Bobcat Calls / Sounds

[JDMiller]

Seeing JohnP's luck with bobcats has got me even more determined to really focus a little harder on cats this winter.

So... my question..... whats the consensus on the best calls or sounds to use for bobcats??

I have'nt had any luck with simple rabbit distress sounds and was thinking maybe more in the line of birds or rodents. From what I've read ...cats like higher pitched sounds . The bobcats that I've called by accident while turkey hunting just soft yelps. However ....the way our seasons overlap in the fall & winter... I dont necessarily want to use a turkey call.

To give you a little background info..... hunting Ky... basically your typical eastern hardwoods. Bobcat populations are good and our season basically runs throughout December & January. Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

[Yotehntr]

I've killed several over rabbit sounds.  There not as plentiful as the yotes and I don't get them as often though.

[Okanagan]

I've called most of mine to a coarse jack rabbit , mainly because I've used that sound more than any other.  When targetting bobcats I've preferred cottontail when hand calling.  Also have called them to Minaska's woodpecker distress, their dueling fawns and their bobcat in heat sound.  Mid/late January to early March seems to be the mating season, though a biologist or good trapper could pin that down more I think.  They are easier to call then.

My son has called bobcats with housecat distress.   For a call stand focussed on bobcats, since I have an electronic I'd go with the woodpecker or Buker's Bobcat Special (a frenetifc bird distress sound) , alternating with a bit of bobcat in heat once in awhile.  My bobcat calling has mainly been in Southern California, Western WA and southern BC.

FWIW I've also had a bobcat come in to rattling antlers for whitetail, in mid November.  A big bobcat.

Good luck! 

[LBLDOG]

JD last winter TopDawg and I were set up on a ridge and he was blowing a Sceery call continously , very high pitched sound. I also have a Haydel call thats a bite down call that makes the same noise. We got up to leave and the bobcat had come in behind us and was sitting about 70 yards from us on the fire road. We didnt have a shot! You have to have like continous bird or woodpecker sounds blowing or playing nonstop . I have read that they loose their interest easily when coming in and have to keep them interested. I was bow hunting last year and these 2 birds where in the same tree as me like a finch and these 2 birds when on for 15 or 20 minutes non-stop , shortly after that Mr. Bobcat come out of the river cane and set down and was looking my way. The season wasnt in , that expierence alone shown me that the Predator mags were right that  constant bird noises calls them in. I also have a Foxpro that goes in the county that has Woodpecker distress and Finch distress. The Foxpro cannot be used for bobcats in LBL  ( which is dumb). The Bobcat that sat on the road last year at LBL motivated me to buy my Savage Predator 17 hmr. because I was packing my 12 guage at the time and wished I had had a rifle.

[alscalls]

I aint shot one yet but I have had em come to fawn distress several times.......season was not open for Bobcat so we just watched.
I have also had some come to rabbit dist. High pitched.

[JohnP]

Hey JD - Good luck to ya this coming season.  Cats, in my opinion,  are not nearly as smart as a coyote.  I would bet that if you are calling in coyotes you are also calling in cats, just can't see them and with the terrain such as it is in your part of the country it just makes it doubly hard.  I think the hardest part is having the discipline to pass on the coyotes and fox in hopes that you'll have a bobcat sneak in.  As far as calls to use if calling in cat country I primarily use FoxPro Lucky Bird or a bulb squeaker.  I always start my stand with the squeaker, just a few squeaks give it a minute or so of silence then start on the Lucky Bird or any other bird sound.  I also let it run continuously.  Again - Good Luck this coming season.

[Jimmie in Ky]

John P has a point. We can't see the blamed things. I have called in one to my knowledge and did not see it before I got up to leave at dark. It was only twentuy yards away in a briar patch. And that day I was using one of my coarse calls almost non stop. I have seen that little female there in zone 5 more times than I care to count while driving around. And the huge tom at wranglers still has me bufaloed.

I think the volume of the calls I use may be part of the problem. I have hunted the dogs so long that its habit to want calls that can carry the distances needed to get their attention. Softer low volume calls may be th key.

Be careful about asking about cats here JD. This bunch has been riding me for years about no cat  Jimmie

[Okanagan]

Couple of comments to add after reading what's been posted.  I've called more bobcats with intermittent calling than with continuous.  For years I used a hand call exclusively and usually followed a pattern of 10-20 seconds of sound with an average of a minute of silence between.  I watched a large bobcat approach from 400 yards out.  He would stop every time I called and wait awhile.  So I quit calling and he approaqched inside of 30 yards.  I suspect that it is the change of sound that causes a cat to stop, rather than whether it is continuous or not.  I.e. if you are calling continuously and stop, the cat will pause.  If you are silent for awhile and the cat is moving toward you, he will pause when you call again.  That's just my guess, and could be wrong.

Along that line, I've heard that black bears need continuous sound to keep coming to a call, but I had called a fair number with intermittent calling before I found out that experts say to call continuously.

Second comment is about thick cover.  We call rain forest jungle. The good part is the critters can't or won't go through the thickest stuff any more than humans want to crawl and fight through it.  So they use the trails and lanes.  You can set up to count on that and let the thick vegetation funnel the critter to a place you can see him and shoot.

I had a fresh bobcat track going into a clear cut grown up in 20 foot tall Christmas trees and alder brush with all of the spaced between choked with blackberry vines higher than my head.  The deer and other game make tunnels through the stuff.  I set up to see down one of the tunnels and got him.  

 Another bobcat stand below.  Photo taken from where the cat was when I shot him,  looking back at where I was sitting on the stump 45 feet (not yards) away that barely shows near the top center of the photo.

[Okanagan]

One more comment:  cats are different enough from canines that their natural tendency is to approach a sound differently.  If we set up the same for both, we miss seeing some of them.  Most people understand coyotes better and set up for them, and so miss seeing more cats.  FWIW, I set up specifically for the critter I hope to call, and on the same piece of ground, would set up differently for a bobcat than I would if targeting coyotes.   I rarely get a cat to a coyote stand or vice versa, etc.  Just one codger's style, and less critical in open or desert areas where the hunter can see approaches from many directions for a long ways.

[JDMiller]

Be careful about asking about cats here JD. This bunch has been riding me for years about no cat  Jimmie

Maybe I can give you some relief being a different target...LOL


Jimmie..  Probably the first & biggest cat I ever had slip in on me was 20 years ago at Bell City (Graves Co) when Jenny Ridge Bowhunters had big chunk of ground leased. I belonged to the bow club for several years and was turkey hunting. I had just made a few calls & heard something walking in the leaves. Much to my surprise it was a bobcat... he came within 20 yards and slipped out as quiet as he came in. Back then ....was'nt a bobcat season and it was pretty rare to even see one. I've wanted a shot at ever since that day.

Now to present day.... we got the season... I know a little (very little) more now than I did....still cant get things to come together. I've had several encounters... just when their not legal . Beginning to think their doing it on purpose to me now. However.... I'm a persistent cuss... figure a blind hog can find an acorn every now & then.


Thanks to everyone for the info.... just keep it coming... pretty good reading. 

[KySongDog]

For what its worth, I called in one cat so far and was using a rabbit distress.   I have limited experience so that was probably just luck. 

[Jimmie in Ky]

Yep Jd I know about those cats in south graves. And like you I saw them all before we had a season. I lost count of the numbr I saw then and haven't seen one there since, go figure. Nearly shot one for a coyote, big sucker.  If he hadn't turned his head just as I was squeezing the trigger to show me that flat face, I might have been in deep dodo .

Everything I have seen since we got a season is mainly accidental. It seems like they are taunting me after I leave the woods. It's a real pain for one of them to run down or across the road as you drive away from the area they are in after dark. Thats how I keep seeing that big tom at wranglers. He waves his butt in front of me for a horse laugh.The little  female in zone 5 goes a hundred feet down the road or so and then sits on the side while I pass. I get the kiss my fanny from her too. It's also a pain to call one in at night when they are not legal and spit and growl at you there in the moon light just to show you it doesn't like you taking it's rabbit.


Okanagon, that is open country compared to where I am finding most of the cat sign where JD and I are hunting them regularly. Cedar thickets and cut overs are where they seem to spend most of their time. About anywhere there isn't a lot of coyote sign.     

Did I tell you I hate cats? I do , really . Jimmie

[KySongDog]

Either you ain't hunting them right, Jimmie, or you just got bad luck.   

[Greenside]

JD

Prior to Iowa's first bobcat season, I  searched for and read just about anything I could find about about bobcat habitat, diet, travel etc. Also emailed and called several people in the Midwest that I knew had experience with Bobcats about what worked for them. Got some different opinions but  the general  consensus  for sound was Cottontail or Rodent at about  2/3-3/4 volume played continuous until  you were ready to puke. Worked for me!

This is from the Iowa Bobcat Study that is nearing completion and this also had bearing on what sounds  to use.

Diet

We examined the stomach contents of 100 bobcat carcasses that were collected primarily during the fall and winter. We found remains of cottontail rabbits in 60% of the stomachs, mice and voles in about 20%, and fox squirrels in about 15% of stomachs. Juvenile bobcats ate proportionally more mice and voles than adults. Male and female bobcats generally ate the same prey. We found remains of deer in 12 stomachs of bobcats, primarily adult male bobcats, although the small volume of deer remains suggests that much of it was consumed as carrion. About 2% of the stomachs contained birds (one stomach with turkey, one with pheasant, and one with hawk feathers). We also found a few stomachs with remains of muskrat, beaver, and shrew. Although some sportsmen have been worried that bobcats are affecting turkey and pheasant populations in Iowa our data do not confirm that view. We have now examined an additional 50 stomachs from bobcats that died in spring and summer and have only found evidence of birds in four stomachs (feathers of a turkey, hawk, crow, and flicker

[bigben]

good thread.  the two I called in for dad two years ago came into cottontail distress.  one within the first few minutes of the stand and the other at the end.  I myself drew a cat tag for pa.  so I am targeting them pretty much all season.  I would like to get it on film but I know that is hard.  we will see with what the season brings. 

good luck jd

[Jimmie in Ky]

To borrow a phrase from Bop,


Bite me Semp    Jimmie

[possumal]

We all need to pay a lot of attention to John P's posts about bobcats, even though his terrain is much different from ours.  One thing I haven't seen posted in any part of this thread is that all of the people with a lot experience with bobcats say you need to give them more time than you typically give coyotes.  The ones I have seen reminded me of a feral cat or local housecat in their approach.  If you have watched a regular cat hunting, he is super patient and does a lot of watching as part of his regular m.o..  As John said, you'll call in a bunch that you never see just because of them normally moving so slow and blending in so well with their surroundings.  They are similar to turkeys in the fact they hunt with their ears and eyes, both of which are excellent, but don't use their sense of smell to test the wind. So being upwind or downwind of the bobcat is not that important, other than the fact he can hear a sound coming from upwind much easier.  Confusing the issue somewhat is that not every bobcat is going to respond like the biggest percentage of them do.  Occasionally, they will just come on in even crossing open clearings without hesitation.  I suspect that is due to his/her hunger level at the time or other factors like the breeding season provide.  Most of the people who have a lot of experience hunting them choose continuous calling to keep their interest, and a woodpecker decoy or just one of homemade bird decoys like Weedwalker Ed made me.  They have a tendency to need something to keep their interest on the job at hand.  If they lose interest, as they are apt to do normally with too much periods of silence between calls, they'll switch off to another task like a mouse or bird they heard adjacent to where they are at a particular time. 

If they did use their sense of smell like a coyote, even though their olfactory system is not designed as efficiently as old Wiley's, it would be much harder to hunt them and you'd get busted mucho.  I think they are more than likely plenty smart though, but not worrying about scent of the prey no doubt gets a bunch of them dead.  Weedwalker Ed killed a beautiful tom within minutes of shooting his biggest coyote ever, making it seem pretty obvious that rascal was within 50 yards of Ed for quite a while.  Most of you FNF'ers will no doubt recall that post  by the big rascal. I believe it is his avatar.


I plan on really putting a serious effort into getting a nice bobcat this year. I hope a lot of you guys do the same. The high pitched busy sounds like Lucky Bird or Weasel distress will be my sounds of choice, with a little mix of bobcat in heat during the breeding season.

[RShaw]

Cats can be very vocal when approaching or leaving, so I use regular house cat meows a couple of times during the stand.  If one meows back, I wait a few seconds and try again in order to get an idea of what is going on.  Most of the time, the meowers are females, but I have had toms respond a few times.

I call in tight places and don't expect the cat to cross a big open field to get to me. I  stay on stand for about 12 minutes and move only around 500 yards in order to really cover the area. In my area, cats will not respond nearly as far from the call as a coyote would. I suspect a quarter of a mile to be about it in most cases around here.

I used to call continuously, but now I stop calling every couple of minutes and wait.  In my experience, most of the time when a cat can actually see the specific area the sound is coming from, that is when they slow way down or just plain stop. The cat gets a  line on the sound and starts the approach. By pausing, this allows the cat to walk right through to your stand while following the line to the source of the sound.  Using a decoy while calling continuously might help and keep the cat coming, but the few times I have used decoys, I did not call a cat so cannot comment on that. I know some good cat hunters that use them and know they work from their reports. I respect their opinions.




Randy

[bigben]

I was wondering when someone was going to bring that up r shaw.  both the cats I called in for dad stopped whenever they could see the call or the area the call was in.  I figured the tighter the better then.  hopefully they come in closer to get a better look. 

question for you guys.  I used a jack in the box for both of the cats that we called in.  the first one I do not think had time to even see the decoy before he stopped.  the second one seemed more interested in the decoy after it stopped moving compared to when it was dancing.  I am plannin on using a turkey feather for a decoy that will be setup on a barrel swivel.  does it seem to work better at ground level or up a bit?  I was thinking about setting one up with 12" of fishing line on it and a clip of some sort to hang from a tree and set one up on a arrow shaft with a short 1" piece of fishing line and a barrel swivel. 

[JDMiller]

I am plannin on using a turkey feather for a decoy that will be setup on a barrel swivel.  does it seem to work better at ground level or up a bit?  I was thinking about setting one up with 12" of fishing line on it and a clip of some sort to hang from a tree and set one up on a arrow shaft with a short 1" piece of fishing line and a barrel swivel.  

Guys..... I can honestly say ...this has been one of the best threads & info that I've read on hunting bobcats. Its already gave me some ideas on things to change or improve upon with my cat hunting. Again... keep the info & experiences coming.

BigBen.... I made a feather decoy last winter and even though I've had no luck with bobcats.... it should & does work. I know a lot of guys just use a feather on a string tied to a limb. I sort of modeled mine on the FeatherDancer. I bowhunt & build /fletch my own arrows.... so I basically had every I needed.

I just took a damaged carbon arrow shaft & cut two 12"in pieces. For the coupler ....I just used the insert end of a knock & cut the part that snaps to the string off. I epoxied one end in...leaving a amount out that allows the other piece to slip over. On the end that would stick in the ground.... just epoxied an insert in and screwed a field point on. The part that the string ties to..again just a knock that I filed down and drilled a hole for the string. I did'nt use a barrel swivel but could have. Its not really needed and field testing this one...its works good. If you wish to use it in a tree or other elevation...I just lay the top section of shaft on a limb or brush. Its real light & easily wedges in a lot of things if you dont want to stick it in the ground.

String....I used lightweigt.. #4 lb test..primarily because of visabillity..hard to see...not necessarily strength. On the feather.....just a Turkey feather but also tied a white fishing jig feather for some added color & flash. The little touch of white looks good to me blowing in the wind for & added effect. I wrapped the feathers together at the base with fishing line and added a few drops of fletching glue over the knots just to finish it off. Then I took some camo ductape & covered the black arrow shaft... really dont have to do this.... just thought the camo would help the shaft not be as noticible.

Basically the total height is 24"inches.... which breaks down easily to stick in your call bag or whatever.