where is the best place to find bobbie hills or plains or ri
-
sdakotatough
- Bawl Mouth
- Posts: 181
- Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2011 5:35 pm
- Location: South Dakota
where is the best place to find bobbie hills or plains or ri
just lookin for sugestions........... bobbie season opens dec. 10
Re: where is the best place to find bobbie hills or plains o
I have never hunted bobcat in South Dakota but I sure have heard some strange things about Nebraska cats that makes me think it is a different cat altogether from the great lakes area cats. But here are some principles for you that hopefully will translate to your area.
Think about the cats need for food, water, shelter/protection, reproduction. They seem to have a wanderlust or need to satisfy curiosity as well, but these are probably related to the above needs.
You want to learn the travel routes that connect and include these needs. In some areas, the places they take shelter and lounge are very predictable and easy to spot. In other areas you can not see them but will learn them by getting on track after track and following them. This is one of the things Dewey taught me twenty some years ago. These are not areas you will hit from the road, but you can often walk into and start a cat.
Think structure. This is where food, protection, reproduction, and curiosity are all satisfied. Are you near the black hills or any thing like that? Because if you can see a rock wall or rock pile three miles in there, and you have cats in the area, you will find one there. take your two best dogs and a day pack and walk in there. Plan on spending the day just walking out that whole area. I would bet money on finding a cat in there. But if you dont, you just spent a day walking in the beauty of God's creation. It will make you a better man.
Think transition. This is where most animals live and travel; Where a field turns into woods, where rocks turn into dry ground, where water turns into dry ground, where swamp grass turns into hard underbrush. Basically where anything makes a transition into something else.
Then think safe travel, easy travel, and look for funnels. In some areas, bobcats will rarely, if ever expose themselves out in the open. If you can find an area of cover that is narrow, and connects two large areas where the cat is getting his needs met, he will be traveling through this funnel. This narrow passage is very often a stream or deep cut that can not be farmed etc.
Think food. the rabbit has long been number one in many areas. In western Oregon, the mountain beaver(a burrowing rodent)was number one. In some areas, the turkey may be number one. Look for areas that you think could hold these food sources, and look for the funnels that connect them. I have never seen evidence of a bobcat having caught a beaver, but they love to check out beaver activity. It is "structure". It has the potential for providing protection, satisfies curiosity, and then there is always that hope of beaver meat, which is the preferred bobcat bait for a lot of trappers. If you have bobcats, they WILL eventually check out any beaver activity in the area.
In some areas, waterways are the dead give away for bobcat highways. In these areas a very large percentage of the tracks will be found within about 150 yards of a waterway.
In other areas, the rocks will be the dead give away and most tracks will be found going to or from the rocks. Hopefully you can find them going "from" the rocks and not "to" them.
Hopefully this will give you some ideas. I hope others will chime in, and especially someone who knows more about your area. As Dewey taught me, get out of your truck and you can cut down years of experience into months. Follow those dogs and cats on foot. In one season, you will know exactly where to go.
Think about the cats need for food, water, shelter/protection, reproduction. They seem to have a wanderlust or need to satisfy curiosity as well, but these are probably related to the above needs.
You want to learn the travel routes that connect and include these needs. In some areas, the places they take shelter and lounge are very predictable and easy to spot. In other areas you can not see them but will learn them by getting on track after track and following them. This is one of the things Dewey taught me twenty some years ago. These are not areas you will hit from the road, but you can often walk into and start a cat.
Think structure. This is where food, protection, reproduction, and curiosity are all satisfied. Are you near the black hills or any thing like that? Because if you can see a rock wall or rock pile three miles in there, and you have cats in the area, you will find one there. take your two best dogs and a day pack and walk in there. Plan on spending the day just walking out that whole area. I would bet money on finding a cat in there. But if you dont, you just spent a day walking in the beauty of God's creation. It will make you a better man.
Think transition. This is where most animals live and travel; Where a field turns into woods, where rocks turn into dry ground, where water turns into dry ground, where swamp grass turns into hard underbrush. Basically where anything makes a transition into something else.
Then think safe travel, easy travel, and look for funnels. In some areas, bobcats will rarely, if ever expose themselves out in the open. If you can find an area of cover that is narrow, and connects two large areas where the cat is getting his needs met, he will be traveling through this funnel. This narrow passage is very often a stream or deep cut that can not be farmed etc.
Think food. the rabbit has long been number one in many areas. In western Oregon, the mountain beaver(a burrowing rodent)was number one. In some areas, the turkey may be number one. Look for areas that you think could hold these food sources, and look for the funnels that connect them. I have never seen evidence of a bobcat having caught a beaver, but they love to check out beaver activity. It is "structure". It has the potential for providing protection, satisfies curiosity, and then there is always that hope of beaver meat, which is the preferred bobcat bait for a lot of trappers. If you have bobcats, they WILL eventually check out any beaver activity in the area.
In some areas, waterways are the dead give away for bobcat highways. In these areas a very large percentage of the tracks will be found within about 150 yards of a waterway.
In other areas, the rocks will be the dead give away and most tracks will be found going to or from the rocks. Hopefully you can find them going "from" the rocks and not "to" them.
Hopefully this will give you some ideas. I hope others will chime in, and especially someone who knows more about your area. As Dewey taught me, get out of your truck and you can cut down years of experience into months. Follow those dogs and cats on foot. In one season, you will know exactly where to go.
Re: where is the best place to find bobbie hills or plains o
Here is another tip that I have never really seen outlined for bobcat hunters. I wrote a piece about it that I cant find right now, but will outline it here. It could save you years of stumbling around. In fact, it might find you cats you would never find otherwise: Maps.
Get detailed topographical maps of the areas you want to hunt. Topographical means it has the contour lines that detail changes in elevation. The closer together the lines are, the steeper the country is. Where the lines come together, it is a drop, and that means rocks. Where they get gradually closer, come together and get gradually further apart, it means a valley that probably has brush or water in it: a bobcat travel way. And the most obvious, which does not even need contour lines: a map will show you all the streams and water ways in the area. It may show you a swamp or water ways that you would never discover from the road. On the days when you can not find a track, pick out one of these spots to set a compass point on and walk in.
Another nice benefit of maps, is you will be able to see at a glance where all the public land is. It can be awfully hard to figure out land owners and even harder sometimes to get permission from them. If your dogs get on private land, it sure helps to explain that they started out on public land.
I have sometimes spent many hours with maps in the off season. I go after them with highlighters and markers making note of any suspicious areas that need to be looked at. The easiest thing to start with is simply highlight every single bridge shown on your map.
Then, when you are out hunting, have a color code to mark every cat crossing you find and every significant landmark associated with your cat races. It will be fun to see if you picked any of them out ahead of time sitting in your living room with that map. Mark every den or rock pile or rock ledge or brush pile where a cat takes refuge. Mark every beaver flowage you come across. These are places you can walk in to on those days when you can not find a track.
Topographical maps can be ordered from the US geological survey, or you can find them in hiking/mountain climbing/exploring stores sometimes like REI. I dont know if Cabella's carries them but if they dont, they should.
Get detailed topographical maps of the areas you want to hunt. Topographical means it has the contour lines that detail changes in elevation. The closer together the lines are, the steeper the country is. Where the lines come together, it is a drop, and that means rocks. Where they get gradually closer, come together and get gradually further apart, it means a valley that probably has brush or water in it: a bobcat travel way. And the most obvious, which does not even need contour lines: a map will show you all the streams and water ways in the area. It may show you a swamp or water ways that you would never discover from the road. On the days when you can not find a track, pick out one of these spots to set a compass point on and walk in.
Another nice benefit of maps, is you will be able to see at a glance where all the public land is. It can be awfully hard to figure out land owners and even harder sometimes to get permission from them. If your dogs get on private land, it sure helps to explain that they started out on public land.
I have sometimes spent many hours with maps in the off season. I go after them with highlighters and markers making note of any suspicious areas that need to be looked at. The easiest thing to start with is simply highlight every single bridge shown on your map.
Then, when you are out hunting, have a color code to mark every cat crossing you find and every significant landmark associated with your cat races. It will be fun to see if you picked any of them out ahead of time sitting in your living room with that map. Mark every den or rock pile or rock ledge or brush pile where a cat takes refuge. Mark every beaver flowage you come across. These are places you can walk in to on those days when you can not find a track.
Topographical maps can be ordered from the US geological survey, or you can find them in hiking/mountain climbing/exploring stores sometimes like REI. I dont know if Cabella's carries them but if they dont, they should.
Re: where is the best place to find bobbie hills or plains o
David great post. Google earth, look at your areas from the air. You can see everywhere you need to go to. You touch on the most important part of bobcat hunting, get out there and walk. You will learn the cats and you will learn about your dogs, who is doing what. Very few cat hunters anymore walk behind there dogs. You can learn a lifetime of knowledge in one winter behind your dogs. Until you do you are just making up a story as to what you think is happening. The truth will amaze some of you. The dogs that you thought were your best will turn out to be your worst on bobs. Dewey
Re: where is the best place to find bobbie hills or plains o
That information took me awhile to figure out when i was first learning anything about cats. I still am learning but travel ways are finally "sticking out" for me when im driving around or walking the dogs. I want to start taking trail cam pictures in these areas in the off season to maybe help me determine a pattern maybe of how and when a spot is used. On my gps i mark my cat crossings on roads right now... im hoping to use those locations later to walk around with no snow and see landmarks i think they are using. I want to hopefully figure out how to find toilets ive found a couple but id like to find where multiple cats use them to walk to those locations to start cats on bare ground. Id like to hear your input on those ideas david.
Re: where is the best place to find bobbie hills or plains o
I love it. I am so backwards when it comes to technology. I am really proud of myself that I can type on a computer and get on Big Game Houndsmen. I never would have thought of google earth, or even really know how to do it, but WOW with capital letters. Do you realize how much time you could save by prospecting your areas from the "sky". Oh man, it makes my heart pound just thinking about that. Then, like you said, to use a gps to mark your finds perfectly. I imagine trappers use them now to mark their sets and stuff like that too. What a tremendous aid. Trail cams; another big WOW in capital letters. One thing those cameras do for you is get you in the woods more often, and that sure helps too.
As far as cat toilets, if you can road or walk your dogs through your catty areas, watch them. They will show you every cat toilet. I dont know why but dogs love to eat bobcat dung, and as far as I know they do not like to eat coyote dung. It is not a good thing for them because of parisites, etc. But They are doing it when you are not with them, and they will try and do it when you are watching them too. If they learn that you dont like it, some will try to do it real sneaky like.
I dont know if I will ever go to the expense of printing a book, but I have a piece written for it called "The great schoolmaster: snow". I am going to make a difficult suggestion For you who are in areas that do not get much snow and you do not know your crossings yet: When you get your snow, leave your dogs at home. I know if you bring one, you will have to turn it loose. But it will help you more to get out there and hit every road for tracks until you are cross eyed and in danger of going off the road. Mark every track on your gps or on your map. Every time you find a track, then get your eyes up off the ground and study the vegetation and the lay of the land. If you can get up high or far away and look back on it, study the topography. See if you can start to get a feeling for the movement of the land and the type of cover where you are going to find tracks. Eventually, you will not need to see tracks to know you are in cat territory.
I dont know how to use google earth, but you do. I can only immagine that you could then go home and google earth every track you marked on your gps. You will probably be able to see bobcats from the air after awhile at doing that. Then you could prospect your whole state for bobcat hunting in the comfort of your desk at work ha ha.
Here is another one for my dreams: what if the state would allow each person one gps collar on a bobcat if they promise to keep data for the state? That is another big WOW.
The state could gather data that would cost them millions of dollars to gather, and get it for free. And we each could get an education on bobcats that would have cost a few more thousand at a university.
As far as cat toilets, if you can road or walk your dogs through your catty areas, watch them. They will show you every cat toilet. I dont know why but dogs love to eat bobcat dung, and as far as I know they do not like to eat coyote dung. It is not a good thing for them because of parisites, etc. But They are doing it when you are not with them, and they will try and do it when you are watching them too. If they learn that you dont like it, some will try to do it real sneaky like.
I dont know if I will ever go to the expense of printing a book, but I have a piece written for it called "The great schoolmaster: snow". I am going to make a difficult suggestion For you who are in areas that do not get much snow and you do not know your crossings yet: When you get your snow, leave your dogs at home. I know if you bring one, you will have to turn it loose. But it will help you more to get out there and hit every road for tracks until you are cross eyed and in danger of going off the road. Mark every track on your gps or on your map. Every time you find a track, then get your eyes up off the ground and study the vegetation and the lay of the land. If you can get up high or far away and look back on it, study the topography. See if you can start to get a feeling for the movement of the land and the type of cover where you are going to find tracks. Eventually, you will not need to see tracks to know you are in cat territory.
I dont know how to use google earth, but you do. I can only immagine that you could then go home and google earth every track you marked on your gps. You will probably be able to see bobcats from the air after awhile at doing that. Then you could prospect your whole state for bobcat hunting in the comfort of your desk at work ha ha.
Here is another one for my dreams: what if the state would allow each person one gps collar on a bobcat if they promise to keep data for the state? That is another big WOW.
The state could gather data that would cost them millions of dollars to gather, and get it for free. And we each could get an education on bobcats that would have cost a few more thousand at a university.
-
twist
- Babble Mouth
- Posts: 2009
- Joined: Mon Jul 23, 2007 6:28 pm
- Facebook ID: 0
- Location: Columbus, Mt.
Re: where is the best place to find bobbie hills or plains o
Find the cotton tails and you will find the cats.
The home of TOPPER AGAIN bred biggame hounds.
Re: where is the best place to find bobbie hills or plains o
Yeah technology helps alot. I really need to do as you said walk out tracks without dogs and learn from that experience. The toilets I've found was because of that. I was talking to james halseth this summer at a trappers convention he said your toilets will be high. I hunt big canyon bottoms or tops of them mostly.
-
Jeff Eberle
- Open Mouth
- Posts: 724
- Joined: Thu Dec 25, 2008 6:35 pm
- Facebook ID: 0
- Location: Ione Ca.(209)
Re: where is the best place to find bobbie hills or plains o
The very best place is in a tree with your dogs under it (sorry I just had too say it) No you have 18 days pick a spot with feed,water and cover and start walking it looking for tracks No tracks move on to your next pick put your time in don't just show up opening day. get out their and learn the country GOOD LUCK it is tuff game for someone just starting out
Get JESUS In Your Life & Your Dog's In The Wood's
CLAVEY RIVER CUR'S
CLAVEY RIVER CUR'S
-
uncle Brisco
- Tight Mouth
- Posts: 77
- Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2007 4:03 pm
- Facebook ID: 0
- Location: Black Hills of South Dakota
Re: where is the best place to find bobbie hills or plains o
I don't know if it was here or on the old shadetree, but I have discussed this in great lengths,if u want bobs u should move back where u came from!!! No kiding, welcome to the crappiest place in worold to waste gas looking for cats, I've hunted cats in 6 states and this takes a special dog,(ya I said it, if u want a cage match bring ur best,it'll look sorry,)I have spent far to much on importing high power dogs from everywhere some tin horn blows and says they got the best lol, oh by the way hey David, brother how are u? I see the good Lord ain't takein u back yet either, anyway correct me if I'm wrong, cats are totaly difrent everywhere you go, it does almost no good shipping a dog in,if it doesn't know our cats it'll hardly find its way out of the truck, our cats are the hardest to tree and hold I've ever seen,I've treed a cat 6 times and never seen him, we have mines and mine tailings every other ft so why climb when you can hide in the rocks, the crook Clinton got all the roads in the hills shut down after the 15th so get you some comfy walking shoes, then the best part, we don't hardly have any!!!!!!! Lol. Roflao! !!! We r so over fun w lion that they make it tough to find a track,days and days without finding anything,no joke, we have a bunch on the prairie and badlands but good luck w that most all private land, and forget about food, I'm sure they are eating gravel,, find a new idea this one is bad and w lead to forcloser and divorce, I'm sure heroin or cocaine wood b cheaper and easier on the gear
AHRENDT HOUND TRAINING
605-393-5330
SHHHH........LISTEN!!..........SHES TREED!!!!!!
605-393-5330
SHHHH........LISTEN!!..........SHES TREED!!!!!!
Re: where is the best place to find bobbie hills or plains o
Wow I almost missed this post what a loss that would have been. For me that is. I skipped it once since I figured any info I might have wouldn't be all that helpful in south dakota. If your season is that limited I would real get familiar with the terrain and cats like stated and fine tune your hounds and get them pushed to their peak. I won't lie my hats off to you guys getting a hound finished on cat with a eighteen day season is more breeding then training they either are going to show good or your not going to Make them into cat dogs in that time. Good luck and have a great season
Re: where is the best place to find bobbie hills or plains o
You can find bobcats in the hills but you need the right type of dog if you want to catch them consistanly. Not a lot of tracks so if you do find one you need a dog that will run it weather its an hour old or a day old. The creeks and badlands in the plains can be really good, but a lot of them end up in holes. It can be done and with consistancy, just take the right dog! Good luck
-
funstuff
- Tight Mouth
- Posts: 103
- Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2011 4:07 pm
- Location: mt
- Location: outside bozeangeles montucky
Re: where is the best place to find bobbie hills or plains o
if you can find the areas talked about (cover, feed)that are more than 1/2 mile walk from a road, you will find what your looking for. when you do start finding these nasty little places be prepared for sore legs tired dogs and a great day. it will also start to surprise you when you do not find a track. catching is the hard part.