questions about bobcats????

[boogercounty]

...a local game-farmer has been having problems with bobcats, so he contacted me recently to see if I could kill a few of them.

My son and I went to look the place over, and the owner showed us all around, pointing out where the bobcats had killed a couple of whitetail fawns, and one adult doe. His brood stock is all contained in about 100 acres.

We have been back to call the place, about 5
or 6 times. So far, ZILCH!!!

In walking near the fence, we have found wooden fence-posts that are, literally, clawed top to bottom by bobcat claws, as they climb over the post to get inside the compound. About every 5th or 6th post is wooden, with the rest being steel t-posts. Of course, the claw marks could have been over a long period of time.

We are hoping for a bit of tracking snow, just to see if we can locate a main travel corridor, as they come and go from the enclosure. We need to be able to pin them down to a smaller area.

Anyhow, does anyone have any suggestions as to how to try to hunt this area??? We want to stay outside the brood area, and try to kill them as we call them in towards the fence.

Experience???

Speculation???

Opinions???

Any and all answers will be appreciated.
Thanks!!!!

 

[vahuntclub]

A. Why would the bobbies be coming and going?
B. What calls are you using?
C. How does the farmer have the deer penned in?

If I was a bobcat that liked to eat deer and I had a pen full of them with no pressure from hunters I wouldn't leave.

Find a deer hide, ought to be easy this time of year, road kill will work if you can't find anything else. Throw it over the fence, pour a bottle of deer pee on it and let the fawn in distress call go to town.

Ideally an e-call with an external speaker on a long line would be great, put the speaker by the decoy. I might even go so far as to tie a swivel on a piece of 20 pound fishing line and clip it to the fence, string it back to your stand so you can get the fence moving, simulate thrashing. Watch your movement.

 

[sleddogg]

boogercounty - Bobcats take patience. If you have seen them in the area, then you just need to keep at it, and they will eventually be around. I don't think cats get call shy, at least nothing like a coyote.

I saw a nice bobcat bowhunting last year, and hunted him about 10 times, without seeing him. I really wanted to get a shot at this cat as it was much larger than usual. Got me all fired up /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif I started hunting him in Dec., and finally called him in Feb. It was worth the wait.

Hunt edges of thick cover, and other tight cover within a mile or so of where you hunt now. Try some different sounds, and stay on stand a little longer than for coyotes. They will be much easier to pick out coming in once the snow flies. My favorite Bobcat sound is a jackrabbit/cottontail distress sound I mix up on an open reed call. I just started using an e-caller on some stands, and shot a nice one using a woodpecker distress about a month ago. His pic is in the photo gallery.

Can you night hunt? That is absolutely your best chance for calling cats.

Just keep at it, no real magic to cats. Just alot of stands.

 

[GC]

I'm certainly no expert on bobcats but from my experience, here goes.

*Stay on stand longer, up to an hour isn't too long.

*Keep the call busy with shorter intervals between series. Cat's sometims simply loose interest when the excitement dies down. Or, they'll sneak in and if there is too much of a pause, the sit tight and survey the set-up until they pick you out. As well as they are camo'd themselves the odds are great they'll spot you before you can see them.

*This is where the electric caller can earn it's keep, an hour busy calling is a lot of huffing and puffing into a handcall.

*Cat's have big territories. Be patient.

I'm not sure about where you fit in the weather forecast, but I'm about to get the white stuff tonight with some real low down temps and gusty winds. As soon as that wind dies down will be primetime for sure. That is exactly the conditions I've been lucky enough to call cats in. I'm taking some time off work and can't wait! Good luck to you and let us know how it's going.