This is topic What would you do? in forum Predator forum at The New Huntmastersbbs!.
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Posted by Crow Woman (Member # 157) on March 18, 2003, 04:23 AM:
ok guys and gals. I'm leaking a lil of my calling info here but I would like to know what you all would do in this situation. It was the other night. The coyotes were just starting their nightly rampaging the scrubs. I picked up my caller and decided tonight I would do a combo. So since they were barking(not howling)rapidly as they worked the scrubs, I did so also with my open reed. I let off a series of 7 or eight barks quickly changing to the other open reed call with fawn distress bleets, then quickly changing back to barking and so on in this method.
The coyotes heard this happening and immediately changed their direction towards me barking up a storm. Out of the corner of my eye I caught the bobcat sneaking up through the pasture towards me also in it's hunt mode. The coyotes were still coming but had a quite a bit of distance to get over the knowl. The bobcat was however closing in fast. It got within 15 feet of me and I stopped calling and sat still. You can't shoot bobcats back here without a license and I didn't have one.
The coyotes stopped coming and started working their way back to where they were and the bobcat stayed in my field beside me all night. If I let on the calling again, I would have had a bobcat in my lap in no time flat. I was left to just set back and listen to the coyotes and hope they worked their way over to me sometime in the nightand watch the bobcat work the field.
What would you do?
Crow Woman
Posted by Rich Higgins (Member # 3) on March 18, 2003, 05:08 AM:
I would have continued with distress and let the cat come in. They don't pounce indiscriminately. They target something. Raising your arm a little would have given it an indication of your size. Quite probably it would have sat down and watched. Made a dandy decoy for the coyotes. You'd have witnessed some cool behavior as the coyotes put the cat up a tree.
Posted by Crow Woman (Member # 157) on March 18, 2003, 05:15 AM:
I hear ya Rich... but my first thoughts were of all the people being attacked by bobcats back east here and recently. I had the fear factor going on and couldn't think of anything else ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
.
This is becoming a common thing around this neck of the woods.
Crow Woman
Posted by 20t-n-t (Member # 46) on March 18, 2003, 05:48 AM:
Crow woman,
If you would have kept calling the cat would have come close enough to you for you to stand up and put him back in the bush and still have had a chance at the dogs or like Rich said you would have had a heck of a show.
A quick fix for this problem is to get some pepper spray like "Bear stopper" and carry it with you and if the cat comes back, give him a dose and then watch the show. LOL ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
good luck
Slydog
Posted by onecoyote (Member # 129) on March 18, 2003, 07:14 AM:
Crow Woman, Rich and 20t-n-t are 100% right, if it happens again just keep on calling. Bobcats attacking people? ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
I have heard of guys being jumped on by bobcats as they make a stand, by accident of course, no bobcat in it's right mind would attack a full grown human. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
I have walked right up on bobcats at night and a couple times I was even standing next to or over one and they did nothing. Maybe eastern bobcats have more wawos then western one? hehehe, Good Hunting Crow Woman.
Posted by Wiley E (Member # 108) on March 18, 2003, 08:19 AM:
Doug Grann from Wildlife Forever was calling turkeys on our ranch. He had a bobcat jump on him when he was calling turkeys in full camo. It required stitches. Unless you can read bobcat body language and know exactly what to expect based on that body language, you may have wanted to safety up.
I would do what Rich recommended but only if I knew the bobcat had some idea of what I was. Doug Grann's problem was that he never saw the bobcat until it attacked him.
Again, I want to reitterate that he was in full camo and I'm sure the cat only saw the movement of his hand on the call.
~SH~
Posted by WolverineAtWork (Member # 23) on March 18, 2003, 09:30 AM:
I would have kept calling and kept an eye on the cat. When he got close enough for it to be considered "self defense", BLAMMO!
"I swear officer, I saw it at the last moment and barely swung my gun in time to hit him quartering away at 25yds."
I'd pass up the coyotes anytime to watch a bobcat for a while. I can always get the coyotes back but the bobcat is a little more rare around here.
Posted by Az-Hunter (Member # 17) on March 18, 2003, 09:47 AM:
Im sure there is a story or two about attacks, but like wiley mentioned, they most likely are innocent in reality, cat saw hand movement and that was what it was pouncing on. There was a rabid attack several weeks ago up in Portal Az, cat jumped on both a husband and wife, nothing severe, scratches and a bite or two, but they still had to undergo whatever procedure is now in vogue for rabies. Only time Ive had one come unwound was when performing the stand on the neck and chest routine when they appear to be near death from running into my bullet. The bobcat was not as near death as I suspected, and was like standing on a coil spring, very invigorating:) Usually a wave of the hand or a rock thrown its way will check it up, or encourage it to move along.
~AzHunter~
-----------------------
"Never take yourself more serious than your subject"
[ March 18, 2003, 10:23 AM: Message edited by: Az-Hunter ]
Posted by Crow Woman (Member # 157) on March 18, 2003, 11:07 AM:
Well, great advise from all. I however opted to quit and hope for a coyote. All I could think of was here I am completely in the shadow of the full moon and this thing seeing me move a body limb out of darkness, I was in for it. One kewl thing though, I must have sounded D*mn good to call in the coyotes towards me and a bobcat...lol I think if it were daytime, I would have felt more comfortable moving in front of it, but since I hunt with no artificial lighting to shine in it's face, I felt miserable but comfortable with my decision. I just wanted to see how everyone else would handle it. Thanks a Bunch! ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
I tell you what, some of you guys have a real set of ... uhmmm... you know
Crow Woman
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on March 18, 2003, 05:04 PM:
I will say this. I have no problem stomping on a coyote that shows some sign of life, but I'll never touch a cat again, unless I'm positive the lights are out. Bad infections, lots of blood, etc.
Good hunting. LB
Posted by Rich Higgins (Member # 3) on March 18, 2003, 05:30 PM:
Leonard, there is a story there that I would like to hear.
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on March 18, 2003, 05:41 PM:
Maybe so, Rich? All I'll say is electrical tape make a poor bandage. LB
Posted by onecoyote (Member # 129) on March 18, 2003, 05:51 PM:
Four buzz saws and a mouth full of very sharp teeth = lots of tape. Leonard, you didn't do that did you? If you did it had to have been many years ago, you're way to smart to do anything like that now, I think? hehehe J/K, Good Hunting.
Posted by Cdog911 (Member # 7) on March 18, 2003, 06:30 PM:
That's the thing about 'cats. You shoot 'em good once, or six times poorly. After the first crease, they're so pissed off that it takes five more follow-ups just to slow 'em down. I've tried the flicking of a hand or fingers to warn them off when they're out of season. All I ever managed to do was pique their interest. One trotted off then tried to back door me, and I don't mean just come in from behind. Look at it this way, Crow Woman. Some of the best stories about calling center around those failed stands and screw ups. In this case, what makes for the better story? What you told us, or saying, "I called. A couple coyotes came a-runnin'. I shot them. End of story."
I'd have given the cat some type of movement or a deep throaty growl to make him think twice about brazenly leaping on the unknown, then went on working over the coyotes to bring them on in. With luck, the 'cat will become more interested in the coyotes than it is in you, the coyotes will lock in on the 'cat, you'll be the forgotten observer on the sidelines who just got a break for just long enough to allow you to get at least one dog. After the first shot, all hell's gonna break loose anyway and it's no holds barred after that. Quite a dilemma.
Posted by Crow Woman (Member # 157) on March 19, 2003, 05:17 AM:
Oh Dear... Poor Leonard... grins. I'm sorry for snickering over your agony. I guess I need to invest in a set of brass b*lls if I plan to walk along with you guys It kinda reminds me of when I shot that big 60lb coyote. I tell ya guys, I was so scared seeing this monster stalk onto the fields, after I shot it, I was frozen for about an hour. I was so afraid to go up to it to see if it was really dead or just playing possum. The wind was blowing so hard that morning and I kept on seeing the hair on it's tail moving, so I thought surely it was still alive. I waited for an hour for my husband to get up to where I was hunting and made him drive me out to it with the truck just in case it was going to come at me! I sure was yellow that morning!!!
Crow Woman
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