LYNX down, my turn to shoot

[Okanagan]

Yesterday late afternoon I finally got a lynx, a half hour before dark.  18 minute call-in, 30 yd. shot or maybe 25,  Average size female. 



I took off at 9:00 AM heading for the dry side of the mountains, where some of our rain had come down as snow Friday night.  Miles of plowed logging roads with no trucks working Sat. and not a single tire track but mine in the inch of fresh snow.  Fabulous.  I hadn't seen the sun in weeks and forgot my sunglasses, brilliant sun on snow-- ouch! 

By late afternoon I was about the middle of the photo below and saw my first and only lynx track of the day.



The lynx track was a few hours old and I had about an hour of daylight left.  I found where the lynx had crossed a side road 3/4 mile farther on, a much fresher track.  I drove nearly half a mile ahead at an angle and called back down into the creek basin where its tracks had headed.   Snow was nearly 3 feet deep off of the plowed areas, but no snow in places under the heavy trees.  I used snowshoes to hike 200 yards up a side road and set up hoping to call the lynx onto the road or on a bank above it to look down at the road. 

I sat in a snow well melted out under a small clump of pines, and noticed two clumps of willows 15 feet in front of me, easy to see through but too thick to shoot through.  I meant to cut some shooting slots in the willows but forgot till the call was going and I didn't want to move and mess up the stand.  Sure enough, the lynx came onto the open snow road where my shot was blocked by the willows.  I stood to try to see over them but it was an active cat, trotted across the road and out of sight down into the little gully where the Minaska caller was. 

I was not sure that it was a lynx and could not tell for sure whether it was a bobcat.  All I could see was its body.  It's legs were out of sight as it crossed the road in a low spot.  Bobcat is open but I didn't have a tag for one.  I was using my recorded voice making lynx vocals and wondered if a bobcat would come to them, plus a recording of me blowing an old Weems jackrabbit  sound.

I saw a movement and spotted the ears of the lynx sticking up over the snow edge of the gulley.  Hmm... looked like very long black hair on the tips and no white spot behind the ear like a bobcat.  Looks like lynx, but not a positive ID.  The cat went down out of sight in the gully and I expected my only shot would be as it left, but it surprised me by going up the other side to look back down at the e-caller.  Now I could see that it was a lynx, quartering toward me.  It was so active I didn't think I could wait for a posed shot so when it slowed almost to a stop I shot at center mass through what looked like a clean open gap in willow brush.  It leaped six feet straight up, typical of a good hit on a cat, and fell out of sight.  I waited.  Nothing.  Finally started to gather gear to go to it and then the cat went back across the road, walking slowly with a 3 inch wide spot of blood on its side.

For the first time I got a full side view and the long legs left no question that it was a lynx.   I played back my mental video of the shot and knew that I had aimed behind the near shoulder rather than in front of it which would mean an exit well behind the last rib, as was showing.  I grabbed my rifle and snapped a hope-so shot at its hind quarters as it disappeared but think I pulled the shot high. 

When I got to the blood trail I knew it could not go far.  It went about 30 yards total and was lying in a snow free spot under a big tree in the old growth.



Very difficult recovery trip for me in deep soft snow and deadfalls till I got under the trees and out of the snow.  Needed a grandson along to fetch for me!

[riverboss]

Wow! Just wow! What a beautiful animal and a great story. I envy you living in such a great wild country.

Sent from my BLU STUDIO 5.0 C HD using Tapatalk

[Dale]

most excellent... congratulations on a fine trophy... good job on the write up also...

[Dale]

by the looks of that first picture, you had that kitty leaking badly... what did you hit it with?...

[coyote101]

Very nice.  Thanks for sharing.  I can't believe the size of the feet on that thing.

Pat

[JohnP]

Congratulations on a great story and super pictures.  Rug or full mount?  If possible could you splay out the front feet to show how they function like snowshoes.

[HuntnCarve]

Way to go Clyde!  You sure earned that one.  Great story!  Bet your heart was thumping.

Dave

[nastygunz]

What a hunt ! I bet that got the old ticker pumping

[Okanagan]

by the looks of that first picture, you had that kitty leaking badly... what did you hit it with?...

95 grain Nosler partition in .243.  No lynx size critter can take much of that.  The rifle is a Remington Model 600 with a 2-7 Bushnell scope, which I noticed after the shot that I had dialed to 4 power.  243 is overkill for a lynx size critter but we have wolves and cougar on the same calling ground and I have gone to one bullet for everything I might shoot with that rifle, including deer.

John, I froze the lynx rather than deal with it last night so can't manipulate the paws.  Good idea to take a spread paw photo and I wish I had done that.  I've never before in my life frozen an animal that I planned to skin but I was exhausted and yet did not want to take a chance on hair slippage. 

The lynx strolled on top of snow in places where I sank in with snowshoes.  Big feet. 

It has the sharpest claws I've ever seen on any animal, sharp as a kitten's and big as a small cougar, really wicked sharp and long fine-tapered curves.

Thanks to each of your for the congrats.  It has been a long quest for me, in which I've called lynx that partners have shot or that were out of season, etc. 








 

[Yotehntr]

  What a trophey!

[FinsnFur]

Ahh man that is so awesome
Congrats and thanks for sharing that with us.

[HaMeR]

Dang that's cool Ok!! You shot,, to me anyway,, a darn nice Lynx for sure!! Congratulations on a great hunt!! You certainly deserve a trophy like that after what you went thru on that day!!!!

Thank You for sharing your hunt with us!!

As big as they appear to be they are really all legs!! Would it be fair to estimate it at the 35-40# mark? They are slender bodied critters aren't they?

[Okanagan]

Dang that's cool Ok!! You shot,, to me anyway,, a darn nice Lynx for sure!! Congratulations on a great hunt!! You certainly deserve a trophy like that after what you went thru on that day!!!!

Thank You for sharing your hunt with us!!

As big as they appear to be they are really all legs!! Would it be fair to estimate it at the 35-40# mark? They are slender bodied critters aren't they?

They look big but there isn't much to them.  I was surprised that biologists online say that bobcats get bigger (heavier weight) than lynx.  I'd guess this one at a smidge under 30 lbs. and maybe as small as 25.  My personal impression from seeing and handling several lynx and several bobcats is that the average lynx is heavier than the average bobcat by 10 lbs. but that big old male bobcats grow to outweigh big old male lynx.

Man I am sore today!  Snowshoes are really a workout unless conditions are perfect.  One time Saturday I fell down on my back, head downhill, both snowshoes stuck deep in the snow under the crust level of the snow, heavy daypack on my back, legs tangled trying to get a snowshoe back on top, any push down with hand or knee broke through the crust and went armpit deep into the snow rather than get my bod back up...  Laughing here, not whining nor complaining.  Put snow like that with deadfall 2-3 feet above the ground but under snow, and then jam a snowshoe into the void under a deadfall.

Most of the way to my stand and back from my vehicle I walked on the melted out and frozen old tracks of a moose where the reworked snow was firm enough to keep me on top.  With pack and rifle I was slightly too heavy to stay on top of the soft crusted snow otherwise, for about a third of my steps anyway.   Rather than add lynx to that weight, I tied a construction garbage bag around the lynx and dragged/slid him back to the rig on top of the snow, then went back for a second lighter weight trip to retrieve the rest of my gear.  Full dark and big moon on the snow by then, beautiful drive out of the snow mountains in moonlight.

That reminds me, the first lynx I ever called that we killed we were on snow machines and the headlight went out on mine.  It was dark by the time we had that one back to the snow machines.  Big full moon and a never forgotten 20 mile run in the moonlight.

[JohnP]

As soon as I saw that rifle I knew it was a 600 by the shape of the bolt.  That rifle needs to be moved out of that cold harsh wet climate and needs to come to Arizona to be with it's long lost big brother Mr .308

[Hawks Feather]

Nice lynx and it was even better that you took us all along via the pics and info.

Jerry

[KySongDog]

That's a really great story!  Thanks for sharing with us.   Congratulations on a hard earned trophy!   

[Okanagan]

As soon as I saw that rifle I knew it was a 600 by the shape of the bolt.  That rifle needs to be moved out of that cold harsh wet climate and needs to come to Arizona to be with it's long lost big brother Mr .308

Your sympathy is overwhelming.   

The black rectangles on the stock are strips of tape cut to the width of the muzzle and handy to replace and keep snow out of the barrel after I shoot off the tape that starts the hunt. 

[Carolina Coyote]

Yes Sir that is a nice trophy,  Love calling in a Cat wish we had the LYNX down here. cc

[KySongDog]

Love calling in a Cat wish we had the LYNX down here. cc

+1

I saw one once while on a vacation trip to Denali.  A truly beautiful animal in my opinion.

[bambam]

Awesome !!