13 replies to this topic

[dabob]

I went out to do some coyote calling this morning for the first time in the 2012/2013 season. I didn't see anything on my first two stands.

On the third stand I was at a spot I have done pretty good on in the last 5 or 6 years. It is some pretty much flat wide open country with a deep dry creek bed going through it. The creek bed is a perfect spot to hide my truck.

I walked about 400 yards up the creek bed and then got out of the creek bed and set up my Foxpro CS-24 about 60 yards away from me. I could see for at least a mile out in front of me and to the right. To my left across the creek bed I could only see about 300 yards.

I was laying down in the prone position with my 243 Win with a bi-pod on it. I started out with Adult Rat sound on full blast volume. I knew i needed to look across to the other side of the creek bed because three times in the past I have had coyotes come in from that direction and stop right on the edge of the creek bed. It is a 4 ft to 7 ft drop at the edge of the creek bed.

I had the Adult Rat sound going continuously for about 8 minutes when I spotted movement to my left. It was a coyote trotting up to the edge of the creek bed. I moved my rifle to the left just a little and the coyote saw the movement and stopped and starred right at me.

The 243 Win dropped the coyote straight down right on the edge of the creek bed.

In the center of the above picture you can see the coyote laying on the edge of the dry creek bed bank. My truck is parked in this same creek bed about 400 yards down stream from where I took this picture.


After doing a few more calling stands I decided I was going to walk up a canyon bottom to check one of my trail cameras. I took my rifle with me and left my camera in my truck.

As I was walking up the canyon bottom in a cow trail I saw a bobcat walk off of the steep hill to my right. The bobcat got in the cow trail I was walking on and it started walking real slow the same direction I was walking.

The bobcat was only about 70 yards from me and it looked like it was old and was having a hard time walking up the trail. When I got within about 40 yards of the bobcat it looked back at me and turned around facing me and it layed down.

I just kept walking towards it and when I got within about 20 yards of it the hair on the back of my neck felt like it was standing up. I took my rifle off of my shoulder and took the safety off.

I stopped about at about 15 yards from the bobcat and threw rocks by it and yelled at it and it didn't move. So I walked way around it by walking up the hill so I could go check my trail camera.

On my way back down the canyon heading back to my truck the bobcat was till in the same spot. So I decided to hurry back to my truck to get my camera and switch my rifle for my shotgun.

When I got back up to where the bobcat was it looked like it had gone away. Then I noticed it laying down flat. It looked like it was dead. It didn't move when I yelled at it. I thought it had died in the 15 minutes that it took me to get back up to it with my camera.

This is how the bobcat was laying when I got back to it. I yelled at it and it didn't move until I threw a rock about the size of a softball and the rock landed about 1 foot from the cat's head.




In the above picture you can see the bobcat just to the right of the cow trail.

It is not bobcat season and I have not killed a bobcat in at least 20 years. I just walked away and left that bobcat laying in the cow trail.

Now I wish that I would have put that cat out of his misery.

[ehd]

i would have done it a favor for sure. great photos !

[OrneryOlMofo357]

Good job with the Coyote. Great pics as well. Kinda feel sorry for the Bobcat for the shape that he was in.

[Thumper Dunker]

Nice going on the coyote. I hate seeing sick animals . Great looking spot and great pictures. Chances are that if you shot it a game warden would of been there.

[Frank]

Yeah, tough call on the bobcat. Damned if you do & damned if you don't. And as already said, bad luck always happens (had you shot it). A no win situation sometimes!

Anyway, good looking coyote and country.

[Shoot-it]

cool pictures that looks like the same kind of stuff I hunt some times. The hills are bare there to of grass.
Good job on the coyote you have your spot down on which way they come in.
Looks like that cat is dying for sure.

[BCF]

Beautiful terrain. Looks a lot like an area that I like to hunt- of course not the same, but I love that type of terrain. Great looking coyote, and nice shot and writeup.

Very tough call on the bobcat. On one hand, it's not technically legal, I don't think, and even if it was- it would be tough if a ranger pulled you over to explain and not look like a liar. On the other hand, the animal was going to suffer a painful death, and I think the ethical thing to do may have been to put it out of it's misery, and take the pelt so as not to waste it. Tough call. I think that if it was me, I don't know what I would have done. Would have sat there thinking about it for a while, that's for sure!

[Bisley]

Great pics, even though they are of a poor sick kitty.

[Canis mortuus]

Yeah, that cat's either sick or old. Looks extremely skinny in that first picture.

[Thumper Dunker]

BCF never take a hide from a sick animal. Rabies do not always look like rabies. And theres other stuff that can get you good. Cat kinda looks like distemper. Who knows.

[tawnoper]

Now I wish that I would have put that cat out of his misery.

I'm with you on that one Bob.

That is really odd. Wonder if ate some poison?

Regulations are in place to help animals...but in this case, I would of sided with judgement.

I'll just believe this was your internet story but in real life you took care of that poor ol bobcat...so it didn't get torn apart by the first coyote that came along.

[BCF]

Good point, Thumper. I kind of assume that any animal I skin may have rabies, so I always wear gloves...though the gloves always seem to rip and I get blood on my hands anyhow. Maybe I'll get a rabies shot next time I take my dogs to the vet!

[Broncowilly]

Bob, the avatar picture I use is a rabid fox. I got within five feet of him. He was so sick he couldn't move. In the below picture you can see him just starting to fall over backwards. Also note the saliva and foaming of the mouth. Stallion Springs PD dispatched him and notified DFG.

[Broncowilly]

I agree with TD on this also. Rabies is not the only malady that can inflict a wild animal. If it could be confirmed the animal was sick enough and was going to die, I might have shot him and then buried him without touching the carcass. Confirmation would be impossible so Bob did the right thing.

Who really knows though, seeing the great photos Bob takes lends to the idea this is his pet bobcat and Bob staged this whole thing It almost looks like he's very content and purring. Bob???