Calling in bobcat

[Chad Gus]

I drew a bobcat tag here in Wisconsin, never hunted them before and i have zero desire to trap one or run one with dogs.
I have virtually no experience calling in predators, does any of you seasoned predator hunters have any tips or tactics on calling them in.

 

[Dakota79]

My best advice is patience. They often seem to take quite a while to come in and then all the sudden bingo they will be right in front of you. Cottontail sounds seemed to work fairly good. At least that's what I experience around here.

 

[brymoore]

Bobcat are unique creatures in my experience. I don’t know if I’d call them dumb but they act like 3 years old boys. The next flashy thing draws its attention. Look at its tracks, s curving everywhere. Canines run in direct lines. Bobcats live in big areas too.

If I was calling, I’d pick areas of travel and hit a bunch covering the day. Rabbit squeal or an electronic call. 30 minutes to an hour then move. Cover ground.

I’d trap them but trapping bobcats is another circus.

 

[T Bone]

Like brymoore said, they are ADHD.


I've watched one coming in to a call for half an hour. They get distracted by a bird flying by, then sit on their butt and try and remember what they were doing before the distraction.

A decoy with motion, even if it's just a feather hanging from a tree/bush will help them focus.

Very cool animals. I've gotten 7 with calling, every one was called in to less than 50 yards. Everyone I was a bit reluctant to pull the trigger. Consider a shotgun with #2 or BB shot, a 223 sometimes makes a mess of them.

 

[bullbugle]

I had one come in to a turkey call once. There's probably better ways to do it though.

 

[brymoore]

One of my funny bobcat moments. We thought we caught an otter. Whatever it was fell under the ice of a beaver dam. We came back with a chainsaw, bunch of holes and animal moment from the stream to pull out a very wet tom from under the ice. It decided to hit an otter trap.

 

[dgc1963]

If you have snow find some tracks so you know your in a good area take your time as others have said call 30 min plus

 

[runningmt]

Woodpecker in distress call, and a battery powered decoy.

Oh, and like mentioned above, time.

 

[Stocker]

They’ll lay down and watch you forever. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve got up from a set and saw one jump up from behind a log and dart off. A decoy or moving feather helps with that. They can be impossibly leery, or walk right to you. They are crazy critters.

 

[Chad Gus]

Thanks everyone, i appreciate all the responses, i will update this thread periodically. I'm relatively new to predator calling and hunting so I'm sure there's gonna be plenty of errors and such along the way, but fun none the less