Bobcat tracks..

centerfire_223

centerfire_223

New member
How much sign would you need to see before you would take the time to hunt for a bobcat in a particular area?
I was scouting this place a couple of weeks ago and ran across some bobcat tracks in there. They were not fresh tracks though. Then I was back in there about 5 days later deer hunting and found a couple of more sets. These were the day after a rain. If I were hunting for a cat in particular would this constitute a good place to zero in on or would you rather find a area with more than just tracks?

Ronnie
 
That's a good start. See if you can track the cat further to determine whether he's using the area to hunt or just passing through on his way to greener pastures.

Obviously there are going to be regional differences, but what I've found with bobcats here in Central CA is that there are areas where they are few and far between and areas that are just thick with them. Not that they don't evenutally show up EVERYWHERE hereabouts, including greenbelts and back yards in local towns. But you want an area that's dense with them. Places that transition from oak savannah to grasslands on the Big Sur Coast, for instance, are thick with bobcats. Seem to recall that SC has lots of similar oak savannah habitat though the terrain will be much different.

If you find trails with accumulations of scats, this marks a bobcat's home turf from other local cats. Very good sign wherever found.

Assuming there is a good population of cats where you are, stand selection will make all the difference. Keep in mind that they sneak in to the call, will use every scrap of cover and bit of shade available to them on the stalk. If the cover isn't there, if you don't pick an area that's a natural funnel to you to help them do this, you won't get many sneaking very close. IOW they'll most often won't cross large open expanses w/o cover, may hang up a ways out and you won't see most of them. (Not always the case, but mostly the case).

Bobcats here are usually not far from dense cover or forest (where there are also coyotes and ML and they're not at the top of the food chain). Myself, I've never called one from more than 1/4-1/3 mile off. Very different response to the call from the majority of coyotes.

Look for transition zones and multiple habitat edges, or game trail intersections. It's going to take some serious scouting to find the right spots to call in bobcats, but if you're in catty country, they'll be there, and the same stands will produce year after year.

Have fun and good luck
LionHo
 
Centerfire_223, I don't remember what the range of a bobcat is but it's not alot, maybe a mile or two, they may wander many miles. If you see tracks you will usually have bobcats around, go for it. Good Luck.......LionHo, you beat me to it, must have posted at the same time lol. You did a better job of it anyway, good hunting
 
My self-diagnosed ADD prevents me from targeting cats too often, but back when I trapped a lot of them, I'd set on tracks and generally caught fur the first night out. Look at it this way.... many of us set up on areas where we see no tracks and call bobcats quite regularly. We're going on gut feeling and blind faith. You have strong evidence that there's one nearby and the only way you'll tag it is if you try.
 
This is what I am working with guys. I found this sign in a place that was clearcutted about 25 years ago. This all grew up so they came in and thinned it. That was about 5 years ago. So now I have all pines that are about 30 feet tall and it is beginning to get a lot of under brush in there now. But on top of the ridges it is still pretty open. There are logging roads that run through this property and this is where I am seeing the tracks.
Where I have in mind setting up is either on these ridges or in the semi open log yards and not calling very loud but making more setups to try and spot call in these thick hollows. I am thinking that the ladder idea would be great in there because I need to get up a little to see better. I know the ladder works for coyotes but has anyone used it for cats? Do they follow the paths of least resistance too?

Ronnie
 
Yes, a cat will use whatever terrain feature helps his stalk. And they'll often do so very slowwwwly, sometimes taking 45 minutes to come to the call. They can get through amazingly small holes in the brush moving this way. Don't expect that they'll bolt up a road out in the open towards the call like a coyote, they're an altogether different breed of er, well... cat!

You didn't say how big a plot these hollows are in, but if there are any streams or creeks, see if you can set up where one enters or exits the thick stuff... or game trails in and out, or places where a number of features like these all come together at once, at the edge of the thick stuff, that'd be ideal.

Unless you have a remote speaker to an ecaller some distance away, a ladder to put you up above the brush probably isn't going to help. With a mouth call, a cat will look up and bust you much easier than if you've set up on the ground. You'll need to lure him into a spot where he can't see you from a distance. While they hear and respond to the call, I think bobcats are primarily visual. It's as though they're sitting out and glassing you over with a quality pair of 8X40s first, before they come in.

LionHo

Just a thought, but if the cat is hunting down in that thick understory you describe, it may be that he's going in there after quail roosting at night. Or turkeys, or pheasants.
 


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