Targeting bobcats

I have heard that when calling bobcats it is easier to set up downhill and call them down to you, rather than calling them uphill to you like coyotes. Is this true?
 
I have called and killed several cats in the last 2 years where I had not killed A cat in the previous 20 or so years!! I think my biggest mistake was trying to be right in the cover with them!! Now I try to set up 20 to 40 yards out and try to get them to come out for the shot. I use handcalls only but would like to try the Bobcat in Heat sounds...that would be wild to hear them answering while coming in!! This is what works for me and I have used high pitch sounds and jackrabbit sounds...I think if A cat WANTS to come he will...Just my 2 cents.....Gity
 
great posts while i have called many bobs there is a lot of info here to maybe call in more. MAN I LOVE THIS SITE.
i need to get out and try some as soon as the season opens
15 of nov
 
Colo, I have never heard that one. I normally call most of my cats in the mountains. I have called alot of cats on ridges, small valleys in the mountains, canyons. My feeling has always been that they stick to higher steeper rougher country to be safer and slightly more away from direct competition with coyotes. Also they tire easier and on the flat they may get chased more and lose their food to other predators. I dont expect to call cats on the floor of huge valleys. They do come down but often hold a little higher for vision. I dont feel actual direction of approaching from up or down has much to do with it. Most of my cats have come up to me, probabley 2x more than come down, but that probably has more to do with the cover and food source location. My generalization is to call for cats from the bottem to about 1/2 or 2/3 up a mountain range. So i dont spend alot of time calling the higest elevation mountains in a range. But that is just a generalization i use for the majior range I prefer to hunt. On a lover range the whole range would be fair game.
 
Great thread with some fantastic information.

I think LionHo nailed my thoughts pretty good with his post. It's uncanny how someone whom I've never met and lives several states away can come to the same conclusions and tactics.

Bobcats aren't hard to call, they are just hard to see. This is why I believe people are much more successful calling bobcats at night. Their big eyes are a dead give away under illumination. During the daylight you don't have this advantage and many called in cats go undetected by even the best trained eyes. One thing, and LionHo touched on it already, is the use of elelctronics. Bobcats are very stealthy and like to stalk into the call in order to get in position for a close kill. If you are using a hand call they are stalking YOU. This means they will use the available cover to conceal themselves from YOU until the last moment. This often means that the first time you see the cat he will either be peering at YOU through dense cover or from around a tree or brush. With electonic, if set up right, you will have a seat to the side of this stalk as it unfolds. With the cats attention and concealment efforts focused on the call he will be much more easily detected.

When possible give him some thin cover to aproach through and he will respond more readily than having to break cover to get to the call.

I can also vouch for the effectiveness of the bobcat in heat sound, as well as keeping the sounds as busy and constant as possible. Here in lies another good reason to use electronics for calling bobcats. Thirty plus minutes of constant calling on a hand call can get you busted and it takes a lot of air. Most of the bobcats I kill will be in the first few minutes of a stand. I feel the reason for this is that I'm usually not calling them from a long distance and it doesn't take long for them to get there. On stands where I've killed bobcats at or around the thirty minute mark, I firmly believe most of those cats had been there much longer but had preaviously been undetected.

When calling in areas with bobcats it is a good idea to get up very slowly when you break a stand. Bobcats typically aren't very spooky and will often hunker down and remain motionless when you get up. When you get up from your stand, pan your eyes around very good. Often times a step or two or the standing position will reveal a cat that had been there all along.

Good Hunting,

Byron
 
I guess the only thing I can add is similar to what has been said. They are extremely hard to see and will often sit down and watch. When they sit it reveals the white just under thier chest. We rarely have snow so I like to sit down and memorize any white spots in the area as I get ready to call. Any new white spots or white that stands out should then be checked out with the scope before you stand up to leave. Justin
 


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