Bobcat Calls / Sounds

[possumal]

Here is a picture of the woodpecker decoy Weedwalker Ed made for me last winter. Problem is that he liked the way it turned out so well that he never has delivered it to the old marsupial. 
Seriously, we haven't hunted since then but I have full confidence I'll have it this year.  The way Ed makes them, they are so light that the slightest breeze moves them when you hang them from a branch. We used one like it the one time we got to go last year, and hid the FX-5 under the brush right by it.  We may have called one in that day but it would have been hard to see him with no snow and all that thick cover.




P.S.  Look what a pretty pecker Ed put on old Woody.  I do believe Big Ed is a natural born pecker placer.  :roflmao:

[KySongDog]

P.S.  Look what a pretty pecker Ed put on old Woody.  I do believe Big Ed is a natural born pecker placer.  :roflmao:

I ain't, I say I ain't goin' there.      I'm startin' to worry about the 'ol marsupial.   Maybe there's a reason Ed ain't been back.   :roflmao:   :roflmao:   :roflmao:

[alscalls]

natural born? ........ :roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao: As big as he is? Aint no way AL...... :roflmao: :roflmao:

[Carolina Coyote]

Lots of good advise on this tread and thought I would add my two cents worth, I have had them come in on just about every call I have in my sack, last one I called in was on a Grey Fox Distress and he came running, most time they do lock down when they think they are in range to see what is making the sound, thats one reason to sit quietly for a few minutes after calling, sometimes after 5, 10 ,15 minutes they will come out to satisfy their curiosity, and as some have already said the wind does not seem to bother them, so look behind you as well. I have called in several while sitting on a deer stand using a mouse squeak about every 5 or 10 minutes. I never heard one making a sound coming in but my hearing is bad and would love to hear them. cc

[RShaw]

Nite calling in TX for coyotes, we were making stands about 1 mile apart by gps.  We started noticing that we could see the eyes of coyotes looking back over their shoulders as they ran away. This was occuring about .8 miles from the last stand.   We then backed off and made the stands .7 miles apart and had better success.  Most of the time we stay on stand for 10 minutes for coyotes.  Applying this to TX cats, we now make stands at .7 miles and stay on stand for only 7 minutes.  Seems to be working well.

Cats are really pretty stupid. Their good eyesight and hearing allows them to compensate for this.  And as far as sense of smell, I believe they don't smell much better than you or I.

Randy

[possumal]

Wait a durned minute, you yahoos.  I'll have to put several replies here:

Semp:  You got it all backwards; I am the one who didn't go back!!  Any big rascal like Ed, who is 3 or 4 inches taller, and weighs 30 or 40 lbs more, and sports a size 13, ah just gotta be afraid some.  :roflmao:

AlscallsAl:  I am not assuming anything about that big rascal just because he is so expert at pecker placement, and don't forget, size 13 applies!   :roflmao: :roflmao:

To both of you characters:  I'm talking about his expertise in pecker placement on the decoy.  It is obviously well designed, well placed, and sharp and ready for some serious peckering,, or is it pecking?  :roflmao: :roflmao:

[FinsnFur]

Randy, that is some pretty interesting analogy right there....in your last post.
So tell us, what was the deciding factor in moving the stands closer together after your discoveries?

[RShaw]

There is always someone in the chair between stands. That person is shining and looking all the time and in all directions.  The driver would radio up when the gps says we had traveled a mile from the last stand location. The gps is as the crow flies which is exactly what you want when calling.  At this time the chair man begins to search with the light for a good stand location.  Most often in the sea of mesquite that place is right there. It all pretty much looks the same.

We observed that the chair man was seeing bumped coyotes leaving the area and this was deterimined to be around .8 miles each time. Chair man would radio when one was seen leaving and the driver would just look at gps to see how far we had traveled.  It happened enough times that we backed off on the mile between stands and settled on .7 miles .  Very seldom do we bump many when using this technique.  A bumped coyote is hard to stop.  This all occured on fairly wide open terrain which would lead you to believe the coyotes were hearing the sounds, but were unwilling to come on in.  Of course some come from further away, but we would rather be safe than sorry.

Cats are a different deal entirely.  Usually the area is much more dense and we still play the safe game.  Slow rolling stands between stands and lots of looking with the light. Stands are more carefully picked due to amount of cover. Cats are much easier to handle and unless you really burn them with the light, most will stick around till dead if a person is patient. The WT cottontail is the sound we use on practically every stand . Only swithcing when we get sick of hearing it. LOL

RAndy

[alscalls]

Very cool....I wish we could do that here.....

[possumal]

Me too, Alscalls Al.  They are so busy protecting deer and elk here now that they have completely shut down night hunting for predators.  I cannot see why they think a legitimate predator hunter, on a man's land with permission, would be a threat to poach a deer or elk.  It would be so easy to shoot a deer late in the afternoon, collect him up after dark with no lights of any kind, and take him home.

My nephew, Danny Sipe, who introduced me to coyote hunting way back when, and I went down to a prime predator hunting farm one night just to see how the critters responded and what we could have killed if it were legal.  There are some elements that I am sure would be hard about night hunting, and getting your techniques worked out like R.Shaw described would be highly important to your kill statistics, but as far as the critters coming in to the call and light, there was no way that daytime calling could compare. We had foxes, reds and greys, bobcats, coyotes, deer, raccoon, and some dogs who run loose (lol) respond in big numbers with very little fear of anything it appeared.  I am sure if you started shooting them, they'd change their thinking some.  It was way cool seeing those various eyes shining in that red beam.

[alscalls]

We have a night season.....Open fields only......but I don't think I could go 7 miles without trespassing or being in someones yard.   

[FinsnFur]

Thanks Randy. Interesting little piece there, thanks for sharing that.

When you said, "Cats are much easier to handle and unless you really burn them with the light, most will stick around till dead if a person is patient."

...it got me to thinking how true that is.

The first cat I ever shot in my life, was in Texas. Randy Watson on the call, Randy Buker in the chair, (boy this is too many Randy's already)..and I was standing in the bed of the truck with Watson's Benelli.
Watson called one and held us both back from shooting to show how close he could get it I guess. That thing came to the side of the truck and actually sat down no more then 4 feet from the truck. His eyes winced as the Lightforce burned into his retinas. It was freeking hilarious.
I was completely dumbfounded, I stood there for what seemed like a week and a half staring in amazement. Finally Watson leans around the chair and whispers, "Champion?...you gonna shoot that thang or give it a name?"
I still didnt know if I wanted to shoot it  I was in shock.

Every cat but one seemed to take it's sweet ole time coming in. Hold the light on them the entire time and they just keep creeping in.

[JDMiller]

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. 

I've actually questioned myself if I was honestly giving cats enough time before leaving for another set-up. Not ever actually calling one in on purpose... I dont know. I will usually stay at one set-up for 30-45 minutes. I'll also use low to medium vollume on calling and my set-ups are closer together in attempt to work different areas out. This is especially true when hunting our farm... limiting myself to a few hundred acres as compared to hunting vast access such as LBL.

I think increasing my set-up time & patience is one thing I've got to do on cats. I'm getting a personal impression that I'm trying to hunt them like yotes and I've got to change my tactics somewhat.

[Okanagan]

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.  Jimmie

Yep, that's a clearing in the photo.  I set up to call there because it was an open place.    

PNW bobcats love brushy thick creek bottoms and clearcuts grown up in thick evergreens ten to 20 feet tall (reprod) and never thinned out.  In snow, the best single spot to find a bobcat track in our country is a switchback where an older logging road cuts back on a hillside as it angles up through a solid mass of thick second growth Christmas trees. The stuff is an opaque wall on both sides of the road. 

I've never hunted at night with a light so know nothing about the specialties of that.  I would think that eyes would show up through thin brush or grass cover and help a hunter see cats that would be harder hard to spot in daylight.

[JohnP]

[/quote]

PNW bobcats love brushy thick creek bottoms
[/quote]

I think that is a true statement but it not only applies to the PNW.  I think you could say that about bobcats in general regardless of the area you are from.  Although I have killed most of my cats out in the desert scrub and mesquite the biggest ones have come from "brushy thick creek bottoms".

[alphadog]

Thanks fellows for the great lessons in the post above.   Now all I have to do is put them into my hunting mood and will see if they pay off.  Great post and thanks for sharing with a rookie. 

[Hyperwrx]

The insight Randy gives to how he hunts bobcat should be taken to heart.  Lot of misinformation on internet hunting boards by guys with only a few bobcat kills to their names.  While their opinion always adds to to the conversation one should look at the individual, like Randy, that harvests dozens each year, for solid proved advice.

The cats I took last year (daytime calling) all came to a high pitched rabbit distress call played intermittently.  Often once the bobcat got within 10-25 yards it would stop and stare-down the caller looking for some type of movement or indicator as to what was the source of the sound.  Sometimes the cat was not noticed until later in the stand.  Movement is always going to be the easiest way of seeing the cat approach the caller but constant and patient scanning of the surround brush and trees will often result in a sitting cat just sitting there focused on the caller.  Case in point.  This was a few weeks ago.  Entire video is the same stand, camera just swings to the left at the end to catch the sitting cat.  125 yards with a .17 Fireball.  First shot takes hair off her back, 2nd gets her.



Good eyes are more of an asset bobcat hunting than many other factors.  Cats are slow and methodical and can creep in a stand, watch you fidgeting, and walk back out without you even knowing.

[Butcher45]

     I've only called in two bobcats on two separate occasions..  That said, both times I was using multiple sounds with one or two being high-pitched bird-type distress sounds, and both cats showed-up out of the thick stuff within several minutes.  I like to think the meowing sound I made with the bite reed call I was using on the last one contributed as well since it was during the matins season.  Shoulda seen the head on that thing....he was only about 8 paces away straight in front of me when I spotted him in the reprod with my gun in my lap (he won that day).

     Hopefully I'll have quintuple the experience to share by March.  We can take as many bobcats as we want in Western Oregon from Dec. 1 to Feb. 28.  Some big ones up here.