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Author Topic: Westside bobcat tactics  (Read 3617 times)

Offline 7t9cobra

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Westside bobcat tactics
« on: September 25, 2018, 08:00:31 AM »
I've been out calling every chance I get. I started before the season just messing around with coyotes and ended up calling in a nice cougar. I have an e-caller with RS cougar vocals. I was able to keep him there and got some amazing pics and videos. I even. Had him talking to me. but had to let him walk. One week later I called in a bobcat and was able to get a pic. I set up on a road between two reprod patches and called with Redbird distress for no more than 90 seconds and it jumped in the road, walked towards the caller, got nervous and turned around and left. Normally I don't like setting up on the sides of roads, especially in broad daylight. Since then I made 11 stands with calling nothing. On the 12th stand I called in a monster bobcat (by now it's in season) he gave me a poor shot and I missed. I was calling in the middle of a somewhat open reprod patches at about 12:30pm on a hot sunny day. It took 43 minutes to call him in. Since then I've made 16 or so stands. Everything from timber patches, roadsides, rainy days, sunshine right after rain, sunny days, evenings and mornings. I haven't seen anything come in since. Not to mention I haven't called in a single coyote this year. I'm not real interested in coyotes. More cougar and bobcat. So I'm just curious what kind of techniques you guys like for bobcat. I want to hunt night I'm just not sure what lights to buy yet. So if anyone has advice on that too, that would be great. I'm sure most of you like to use rodent and bird noises like myself. I'm mainly just curious what kind of land you look for and how you determine your approach. The hardest part I have is finding a spot where I can see the possible approaches and still be comfortable which can be very difficult in the westside as I'm sure most of you know.

Offline Bofire

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Re: Westside bobcat tactics
« Reply #1 on: September 25, 2018, 02:41:50 PM »
Seems like you have covered the obvious bases, I like swampy/river-creek bottom areas, I find the evening just before dark the best. I need Binos cause they are so hard to see and move so slow sometimes. good luck
Carl
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Offline ThomMedic

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Re: Westside bobcat tactics
« Reply #2 on: September 25, 2018, 03:24:36 PM »
Much appreciated post 7t9cobra, informative, and encouraging for all the times that I saw the wrong species that I was not hunting.

Offline 7t9cobra

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Re: Westside bobcat tactics
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2018, 07:53:59 PM »
I've tried some river bottom stuff with no luck. I generally find myself disappointed with how the sound it's out when there's noisy water around. I think a swampy area would be great. I have yet to call anything in near one but they always look promising at first. Am I the only one that goes 12-15 stands before calling in anything other than birds and squirrels? It's hard to keep positive after making so many unsuccessful stands. Here's a couple pics from the cougar I called in. Everytime I get discouraged I just watch the videos and look at the pics. Gets me pumped by the next weekend

Offline 7t9cobra

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Re: Westside bobcat tactics
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2018, 08:02:42 PM »
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« Last Edit: September 25, 2018, 08:10:15 PM by 7t9cobra »

Offline JakeLand

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Re: Westside bobcat tactics
« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2018, 09:07:38 PM »
Nice pics !! But my opinion is wait until January that’s when the pelt will be full prime ( thickest and fullest) right now they still have summer coats .practice on coyotes year round and bobs January through the end of February my  :twocents:

Offline Bofire

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Re: Westside bobcat tactics
« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2018, 09:15:46 PM »
I think your response/call site rate is good. One sighting per 50-100 sites seems to be normal.
Carl
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Offline 7t9cobra

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Re: Westside bobcat tactics
« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2018, 09:43:26 PM »
When it's January I wait for snow and hit the roads hard looking for cougar tracks. I hardly will even get out of the truck for bobcat tracks because I'd rather spend the time finding a cougar. I've came across some pretty cool tracks the last few years and been real close but haven't made the kill yet. I'm glad to hear my call in ratio isn't bad. I wish someone would've told me that years ago. I was pretty frustrated my first year calling. One important question I've been meaning to ask is do you guys call nonstop for bobcats or are you calling 15-20 seconds then waiting a couple minutes? When I called in the last bobcat I was calling for about 1 minute and waiting 2-5 minutes between and how long before you throw in the towel? I got bored after 43 minutes and switched to cougar whistles  just in case one was lingering around. As soon as the whistles started the bobcat came running in. I quickly switched back to ranting Redbird and he continued to sneak around until I took a bad shot. I've tried all kinds of combinations but just can't narrow it down. When I called in the cougar I was mixing baby cottontail and Redbird and calling fairly rapidly but not quite nonstop.

Offline AWS

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Re: Westside bobcat tactics
« Reply #8 on: September 26, 2018, 01:45:01 PM »
I attended a dinner a few days ago, Byron South was the speaker and the subject of bobcats came up.  He is a firm believer of continuous calling.  He feels that bobcat much like bears can easily lose interest and find something more interesting during the lulls in calling plus it speeds up response time as the bobcats tend to stop moving during the lulls also.
After the first shot the rest are just noise.

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Offline kisfish

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Re: Westside bobcat tactics
« Reply #9 on: September 26, 2018, 03:14:49 PM »
tag

Offline 7t9cobra

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Re: Westside bobcat tactics
« Reply #10 on: September 26, 2018, 05:05:37 PM »
I attended a dinner a few days ago, Byron South was the speaker and the subject of bobcats came up.  He is a firm believer of continuous calling.  He feels that bobcat much like bears can easily lose interest and find something more interesting during the lulls in calling plus it speeds up response time as the bobcats tend to stop moving during the lulls also.

Interesting. I've heard both and tried both. I seem to find it hard to call nonstop. I always feel like I should stop for atleast a couple minutes. Not sure why. Might have to give it a shot more often. Like I said, that last bobcat I missed came in when I was stopping for 2-5 minutes. I had a pickup driving on the spur road across from me and I didn't want them to hear and attempt to find where the sound was coming from so I stopped for a while. it was 5 minutes after I started calling and it came in. I'm really surprised it came in during broad daylight with a pickup driving nearby and a couple more driving by on the mainline while I was there. I was considering throwing in the towel just because of the traffic and I also hiked back to my stand after going through thick noisy brush to set my caller up only to find out my external speaker came unplugged so I had to hike back over to fix it.  :bash: After all that noise it still came in.
   Another factor I haven't felt real confident about is volume. I understand they hear MUCH beter than us, but I always feel like I need to atleast hear a quiet echo just to know the sounds getting out. Some stands I've done I've tried the volume cranked, due to wind or water noise. Other spots, first thing in the morning when its silent, I'll run it super quiet. I've also hear a lot from coyote hunters that they start out quiet and slowly go louder. However, I feel the opposite. I have no proof in my theory, I just feel like I should call loud the first 15 seconds or so, to get attention from all around, then slowly get quieter over time.
   Switching sounds can be another factor too. I used to feel like switching up too much wasn't a good thing, but I'm starting to think that if I'm getting bored with the sound, the cat is probably bored too. So I switch sounds, but keep them somewhat similar. (i.e. ranting redbird to titmouse tantrum. redbird to baby cottontail to snowshoe hare etc.)
    Anyone have input on these as well?

Offline Bofire

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Re: Westside bobcat tactics
« Reply #11 on: September 26, 2018, 07:44:27 PM »
Have you ever heard a real bird in distress? I am sure I heard a bobcat kill one early evening. I try to match that volume
Carl
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Offline ruttnbuck

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Re: Westside bobcat tactics
« Reply #12 on: October 02, 2018, 08:29:14 AM »
I started hunting Bobcats last year while coyote hunting and had a  Bobcat come in, in 2 separate stands.  Both times where near a creekbottom . The first I was set up along a road next to a turn it area ( this area is gated so there's any traffic) abd after 5 min of ranting redbird the bobcat jumped out of reprod and almost landed on e caller and spun around and took off after realizing it wasn't a bird but this happened with a crk bottom in both sides of road . The next happened while I was calling down through a clear cut into a crk bottom on snowy day abd he came out jumped into stump and I missed at 130 yrds. Not sure what it is about crk bottoms other then they're thicker then snot and probably good areas to hide and live.  Also ive only ever tried leaving the caller on continuously and will switch sounds every 5 to 10 min depending on my patience level that day. 

Offline 7t9cobra

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Re: Westside bobcat tactics
« Reply #13 on: October 02, 2018, 04:17:16 PM »
That makes sense. Most bobcats I've seen aren't always near a creek bottom, but they're always near super thick brushy areas.

 


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