Any woods of wisdom or advice for calling TX bobcats. Going on a combo hog/predator calling trip in January.

Be patient. IMO they usually don’t charge the call as often as coyotes. I’ve caught them sneaking in as much as 45 minutes after starting a set. I’ve had several that have crept in and laid down in some nearby cover and waited for a good while before stalking on in.

What he said. They respond radically different than the canines, usually a LOT slower...sometimes don't come the whole way in....sometimes do...you just never know. We cold called one last month in 8 minutes flat...called for 45 minutes on another that we actually saw ahead of time and never got him in range...

Just keep your eyes open, close, and at a distance.

What they said plus I like to use a simple decoy for cats on daytime stands. I don't like them for coyote but they help keep a cats attention. Mine is just a turkey feather on a string but it works with the slightest breaze. I also use less volume than most do.

Texas has great night hunting opportunities and that's the best time to call a cat so take advantage of it if you can. They will come to the call day or night but shining eyes are much easier to see than a camouflaged cat sneaking in.

I have called in several cats that actually charged the call and one even pounced on it. I've called in a few that stalked the call and the decoy so seriously, that I believe I could have snuck up on them and knocked them in the head. Then, I've called in some that acted as if they were doing me a favor for actually showing up. Also, on a few occasions, I've seen cats come out of heavy cover, and sit there looking and never make an attempt to come any closer.

I do believe a decoy helps, and also I like using a wide variety of calls. There is no night hunting here, and bobcats are pretty scattered and not found everywhere, so my experience with them is not as extensive as those of you who have more opportunities then I do. I think the quickest one responded as soon as I turned on the call, while I've waited close to an hour for others to show up.

I have the Inferno but know nothing about the other caller. I like the Inferno would buy it again.

Thanks for all the tips, will let you know how it goes.

I have only called in a couple but they were incidental to calling dogs.

I didn't do anything different. They just showed up.

Tooted this one up this morning, look for scat and tracks, hunt the edges of roads and fields thats were they hunt most of the time. Rio7

Nice job, Blue

Thanks Dennis,Here's one I got this morning. Blue

I called for 6 hours today specifically for Bobcats- Nada...

Dennis, try something other than "Here kitty kitty"

Dennis I have my best luck when I find scat and tracks that are fairly fresh, most of our roads are sand and it's easy to see their tracks when it's damp or firm, if I see tracks going both ways I know I have a cat working the area, I go to where the tracks turn off into the brush and set up where I can see both ways, cats don't play the wind like a coyote so I don't pay much mind to the wind, I plan on sitting at least an hour. some time it takes me a few trys but I usually get them. Blue


Owl, Will try here kitty, kitty next time it might work. Grin.

Blue, I think that the orange pee wee would work better. I got one of mine out yesterday and noticed that that package did not include the little tuning rubber or extra reed... But, that is okay as I have about 20 of the darn things.

I covered about 20 miles of virgin snow covered roads yesterday. Very little sign of any kind. I guess they were still holed up. Did see a 190+ mule deer.

No snow here just cold wet and windy, found another cat this morning while calling coyotes.good sized tom cat.




Got a p.m. that wanted to see their bellys, so here's his belly.

Good stuff Blue.... I like the way you’ve got those calls set-up with the band about 3/4 of the way up the reed. That’s about as fool-proof as you can run them.

I called in a big mountain bobcat two weeks ago, but couldn’t get a round through the blow-down timber at him. I was using one of our Itsy Bitsy bite style calls at the time.

Thanks for the pics, and for using our calls.

Josh

Here’s a pic of the Itsy Bitsy (far right).... they make sounds no other call can produce.

Went about 1 mile west and called in a big male coyote, he came out about 75 yrds down wind in a fire break, I lip squeaked him and he took a dump and starting walking away, so I shot him in the butt hole, thru him on the jeep he stunk real bad of skunk didn't take his picture.

Moved 1 more mile west started calling this sucker stepped out of the brush and grunted at me so I shot him between the eyes DRT.









Rio7

This is how and old man loads a 200# plus boar, with no help. back porch on the jeep was getting full, so I came home. Rio7

Good looking rifle, what is it?

jdunham, Red rifle is .243 A.I. AKA Bloody Mary Rio7

Yeah, Randy (oldman03} and I, painted it for Him, using paint that He furnished and the color that He wanted. Said it did not shoot worth a crap in that color, so He repainted it Himself, in the current color. Shoots like Hell, afire, with Him behind the trigger. miles

Miles, The way I remember it you and oldman03 painted the stock 2 or 3 times and they all looked common to me, so i sanded it and was going to try to do a flame job, but I liked the red so much I stopped there, thus the birth of Bloody Mary, I sand it and repaint it every year after hunting season riding in my jeep 24-7 don't help the paint job much. Rio7

Yeah, I don't remember the color that we left it for you, but it was some cream color that was pretty plain. miles

Some day I would like to learn how to paint a stock more than 1 color and look nice. Rio7

That's cool.

I love it

Blue, my first try at painting stocks, I painted it a solid color and then put painters tape in places and painted again. Looked OK but you could feel the places where it changed colors. Maybe a clear coat would have fixed that, but I did not try. I used it for a while and then repainted after sanding the rough edges. miles

Morning Miles, Most of my rifles have nice wood, only have 2 with what i call hard rubber O.D. green, I can't tell you how much I dislike O.D. green, painted the other one bright orange it's a .243 A.I. also, kind of my back up rifle if Bloody Mary, goes down, maybe I'll shoot something with it and post a picture Orange Crush.

Dennis, Love Bloody Mary to.

Hunting is over for a few day's fire breaks are finished and we will start burning this morning we would like to burn 5000 acres but will be lucky to get 3000 burned before the weather changes, no more predator hunting for awhile. Thanks for the comments guy's. Rio7

Did you get rid of Aunt Jemima? I was thinking that it had a synthetic stock. Maybe a new barrel? miles

Miles, You right I forgot Aunt Jemima, but i don't hunt with Aunt Jemima, just shoot Long Range, and Aunt Jemima is kinda black not green. Rio7

Yeah I was just thinking that it was not an AI, just a .243 that shoots great. miles

Blue- what do you like for bullets in Bloody Mary?

Dennis, Scenar 105 gr. 41.5 gr. H-4350 CCI -200 Oal 2.80 it's a fairly mild load but it shoots real well in Bloody Mary, it kills like a much larger round, on critters large and small. Blue

Miles, Aunt Jemima, surprises alot of people, when shooting at a distance, its a fun rifle to shoot. Rio7

Blue, I don't figure that I could shoot that good even shooting Aunt Jemima. She is a very good shooter, but a lot of credit goes to the man behind the rifle. You pulled several called shots last year that was impressive. miles

Yep, like calling the 'balls shot'.

That pig had BIG BALLS!!

They did not look that big a 1000 yards. In fact, I could not see them in my scope. miles

Might have, but it was a loooong ways to those balls.

Too bad that was not a real oinker.... That would have been the shot of a life time.

Jeff, that shot was impressive. Everyday, after shooting, we would re-paint the steels. All kinds of steels, out to 1000 yds. As a joke, I painted the balls on this steel white. First thing the next morning, Blue said he was going to 'shoot that pig in the balls'. Yeah...right! Bam..... ping, and you see the results. There are several 'pigs' on the range and I dont remember what yardage this one was at. IIRC, the closest pig was at 600 or 800 yds., and I know there is one at 1000 yds. Either one, cold bore, called shot = impressive.

I hunt the intermountain west, not Texas, so maybe things are different but what I have noticed is that:

Bobcats are much harder to call in the north vs Texas. I have no idea why but many serious callers here go years between seeing bobcats, where in Texas they seem to respond to calls "relatively" often. There's plenty of cats here, BTW, but maybe Texas is absolutely over run with them. I dunno.

Bobcats like bird sounds. I have got them in with a rabbit distress, but most I have called came to some sort of a bird distress call.

Bobcats seem to loose interest easy and have a short attention span. Continious calling is better than the normal coyote sequences of call, wait, call, wait, etc. This is where an electronic call is nice.

Decoys help. Even a turkey tail feather tied to a string blowing in the breeze helps. Anything to keep their attention.

Others are right that they come in slowly...stalking and using cover unlike coyotes or fox who often run in to the call. If I suspect a bobcat is in the area or if the country has that look, I will call for a full hour. It has paid off.

T Inman, You are correct there is a difference between S.Texas and the inter mountian west, when it come to bobcat's responding to a calls, having spent, many years hunting predators in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, and S. Texas, there's more bobcats per sq. mile in S. Texas, with more food , heavy cover, and less hunting pressure, as most of Texas, is private land and not heavely hunted for coyotes and bobcat's. Rio7

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lt9Bs24mJc

Blue- you use the 105s even on bobcats??

I was thinking of trying 55 grain Ballistic tips.

I am currently using 95 grain tipped match kings at 3220 fps. I can push the 55s to well over 4000, just haven't seen what they will do to a critter!

Here is my only 6mm caliber rifle. I haven't used it enough to come up with a good name yet!

call 'er 'Truckload'.....

Most of them fell to an AR-15, just broke out the heavy-hitter for a few stands hoping for one to hang up at 500; never happened. Longest kill is under 200...

“Hope4yote” based on you not using it much...Maybe “Slayer” for your AR-15, if you haven’t named it either. 😎

My first real hunt with an AR-15. I am convinced that a suppressed AR in .223 is about as close to perfect as you can get for calling coyotes. I still prefer a shotgun for bobcats and fox.

Why a shotgun for kitty’s and fox? I’ve never called in a fox, but several bobs. Mine all hang up on the edge of cover just sitting, looking around like it’s a Sunday after a church social. 17 Rem works nicely for me. The AR platform for varmitting has come along way from the days of hate by hunters and former gun celebrities like Zumbo. 😎

Dennis that is one hell'ova load of coyotes,most I have ever called in and killed in 1 day was 11, the most I ever killed in 1 day was 48 from a chopper, also got 1 bobcat from the chopper that day,

I use the 105s for every thing Bloody Mary, is in the jeep 24-7, I'm to lazy to have a load just for coyotes and bobcat's, as i don't save the hide's, I use Bloody Mary to cull deer, elk, axis, aoudad, impala,waterbuck,fallow, pigs, if I know I'm going after Nilgai, gemsbok, wildebeast,kudu I stop by the house and pick up my 300 WBY loaded with 200 grain TSX, but at one time or the other I have killed them all with Bloody Mary, I just have to be carful when and where I shoot.

As for your 6mm I would call it Beauty it looks real good to me. Blue

Bobcats are typically in thicker cover and shots are less that 75 yards. Nothing is better than a shotgun for this. Foxes are easy to kill and come in close as well. It's a lot easier to hit a running fox with a load of #2s than with a 20 grain bullet from a 17. Also, the 17 is pretty anemic should something bigger like a coyote or lion come in.

I typically take two guns to a stand, a shotgun and a rifle. I have the shotgun ready and the rifle on a bipod or shooting sticks for the coyote that hangs up at 200.

Thanks, Blue. I am going to play around with bullets a little more before I settle on one thing. The 95s shot as good as anything and I can push them to 3200+ so they work good on coyotes. I haven't killed anything with the 105s yet. The Nosler custom 105 and Sierra 107 MK shoot the best so far.

Dennis, Have never used nosler 105 gr. but shoot a lot of 107 smk long range with good results, with my 6 mm's i try to stay with 105's or above i'm not really looking for speed with the 6 mm but the ability to put down what i shoot, as i have said before most of my shots on predators and big game are inside of 200 yards, my 105 Scenar loads run 3050 fps out of Bloody Mary, and Orange Crush, and i am happy with both for what i do.

We agree on the shotgun and AR-15 for predators and close running shots, I have 3 gun racks in my jeep and that's what i carry, along with my pistol, and a little extra ammo. Use what works for what you do 1/2 the fun is figuring out what you and your rifle likes. Blue

Beautiful

Dennis, 55's will tear em up pretty bad, they're fast bastards love the sound they make wen they hit meat....

Can't wait to try!!

Going to the West Ranch this morning about daylight, this big tom ran in front of me about 30 yards, I just kept going for about 1/4 mile then parked the jeep in the brush, walked back about 100 yrds down the road with my rifle and sticks sat down leaning on the fence, he came in to about 60 yards and sat down, Bang! Rio7

1) cats are visual... they don’t care about smell so much

2) Sneak, Sneaky, sneaky buggers. You may not see them come in
Best thing to do is study each row of stuff you are going to be looking at when you start calling, and then look for change. The little suckers will sit in a fence row and blend right in, and you’ll not notice them because they come in and sit down and watch. So make sure you look at it hard before you start calling..

3) They like bird sounds, and movement - even a feather on a fishing line works, but I use something high (in a tree) and smothing under it - like a fur decoy with movement.

That and what ingwe said.

Don't have many fox here except on the south ranch and very few down there. Rio7

55 gr.nbt out of my ar-15 .223, not very furr friendly, would be much worse from a 6 mm. Rio7

Shot a bunch of coyotes with 55 and 53 grain Vmax. It was actually fur friendlier than I would have guessed.

Dennis, Think you find bobcats are softer than coyotes, hence more damage. Rio7

That was not there when i passed 1 hour ago?



Cat tracks in my tracks?

Maybe I need to sit down some where close to here and toot on my peewee!




OrangeCrush, turned this cat around! Rio7

Pretty side



Ugly side

Got a P.M. that said there ain't no blood on the cat's you kill, i don't think i need to post graphic pictures to prove i shot them with a .243 A.I.

This morning with Orange Crush. Rio7

Orange Crush is a 243AI as well??

I'm headed to Sonora Tuesday, I will see how the 95 grain TMK does!

Dennnis, Yep. used to be a old .308 rem 700, rebarrel and different stock, We are covered up with cats this year i' have killed 11 bobcats in the last 12 day's. good luck in Sonora. Blue

Blue is that a Zeiss on there? I do like the color of that rifle. Did you paint it? miles

Miles That's an old Burris, I've had it for years I'd bet it's been on 1/2 dozen rifles, real good glass and the reticile is very easy to see and matchs this rifle to 500 Yrds perfect, I got that stock out of the bargin barrel at Danny's Pawn Shop, short action Rem. 700 stock, Ed, bedded it for me at shoots great. painted it Orange because that's the only color of paint I could find in my gun room, I don't think it looks to bad.

first thing I shot with it was a coyote that came in while I was deer hunting with a disabled vet, and he said you really crushed that coyote, that's where the name Orange Crush, came from. Blue

Cool stories. I wish we were covered up with cats this year. I can't buy one!

Here's a couple more from yesterday. 1 picture is a tom 2nd picture is a female. Blue

Crazy

Dennis, How's this for crazy? Shot this female this morning, she was walking down a sand road with her breakfast in her mouth about 150 yrds. Blue

That is very cool, would make a great mount.

Unbelievable!!

Blue, I killed one long ago that had a rabbit. It was crossing a log spanning a small creek, and dropped the rabbit. It jumped in, got the rabbit and swam back to the log, then tried to crawl back up. When its head cleared the log, I shot it between the eyes with my 30-30. Why it did not go to the bank instead of trying to crawl back on the log has had me wondering for a long time. I was back in the same area the next day and heard what sounded like a baby cat mewling, but I could never find it. I was deer hunting at the time. miles

Cold wet nasty morning perfect for calling predators, #1 bitch coyote with real bad mange no picture

#2 little female bobcat the one with the bloody ear

#3 coyote female? i think?

#4 bobcat big tomcat under my shotgun

#5 bobcat on top of the pile a big one

To nasty and wet to see thru my scope so i used my 12 ga. #4 buckshot worked pretty good. Rio 7

Headed south in the AM . I hope to bump into a couple.

I want to thank everyone for all the help. As an update, went down and hunted five days. As a group we had one miss, but I should clarify we were all hunting with traditional bows.

We did end up with four hogs and another great TX hunt experience.

I do not know if I even had a bobcat respond to my set ups, but we certainly had fun and enjoyed the warmer temps.

CRS, one miss Bobcat? You done good on the pigs we need all the help we can get, happy to hear you had a good time in Texas. Rio7

Yes, one guy missed a bobcat with his longbow.

Had a great time, as usual.

What's a good mouth call for calling bobcats in S Texas?

dvdegeorge, Crit'R-Calls, I use the PeeWee, itsy-bitsy Wolf Harp, called in 16 bobcats and 34 coyotes in January, using these callls.

Crit-R-Calls
P.O. Box 2071
Loveland, Colo.
80539

Joshua 970-290-5977

Hope this help's Rio7

CRS, if you have never missed, you haven't shot at any thing. Rio7

Thanks for the endorsement Rio.....

I’ve still got several of those Orange call kits left too.

Thank you! Just ordered PeeWee

dvdegeoge, That'll work. Rio7

Big Tomcat. Rio7

I have got to ask, you live on a chicken ranch or what.....crap you got a lot of cats...……...I know you don't..but what the hell......bob

BobMt, Don't know how far I would have to drive to find a chicken?? there ain't any here, we do have a lot of Cottontails, jackrabbits,Quail, dove, and a lot of fawns in the spring, Whitetail and Exotic's, and pigs.

Last year I killed 63 bobcats and 332 coyotes, so far this year i've killed 19 bobcats and 39 coyotes, which is about right for Feb.

The nearest KFC, 65 miles ya got me thinking about chicken. Rio7

RIO7...….how many acres you hunting......and do you helicopter coyotes for that #....or call and trap......any grey fox?...…..bob


65 miles not to far......go get that chicken......ha

put some blackface on, and go to Popeyes.....

BobMt, We have a little over 25000 acres here, When we don't have hunters I try to trap some, but it's impossible to check traps and take out hunters, we do have gray fox on the S.Ranch, but none up here, I have killed coyotes from a chopper, most I ever killed in one day was 48 coyotes and 1 bobcat.

Yep it's 65 miles to KFC, but it's also 65 miles back, but I think can smell it from here. Rio7

Don,I like Popeye's Red beans and rice and fried chicken, but it's about 80 miles there and 80 miles back , and the wind ain't gettin the smell this far..... Rio7

RIO7.....so you are calling all those coyotes...….that's a lot of calling.....you getting them all on the 25,000 acre ranch?....pretty impressive...bob

BobMt, Bob, Read what I wrote again, we have 25000 acres here. Plus the S.ranch, Plus West Ranch, Plus the North Ranch, we are in 3 countys,

Starr, Brooks, Jim Hogg.

RIO7...…..got it......bob