wormydog1724
Member
We gave the 2018 Cabela's / Cast & Bang Predator Championship a go this year. This was our first time hunting in this contest and the format was a little different: Kill as many as you want but each team can only check-in three coyotes and one bobcat, heaviest total weight wins.
There were also side pots of Biggest coyote, biggest bobcat, and smallest bobcat.
We entered in everything as well as a little side bet, $100 per team, among some friends. We usually just do bragging rights but this made it a little more interesting.
We woke up early Saturday and headed out for the hunt. We knew we had to have a bobcat for a chance to place, that was our main goal. But we always want that first set to start off with a bang and get a coyote in the box. We set up on a hill between two creeks, temperature was a balmy 15* and the wind blowing 15mph from the north. At about 8 minutes into the set I see a coyote skirting off in the opposite direction about 150y out, but the grass is so tall I could only see his ears. There were some channels and I guess he slipped in and out almost without being seen. That was a long set because we just knew, or hoped, it would produce. Well it didn't.
Then we went into cat-mode. Our ranch is also covered with deer and we have several food plots. We were hoping those would be holding a bobcat. We setup on the edge of a wheat food plot that had a creek on two sides of it. Turned on the call and at six minutes I see ears, then eyes, then the head of a bobcat creeping out of the creek. My gun was in position right at it so all I had to do was lower my head. My brother was sitting to my right and I whispered if he saw it and he said yes, but his gun was facing away so he didn't have a shot anyways. Our hunting partner was sitting about 10 yards away from us, he saw the cat but wasn't sure if we saw it, and was wondering why we hadn't shot yet. He moved to get his gun in position and the cat froze to look at him. I then lowered my head and the cat looked at me. My crosshairs were on so I started pressing and down the cat went in an explosion of fur and blood. The Cavity Back Bullets 105gr MKZ in 6.8 SPC was just a little too much for this cat, it left a softball sized hole in its back. We sat another few minutes but nothing came in.
My Bobcat, kill #9 this year
We were happy since we needed the cat for the contest format, but we really wanted a bigger one. It weighed 16#. We headed to another food plot on our same ranch about a mile away from the first and setup in the same fashion. About six minutes in I see one coming. We were spread a little bit more so communication wasn't possible. I was on the bobcat but didn't have the shot, my brother had the shotgun and didn't have a shot. I was just hoping our partner saw it. The bobcat stopped and sat down just to wait, a second later our partner shot with his .243 and I saw the cat disappear in a poof of fur.
2nd bobcat on the day, back to back sets.
This bobcat weighed 20# and we were happy enough with it that we decided to start going after coyotes more and not worry so much on the bobcats. We drove back in-between the two bobcat sets and were going to call by some cows. As we got out of the Ranger I spotted a coyote right in the middle of the cows. It had seen us and was running east, then west, then north. It didn't know which way to go. Then it finally ran west, right where we wanted to call. So we headed over the hill real fast to get setup hopefully in front of it. Turned the call on and waited forever. Finally at 9 minutes a coyote comes running in. The grass was so tall I didn't have a shot but our partner was sitting down by a fence dividing our pastures and he had the position. One coyote was jumping up high to see over the grass and our partner was focused on it when another coyote ran out between his coyote and himself. He shot the first coyote and the other one took off across the open. I ran down closer to get into a better spot and got on it as it ran, one shot but it was a miss. I suck at running shots so I decided not to send anymore.
One coyote so we were on the board with a dog, just need two more to have the contest limit, hopefully big ones. This one was a decent sized female, 34#.
We did another set on the ranch and then left. We headed about 12 miles south to our other ranch and started making sets from west to east, and the wind was really starting to lay down, just barely coming from the north. It was still around 25* but with the sun shining and the wind laying, it wasn't that bad.
We set on an abandoned oil well location with a brushy creek off going down one side. Again the grass between it was very tall but there were some lanes where it was shorter and we were hoping that would be our opportunity for a shot. We set the call between us, with my brother and partner sitting south of the call and me sitting north of them and the call. At 5 minutes a coyote appears out of the creek right in front of me. My gun was already in position so all I had to do was lower my head. I did and again the CBB 105gr MKZ dropped her hard. She weighed about 27#, not real good for our total weight but it was another coyote.
We headed east, making a dry set that looked very promising. Then we sat up fairly high on a hill with a huge bowl lined by a creek. We were facing northwest so the sun was kind of at our back, and would be in the coyotes eyes. At 8 minutes we were about to leave and boom out of the brush comes a bouncing coyote. It stops looking at us. I'm on it and it was about 150y and I wanted somebody else to get on it in case I missed. I whistled at my partner but he didn't want to move since it was looking at us. So I just made the decision to go for it. Dropped her out of sight.
So now we had our three coyotes and a bobcat for check in. She was a little better at 29#, but still not good enough to win us any money we figured. It was 12:30 so we were hoping we had enough time to get some bigger dogs.
We made a set behind my sister's house on an oil well location and called in a small mangy male. My brother finally got to pull the trigger and dropped him at 40 yards. We knew he was too small and he was nasty so we didn't bother loading him up. There wasn't a small dog or mangy dog pot.
Kept making sets and going to different ranches and honey holes but weren't seeing the coyotes. We did call in a small mangy coyote and I shot it at 50 yards, but it was again so small and mangy that I didn't even bother picking it up. The only hair on it was it's head and neck.
We ended the day killing 5 coyotes, 2 bobcats. Our total weight at check in was 107 pounds. We finished in 6th place out of 79 teams, only 26 teams checked in animals. We did end up winning our side bet between friends since we were the highest placing team out of our group. So all done, we each walked away with $50 profit after entry fees were taken out. Not bad and a lot of fun.
One team checked in a 48# coyote that was winning big dog, the same team had an 8# bobcat that was winning small bobcat, and that team was in 1st place in the contest with 127# total weight. This morning when I checked the results, they were gone. Must have failed the lie detector test. Shame shame.
There were also side pots of Biggest coyote, biggest bobcat, and smallest bobcat.
We entered in everything as well as a little side bet, $100 per team, among some friends. We usually just do bragging rights but this made it a little more interesting.
We woke up early Saturday and headed out for the hunt. We knew we had to have a bobcat for a chance to place, that was our main goal. But we always want that first set to start off with a bang and get a coyote in the box. We set up on a hill between two creeks, temperature was a balmy 15* and the wind blowing 15mph from the north. At about 8 minutes into the set I see a coyote skirting off in the opposite direction about 150y out, but the grass is so tall I could only see his ears. There were some channels and I guess he slipped in and out almost without being seen. That was a long set because we just knew, or hoped, it would produce. Well it didn't.
Then we went into cat-mode. Our ranch is also covered with deer and we have several food plots. We were hoping those would be holding a bobcat. We setup on the edge of a wheat food plot that had a creek on two sides of it. Turned on the call and at six minutes I see ears, then eyes, then the head of a bobcat creeping out of the creek. My gun was in position right at it so all I had to do was lower my head. My brother was sitting to my right and I whispered if he saw it and he said yes, but his gun was facing away so he didn't have a shot anyways. Our hunting partner was sitting about 10 yards away from us, he saw the cat but wasn't sure if we saw it, and was wondering why we hadn't shot yet. He moved to get his gun in position and the cat froze to look at him. I then lowered my head and the cat looked at me. My crosshairs were on so I started pressing and down the cat went in an explosion of fur and blood. The Cavity Back Bullets 105gr MKZ in 6.8 SPC was just a little too much for this cat, it left a softball sized hole in its back. We sat another few minutes but nothing came in.
My Bobcat, kill #9 this year
We were happy since we needed the cat for the contest format, but we really wanted a bigger one. It weighed 16#. We headed to another food plot on our same ranch about a mile away from the first and setup in the same fashion. About six minutes in I see one coming. We were spread a little bit more so communication wasn't possible. I was on the bobcat but didn't have the shot, my brother had the shotgun and didn't have a shot. I was just hoping our partner saw it. The bobcat stopped and sat down just to wait, a second later our partner shot with his .243 and I saw the cat disappear in a poof of fur.
2nd bobcat on the day, back to back sets.
This bobcat weighed 20# and we were happy enough with it that we decided to start going after coyotes more and not worry so much on the bobcats. We drove back in-between the two bobcat sets and were going to call by some cows. As we got out of the Ranger I spotted a coyote right in the middle of the cows. It had seen us and was running east, then west, then north. It didn't know which way to go. Then it finally ran west, right where we wanted to call. So we headed over the hill real fast to get setup hopefully in front of it. Turned the call on and waited forever. Finally at 9 minutes a coyote comes running in. The grass was so tall I didn't have a shot but our partner was sitting down by a fence dividing our pastures and he had the position. One coyote was jumping up high to see over the grass and our partner was focused on it when another coyote ran out between his coyote and himself. He shot the first coyote and the other one took off across the open. I ran down closer to get into a better spot and got on it as it ran, one shot but it was a miss. I suck at running shots so I decided not to send anymore.
One coyote so we were on the board with a dog, just need two more to have the contest limit, hopefully big ones. This one was a decent sized female, 34#.
We did another set on the ranch and then left. We headed about 12 miles south to our other ranch and started making sets from west to east, and the wind was really starting to lay down, just barely coming from the north. It was still around 25* but with the sun shining and the wind laying, it wasn't that bad.
We set on an abandoned oil well location with a brushy creek off going down one side. Again the grass between it was very tall but there were some lanes where it was shorter and we were hoping that would be our opportunity for a shot. We set the call between us, with my brother and partner sitting south of the call and me sitting north of them and the call. At 5 minutes a coyote appears out of the creek right in front of me. My gun was already in position so all I had to do was lower my head. I did and again the CBB 105gr MKZ dropped her hard. She weighed about 27#, not real good for our total weight but it was another coyote.
We headed east, making a dry set that looked very promising. Then we sat up fairly high on a hill with a huge bowl lined by a creek. We were facing northwest so the sun was kind of at our back, and would be in the coyotes eyes. At 8 minutes we were about to leave and boom out of the brush comes a bouncing coyote. It stops looking at us. I'm on it and it was about 150y and I wanted somebody else to get on it in case I missed. I whistled at my partner but he didn't want to move since it was looking at us. So I just made the decision to go for it. Dropped her out of sight.
So now we had our three coyotes and a bobcat for check in. She was a little better at 29#, but still not good enough to win us any money we figured. It was 12:30 so we were hoping we had enough time to get some bigger dogs.
We made a set behind my sister's house on an oil well location and called in a small mangy male. My brother finally got to pull the trigger and dropped him at 40 yards. We knew he was too small and he was nasty so we didn't bother loading him up. There wasn't a small dog or mangy dog pot.
Kept making sets and going to different ranches and honey holes but weren't seeing the coyotes. We did call in a small mangy coyote and I shot it at 50 yards, but it was again so small and mangy that I didn't even bother picking it up. The only hair on it was it's head and neck.
We ended the day killing 5 coyotes, 2 bobcats. Our total weight at check in was 107 pounds. We finished in 6th place out of 79 teams, only 26 teams checked in animals. We did end up winning our side bet between friends since we were the highest placing team out of our group. So all done, we each walked away with $50 profit after entry fees were taken out. Not bad and a lot of fun.
One team checked in a 48# coyote that was winning big dog, the same team had an 8# bobcat that was winning small bobcat, and that team was in 1st place in the contest with 127# total weight. This morning when I checked the results, they were gone. Must have failed the lie detector test. Shame shame.
