Bobcat on the Rocks!

[AntlerObsession]

Wanted to share the story and some pics of my bobcat I shot near Springerville, AZ.

 

We had seen quite a few coyotes in this particular area, and it seemed promising for sure. I headed out solo on Thursday morning, with my trusty Rem 6mm, and FoxPro Spitfire in tow. I made a few treeline stands overlooking the vast grasslands that are typical of the area, and didn't have any luck. As I made my way back to the highway, I decided I had time for one more call, but wanted to see if a little hiking might put me in a more successful calling position. I got up into these small rocky canyons and found a good spot that put me out on a point overlooking a long, narrow valley scattered with red boulders.

 

I set up the call on a small boulder 6 feet in front of me along with a custom decoy made by my good buddy JT, a carbon arrow that fits inside of an aluminum arrow, which you can slide and adjust length according to your needs, with 3 turkey feathers tied to the arrow knock with fishing string. A marvel of engineering! All of which fits into a 1"x12" PVC Pipe for compact easy storage. Maybe I'll throw a picture and a plug for JT's awesome turkey feather decoy!

 

I got settled in, prepped my firearm, and started up the Cottontail in Distress on my Spitfire. I tried to draw them in with some volume adjustments, on 2 mins., off 30 sec. At about 8 minutes into the call, I shut her down completely, just letting the decoy do its dancing. As I am about to start her up again, this master of stalk and stealth comes out from behind one of the small boulders right at my very feet (about 7 feet away) and slowly creeps up to my caller. As it sniffs at my feather decoy, I take the opportunity to shoulder my gun, but just as I do, he turns and stares right at me. Had to have been at least 20 seconds with me thinking," Why isn't he running?","Will he run if I move?","Is he going to do anything?" Finally, I couldn't take the suspense anymore, and I slowly brought the rifle up and got him in my scope, with him never moving, just... staring. He was so close, I had to do the double and triple check to make sure I was seeing the right scope-full of fur befored I let her rip, and dropped him right there. 7 feet away.

 

 

Oh, and here is the custom decoy that brought that cat within inches of the call, and within a few feet of me.

 

[bonecollector]

Nice cat man, nice custom decoy.

 

I'm going to have to get me a caller, this looks like too much fun I'm missing out on.

[draggingnuts]

Cool decoy and what a cool story!! Thanks

[W.O.T]

way cool... nice decoy and beautiful cat! btw, I think Ive passed by that house in the background many times

[tommat]

I thought using turkey feathers was not legal? Not sure though.

[tommat]

Just looked it up A.R.S. 17-309

 

It is a violation to use the edible parts of any Game animal or any parts of any game bird or non game bird. It can be considered baiting. Sort of a grey area however....

[ehunt]

Just looked it up A.R.S. 17-309

 

It is a violation to use the edible parts of any Game animal or any parts of any game bird or non game bird. It can be considered baiting. Sort of a grey area however....

 

 

Geez look out for the internet police Nice cat and great idea for a decoy!!

[Coues Archer]

Wow awesome Cat!!! Awesome story, and also what an awesome little decoy... Thanks for sharing

 

[AntlerObsession]

Oh they're not REAL feathers! Sorry for the misunderstanding! That is good information though.

[Ernesto C]

I bet that was exciting and that you are ready to do it again! Congrats!!

 

Ernesto C

[Bounty the Dog Hunter]

Great story...and a very nice cat. The decoy is sweet and apparently works well.