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Posted by Cal Taylor (Member # 199) on February 04, 2004, 07:02 AM:
These were my 12 best. The fur buyer says that we have the best cats in the nation right in this area. All of these cats were big and graded AA and AB. 
Posted by Tim Behle (Member # 209) on February 04, 2004, 07:42 AM:
Must be nice! I've got one here I plan on sending to NAFA as soon as I can get the AZ Game and Fish to quit giving me the run around and give me a CITES tag.
That's go a long way to paying off Christmas and the winter heating bill!
Posted by Rob (Member # 75) on February 04, 2004, 08:15 AM:
Cal I see Don Judkins bought your fur,nice payday.
Posted by Cal Taylor (Member # 199) on February 04, 2004, 09:53 AM:
You are correct Rob. Yates was the buyer that was down here. But it's Judkin's checkbook!
Posted by brad h (Member # 57) on February 04, 2004, 03:50 PM:
$325 is a nice average, and very worthwhile. I may give up on calling cats and try snaring a few next year just to get ahead of the game.
Brad
Posted by Lonny (Member # 19) on February 04, 2004, 04:13 PM:
Congrats Cal. A paycheck like that would make a guy smile all the way to the bank.
What is the highest you have ever gotten for a bobcat? What years were the prices the best and what was the average for a AA bobcat during the days of high fur prices.
I don't mean to pry or anything just curious how prices in the high dollar years compare to now.
Thanks
Posted by COONASS (Member # 299) on February 04, 2004, 04:36 PM:
Yes dat is a good price,,,,,,, here in Louisiana
we're getting for bobcats......
Good clear spots--XL prime males-up to $30.00
Some highland types will bring more!!!!!!!!
Med males up to $25.00........
Large females up to $25.00
They sell all kind of goodies too !!!!!!!!!
www.rpoutdoors.com
Posted by DAA (Member # 11) on February 04, 2004, 04:44 PM:
That is just outstanding!
Congratulations on a nice sale Cal. Love to see it.
- DAA
Posted by Brad Norman (Member # 234) on February 04, 2004, 05:26 PM:
Congratulations on a great job Cal.
Posted by Q-Wagoner (Member # 33) on February 04, 2004, 06:23 PM:
That makes me sick!!!! “IF” I get lucky and average $30 on my coyotes that should be about what my check reads. I would damn sure rather put up 12 cats than 130 coyotes!!! Now I am depressed. LOL
Congrats on a job well done!!
Good hunting.
Q,
Posted by Cal Taylor (Member # 199) on February 04, 2004, 06:39 PM:
That is the pits Q, I sold some coyotes and badgers a while back and coyotes averaged 25 and badgers 15. Makes the cat deal look pretty lucrative. Of course in reality it still only figures out to about 2 bucks an hour. LOL
Posted by Locohead (Member # 15) on February 04, 2004, 07:15 PM:
Very nice Cal! Congrats! Hey, I think I'm going hunting one more time after this weekend up in Wyoming. I hope you saaaved some! I've never even seen a live (wild) bobcat. Lions yes, bobcats no.
Posted by albert (Member # 98) on February 04, 2004, 08:42 PM:
Yes that looks pretty good but isn't that down somwhat from last year? on a per cat basis?. Fur prices here in canada have taken a bit of a hit this year. the US price is up a little (I think)But last year you could get $1.51 canadian for on US dollar this year you only get $1.27 canadian. so it makes quite a difference here as the price is in US dollars.
Posted by Q-Wagoner (Member # 33) on February 04, 2004, 10:19 PM:
You got that right Cal, It’s a labor of love. I could have probably made twice the money picking up beer cans along the road ditch than coyote hunting. LOL
Good hunting.
Q,
Posted by Jack Roberts (Member # 13) on February 04, 2004, 10:47 PM:
10 times or better increase in value?
Call me skeptical. At that price there will be no cats left in two years.
Jack
Posted by Q-Wagoner (Member # 33) on February 05, 2004, 12:13 AM:
Not all bobcats are created equally nor are coyotes. The coyotes in my area at this time are worth about as much as a Texas bobcat. I don’t think the high country bobcats of WY and MT have ever averaged below 45 or 50 dollars in recent times? If they have it wasn’t for long. During the fur boom those same cats may have averaged $600 dollars or more. If they could survive that, this little bump in the market is not going to hurt anything.
There aren’t to many people that are willing to put forth the time and effort to trap bobcats even at these high prices. Even if there were they still need to know what they are doing. Wyoming has a small fraction of the bobcats that other states have namely California and Texas. What they lack in quantity they gain in quality by several fold and with that comes a higher degree of difficulty. Bobcats are here to stay.
Good hunting.
Q,
Posted by Cal Taylor (Member # 199) on February 05, 2004, 06:25 AM:
Q is right Jack,
Even in my area there are alot of people that know what cats are worth, but that is a long ways from actually having the equipment and being able to catch one. In 1980 cats were worth twice what they are now. I'm out and around almost every day and the only other guys out trapping are the same as always. And there are always a few ranch kids that go by a half dozen traps and test the waters. And some of them catch a cat or two, but don't do much population damage. The country that cats live in here is prohibitive also. You can't trap cats driving around in a pickup, and that eliminates alot of guys. I have several sets that I climb along ways to get to. Some of them I swear are uphill both ways. I catch one in the flats once in a while but not often. Another thing I have noticed is because of the lack of trapping for the last 20 years the population of cats is predominately big old toms. That means a lack of pressure. It also means that there aren't many kittens around because if you have alot of mature toms they kill most of the kittens. If you go in and take a bunch of big toms out of an area the population will actually increase because more kittens will survive. Strange but true.
Posted by Rob (Member # 75) on February 05, 2004, 06:57 AM:
One theory is the tom will kill the kittens so the female will cycle again.
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on February 05, 2004, 08:57 AM:
Thinking about Jack's comment. I don't believe the prices will have the effect of eliminating the bobcat population. There are many factors involved.
While I don't remember $600 cats, I do remember them going for $400, green. And, Idid hunt Wyoming, back then a little bit, and Quinton is right, they didn't have as many cats as some other places. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
But, no question, nice ones.
So, then you have the California F&G placing a limit on cats, and Nevada caving in to the trapping interests, and making bobcat legal to only resident hunters. Things like that. PETA raves, demand goes down, incentive goes down, and only the dedicated are left.
But, I don't think they are threatened, at this point.
GOOD WORK, CAL!
Good hunting. LB
Posted by COONASS (Member # 299) on February 05, 2004, 01:40 PM:
WHAT 25 to 30.00 fer a yote !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Their only bring $5.00 on good average hides....
Otter up to $100.00 on XL Pales
Beaver,skunk & possum have little or no value
Grey fox apx 13.00
red fox up to 16.00
Posted by Q-Wagoner (Member # 33) on February 05, 2004, 02:55 PM:
I have not heard of that with Bobcats Rob but I have with African lions. I suppose that could be a factor. It is too bad about the limit of Bobcats in CA. It just serves as a case in point that the Game and Fish do not always manage game on scientific bases. I read somewhere that CA has more cats per sq. mile than any other state so why is it that they have a bag limit when other states like NE that have fewer cats enjoy an unlimited take? I believe it was in CA where Slim Pederson trapped 223 in one season? Cal might know for sure.
Yes Leonard, bobcats did indeed bring $600 and more a piece during the peak of the fur boom. I have heard that some of the selects topped $800 a pelt.
Coonass, this year coyotes are worth that much and a lot more in other areas. MT particularly the north central/northwestern parts of the state on up into Alberta probably have the best coyotes in the world. The top end of these coyotes could easily average around $50 this season. There are pockets of coyotes scattered through out the northern states that have an excellent coyote but northern MT and Alberta hold most of the best.
Good hunting.
Q,
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on February 05, 2004, 03:28 PM:
Not at all, Quinton. Was not doubting you or anybody else. I was speaking from personal experience.
We used to go on little safaris and wind up in Rocksprings, WY. There was a fella there that used to give us money for green hides, and another Sweetwater County agent that would give us $7 for a set of coyote ears. A long, cold trip.
The problem here has always been that we can't put up fur, not cold enough. And then, we would have flies laying eggs in the nose, etc. So, we had to freeze them, and/or sell whole animals; no chance to mend bullet holes, either. Not complaining, we did all right.
Good hunting. LB
Posted by Rob (Member # 75) on February 05, 2004, 04:02 PM:
Q-Slim made that catch while going to college in Billings MT. I think bobcats were still classified as a predator with no limits or quotas back then.
Posted by Cal Taylor (Member # 199) on February 05, 2004, 04:05 PM:
Q, I visited with J Hughes the other day. The norhtern part of Montana has been under deep snow all winter and the snowmobile hunters have killed thousands of coyotes up there. He has been buying some huge lots up on the highline. 2 and 3 hundred at a time.
edit:
I think Rob is right, Slim took those cats in Montana while going to college. But I didn't know where he went to school. (Glendive, I thought). That is also where I went to college and eastern Montana is dang sure cat country.
[ February 05, 2004, 04:08 PM: Message edited by: Cal Taylor ]
Posted by Z (Member # 303) on February 05, 2004, 05:22 PM:
Gentlemen,
I am new to the forum and just learned of it a couple of weeks ago and so I have been lurking for a few weeks. Thought I would chime in. I grew up in northeastern Montana 16 miles from the Canadian border and 25 miles from the North Dakota border. I grew up with a gun in my hand and hunted dawn to dark starting with a 20 gauge when I was 10 years old Saturday and Sunday of every weekend of hunting season. Where I grew up is ideal coyote country, but in the time from when I was 10 until I was 18 I saw 2 whole coyotes and no bobcats. We had a lot of fox back then. Then I went to college and that was the year they stopped the 1080(this might date me a little). Two years later the coyotes were thick. Haven't been back to hunt coyotes there for 20 years, but was back in Montana between Christmas and New Years for a hunt up on the highline basically on the Alberta border with a couple of farmer friends who had never called before. Their method of hunting coyotes until then was to catch them in wheat stubble and run them down with the pickup and shoot them with the shotgun. Neither had ever called before. We averaged coyotes at 60 percent of our stands. The first stand we were at an abandoned farm and I call one within 20 yards of one of the guys. I didn't see him come in and the guy said it was coming straight for the call and would have run over him if he hadn't shot it. He was a believer. The next two stands we called in coyotes. We had great weather for calling. About 10 below in the morning very light wind except for the first day. Had some excellent stands with 2 or 3 coming in. We just didn't do a very good job of shooting. A lot of time we couldn't get them closer than 100 yards because terrain features were thus that they could spot us a lot of the time within that range. Those two guys are believers after 3 days of calling. They haven't been doing so well calling on their own. But I was as far North as I could get in North-Central Montana. At one time we were on the Canadian border which was a 6-strand barbed wire fence at that point. It was unbroken prairie that had never seen a plow. Grass and rolling hills as far as the eye could see. And 100 yards on the Canadian side were 7 bull elk out in the middle of a pure white unbroken prairie. Gorgeous sight. We called a big coulee that ran from the Canadian side all the way down to the Milk River. Had a big coyote come in, but he made us at about 250 yards. I got him stopped at about 350 but missed him. We were pulling coyotes from a mile away and watched 2 different ones come from 3/4 of a mile. I just got an email from one of the guys yesterday and they are going to Fort Bentom today to sell their furs. I'll let you know what they averaged. We didn't shoot a lot of big dogs. In the old days they called them "Montana Pales". We could get $125- $150 for big ones back then. The coyotes hunt mostly in the wheat stubble for mice and rabbits and don't break off their guard hairs as much. Not much red and a lot of white bellies. We missed one two years ago up there and it looked almost white.
Don't know about the snowmobilers getting that many. For years that has been a common thing up there, but I don't travel in those circles so don't know much about that. The two farmers that I hunted with are very active and they never mentioned the snovmobilers. The snow wasn't too deep a month ago up there and we could get the pickup any place we wanted to which made things real nice. But that week some of the places in Central and Eastern Montana got 20-40 inches of snow which they need desparately. We were about 60 miles west of where the big snows started. A couple of times when I was howling I was getting responses from the dogs at farms 2 miles away. It was one of the best 3 days of coyote hunting I ever had. Too bad it is a 700 mile drive for me.
I apologize for the long-winded, first post, but this post peaked my interest. I won't talk much on the forum, but I have a tendency to be long-winded when I do. I moved to Utah 9 years ago and had bascially put my guns away. When you are used to hunting in Montana this is quite a step down for the amount of animals you will see. I just started to get after coyotes again the last couple of years, but I have to drive so far to get away from the population centers. It is discouraging hunting here compared to what I am used to. From some of the posts I have seen maybe a 700 mile drive for a good hunt isn't such a bad deal. I can put 300 miles on around here just trying to get away from everybody. Thanks for listening if you made it this far.
[ February 05, 2004, 06:18 PM: Message edited by: Z ]
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on February 05, 2004, 05:32 PM:
Welcome to the New Huntmasters, Z. Glad to have you on board, even if you prefer to mostly read.
Darn good first post, I'll grant you that!
I have seen hides from Montana that looked more like wolves, to me. Always wanted to try it up there.
Good hunting. LB
Posted by Z (Member # 303) on February 05, 2004, 05:57 PM:
Thanks Leonard. I was spoiled growing up in Montana. And even it is having lots of problems with land being leased out to outfitters and most of the farmers turning their hunting rights over for money. I can't blame them, but 10 years ago you could hunt about anyplace you wanted if you asked permission. 20 years ago you hardly had to ask. But it is still great coyote hunting if you can gain access. Have a little bit of the mange up there. A friend shot one in Eastern Montana a couple of years ago that was almost hairless. This is the first good cold winter with lots of snow that they have had for a few years so it will probably kill the mangy ones off hopefully.
Posted by Q-Wagoner (Member # 33) on February 05, 2004, 07:13 PM:
A buddy of mine talked to Hughes the other night and said the same thing. With all that good fur that he is buying up he didn’t really sound to excited about buying our sand hills stuff. LOL Can’t blame him I guess. I have heard that in Saskatchewan the snowmobiliers are slaughtering them also. That’s too bad.
I thought it might have been MT where Slim made that catch but for some reason I thought it was in CA. Oh well, that is still a $hit pot full and a hell of an accomplishment where ever you are. Scott Schaffer told me once that he would buy around 100 bobcats a year from a guy in WY. Do you know who that might be Cal? I think he said he traps on an Indian *********** .
Good hunting.
Q,
Posted by Locohead (Member # 15) on February 05, 2004, 08:42 PM:
I read every word Z. Thanks for posting. ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. LOL Just Kidding and come out of hiding more often! ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
Posted by onecoyote (Member # 129) on February 07, 2004, 08:19 PM:
Cal, now that you're rich ya wanna buy my jeep lol, good going. Q, that limit on bobcats in California only pertains to hunters, trappers can take all they want. Now that's another California law that makes sense lol.
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