Bobcat with my Mini-30

[Ranch Dog]

Thought I would go out looking for a hog to shoot with my new Mini-30. Was easing down a two track that follows a creek bottom and this cat walked out quartering away from me at 50 yards. Rifle came up, scout setup is just an extension of the eyeball, and boom!

[Steve]

Congratulations. Nice cat. I would say that makes a good day.

[akuser47]

nice, i want one as a pet lol

[62chevy]

Nice! Will you have it mounted?

[Ranch Dog]

Nice! Will you have it mounted?

I had one made into a rug for my cowdog for cold nights and have a very large one that cover most of a small wall in my reloading room. Nothing planned for this one. They are quite common here, my deer hunters see a lot of them but never want to shoot them because they don't want to take a chance of spooking a deer. I always have a struggling quail population and the cats are a big part of the problem.

[Fyodor]

Waidmannsheil!

What exactly is that? Here in Germany it would be a felony to shoot a wildcat, because they are endangered over here. But the European Wildcat stayed here and has no polupation on the other side of the pond.

[Ranch Dog]

What exactly is that?

Just a common lynux rufus. They are on the "hit" list of my State approved wildlife management plan because of their role in eating fawn deer, quail, and Rio Grande turkeys. I see them on a regular basis, I actually see more bobcats that I do coyotes but it is because of the ground cover on my place after eight years of extensive habitat management and no domestic livestock grazing. The thick grass and weed cover is perfect for the stalking.

We have a number of "wild cats" here in Texas and if interested this Cats of Texas is worth the read. A couple of these cats are part of the reason for the extensive National Wildlife Refuge system in the Rio Grande Valley. That system is a lot of small native and regrowth pastures that provide travel corridors so that vehicles do not whack them. The automobile is the biggest killer of cats.

I hunt these refuges and because of the ocelots and jaguarundi they are pack in hunts. The sign you see below is a reminder for refuge personnel as they are their vehicles are the only ones allowed on the road. I figure if the the people that are concerned about the ocelot's future still manage to squash one, these cats must not be the sharpest feline of the two. There are no signs for the jaguarundi but I understand that they take care of the issue themselves through a bit more reasoning on their behalf.



The mountain lion is quite common in some parts of Texas. My area is supposedly in their range but like I noted my Game Warden buddy has not seen one dead or alive in 25 years of working this county day and night. I know that hunters report them but I think they see a bobcat for a brief moment and it is probably their first time looking at a cat in the brush. It is difficult to describe how long and tall this bobcat looked when she came out of the brush. They are long, tall, and lanky. Their camo pattern also makes them dark to black in low light conditions and I think they are also the source of the "black cat reports".



I mentioned mountain lions earlier in this topic and here is a map that some use to support their hope of a sighting.



However, this is what the chances really look like from the some of the latest studies.



I do like the thought of a large preditor roaming the brush I hunt and most researchers ignore sightings outside their collected data. Here is a mountain lion in a South Texas county that does not have a red dot in the map above. Still, the high fence use in South Texas has really hurt the mountain lion.

Here in Germany it would be a felony to shoot a wildcat, because they are endangered over here. But the European Wildcat stayed here and has no polupation on the other side of the pond.

It too would be a felony to shoot a margay, jaguar, ocelot, or jaguarundi. It would be tough to find the first two but the jaguar has officially returned to southern Arizona and New Mexico so you never know! The extensive game fence free NWR system in the RGV would make good habitat for them.

[357cyrus]

I'm suprised all the cats aren't spreading further through TX with the hog population youve got there. Nice kitty ya go there BTW.

[Ranch Dog]

I'm suprised all the cats aren't spreading further through TX with the hog population youve got there. Nice kitty ya go there BTW.

I'm sure there are populations that go unnoticed as there still is a lot of big country in Texas but I believe what is said about high fences and snares. The place I was hunting mule deer on was snaring 125+ mountain lions a year off of 250K acres. These cats have a real negative effect on desert mule deer and given a choice between the two, the deer would win in my book. While elk hunting in Pecos county, I tried to pursue a lion that grabbed a mule deer at a water source. We could not keep up with it, it drug that deer straight up a canyon wall. The area this ranch is in has a outstanding elk and black bear population as well. It would be a felony to kill a black bear but I still hope we will be able to hunt them sometime in my lifetime.

[357cyrus]

Big cats are something I hope to never encounter. I've seen what 12-15 lb feral cats are capable. Multiply that capability by 10 for a Mountain lion, and its downright terrifying. I wonder if wildcats play with their prey after they've wounded it like feral cats do.