Friday found AzBushman and I hard at work slaving over a hot computer satellite scouting for a possible hunt this weekend. I had contacted Smooth, who just welcomed a new son to his family, figuring that he would enjoy a day away from the new little bundle of joy. Bushman contacted KingZero, and the plans were set for a Sunday. 4 guys hunting one stand could seem to pose a challenge, but Bushman and I have been going very well together, and Smooth and Zero are up and coming predator hunters so it seemed like it could work if we planned the stand right.
A pre-dawn meet up found the 4 of us piling into my fur machine, and rolling toward our intended destination, a wash that looked like it had a lot of promise from the sat photos that Bushman and I had looked at. Lots of green, fed by lots of smaller canyons that promised to hold bobcats and foxes. But our photos also showed some possible difficulties, it looked as though there might be a couple of gates getting into the wash. So as a back up I noted several other areas of interest for us to investigate.
The drive in showed a lot of nice areas, passing houses, and ranches, when there in the road ahead of us a powerful omen, a winter fluffed coyote standing there bigger than life. It trotted across the road ahead of us, and ducked off into the brush. We were all amped seeing that, so at the first opportunity, we darted off the road, and set up a stand. It was a good looking stand, with a bowl at our backs, opening into a wash that was well traveled by coyotes and rabbits, but as Bushman says, our first is a "practice" stand, so it was a bust.
On down the road to our original area, we spot a beautiful, green pasture/orchard, one of the ones we saw in the photos. We ducked under a fence, dropped into a wash and eased into the edge of the orchard. We strung out in a close skirmish line, with about 25 yards between shooters. I start in with a jackrabbit distress call, and I had just gotten through the first loop, when I hear a single gunshot from my left. Bushman is up and moving, so Smooth and I follow as back up, but there was no need. Zero had gotten the job done with his 16in .223 AR-15, and anchored a pretty female bobcat. The shot was clean, entering from the right of the cat, but the bullet expanded and did a bit of damage to the left side chest, and there was an exit hole on the left. All in all, the pelt is still going to be pretty, so we skinned it out, got it on ice, and moved to our next area.
Sadly, our fears proved true, there was a pair of gates blocking our travel to access the rest of the wash and the brush, so we had to drop back and punt, and move into my back up areas.
Our second area showed some early promise, a lot of sign around a full water hole, promised to hold the predators in the area. We followed a trail out away from the water hole, and saw a LOT of tracks. Coyote, bobcat, fox, rabbit they were all there. We followed them up to a nice rise, and decided to climb up and over and see what lay on the other side. Over the hill, it opened into a nice, mild canyon that was covered in a lot of thick brush. Again we set up in a skirmish line, this one a little longer, and I pointed the speaker up the line, into the wind, instead of out away from our line of shooters. No more than 60 seconds in, and Zero and I spot a covey of quail, flush from the brush to my right, indicating that something might be there. I slowly rotate toward the departing quail, when I hear a shot from my left. It is followed by a second shot with a different report. I see Bushman and Smooth up and moving into the canyon ahead of them. Zero calls out, and Bushman tells him that he shot a bobcat, but that it disappeared from sight.
By the time Bushman is able to cross the canyon, Smooth moved up to the head of the canyon, and Zero and I hooked up, swapped weapons, so that he could drop into the canyon to back up Bushman and Smooth with a shotgun in those close quarters. Bushman goes to the site of the bullet impact, and finds a lot of blood and even some larger pieces of "bobcat" that seemed to have been left behind by the bullet. But there is no clear blood trail. So Zero drops into the canyon and tries to push the cat up toward Smooth, as I provide high overwatch of the scene with Zero's rifle, and Bushman attempts to find a blood trail. On one of his circles, Zero spots the cat, down in a bush, and Bushman puts it down with his pistol. Amazingly, when they back track the small blood trail, they find that what they thought was pieces of "bobcat" broken loose by the bullet impact, is in fact pieces of rabbit that the bobcat was in the process of eating when we started the call. Apparently cats are VERY messy eaters, as there was blood, and fur, and even pieces of partially eaten ear in the bushes where the cat was first seen.
Now I have seen the leftovers from a cat kill, but I have never personally interrupted a cat in mid meal. Another first in predator hunting for our team. We continued hunting the area, found a lot of great areas, even had something backdoor us on our last stand, again deep into the brush looking for cats, so in all probability we had brought in another cat, though this one managed to get away. But no doubt that we will have another chance at it on one of future runs.
Congratulations to all of the PM hunters on their success, and much luck to those of us who were not as fortunate.
A pre-dawn meet up found the 4 of us piling into my fur machine, and rolling toward our intended destination, a wash that looked like it had a lot of promise from the sat photos that Bushman and I had looked at. Lots of green, fed by lots of smaller canyons that promised to hold bobcats and foxes. But our photos also showed some possible difficulties, it looked as though there might be a couple of gates getting into the wash. So as a back up I noted several other areas of interest for us to investigate.
The drive in showed a lot of nice areas, passing houses, and ranches, when there in the road ahead of us a powerful omen, a winter fluffed coyote standing there bigger than life. It trotted across the road ahead of us, and ducked off into the brush. We were all amped seeing that, so at the first opportunity, we darted off the road, and set up a stand. It was a good looking stand, with a bowl at our backs, opening into a wash that was well traveled by coyotes and rabbits, but as Bushman says, our first is a "practice" stand, so it was a bust.
On down the road to our original area, we spot a beautiful, green pasture/orchard, one of the ones we saw in the photos. We ducked under a fence, dropped into a wash and eased into the edge of the orchard. We strung out in a close skirmish line, with about 25 yards between shooters. I start in with a jackrabbit distress call, and I had just gotten through the first loop, when I hear a single gunshot from my left. Bushman is up and moving, so Smooth and I follow as back up, but there was no need. Zero had gotten the job done with his 16in .223 AR-15, and anchored a pretty female bobcat. The shot was clean, entering from the right of the cat, but the bullet expanded and did a bit of damage to the left side chest, and there was an exit hole on the left. All in all, the pelt is still going to be pretty, so we skinned it out, got it on ice, and moved to our next area.
Sadly, our fears proved true, there was a pair of gates blocking our travel to access the rest of the wash and the brush, so we had to drop back and punt, and move into my back up areas.
Our second area showed some early promise, a lot of sign around a full water hole, promised to hold the predators in the area. We followed a trail out away from the water hole, and saw a LOT of tracks. Coyote, bobcat, fox, rabbit they were all there. We followed them up to a nice rise, and decided to climb up and over and see what lay on the other side. Over the hill, it opened into a nice, mild canyon that was covered in a lot of thick brush. Again we set up in a skirmish line, this one a little longer, and I pointed the speaker up the line, into the wind, instead of out away from our line of shooters. No more than 60 seconds in, and Zero and I spot a covey of quail, flush from the brush to my right, indicating that something might be there. I slowly rotate toward the departing quail, when I hear a shot from my left. It is followed by a second shot with a different report. I see Bushman and Smooth up and moving into the canyon ahead of them. Zero calls out, and Bushman tells him that he shot a bobcat, but that it disappeared from sight.
By the time Bushman is able to cross the canyon, Smooth moved up to the head of the canyon, and Zero and I hooked up, swapped weapons, so that he could drop into the canyon to back up Bushman and Smooth with a shotgun in those close quarters. Bushman goes to the site of the bullet impact, and finds a lot of blood and even some larger pieces of "bobcat" that seemed to have been left behind by the bullet. But there is no clear blood trail. So Zero drops into the canyon and tries to push the cat up toward Smooth, as I provide high overwatch of the scene with Zero's rifle, and Bushman attempts to find a blood trail. On one of his circles, Zero spots the cat, down in a bush, and Bushman puts it down with his pistol. Amazingly, when they back track the small blood trail, they find that what they thought was pieces of "bobcat" broken loose by the bullet impact, is in fact pieces of rabbit that the bobcat was in the process of eating when we started the call. Apparently cats are VERY messy eaters, as there was blood, and fur, and even pieces of partially eaten ear in the bushes where the cat was first seen.
Now I have seen the leftovers from a cat kill, but I have never personally interrupted a cat in mid meal. Another first in predator hunting for our team. We continued hunting the area, found a lot of great areas, even had something backdoor us on our last stand, again deep into the brush looking for cats, so in all probability we had brought in another cat, though this one managed to get away. But no doubt that we will have another chance at it on one of future runs.
Congratulations to all of the PM hunters on their success, and much luck to those of us who were not as fortunate.
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