sound, if for no other reason but to scare the bobcat off so I could come back some other time.

About 10 seconds after starting the coyote howl the cat stood straight up and started walking towards the decoy. At approx. 75 yards it stopped and gave me a perfect broadside shot. I was laying on the ground, using a bi-pod and had a perfect steady shot.

I hit the cat, it jumped straight up in the air then started flopping around on the ground. Cat stopped flopping and I stood up and started walking to claim my prize. I took about two steps and the bobcat jumped up and high tailed it off into the trees. I looked for about 1 hour in the dark, then went back the next day and looked but never found the cat.

So why did the cat not respond to distress calls, but come in almost immediately after turning on the coyote howl? The only thing I can figure is that the cat was afraid the coyotes were about to get its free meal.

I guess the story goes to tell that there are no absolute rules when it comes to predator calling. Just when you think something is wrong, it turns out to be right. I never would have dreamed in a thousand years that the cat would come in to coyote howls.

Sure wish I had a picture of a dead bobcat to go along with this story.

 

[songdog]

I have a good freind with some video footage where he is "swapping spit" with a coyote, the coyote would howl and then he would howl, back and forth for a long time, when out of the blue, he and the cameraman both relized that a bobcat was not but a few yards from them, behind them! Got the cat on film but never killed it!

Just goes to show, there are general rules when calling predators, BUT as with all rules, they can be broke at any given time!

 

[6mm06]

I have called two bobcats while howling. I actually began with distress sounds on Tweety and then more or less just played around. I tried to howl (it was high pitch of course) and after a while, had a bobcat respond. Then again a second time I did practically the same, except that I also used a hurt pup sound after the initial distress and howling, and another bobcat answered the call. So apparently a variety of calls will work with bobcats. I have also called a cat with a doe bleet. Back in deer season this last fall, I was blowing a medium sounding doe bleet and after about 30 minutes, heard something coming hard in the leaves. I though "oh boy, a buck is on the way" only to learn that a bobcat answered. Whatever works, works.

 

[Husker98]

I live in Elkhorn/Omaha, but we were calling by Spencer, NE. Supposedly there are more cats in the SE region of the state, but we've seen more bobcats around the O'Neil/Spencer area.

 

[elks]

There are no definite rules to predator calling. Talking last night we discussed this on the phone. We decided that the occasional cat might come in cause they are racing the yote to the prize, but we are still convinced that howling right away will tend to make an already ellusive and weary cat even more so. For me i always wait til the end to try my howls simply cause I do not want to risk scaring of causing a cat to hang up.

Every stand I call I expect a bobcat now.