First Blood.

[arse]

Just as I was getting settled in my tree at daybreak on Sunday settling in for a perfect cold morning of deer hunting with my new Marlin 336 in .35 Remington, I heard some rustling through the trees upwind to my left.  I got still and fired up picturing a buck that was about to get smoked or any other deer.  If it's brown it's down in site of my deer stand.  Semp knows, he makes fun of the size of the deer I kill all the time.  His normal line is that their is still milk dripping out of their mouth.  My retort is that the small deer are the veal of deer meat.  They are tasty. 

Back to the story.  I hear a consistent rustling in the leaves at some distance to my left and in front of me and upwind.  The sound is steadily moving across from left to right of me and is now at my 12 o'clock.  I have a pretty good field of vision at my 12, about 75 yards and know that I should see this dear.  I can see no movement and I getting anxious to put the cross-hairs on this deer.  As I study the gloom in front of me, I notice some movement a lot closer and lower then I expected.  At this point, I am assuming either a coyote or raccoon.  I have seen both in this stand the week before.  I eliminated coyote because I have yet to see one moving this slow.  Everyone I have seen while deer hunting was moving with a purpose.  So now I begin to be disappointed, I have no reason to kill a raccoon nor do I believe they are in season.

As I continue to look, I notice that the movement is not the lumbering off kilter out of balance ramble of the raccoon but rather a stealthy steady purposeful quite movement.  My excitement build a new as I realize that I am watching a Bobcat moving through the woods about 70 yards in front of me through the dense woods.  By now the cat was at about 2 o'clock and continuing to move right.  I had her lined up on several occasions but was not able to squeeze one off with all of the underbrush.  I was in what we call the bottoms and it is thick.  I decided that I would try a rodent call.  I keep a couple of calls, including the amazing hand made call I won at the LBL last year, in my pocket just in case I see a coyote at a distance.  I gave a very soft 10-20 second squeak.  The cat did not look up but cocked an ear and slowly made a turn moving from my 2 o'clock moving away to my 3 o'clock and closing.

I watched her slowing moving quietly my way until she was 7 yards away.  When she passed behind a tree I raised my rifle and got ready for her to emerge from the other side, which she did a moment later.  I pulled the hammer back to a click.  Then she turned her head and looked right up at me 35 feet in a tree.  I decided now was the time.  Lined up just behind her shoulder and let go.  She dropped, made not a peep, or another movement.  I let her lay until I took a break for lunch.  I found myself staring down most of the time wondering what she looked like up close.  What a beautiful animal.

I picked her up and carried her back to camp and began taking pictures.  I called my wife to see what the chances were that a fully mounted female bobcat could adorn our family room or if the baby could use a bobcat pelt blanket.  Her response was as I expected: "Are you kidding me? What the hell is a bobcat and why do you want to bring it into my house? Is that legal? (it was by a day season opened on Saturday) We are not having a stuffed bobcat in our house you will have to do something else with it."  The friend I was hunting with is single and thought that it was really cool, so I gave it to him.  He is currently looking into a full mount.  I can't wait to see that get done.

I am not sure on her size.  You will have to judge on the pictures.  I can tell you that she was very heavy and had a full belly.  I am guessing ~30 lbs and incredibly dense in muscle.  The only thing that I would do differently if provided the opportunity is to shoot further back.  The bullet went in right where I planned about 3 inches behind the shoulder but due to the angle at which she was standing came out through the other shoulder totally wrecking it and leaving a  Kennedy Half-Dollar sized ragged hole.  I would not have guessed that the bullet was going to come out that far forward.  Hopefully a skilled taxidermist can get it patched up for my friend.

Here are some pictures:

[possumal]

Great picture, good story. Congrats!

[DirtyDog]

Great story Arse....congrats man!!!!!!!! 

[Hawks Feather]

Great story and pictures.  Thanks for sharing.

Jerry

[Bopeye]

Nice cat Arse.........

[FinsnFur]

Dang, that write up belongs in a magazine. Congrats on the cat, their a pretty highly sought after target 

Are you kidding me? What the hell is a bobcat and why do you want to bring it into my house? Is that legal?

It was right at that moment you began to ask yourself why you even bothered to call her, wasnt it   

[iahntr]

Congratulations! A bobcat would be awesome!
Someday

[keekee]

Congrads! Good looking cat and she has pretty good spots for a Northern cat! Congrads again!


Brent

[cb223]

Great story and pics. Congrats.

[wv_yoter]

Nice cat Arse, and did you say thirty five feet up in a tree. :shck: I'd hate to buy that many steps to get up there $$.

[coyotehunter_1]

Arse,
It's good to see you again. Great story and cool looking kitty ! 






Chet

[Nelson]

Congratulations on a nice looking kitty.  Show us some pictures after she's mounted.

Nelson

[arse]

Nice cat Arse, and did you say thirty five feet up in a tree. :shck: I'd hate to buy that many steps to get up there $$.

I was in a Summit Viper Climber.  A nice stand that my 272 lb arse fits in.  I may need to get a heavier rig after the holiday season.  This one is only rated to 300 lbs.

[arse]

Are you kidding me? What the hell is a bobcat and why do you want to bring it into my house? Is that legal?

It was right at that moment you began to ask yourself why you even bothered to call her, wasnt it   

[/quote]

I knew the answer but I thought that I would give it a shot.  Even with this denial, she is a good woman that lets me out of the house hunting on a lot of occasions even with a 7 month old baby boy at home plus a 4 year old boy.  She knows that she either lets me go hunt or she will have to deal with watching hunting shows on TV.  Maybe she wants the TV for herself.

[browning204]

Very nice Cat!

[Roundman]

Great story and great pics. 

[KySongDog]

At least it don't have milk dripping out its mouth!   :roflmao:


Congrats buddy!   


Semp

[UnleashedFury]

Nice pic... and a very great story

[Bullet]

Nice looking cat.

[bowjunkie]

nice cat  and a great story that goes with it