cats are hard to kill

O

old folks

New member
went out fridy night to call for yotes.this is my first hunt sence my wife died two mounts ago. thanks again for all the prayers and kind words. me and my cuz went to an old farm and first set called in two yotes. cuz shot one with his 22250 it done the spin then got in head high march grass. no find. next set was dry. we got on my mule headed to next set when we spot eyes in a hay field. i got on it with my scope and see a big bob cat. shot it with 223 53g bthp at about 100 yd. he jumprd went down jumped went down again got up and got in the a thicket. we go to where the cat was shot and find a five point buck stil alive. the under side of the neck and sholders was riped to threds. we found where the fight took place the ground was torn up and blood everwhere. from this poimt the cat had drug the deer about 40 yds. the deer died just after we found it. hard to belive a bob cat can kill a average size east texas deer. i would not tell this if old cuz was not there to back me up.
 
I watched a bobcat kill a healthy mature buck back in 97-98.As soon as he realized I was there, he left the deer. I wasn't going to leave the deer to rot, so I went back an hour later to pick it up. The cat had moved the deer nearly 30 yards and was eating on it. Pretty cool stuff that not many get to see.
 

Amazing that a bobcat can kill a deer, and even more amazing it could drag one.

I shot a 31 pound cat last year that was huge. I would hate to think of that thing getting a hold of me.

As to the cat's actions of jumping, that's pretty much par for the course in my experience. Most of them jump, twist, turn back flips and all sorts of stuff before giving it up.

Here's a short clip of a cat I videoed a few years back. It turned a back flip when shot. The bullet completely penetrated the lungs, but this cat ran probably 40 yards as if it were full of life before it dropped.

The video isn't up close since I was having to do the filming, calling and shooting, but at least you can see how the cat reacts to the shot.




 
For instant kills, use a varmint type caliber/bullet that fragments quickly inside the animal. Bobcats are thin, thinner than a 2-liter soda bottle and their vitals are small. Don't gut shoot them or shoot them so far back that you barely clip the rear half of the lungs. Larger, heavier, more solidly built bullets pretty much pass right thru before they have a chance to vaporize the vitals, just like bow hunting. Yes it's lethal but not before they run off.

I prefer to drop all critters in their tracks. That means real anatomically correct shot placement is absolutely critical, followed by bullet/caliber selection.

Watch "Catrastrophic" bobcat hunting video. About every cat they shoot is hit too far back with a big deer caliber and most of the cats jump 6 feet in the air spinning and run off into the brush. I suppose that's one way to do it...
 
When I was a kid my dad and seen a big fawn 60-65lbs in a brush pile beside the road. I jumped out to see what the deal was and the cat was setting behind it. He had drug it about 60 yards to get it in the brush pile. I always thought that if a bobcat got up to 100 lbs there wouldn't be anything that was meaner.
 
Every bobcat I've shot has died in their tracks without a quiver. I have shot all of them a 223, and all but one with a 50 grain VMax. My thoughts.....they are not hard to kill if you put that bullet where it's supposed to go. Of course, that can be said about anything you shoot.
 
I have never had one run off after being shot, they just fall over in thier tracks. I have killed them with my air rifle and shotgun and 22-250 none have ran off. Yotes on the other had have got to be the toughest critter to kill out there.
 
Here ya go...

Bobcatanddeer.gif
 
If you've never had a cat run off, you just haven't shot enough cats. Pound for pound they're the toughest things in our woods down here.
 
Oh yeah they are very strong indeed, rolled a few DRT but had to do numerous follow ups with the shotty to put them down for good.

Better luck next time old folks, it's a sick feeling I know all to well =\ Patience is a Virtue with those cats big time !

" If you've never had a cat run off, you just haven't shot enough cats. Pound for pound they're the toughest things in our woods down here. " + 1 Amen to that -



GC- Love the clips, thats awesome !
thumbup1.gif
 
Last edited:
out of the 300 or so cats i have shot one ran about 20yds and got in a cave where i could not reach him.that is the only one i lost.i used 52.gr. HPBT match bullets.on the other hand i have had coyotes run over 100yds. when part of their lungs were laying on the ground where i shot them
 
I once shot a cat at night while hunting from an elevated shooting house. The cat was 70 yards away and coming out up out of a bottom and facing straight at me. Due to the downward angle from the elevated stand + the cat being in the bottom and looking up, the shot hit it right above the sternum and exited right below the sternum. What was left of the heart and both lungs lay at the impact point. I trailed the cat for 50 yards, and it was a relatively small cat, only about 15 lbs. The chest cavity was opened and completely cleaned out with the front 1/2 of the rib cage hanging on by a piece of skin at the bottom of the sternum. I'm a pathologist, and the cat looked just like its chest had been autopsied. That cat ran 50 yards without a molecule of heart or lung tissue in its body. Nothing else I know can do that.
 
Last edited:

I haven't shot as many cats as many of you guys have, but the ones I have shot have all been good hits, none were considered marginal.

Of the 11 cats I've taken, one was with a shotgun up close and personal, DRT. All others were with rifles.

Two cats were shot through the lungs with a .223 and 55 gr. soft points. One dropped dead, the other hauled freight down a hollow. I found him, but was lucky.

Two cats were taken with larger caliber rifles while deer hunting, both were DRT.

One cat (just recently) was shot with a .22 magnum and a 40 gr. Winchester hollow point. It dropped on the spot, was paralyzed and didn't move. I had to finish it.

All others were taken with a 6x45 shooting Sierra 75 gr. hollow points, lung shots. They all jumped, twisted and ran a ways except for one, but not far, generally no more than 30 yards or so. The one exception was quartering away and the bullet passed through one lung. That one dropped on the spot, lay there a few seconds, then got to it's feet and down the hill it went, probably 20 yards.

I guess the old adage that cats have nine lives, was stated for a reason. My experience has been mixed and while some were DRT, others got up and tried to live up to their reputation.


 
Back
Top