After driving an hour north of my home in Sauk Rapids in search of cats last year on three seperate trips last year with out finding a track I decided to try and bring the cats to me. First off I have quite a bit of coon hunting permission near my home and more permission once deer hunting is over.
The plan.
This last summer during my fire wood making I created a half a dozen large brush pile for dens/rabbit homes.
The other thing I have done is encouraged the rabbit population. Along with the larger brush piles I have made countless small piles. I made PVC feeder for the rabbits and with this last snow storm and cold the rabbits are going nut over them.
One of the neigbors had a trail camera pic last year of a cat. Do you think this will work? The nice thing about all of this land is private and a few groups Coyote hunt but other than that I think I am alone for cat and coon maybe 500 acres.
Creating a place for bobcats
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Redbarntrailhounds
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Re: Creating a place for bobcats
I think what you are doing is awesome, and you are giving the birds, game birds, and all kinds of wildlife a tremendous boost in your areas. It is great to hear about it. Those brush piles will be teaming with life. They provide food and shelter for predators too. And that is what bobcats need. Food, shelter and safe places to take refuge and give birth.
It always rips my heart out when I see people burning brush piles. I understand why, but it is still hard for me to watch.
I just wish you lived in the bobcat belt, and could carry out the same plan, and your hub of attraction was surrounded by 100 square miles of public land, or swampland you could hunt.
You got a bobcat on trail cam, that is encouraging though.
My biggest concern for you in your efforts is the size of your area. If you do somehow pull in bobcats to a region where they have not traditionally been found, I am afraid you will have a hard time getting them to stay in that 500 acres when pursued by your dogs.
One thing to watch for that might be just as fun: there are pockets of gray fox around that St. Cloud area. What you are doing could be a tremendous benefit to them. Some of them will run in a very small area also. Not all, but some. I know a man in that region that had a pair living in a wood lot that was made an island surrounded by open Fields. It was like he had his own fox pen. They would run circles in those woods and never risk crossing the open feilds. What a blast.
Please let us know how it goes and what kind of tracks you find around your wildlife hotels. God bless you in your efforts. I hope you have a lot of fun there.
It always rips my heart out when I see people burning brush piles. I understand why, but it is still hard for me to watch.
I just wish you lived in the bobcat belt, and could carry out the same plan, and your hub of attraction was surrounded by 100 square miles of public land, or swampland you could hunt.
You got a bobcat on trail cam, that is encouraging though.
My biggest concern for you in your efforts is the size of your area. If you do somehow pull in bobcats to a region where they have not traditionally been found, I am afraid you will have a hard time getting them to stay in that 500 acres when pursued by your dogs.
One thing to watch for that might be just as fun: there are pockets of gray fox around that St. Cloud area. What you are doing could be a tremendous benefit to them. Some of them will run in a very small area also. Not all, but some. I know a man in that region that had a pair living in a wood lot that was made an island surrounded by open Fields. It was like he had his own fox pen. They would run circles in those woods and never risk crossing the open feilds. What a blast.
Please let us know how it goes and what kind of tracks you find around your wildlife hotels. God bless you in your efforts. I hope you have a lot of fun there.
Last edited by david on Tue Nov 18, 2014 3:44 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Redbarntrailhounds
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Re: Creating a place for bobcats
I will I really hope to get kitten pictures in the spring. How much land would be needed to keep them around while being ran. The season is so short I kind of thought if they are not pressured often than they would stay. If I get a track at home here do you think I should not run it? Let them get established?
Re: Creating a place for bobcats
We have had Minnesota cat races that stayed within a square mile depending on how much time was given the cat, but often went beyond that, as much as five miles on rare occasions. The females have a tighter home range though, and I did not like putting down on the smaller tracks.
As far as being afraid of driving them away, I just don't have a clue. The areas we hunted in the cats were well established and I know the cats were not moving out for good because of dog activity. But if they are just thinking about moving in to an area to make it home, it might be different. Hopefully some one will have an answer for that.
As far as being afraid of driving them away, I just don't have a clue. The areas we hunted in the cats were well established and I know the cats were not moving out for good because of dog activity. But if they are just thinking about moving in to an area to make it home, it might be different. Hopefully some one will have an answer for that.
Re: Creating a place for bobcats
The other thing you can do to encourage gray fox and cats to stay is to get tough on your coyote population. Learn how to call them and trap them, or encourage good coyote callers to hunt there. You can take coyotes all year. The control guys call them in the spring and use a dog to back trail them to the den.
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Redbarntrailhounds
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Re: Creating a place for bobcats
We definately have coyotes. If I don't want my dogs running coyotes can they still run fox red or grey?
Re: Creating a place for bobcats
Yes. Your dogs know the difference. You have to break them off coyotes. There are many people who allow cats and gray fox, but do not allow red fox or coyote.
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Redbarntrailhounds
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Re: Creating a place for bobcats
I will have to study the tracks. I know I have seen fox tracks, but I have only ever seen red fox. My dogs are petty well broke from coyotes and deer. Never broke them off any fox before.
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southern fox
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Re: Creating a place for bobcats
with what I have seen out of trappers and people that call prediators is finding a honest one good luck , in my opinion , which I know all are not bad , they wont cull much , unless u are there when they take the animal out the trap , unless u do it yourself they are not to be trusted, I have seen people listen to your race and then slip back in in a few days with a game call and shoot your game ! and then brag about it on facebook ! with pictures and so on ! when they know you spent your hard earned money buying the fox to put there from other trappers ! I had to pay a visit to the guy and inform him , it really pissed me off with him knowing what I did cause I told him what I did when he was listening to the dogs run the varmit , be careful if you decide to go that way they will clean out what u have and then laugh about it . its all about killing something to them they do not care . about what you want as long as there getting what they want .
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broncobilly
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Re: Creating a place for bobcats
Southern Fox,
Unfortunately, one could replace the words "trappers and predator callers" in your post with the word "houndsmen" and your post would be just as true. The unfortunate fact is that you can only really trust people you know, and it is dangerous to trust any people as a group. Personally, I would suspect that he is better off trusting a predator caller that he knows than he would be trusting most houndsmen that he doesn't know. I am personally a trapper, predator caller, and a houndsman, and I have found that there are plenty of black sheep in all three categories.
My point is that, although your post is technically correct, it does present a somewhat slanted view. Also, given the fact that all three groups are under attack by the antis, if we, as groups, continue to allow the anti's to pursue their tactic of divide and conquer, then before long none of us will be able to pursue our calling as houndsmen, predator callers, or trappers. While I believe that I understand the context of your post, and do not disagree with it(if I understand your intention correctly), I feel that its wording was more destructive than constructive to the general cause of hunting with hounds.
JMO
Bill A. Brockman
Unfortunately, one could replace the words "trappers and predator callers" in your post with the word "houndsmen" and your post would be just as true. The unfortunate fact is that you can only really trust people you know, and it is dangerous to trust any people as a group. Personally, I would suspect that he is better off trusting a predator caller that he knows than he would be trusting most houndsmen that he doesn't know. I am personally a trapper, predator caller, and a houndsman, and I have found that there are plenty of black sheep in all three categories.
My point is that, although your post is technically correct, it does present a somewhat slanted view. Also, given the fact that all three groups are under attack by the antis, if we, as groups, continue to allow the anti's to pursue their tactic of divide and conquer, then before long none of us will be able to pursue our calling as houndsmen, predator callers, or trappers. While I believe that I understand the context of your post, and do not disagree with it(if I understand your intention correctly), I feel that its wording was more destructive than constructive to the general cause of hunting with hounds.
JMO
Bill A. Brockman
"The Republic can survive a President Obama, who is after all, only a fool, the Republic is less like to survive the multitude of fools who made him their president"
Author Unknown
"Capitalism is the unequal distribution of wealth,
Socialism is the equal distribution of poverty"
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"Never in the history of the world has there been a
situation so bad that the government couldn't make it worse.”
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Bill A. Brockman
Author Unknown
"Capitalism is the unequal distribution of wealth,
Socialism is the equal distribution of poverty"
Winston Churchhill
"Never in the history of the world has there been a
situation so bad that the government couldn't make it worse.”
Henry Morganthau (1891-1967)
Bill A. Brockman
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Redbarntrailhounds
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Re: Creating a place for bobcats
I know a few local callers and I trust them. I don't want some one to shoot one of the few cats we might have around. They seem to be ok with that. Most are interested in fox and coyote and I would like to keep it that way. Hide prices can really persuade some people.