Opinions on bobcat movement

CasB · Post by **CasB** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:38 pm

We had about 8 inches of powder snow last Friday night. Temps in the teens. Saturday morning not a track to be found. Freecasted a huge swamp for several hours - nothing there laying we could stir up. Found a partly snowed in track around noon under the hemlocks and was able to get that track rolling.

We're getting the same kind of snow now into tonight. Should end up with over a foot on the ground by tomorrow. I'm trying to decide when to use a vacation day to get back out. Do you think cats will start moving in the morning right after the snow stops? Wait until night fall? The next day?

All comments welcome.

Hounder- · Post by **Hounder-** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:57 pm

No expert here, but what I notice around here is if you get too much snow the cats will just not move....at all. They will stay in their little pocket swamp for a week or more if there is a few rabbits etc. Bobcats are just not adapted to deep snow.

But once that snow can hold 'em up (crust or sets up well enough) look out, you'll have tracks coming out your ears. However, breeding season is near so toms might just say "screw you" to my theory.

Anywho, just what I've noticed in my floundering in the woods.

mark · Post by **mark** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:02 pm

That is an easy one to answer! (Probably wont like the answer though)
The cats will move the morning before and the night after you take your vacation day.

mondomuttruner · Post by **mondomuttruner** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 10:35 pm

Cats will usually move during a storm, kinda like the snowed in track you found, then hold up for a spell like hounder said. There's usually good scent in a dimple in the snow so if you find one, let em go.

Which brings up another question. Anybody have any theories on why cats so often move during a storm? Covering their backtrack? Moving to a different hunting area before the snow gets deep? I don't believe their hunting due to the dimples I let go on usually bline to a different swamp.

dwalton · Post by **dwalton** » Mon Jan 26, 2015 11:25 pm

Here my opinion for what it is worth. Bobcats move before and into a storm and will lay up after a storm for several hours. You will see rodents move first after a storm then coyotes then cats. I worked on a bobcat study where we tracked bobcats. Most active times 1 hour before and after day light and dark and before a storm. We figured that they hunted until they made a kill. I think in heavy snows bobcats have trouble finding game. Also the cats in our country heads for the rims and rock piles in deep snow. I think they can find rodents there then. Maybe the same as swamps in your country. In eastern Oregon they will hold up in the lodgepole blow downs where the snowshoes are at. Dimples in the snow if you know the time of snow coming down sure has caught me a lot of bobcats in the past. Dewey

merlo_105 · Post by **merlo_105** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:27 am

Ok I have a question on Movement. There's an area I like to run the dogs at the area has plenty of cats. It's ran out by two other people lately no one has started a track in that area for about two or three week's. It's a good size area takes about 8 hours to run it all out. Everyone has been taking turns hitting it at different times hoping we can figure out the movement. Now this area has a bit of game in it. Could hunting pressure have the cats not using the roads for what ever reason? No cat's are taken out of this area

mark · Post by **mark** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:37 am

Try hunting the area on a blustery day with a good rig dog that doesn't have to have a track between its legs to get several hundred yards off the road and you will most likley find the cats. IMO

al baldwin · Post by **al baldwin** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:45 am

Never had good luck running bobcats during a storm, lion yes! Before & after a storm bobcats have moved most times. Just my experience. Al

merlo_105 · Post by **merlo_105** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 12:51 am

Were going to leave the area alone for a few weeks. Was just wondering what would cause such bad movement.

houndawg100 · Post by **houndawg100** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 1:14 am

Does it matter how much snow you get. We are getting about 1-2 inches of snow tonight. Wondering if it worth going in the morning. Temp is suppose to be 25 tomorrow.

houndawg100 · Post by **houndawg100** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 1:15 am

I guess do you guys here consider that enough snow to be a storm. A storm here is usually 6-8. Or greater.

mike martell · Post by **mike martell** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 1:27 am

Probably more like where I have been hunting the last few weeks...The snow is gone and so are all the bobcat hunters without real deal cat dogs or without good quality snow the cats/tracks appear to vaporize, apparently due to global warming...JMO

Varminator · Post by **Varminator** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 1:34 am

I say, get out there every chance you get!!! The Cats will move sooner or later, their not going to sit and starve!
I have found that before a storm is GOOD! and I like the late afternoon, just alittle before Dark has always been good for me it seems. Of course you can always start one at 2:30am when you have hunted all night.

We watch Accu Weather, and wait for a break( an Hour or more) if it has been storming and forecast to continue. JMO

1bludawg · Post by **1bludawg** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 8:20 am

From my own experience i'd say bobcats don't like the snow very much .If they're near the snowline they'll travel down out of it.Lots of times i've hunted the snow on a good day or night and couldn't find a track,then i would move below the snow level and find some cats .I've never had much luck finding them during a storm or bad weather unless its been nasty for several days .Cougar ,fox and coyote can usually be found on the bad days.Cats seem to know when a storm will end and will start moving just before it does .After a storm has passed or if it has just been foul weather for several days and finally ends is almost always a great time to hunt.Lots of traffic in any given area seems to slow cat movement or at least keeps them away from the roads.This is where walking out spur roads that have been gated or blocked really pays off .

southern fox · Post by **southern fox** » Tue Jan 27, 2015 10:35 am

here where I live we have no snow, my take on this when a storm system is coming somewhere within 24 hrs of a storm hitting there is going to be a major feed, just not bobcats but everything, and catching it right is the key, here the cats will often move during a rain storm, windy no , have been a many of time right at the end of a storm system, and found cat sign and a lot of it, they wont starve themselfes out, but they will move when the belly starts growling, fox are different, most here wont budge, the coment was made a few posts up about a good place with a lot of game, and 3 different people hunting at different times, a lot of pressure will make one not come out much , or avoid the road altogether, as a old man told me once, if everytime you pulled up to the dinner table and something ran you off of it, either you change your eating habits or move to another table, I believe this I will not go to the same place regurarly, moon plays a big role also I believe, when its filling game tends to move better, and moves here when moonis above the trees, and when it starts going down game starts bedding down , and when moon is going out game feeds later and later towards daylight, all my hunting is done at night , none at daylight I run a lot of fox and don't want the dogs eating him so he has more of a chance at night here, the moon plays a big role on everything, it comes up in the daylight and game moves in the daylight , those dark nights when you cant see your hands infront of your face, I believe game backs up and don't move much, and I also believe hounds can operate on a track as good so that plays apart also, if one can desypher all this mess im talking and catch it right might can have a chase haha, but I cant stand it im going anyway weather its good or bad , and try , hounds don't make sitting up put them on the dirt and let him run.