Let me tell you how my morning went...
4:00 AM Wake-up, getting excited to go out, but it's still too early...
5:25 AM Wake-up again, before the alarm goes off (which NEVER happens on a work day, by the way...) and head downstairs to get ready...
6:45 Start, Stand #1 for fox -- "Rodent Distress" calls, nothing came in...
7:20 Start, Stand #2 for fox -- "Waning Snowshoe Hare" calls, nothing came in...
8:00 Start, Stand #3 for fox -- "Titmouse Tantrum", nothing came in...
Moved to another location by truck.
8:30 Start, Stand #4 for fox -- "Dying Jack" calls, nothing came in...
(OK, that is REALLY starting to get old...)
Moved to yet another location by truck -- up to "Cow Sh*t Corner" (it's on the map!) -- had a cup of hot coffee enroute (was 4 below when I started, now it was all the way up to zero).
9:30 Start, Stand #5 for coyotes this time -- Let the woods settle for a few minutes, start the "High Pitched Snowshoe" calls, and here's where it gets interesting...
9:40 After calling for only 5 minutes, I see some movement down the tote road which the wind would blow the sound from my digital call down (as most predators will always circle downwind). I had Snow Camo pants on, and Advantage Brown Camo jacket/gloves/facemask/hat and my gun was wrapped with brown camo vet tape.
9:45 It's a large bobcat! (2nd time in my life that a bobcat responded to my calls in less than 10 minutes, compared to the 45 minutes most guys report. These Maine Bobcats must really be HUNGRY!) He's maybe 50 yards out and approaching very slowly up the tote road... Still behind some brush, but he's almost into my shooting lane...
9:46 Question to self: Hey, uh, oh stuff, does ANYONE remember if the bobcat season is still OPEN today??? Gee, what if it's closed??? I'd been SO focused on getting a red fox, I hadn't even looked at the 'cat season...
9:47 I just turned off the call... The cat slowly slunk away uninterested in stalking any further... Wait a few minutes and break out the cell phone...
9:51 Call Marvin's house... Dang! He's not home... And Mary Ann has no idea where he keeps his hunting regulations... (But hey, who am I to complain!?!?)
9:54 Call the local gun shop... "Hey Mark, it's Old No7, got a quick favor to ask of you... Please check the hunting regulations, when does the bobcat season close? .......short pause....... Oh great, on Feb 14th, super! OK, I will see if the bobcat will come back in..."
10:05 After letting the woods settle down a little after my cell calls...
10:10 Yahoo! Here he comes! Closer... closer... clos............... BANG!
At the shot, he shakes his head and walks slowly into a really thick thicket on my left. Dang, much too thick to shoot into with the 2nd barrel (was using my 20 gauge side-by-side with 3" copper-plated #2s). Then I see the cat slowly slinks off the way he came... Hmm, doesn't look injured, and I don't dare risk a "Texas Heart Shot" with a shotgun (which is how I got my first bobcat --
-- but that was with a 222 Rem 700 rifle!)So then I waited for a LONG 20 minutes...
I get up, retrieve my FoxPro Spitfire call from the pine tree 20 yards to my right where it was hanging, and approach where he was when I shot... I can see the pellets hit a small rise in the tote road that was halfway between us -- $&@# -- looks like A LOT of pellets hit the snow. Not good! NO SIGN of any blood where he was standing... Follow his tracks into the thicket -- nope, still no signs of any blood. Then I try to follow his tracks out of the thicket...
10:40 Now this isn't like trailing a wounded Water Buffalo into the thick grass of Africa, but let me tell you... My heart was thumping! It was now only 5 degrees out, but I was working up a sweat from the deep snow. With each step my boots would sink about 6" -- the cat of course, skated easily on the top of the crust -- yeah, I probably should have worn my snow shoes, but I didn't think I'd need them due to the snowpack in my backyard which wasn't as deep. (Obviously the "deep woods" are called that for a reason I learn...)
Well, I followed the cat's tracks for another 1/2 hour, and I never saw a spot of blood or anything indicating a solid or even a marginal hit. I lost the track when he went onto a frozen creek. The "no hit" was tough to take, but that's much better than a poor hit, as I'd hate to think of wounding an animal as majestic as a bobcat. (Sure, but KILLING one is A-OK -- now isn't that ironic... Dont'cha think???)
That's the end of my tale... 5 stands, 1 game animal seen, but 0 bagged yet a lifetime of memories and few lessons learned that hard way.
When I got home, I fired both barrels from my CZ Bobwhite 20 ga into 2 large pizza boxes at 35 yards. Shot 2 was great, with a nice and tight pattern of #2s centered on the dot in the middle of the box. Shot 1 though, was just like what happened out in the woods... Yet again, there was a slight rise between the target and my muzzle, and the snow in front of the target was all scratched up with long skid marks from the pellets -- and VERY FEW pellets were on the 24"x24" box. Yup, I HELD TOO LOW again, and that's why you're only reading about this bobcat encounter and not seeing any pictures...
As you can guess, the lessons learned are these: (a) Know the regs before I go out by heart, and/or carry the booklet with me and (b) Cover the game's face with the bead and don't hold too low. Or (c) maybe I'll just bring my 12 ga BPS pump with the tight turkey-choke and fiber-optic rifle-sights on it, with a bigger payload and more pellets. Option (d), staying home, just isn't gonna happen. I'll get out again for sure.
Well, that's it... Sure hope you've enjoyed my story...
So... What did you guys do this morning for fun?
Old No7
