BigGameHoundsmen.com

I posted this in the "cat hunting" section as well, but wanted to ask the trappers for their opinions too.

OK, I had a question asked of me yesterday and thought I would seek all of you experts advice. How long are bobcats "prime" in your neck of the woods?

Are they still good and prime after the seasons close? Are they NOT prime when the seasons open?

For example, in my neck of the woods (SE Colorado) bobcats hair quality is pretty poor when the sesaons open on Dec. 1, but are still great when the seasons close Feb. 28(as witnessed with road-kills after seasons). I'm not advocating illegal harvest after the seasons, just looking for opinions on season structure. Should they be opened later and close later (or earlier)?

I know this will vary depending on location, so tell me approximate location please. I also am aware that breeding seasons are taken into account for closing seasons.

Thanks for any information,
Travis

In Montana Bobcats arent fully prime when the season opens Dec 1st. On average they dont hair all the way up till in Jan. They are one of the last animals to prime up and they they should have good hair till into the first of april around here. Id like to see the bobcat season start Jan 1 instead of Dec 1 and go till March 15th in stead of Febuary 15. Strictly for fur value Id bet December caught cats are worth at least $50 less then a Febuary caught cat. jmo dgarrett

I agree dgarrett! Just thought I would see what others thought.

Travis

I agree that breeding season should be involved in the season dates. I would rather see the harvest season during the breeding season as the toms really travel and give the trapper or houndsman a way better chance at taking a tom vs. a female. Here we are on a personal bag limit with a quota system. If you are serious about taking bobcats on most years you will have to start trapping or running them as soon as the season opens or maybe not be to due to district closers of fulfilling the quotas. Its bad as trappers and houndsman cant elect to harvest bobcats at peak primeness if they chose to wait and take a bobcat at later dates. There is lots of discussion on what causes the primeness in fur, amount of sunlight hitting the eye per day, cold ect. All i know is when you have high temps of 50 degress and lows in the high 20s all December it sure hurts the quality of the fur. IM going to see if i can get the StateTrappers Ass. to agree and push to get our seasons pushed till Jan !st and going till March 15th. Years ago we were able to take say 2 bobcats per trapper/houndsman and could trap them till April 15th. April 15th might have been a little late to be taking say a pregnant female but IMO the March 15th date would be great. I really dont know what most houndsman think about this because there out spending big $ for gas looking for lion and bobcat tracks and many may want to be able to take them starting dec 1st as with less snow they might be easier to run down. Jmo dgarrett

Thanks dgarrett. Good discussion. I never thought about "amount of light hitting the eye". I assume you're refering photoperiodism. Interesting! Here's a snipit from Wikipedia, that mentions temperature and photoperiods playing a role in fur color.

"A number of biological and behavioural changes are dependent on this knowledge. Together with temperature changes, photoperiod provokes changes in the colour of fur and feathers, migration, entry into hibernation, sexual behaviour, and even the resizing of sexual organs."

I'll do little on-line research and see what else I can come across, hopfully soemthing more specific to bobcats.

Travis