bobcat territory???

[stacey robeson]

i was wondering if anyone could help me with a question? we have ALOT!! of coyotes around my house it's in the eastern foothills of the coast range here in oregon and was wondering if i can still find good cat populations here? there is less coyotes a little ways down the highway and am wondering if that would be a better place to find them? As i understand it 15 to 20 year old reep rod is a good place to road and rig through, should I try and stick tight to those places?

[david]

Stacy, there are bobcats in the eastern foothills, but they are not hunted by bobcat hunters that much because of the private property and lack of good road systems. the private ground is not systematically logged and so the forest may be too mature to support a good rodent population in places. You will have to get your dogs broke or bent pretty good on coyote. that is hard to do in that country for some reason. But these hills can actually be walk hunted for bobcat with a good broke dog. In some areas, that is the only way you will get in there is to walk. then, also, a lot of those walk hunted cats have never been run by a dog and that is to your advantage.

I always thought that good re-production (re-prod) was less than twenty years old, but I guess I never cut one down to count the rings. what makes them good is the abundance of mountain beaver and rabbits. If you walk through a section, look for the burrowing and tunneling of the mountain beaver. The fresh dirt is a good place to see cat tracks too. the rabbits you will see, along with their droppings and tracks.