Targeting bobcats
- Thread starter NASA
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Targeting bobcats is not hard. You need to roughly try to be in a little brushier and steeper terrain, only use prey calls(no coyote pup) and stay at least 30 min. Im going to hit em hard as soon as we get a little more weather. I have one road where I used to hunt when I was about 16, Im 16.5 now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-006.gif, and we would drive it right at and after dark and saw a bobcat almost every time. The road is closed now, I will walk it at night and I probably could almost fill all my tags in a night or 2. We walked about 1.5 miles of the 7 miles last year without calling and saw 1 bob, 2 fox, 2 terantulas, and 2 deer, and that was with 3 adults and 2 kids walking along and making noise. The pitch does not matter that much, they will come to jackrabbit squalls, but a decoy would help greatly to fix them on a target and get them to come in a little closer. Im planning on calling for 45min this season each stand, with atleast one rabbit decoy out. I have had a few that i know of not come in. They stopped at a good visual perch and just waited for movment.
Here in the Piney Woods of North Florida we have a LOT of cats. I really can't say that I've figured out a way to specifically target them. Our coyotes seem to largely target deer, judging by their scat, but will respond to almost anything which makes targeting cats even harder.
We have almost no small game that cats can hunt because our populations of snakes, hawks, and owls is so large. Cat scat inevitably contains deer hair so it's strange that busy bird sounds work so well for them but there you have it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
It seems that some people with much more experience than I have weighed in here already and I largely agree with everything said.
It seems that cats are rarely in a hurry because their hunting techniques are so successful that they're always full and bored. Maybe that's just my perception... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
We can't "hunt" them at night here but I'm seriously thinking of trying to video a night calling trip. That would be legal here and I'm not so sure that educating them is a problem anyway since I live in a 550,000 acre National Forest and have soooo much area to hunt in. I can be in "fresh cats" every day of the year with a short drive.
I agree that busy bird sounds seem to attract cats and the bobcat in heat drives 'em wild and it seems to work almost any time for some reason. My neighborhood basically consists of homes on both sides of a road surrounded by public land forests, and its amazing how many feral cats that are completely invisible in everyday life come to the bobcat in heat call. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
I wish I had a good recording of kittens mewing.... I bet that bobcats wouldn't be able to resist that one.
Anyway... I'm rambling but then cats tend to make me ramble. They don't seem to be nearly as intelligent as coyotes but they do seem to be very well adapted to our piney woods.
Does anyone have enough experience to take a guess on whether or not they're more active on dark/moonless nights? I'm generally home asleep by 9pm and up at 3am and I bet I'm missing prime cat time which I would assume would be the early night when they're been sleeping most of the day? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
$bob$
We have almost no small game that cats can hunt because our populations of snakes, hawks, and owls is so large. Cat scat inevitably contains deer hair so it's strange that busy bird sounds work so well for them but there you have it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
It seems that some people with much more experience than I have weighed in here already and I largely agree with everything said.
It seems that cats are rarely in a hurry because their hunting techniques are so successful that they're always full and bored. Maybe that's just my perception... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
We can't "hunt" them at night here but I'm seriously thinking of trying to video a night calling trip. That would be legal here and I'm not so sure that educating them is a problem anyway since I live in a 550,000 acre National Forest and have soooo much area to hunt in. I can be in "fresh cats" every day of the year with a short drive.
I agree that busy bird sounds seem to attract cats and the bobcat in heat drives 'em wild and it seems to work almost any time for some reason. My neighborhood basically consists of homes on both sides of a road surrounded by public land forests, and its amazing how many feral cats that are completely invisible in everyday life come to the bobcat in heat call. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
I wish I had a good recording of kittens mewing.... I bet that bobcats wouldn't be able to resist that one.
Anyway... I'm rambling but then cats tend to make me ramble. They don't seem to be nearly as intelligent as coyotes but they do seem to be very well adapted to our piney woods.
Does anyone have enough experience to take a guess on whether or not they're more active on dark/moonless nights? I'm generally home asleep by 9pm and up at 3am and I bet I'm missing prime cat time which I would assume would be the early night when they're been sleeping most of the day? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
$bob$
IdHunter, we get a hot dry season here from May-Oct. where many species like blacktail deer, jackrabbits, etc go almost exclusively on the night shift. Curiously, bobcats don't seem to mind the heat or the light as much. I've found them out "mousing" (hunting gophers, actually) at noon in the middle of a meadow that was baking in 100° heat, more than once.
Photography dictates that I'm out early and late for the best light of the day. While I do call at dawn a fair amount, I just don't find bobcats showing up then. Maybe they take longer on a full belly? Anyway, they tend to show up only midmorning, or late in the afternoon/early evening.
I've also discovered they're especially not out and about on snowy winter mornings until it warms up a bit. Last winter, I scouted one educated cat's tracks, seeing several times where it rode out snowstorms in a stand of old (fire-hollowed) live oaks, waiting until ten AM to hunt for quail and mice for an hour or so, perhaps getting cold and wet before cutting almost straight downhill about 1K feet (to about 3,500 ft), to a southwest slope with no snow left by noon. My best guess as to why being that this was the only spot where it could catch the sun and dry out. (They're cats, after all.)
For the first few years, I plotted all my bobcat sightings on my paper topos (which tells you how long ago that was!), and noted the weather and moon phase of each. No moon was a no starter, at least for daytime bobcat calling. I found a first quarter moon to it waxing full and a little beyond, was best, with a couple of days before full being prime. The day before a winter storm hit was also prime.
I've used a number of different calls in recent years, but haven't yet found anything better than a series of 18-20+ KHz Crit R Call rabbit sequences, followed up with lipsqueaks as they get close. Might mention too that I have never once been able to provoke one that I've called close into doing much of anything--other than sulk away-- with my best (voice) growls, hisses, and caterwauling noises. Couple of times I have been cautioned with low growls when I've followed closely behind after they'd came and went.
LionHo
Photography dictates that I'm out early and late for the best light of the day. While I do call at dawn a fair amount, I just don't find bobcats showing up then. Maybe they take longer on a full belly? Anyway, they tend to show up only midmorning, or late in the afternoon/early evening.
I've also discovered they're especially not out and about on snowy winter mornings until it warms up a bit. Last winter, I scouted one educated cat's tracks, seeing several times where it rode out snowstorms in a stand of old (fire-hollowed) live oaks, waiting until ten AM to hunt for quail and mice for an hour or so, perhaps getting cold and wet before cutting almost straight downhill about 1K feet (to about 3,500 ft), to a southwest slope with no snow left by noon. My best guess as to why being that this was the only spot where it could catch the sun and dry out. (They're cats, after all.)
For the first few years, I plotted all my bobcat sightings on my paper topos (which tells you how long ago that was!), and noted the weather and moon phase of each. No moon was a no starter, at least for daytime bobcat calling. I found a first quarter moon to it waxing full and a little beyond, was best, with a couple of days before full being prime. The day before a winter storm hit was also prime.
I've used a number of different calls in recent years, but haven't yet found anything better than a series of 18-20+ KHz Crit R Call rabbit sequences, followed up with lipsqueaks as they get close. Might mention too that I have never once been able to provoke one that I've called close into doing much of anything--other than sulk away-- with my best (voice) growls, hisses, and caterwauling noises. Couple of times I have been cautioned with low growls when I've followed closely behind after they'd came and went.
LionHo
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I've enjoyed reading all of these posts. I've yet to connect on my first bob, but learned by hunting with Yellowhammer specific areas to target for calling cats. We called an area that was so thick that I would've passed on it. Before I got good and comfortable his gun went off! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif He'd nailed a cat that I never saw, because of the timber. I started looking for similar areas when calling and have called in two since then. I've just got to figure out how to hit what I'm shooting at! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
nosetonose
New member
Nobody has mentioned if they call constantly or if they blow and wait. How about you boys using the cat in heat, how long do you play it? I havent noticed a difference between calling non stop and calling then waiting in silence, but I havent called very many cats. Around here if you want to target cats you have to be willing to let the coyotes come and go then wait some more for the cats. I dont have that much self controll. Justin
When I am using a mouthcall, I'll call at about a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio (30s of calling followed by 1:30 or 2 minutes of silence). Blowing a call constantly for an hour can get a little tedious, not to mention causing prematurely deafness.
I also find it harder to listen to subtle cues while blowing on the tube. Plus, the more hand fluttering, the greater likelihood of getting busted by the cat (another point in favor of a lipsqueak when you think you might have one on the line).
I play an e-caller at about a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio for bobcats (less pausing in between with some of my longest tracks which can run 3-5 minutes). I'll also mix it up quite a bit between various rabbits and rodents, with frequent adjustments in volume.
LionHo
I also find it harder to listen to subtle cues while blowing on the tube. Plus, the more hand fluttering, the greater likelihood of getting busted by the cat (another point in favor of a lipsqueak when you think you might have one on the line).
I play an e-caller at about a 1:1 or 1:2 ratio for bobcats (less pausing in between with some of my longest tracks which can run 3-5 minutes). I'll also mix it up quite a bit between various rabbits and rodents, with frequent adjustments in volume.
LionHo
This morning - first day of bobcat season - broad daylight, hand calls almost exclusively, stands 10 minutes or less. 7 stands - 5 coyotes, 2 bobcats - and in total disagreement with a lot of the nonsense above.
7:15 AM
8:30 AM
We quit hunting at 10am and went off into the desert to collect old bottles.
7:15 AM
8:30 AM
We quit hunting at 10am and went off into the desert to collect old bottles.
nosetonose
New member
I think its important to remember (before this gets ugly) that what is required in one area IS nonsense in another. The best calling advice in Texas might suck in Utah.
Quote:
Stalkers, road hunters, chasers, and snipers need not apply /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Doncha just love it when someone drops on a tutorial to tell us all how full of scat we are, without offering any on-topic tidbits of useful advice themselves?
Personally I've never felt that mine was the last word on the subject. Whether my 20 years of experience jives with anyone else's, matters not one wit to me. I share for free and for fun on PM what took me a long time to learn, and what cost me a ton of shoe leather. (Err...I suppose that does seem rather nonsensical--if I should suffer the least bit of abuse in return?)
But for the benefit of anyone new who hasn't been around here awhile, I prolly ought to qualify my statements just a little: the first several seasons of my year-round of predator-calling were spent exclusively targetting bobcats. Most has taken place during daylight hours in the Coast Range/Santa Lucias/Ventana Wilderness/Big Sur Coast, and every bit of it has been for still photography. Which pretty much requires luring a bobcat in to spitballing range or
Stalkers, road hunters, chasers, and snipers need not apply /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Doncha just love it when someone drops on a tutorial to tell us all how full of scat we are, without offering any on-topic tidbits of useful advice themselves?
Personally I've never felt that mine was the last word on the subject. Whether my 20 years of experience jives with anyone else's, matters not one wit to me. I share for free and for fun on PM what took me a long time to learn, and what cost me a ton of shoe leather. (Err...I suppose that does seem rather nonsensical--if I should suffer the least bit of abuse in return?)
But for the benefit of anyone new who hasn't been around here awhile, I prolly ought to qualify my statements just a little: the first several seasons of my year-round of predator-calling were spent exclusively targetting bobcats. Most has taken place during daylight hours in the Coast Range/Santa Lucias/Ventana Wilderness/Big Sur Coast, and every bit of it has been for still photography. Which pretty much requires luring a bobcat in to spitballing range or
Quote:
My guess is the part about bc not responding in the early AM.
I've gotten most of my cats in the mornings. Anywhere from the first stand around 7:00 am, to as late as 10-11 am.
I have gotten them in the evening, but most of my calling tends to be mornings.
My guess is the part about bc not responding in the early AM.
I've gotten most of my cats in the mornings. Anywhere from the first stand around 7:00 am, to as late as 10-11 am.
I have gotten them in the evening, but most of my calling tends to be mornings.
varmentwacker
New member
i call all my cats at night.using the bobcat in heat during jan-march.i start off letting the sound go for about 10-20 seconds and then shut it off to see if any thing answers it.weather they answer back or not i trun it on and let it stay on from that point varing volume but never over about half volume on the fx3.also if you hunt them at night do not hit with full light(i use red) until you are ready to shoot them.if you do they will hold at that spot and not come in.i had this happen to me many times before i figured out what was going on.i use night vision now with inflared spot light.then turn on lightforce light with red filter when they get close enough to shoot.
Greenside, you must be thinking of one of the two auctioned prints from last fall, either one that sat down 12 feet away from me for 5 minutes (vertical portrait, winter coat), or the one from July '05 lounging 13 feet away for about 15 minutes on the log (horizontal, full-body)?
I have a number of others, too, but because I do sell 'em commercially, I'd need to clear it with the admins before posting 'em...
LionHo
I have a number of others, too, but because I do sell 'em commercially, I'd need to clear it with the admins before posting 'em...
LionHo
brushshooter
New member
great posts these have helped me learn more.
