my father drew a tag for bobcats in pa. I was wondering if you guys could pass on some info on em. got some nice brushy country upstate that has trails cutting through them. what calls times(yes we are allowed to hunt at night for em) and places do you call em. thanks for any info.
bobs are most active at nite but move at sunrise and sunset plan on long stands ...do alot of scouting it don't pay to call for one when he ain't there :innocentwhistle:
+1 what he said. Try using cottontail and bird distress. :thumb2:
Good luck.
The majority of the times, the bobs will come in pretty slow and very cautiously. If you see one that is coming in, keep em coming with some lip squeeks. If they sit down, then it is almost game over. If they are sitting, they will catch every movement that you make, so be really careful. It is really hard to get them back moving again after they sit. My brother did call one in that came in on a dead sprint about 30 seconds after he started calling. If you find some cat tracks, then it is a great possiblility that the kitty uses that same travel path on a regular basis. It could be a few days or more between visits because they cover quite a bit of ground. I have had the best luck seeing them in right after a fresh snow. Like minutes after it has quit snowing, something makes em get out there and move around. I have seen them mostly at early morning and evenings, but Dad called me yesterday at 10 am and one just ran across the road in front of him. Big ol' tom he said.
Good luck on your quest for a cat! Let us know how you do.
Brian
Not enough of them here to do any successful calling, but everything I've read points to rocky areas and the thicker the better. :shrug:
Around here your best squirrel hunting areas usually have cats. Wheres the beef?
I agree with Jim, My bobcats have nearly all came from thickets of prickly pear flats. Don't look for whole bobcat, look for eye or twitching tail, and be sure and really look around rigaht in front of you before quiting.
Richard Grantham
If you happen to have an electronic call or a remote like a FoxPro, they sometimes have a bobcat mating call. Bobcats usually mate in the spring but well mate any time of the year, take advantage it....it works.
You need to find some cats tracks, bobcats normally live in a 1 to 3 mile area. If you find tracks there should be a cat not far away.
Yes cats are easier to call at night, but can be called anytime of the day. Look for white then black spots, the twich of an ear or tail, the face. More bobcats have been called in then ever seen by the hunter.
I've called cats in open country with little cover and they ended up right next to me, I don't have a clue how they did that without me seeing them, :confused: but they can do it.
Bobcats like river bottoms, they are normally not far from water. They also love rocks where they can get up high and look down, they feel safe that way I guess. Yes, they like heavy brush, makes it easy for them to do the old stealth attack.
For cats long or short tail, make long stands 30 to 45+ minutes. when you get up from your stand look around, you may see a bobcat walking away.
Hope some of this info the guys are giving you helps....Good luck.
I do have a foxpro and was wondering about those sounds. this weekend I am heading upstate to check a few areas out and then heading to our states predator hunting assoc picnic. I have a few areas in mind that look like good cat areas from watching videos and reserching the topic. I do not think that we can use a electronic decoy but I do know that we can use artifical bait(decoy). I will take some pics of some of the areas that I am thinkin of. back a few years ago the pa state forests started putting in big food plots for elk. these work great for coyotes and fox. but they also clearcutted other areas and let them grow up. but they still try to keep trails open. whats grown up is about 1" thick trees that are spaced very close together. I have tried and failed to hunt whitetails by stalking because normally there is a bunch of really tall grass that pads the ground and makes it nice to still hunt. but since the trees are so close together it is hard to snake a arrow between the trees. I will get pics.
sorry lots of pics. but here is a update on the bobcat hunting. season comes in in two weekends. here are some scouting pics. traveling down a road at about ten miles a hour with my head hanging out the truck window and seen the track in the first pic. got out and took a look around and seen multiple sets of tracks. :readthis: good for us. the second pic and third pic are areas that I thought looked good. what do ya guys think. also I am wondering on choice of ammo. my father is using a combo gun .223 over 12ga. I was going to have him shoot #4 buck out of the 12 ga and a 55 gr v-max black hills load for the .223. do you think that is over kill? also I skin my fox and coons out as soon as I shoot them. my father wants a full body mount done if he gets a cat. so I do not want to skin. but we have to travel at least 100 miles to get to the areas we can hunt em. I was thinking getting a big cooler and if we get lucky then buy ice and keep the critter on ice until we get em froze. also since these guys have white fur on them. should I wash his fur as best I can or do not worry about it? my take on it is get it cooled down as quick as possible and get it clean of blood and dirt. stuff wound and nose or ears with paper towels to soak up blood while in cooler. I got the all cat calling movie from the burnham brothers. good video but pretty much said what has been said here allready. we are allowed to use decoys and lights at night now thanks to the efforts of the ppha. so I was thinking on using the jack in the box and foxpro for daytime calling.
(http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/4721/catoj2.jpg)
(http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/8844/area1gs0.jpg)
(http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/7391/area2zt3.jpg)
what do you think made these tracks??
(http://img522.imageshack.us/img522/952/cattrackyd4.jpg)
(http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/4143/cattrack2sp8.jpg)
I'm sure you've read this before on HPA, but we called one in last fall with the JS greyfox pup distress. Totally caught us off guard, darn thing almost got shot !!! Wish one of us had a permit !! Both a redfox and that cat came in at the same time differ directions.
Rabbit and bird distress played at low volumn will get better results from cats. Get comfortable and remain still....