How much how many bobcats

[dwalton]

I am curious as to how many bobcats people tree that post on the bobcat post. Don't get me wrong there is some very good cat hunters that don't tree that many cats and numbers is not a indication to your or your dogs ability. But usually one has to hunt them and know how to for your area to catch bobcats. What kind of conditions do you hunt in. I love to hunt bare ground and train on bare ground in adverse conditions, dry, heat and to wet. Basically any changing in conditions can make it tough. I hunt the snow when I hide as much as possible, it is so much easier and I can cover more ground. I hunted down to 15 below this winter. I live in mild wet climate but go east in a cold dry snow and still do ok. During the 3 month kill season I expect to catch 10 to 20 cats a month. I will also drive 3or 4 hours north or south to get out of a major storm but also hunt during storms. I hunt 5 to 7 days a week usually 10 to 12 hours a day. Let's hear from so of you guys. Dewey

[Dan Edwards]

Never treed one in my life and that's why I dont like posting in that section. I just see somethings that remind me of running a coyote and cant help myself at times.

[dwalton]

Thats OK by me you have some coyote experience I have more of that than I care to have. I had a couple of 18 months dogs that were making great cat dogs if I could keep them of coyotes. They caught 5 in a little over a weeks time then the hammer cane down. They made tops dogs one of them the best. Dewey

[Buddyw]

I honestly didn't count.. I didn't shoot one, I probably would have shot one this year Had I packed a Gun to the tree since it was one of the best Colored cats I've ever caught. We Did let someone else put a nice one on his Tag This year, Just like Deer/Elk hunting the Kill doesn't matter..

I know For sure I did better than last year... and it's difficult to think how much I targeted Bobcats since we spent some time Going after Laura's Lion this year...

We caught two Bobcats in the same tree this year which was really cool, I still don't know if I should count that as two or one.. If I killed them I could say two bobcats.. But it was One tree??

But if I had to guess, we hunted most weekends, and I Took 2-3 weeks off work to cat hunt (Both for Lions and Bobs).

Maybe in the 15-20 range???

I think 4-5 Got away from us During From Dec-Feb But I'm sure there are More that I've forgotten about(By choice or Pain?) .. I Can't remember how bad we did back in the pursuit side of thing Sept-Oct.

[Nolte]

I don't know anyone who had 15 cats trees the entire winter. Some guys might have caught that many or more, but not many more. Our cats tend to bay up more than in other areas. Not sure why but they do.

I'm in rebuild mode for a dog that runs cats, so I only had a 2 catches. I'm weekender on cats and didn't have much luck for snow storm timing. Had a few other chases that didn't connect and some trailing work.

Sad, but I saw more lions in trees this year than bobs.

[spruce mountain]

In Maine If you hunt every day possible, its a real good year if you catch ten. Some guy's average a few more. If you have a dog that you get 100 with in the dogs life time it would be considered a great dog. Very few of these cats would of been treed,a good % would of been caught on the ground or put in a hole but alot of them would of been shot running ahead of the dogs. I didn't keep track of the number of day's that I hunted this year but I would guess around 25 to 30. I jumped 6 cats and saw 3 of them,didn't kill any. I hunted the last month of the season and never found a track that I could run and I had baits out. I did find 1 track in that last month but it was on posted property. There are other areas in Maine that have a better cat population than ours,I guess I should have traveled farther. I have comented in the bobcat section before but I promise I won't do it any more. I would like to invite you west coast guy's to come here and run and show me what a real catdog is. I will put you up for free and show you all of my hot spots. Maybe what we should do is have differant bobcat sections For the forum.East coast,West coast and Southern. I think that everyone would agree that everything that works in one area is not going to work in all areas. Like trying to strike a bobcat from the truck,how do you think that would work when you can't find one track in 2 day old snow by driving all day? I would like to know how many cats you do have to kill a year to be able to post? Everybody needs goals.

[dwalton]

Every area has different conditions and type or stiles of hunting for that area. It does not matter how many to post if have something to add for everyone. I bred to a dog that caught less than 20 cats a year, which around here is not many but for a weekend is good. This dog was hunted on weekend and did I say that he was hunted in the Mojave desert. Dewey

[coastrangecathunting]

i never counted how many i caught . i was working out of town alot of the season but i did catch 12 in a row . in december. i have never sold a cat hide wish i would have started this year. i can almost name every cat in coos county at least the places i hunt . i have had people come with me and i will say we should get a strike in the next hundred yards and the dogs blow up. when u run the same cats over and over they get predictable that is the fun in it to me . how fast will the dogs make it through the rocks this time, will they catch it before it gets to that windfall patch ect.

jc

[George Streepy]

My dogs caught 28 from December 1st to the End of February (kill season). Unlike BuddyW I can remember just how bad the pursuit/training season was, I caught pretty much nothing in September and didn't hunt October or November. I usually hunt about 3 days a week but this season I took some time off in January to try out Eastern Oregon and Southern Utah. Didn't do great in Eastern Oregon but put up a couple. Utah was a learning experience and I doubt I will ever try to cat hunt that in January again.

In the week I hunted Eastern Oregon I only cut three sets of bobcat tracks. I know there are more than that but I just didn't know where to go. Once the dogs got back to the West side they really brought the season around. Even had a three cat day this year. It has been a couple years since I had one of those.

[fallriverwalker1]

in the month's of dec and jan caught ten cats we hunt bare ground no snow down in this low country i just road my dogs in front of my 4 wheeler ; it helps to learn the type of terrain cats like to feed in , jim

[George Streepy]

it helps to learn the type of terrain cats like to feed in , jim

One of the problems I have always had was determining what terrain the cats are going to be in when hunting new areas. I have noticed in some areas you find them only in the reprod and other areas they stay more to the big timber. This last winter when hunting some new areas I purposely stayed out of the big timber and did no good. After talking to someone and getting some info I went back and hunted the big timber. It is amazing how much better the dogs do if you can get them in terrain that actually has some cats.

[Buddyw]

Unlike BuddyW I can remember just how bad the pursuit/training season was,

I think It's less painful to forget about them..

I keep thinking and trying to remember, After thinking about it some.. I think my 4-5 number is quite a bit low, Thinking about it those were the ones that were disappointing, Because I know those were Ones that should have been caught, I won't call them easy cats but the right dogs or hunter I think would have made them easy.

I'm only remembering the good trips! I Think I just mentally blocked out the bad Trips! I was sitting here trying to think about how we did, and started remembering some cats in some conditions that we never got up on..One trip down south for New years, and we didn't catch a single Cat on that trip and I know I put out on at least 1 or 2 cats each day and didn't tree (or locate) a single one that trip that was probably 4 lost right their.. We left with our tails tucked that week!

[dukes71799]

so does the neighbors cat bayed up in the dog run count. just wondering.