The Lynx and I -- are both alive and healthy

[Okanagan]

Edited way down from original wordy post.

Yesterday discouraged me in an odd way that is staying with me.  I hit a fresh lynx track, worked it the best I knew how and was not a good enough hunter to kill him.

There was a skiff of fresh tracking snow the night before, 1/8 to ¼ inch deep, on crusted old snow.  Coming down a logging road I hit a lynx track made since I’d driven up.  I cut his tracks four times as I moved ahead by vehicle and on foot and set up to call him when he was apparently out in a vast swath of thick second growth trees, overgrown Christmas trees.

No matter how I set up I could not see through the low thick limbs more than a few feet and that mainly by hunkering low to see under.  I’ve had cats return down their backtrail in the past when I’ve called on their line of tracks, so I set up to watch only a short section of his tracks through a slot in brush and could see almost nothing else.

He didn’t return but I felt super limited by the set up and need to figure out a better way to call such second growth stuff since that is where we find most lynx. 

I drove ahead and tried a second calling stand till dark but got nothing.  Oddly enough saw a lynx cross the highway in my headlights 20 miles down the road as I drove home.

I welcome any suggestions about how to set up a calling stand in that kind of semi-thick second growth small trees.  It is too thick to see more than 5-10 yards in most places when low and looking under, yet is open enough underneath to let animals walk anywhere.   I’m thinking about bellying down on a one foot high rise.  Such swaths of timber extend for miles, are the best rabbit habitat and are the best place to find our lynx and bobcat.

[HaMeR]

I would set above the e-caller & downwind a little ways & have a decoy right at the e-caller. Distance away from the caller would be dictated by how far I could see back to it. I just feel like predators would likely approach from above so they can see down the hill better.

[JohnP]

Not at all familiar with lynx or your terrain but I would imagine a cat is a cat regardless.  I have never been concerned about my scent when calling in cat country it doesn't seem to bother them to any great degree.  Also when the target is a cat I always will use a decoy of some type, if nothing more than a feather dangling from a low hanging branch.  I would set up near the bottom of a cut or wash as I have found they like to travel down during early evening.  Not being familiar with your country-side I would suggest that you set up above your caller to give yourself  a better view, use a stool, chair anything that gives you an elevated view stand if you must, using a tree as a back rest.  Again when targeting cats once I turn on the caller it stays on until I'm ready to move and in some instances I'll stay on stand up to forty-five minutes, and then another five or so once I turn off the caller, just in case....

One thing I'm sure of, you'll figure it out and it will not be long before we see a picture of a lynx lying in the snow. 

[Okanagan]

Yep, a cat is a cat. 

My problem is where these nearby lynx live.  Up north lynx are in somewhat open spruce forest and farther east they live in more open pine and fir forest but in the areas within a day's drive of me, they seem to live almost exclusively in the thick second growth replanted belts where rabbits thrive.  I've called several in the open country but none here.

All good ideas about how to set up when I can find suitable vegetation openings.   In this endless second growth Christmas tree cover I'm thinking of bellying down on a rise one foot high and setting up to powder burn a lynx.   

It is kind of fun to work on solving a problem whether it is how to get a badly stuck vehicle unstuck or how to shoot a lynx in thick cover.  Keep the ideas coming.  Reading Jim Corbett about man eating tigers I got an idea useful on bobcats and any cat. 

[snafu]

Good job cutting the track.

[FinsnFur]

Oddly enough saw a lynx cross the highway in my headlights 20 miles down the road as I drove home.

doesnt that always seem par for the course lol

[Carolina Coyote]

Not familiarly with Lynx none in Georgia to my knowledge but plenty of Bobcats and they are very stealthy you could very well have called it in but did not see as you probably know, just wonder if its legal to call at night there, I have had more success calling Cat at night than Coyotes, Their eyes do shine bright at night. Good luck and hope you get him and will post a picture. CC

[JohnP]

could very well have called it in but did not see as you probably know CC

Carl I think that most of us that call have called in many bobcats but have not seen them.  I know that on more than one occasion after I'm done calling I will scan the area for a cat and not seeing any I'll stand up only to have one run off.  Although they are very sneaky I don't think they can compete with a coyote for "intelligence". 

As thick as the country is where Okanagan hunts you could probably call in an elephant and not see it.

[Carolina Coyote]

I agree Mr. John, Their sniffer doesn't seem to alert them like it does a Coyote.

[Okanagan]

Good comments.  It is not legal to hunt at night here.  I've watched coyotes on snow in natural moonlight through a rifle scope and been mighty tempted...

I'm catching up after being out wandering with grandson Cody most of the time for a few days.

Yep, the lynx could have come in but he didn't come very close at least if he came back from the direction he'd been traveling.  I walked a half circle in that direction when I quit the calling stand and didn't hit his tracks returning though I only went out 75 yards.   When a cat is beelining with slightly long strides IME that means he is traveling somewhere rather than hunting.  Whether a lynx or lion, they really cover ground in a hurry in that mode and are hard to catch up close enough to call back.  A meandering cat that checks deer tracks etc. is usually hunting and often won't be far ahead.   

I edited out what was to me an interesting part about following his tracks and seeing where he had sneaked up and spied on some snowmobile people in the snowy road ahead.  He'd been walking down the road and he left it and circled around the people through the timber.  My impression of lynx is a lot like John says of bobcats:  not very smart compared to coyotes but super sneaky, lynx considerably more sneaky than bobcats IME.   They hide when they don't need to.