I guess if you go out enough and stick to it things will finally come together. I just received some permission on some very nice land where the landowner wanted the predators thinned out to make for better pheasant hunting. They had seen Bobcats and coyotes on the land. So I am excited to check it out. As I walk into the property I see something on the hill. I pull up my binoculars and it looks like a coyote. But then two more dogs come up behind it and they just don’t look like coyotes. They are really dark. So I decide to not pursue them with cats on my mind. I set up in a cornfield overlooking a big timber with some railroad tracks running parallel with the timber. I set out my loudmouth caller and my predator enticer decoy that I just got. I start off with the woodpecker. About 5 minutes into the calling I look to my side and there stands a coyote at about 100 yards. He isn’t looking at me but I can tell he is listening to the caller. He then proceeds to try to get downwind of the caller and me. I lose him in a low spot but then he reappears. BANG, and down he goes. My first coyote of the year. (mange has taken its toll here in Nebraska in my area.) I then see the other two coyotes on the far hill but decide to not try a long shot because I really wanted to get a cat. So I sit still and keep the caller going. I mix up the calling with some cottontail in distress and puplip. But once it starts to get close to dark I go back to the woodpecker. About the time I am tempted to hang it up here he comes. Right down the middle of the railroad tracks. That’s when my heart begins to pound at a high rate. I watch him as he approaches with my binos. He sits down once and looks my way. I have him in the scope. His face has the look of a mountain lion. (we have some of those moving into our area.) So I decide to wait and confirm that it’s a bobcat. I am sure I saw a short tail on it before but the last thing I wanted to do was shoot a protected animal with a big fine attached to it. So I let him get up and then I see for sure the small tail. I decide that as soon as he gives me another shot I am going to take it, even though he is out around 200 yards. I didn’t want to take any chances that he might get shy and go away. So he gives me the shot and I take it. Down he goes. I just shot the first bobcat I have ever seen in the wild. I go get him and he is beautiful. I went to pick up the coyote and found that he was almost black and didn’t have any hair on him. Mange. I didn’t bring him home. The fur buyer weighed the cat for me and he went right at 27lbs. I wish I could mount him but don’t have the cash flow right now so I am going to have him tanned with a fox that I got earlier in the year. What a great way to end the season. Thanks for listening.
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