Minnesota Cat hunting

[bowbearman]

Since the DNR has our Cat drawing system so messed up in Wisconsin and we can't run cats unless we have a tag or "coyote hunt...........!" I have no tags this year I was thinking of going to MN I'm not really interested in killing and I just want to run unless we happened to tree a monster me and my buddy have killed enough cats and I was wondering if anyone would be willing to tell me some information? I'm not asking for you hunting spot just some general rules and requirements? I went on the MN DNR website but there is not alot of info for cat hunting on there?

What kind of lic. is needed to run cats?

Does both of us need lic or can one guy buy one and the other guy just be with?

Radios? Are there special rules for them on cats?

Do you know of any areas you don't hunt there might be cats?

Is there any special rules I should know about with dogs or hunting cats?

Can you hunt coyotes with the same lic. or what lic do you need for coytoes?

Or anything else I might need to know?

Thanks for any info

Aaron
715-456-1551

[Doogie]

check out the mn regulations booklet online, it has all your awnsers

[alphaknl]

What kind of lic. is needed to run cats?

Does both of us need lic or can one guy buy one and the other guy just be with?

Radios? Are there special rules for them on cats?

Do you know of any areas you don't hunt there might be cats?

You will need nonresident small game and nonresident furbearer licences regardless of intent to kill or not.
There is no such thing as assisting, so everyone has to be fully licensed. But then everyone can carry a gun as well.
Radios cannot be used. Telemetry and training collars are OK.
As far as area, well you're on your own...

[blackpaws]

check the wisconsin regs but i am 99.9% sure you don't need a cat tag with you to run cats. the only time you need a tag is when the cat is going to be harvested by the person with the tag. no small games license is needed either as long as you aren't goint ot kill anything you don't need a license. also, there is no pursuit license for bobcats in wisconsin so run as many as you want. just don't carry a gun.

"He does not need a license It is legal to train on bobcats during the closed season. The only pursuit license we require is for bear. If you guys decide to hunt coyotes and he is going to carry a gun he would be required to get a non-resident furbearer license."

that is a direct quote from our area warden when i asked him about a non resident friend coming to run some cats.

i forgot to add that make sure you check the regs in case they changed something that i didn't know about.

[bowbearman]

Blackpaws that might be true but you know as well as I do the wardens in WI are all A$$ holes and the law is so gray that you better have something and i'm sure they are not much different in Mn your always guilty until proven innocent!! Hey how did that dog wark out for you I brought back from Scott for you?

[Hounder-]

I've heard the same as blackpaws from a couple different wardens


-Hound

[slickster03]

blackpaws is right because i moved to mn but still run cats in wi and i have never needed a lic. but i can't have a gun on me. but for coyotes i have to buy a small game and furbears lic. and class B for bear. if you are going to run in mn you need a small game and furbearer lic. its about $300.00 for non.res. and watch it with the marine band radios cause i got a ticket 2 years ago for using them.

[david]

I hope you have seen the automobile license plates "land of 10,000 wolves". There are a few bobcats too. Five, I think. only four hunters though, so there should be one left for you. Just fold Wisconsin over on top of Minnesota, and hunt where you usually do. Only problem with that is that you would be walking around upside down. But if you jump down to Minnesota, it should be about right. You know what habitat to look for already.

I am not kidding about the wolves. They WILL be with you. I suggest staying with your dogs. The only thing quicker and quieter are the traps. If you ever read trapper liturature, as I do, you will notice a lot of the good articles were written by different people from MN. There is a reason for that, and you will find it. Every trapper and every one of his four trapper kids and trapper wife and trapper parapalegic mother in law are entitled to five bobcats and two fisher. Stay with your dogs Break them from putting their head in a bucket or cubby for beaver meat. might also use some cat or fisher lure in that breaking process.

[redmange]

WOW!!!! didnt realized there were that many wolves ..... can u guys trap or shoot them?? I can rember reading a article in full cry about a guy named jim collins that trained bobcat dogs in minnesotta.... He talked like there were lots of them ... any info on that??

[david]

Yes, they are everywhere there are bobcats, and they are spreading into areas where a bobcat would not even go. The last I checked DNR population estimates, there were almost 4 times more wolves than there were bobcats. They can not be hunted or trapped YET. Doing so is a felony if I am not mistaken, and is punished with vengence. The farmers are suffering in some areas, and dogs have been mutilated also.

I got used to being with them, and actually, dont mind them because they have never tried me or my dogs. I always stayed as close to my dogs as my human mobility would allow though. I have had them a couple hundred feet from me vocalizing, and I dont know their language, so I dont know why they were doing that. But again, until they hurt my dogs, I got no quarrel with them. I feel super bad for folks that have lost livestock and dogs though and would hunt down the offenders if the law allowed.

It is kinda weird maybe, but the more the woods are filled with tracks of all kinds, the more I enjoy being there. It is like a bookworm going to the library. I can walk around and read the stories all day long. The more stories, the better. Just one of the great perks of bobcat hunting on foot. If there were no deer, I would never have to put up with deer breaking my dogs, but, I could not even immagine the woods without deer.
It is getting that way with the wolves for me. They know I am there, they know my dogs are there, and me and my dogs know the wolves are hanging around. It is kind of a mystical relationship that to me fits the mystical qualities of hunting the felines.

Boy, I said way too much there, didn't I. I think it is part of getting old. I dont care about wolves, and dont even care if you know that i dont care about wolves.

[NorWester]

Some of that mysticism wears off after they eat a couple of your favorite hounds while you are right there with them and within a hundred yards of your house

That said, I don't hate them, they have their place, and when I sit back and think about it, percentage wise my dogs have more reason to be concerned about me than they probably ever will with wolves

[david]

Dang, Norwester
I did not know about that, and am sorry to hear it. You sure have had some hair raising experiences there in your yard.

I dont think the wolves should be protected, and I wish I lived where they were not. Because what happened to you would become a challenge and a project for me. I know they are smart and probably a lot smarter than me, but I would be out there finding out if they are smarter than a snare or a bullet. As it is now, there can be no ballance because the wolves get a free ride on our money. It is the welfare system. They feel entitled, and they need to have that feeling taken away so they can learn about survival on their own merit. I think they will do fine, and I can long enjoy seeing their tracks, but they need to associate the sound of hounds with sudden death... and I dont mean death of the dogs.

percentage wise my dogs have more reason to be concerned about me than they probably ever will with wolves

Percentage wise, all dogs have more reason to be concerned about automobiles. I have not yet lost dogs to wolves. But I sure have lost them to cars. I could think of an education program for the wolves, not so sure I can do anything about the cars.

[NorWester]

It's a tough deal for sure. Bottom line is they don't need protection in MN, there's always been a healthy population there.

As far as what happened here, the truth is there just isnt much you can do about it. Wolves view dogs just like they view opposing families of wolves, as intruders and a food source.
If you and your dog(s) are in the wrong place at the wrong time,or you are ignorant of, or choose to ignore the signs, it will only go one way.
I suppose I could have booby trapped the timber around my place, but that's where I do a lot of my running & hunting. Difficult to do both.
I could have baited them......but then for sure I would have had them setting up shop in my back yard.

In the end my plan was and has been a simple one...... be less predictable about where and when I hunt and although this may sound silly, try to act more like predator and less like prey.

[Dan McDonough]

With all of the bear hunters in WI. and the season being over in Oct., you would think wolves would be extinct here...just what are they doing with those dogs in the winter?

[Larry Emery]

Had a freind get a hound killed by wolves and 2 more chewed up on opening day, what really sucks is that we have no legal recourse here in Mn !!!!!!!