Bobcat 101 questions

[Pinchecharlie]

I’d like to use my caller to take a look at a bobcat.

I won’t be hunting them because here you need to sign up by November and iam not sure but I think it closes fast due to harvests and quotas.???

Loaded question I know but in southwest Montana should I be focused on drier country or foothill/mountain canyon land?

I’ve read cliff banded country with thick cover but sometimes i think a lot of the advice is from southern states.

Any call sequence tips?

Just wanting to be involved and in the woods.

I’ve never even seen a bobcat lol!

Love to see all the critters now lol

Thanks and sorry I know it’s kinda a dumb thing to ask but I also like participating on the forums.

 

[weekender7]

I can't help with the where, I'm from the east. You find the area with tracks or scat or better, both.
Get a comfortable seat with some background cover. Play foxpro bay bee cottontail for and hour straight, no breaks, lay the remote down. Try not to move or you will get busted. It will help if you have a motion decoy at the caller.

 

[tkhuntsman]

Hand calls only for bobcat in MT electronics are only allowed for coyotes, fox, and just recently wolf. It's a really dumb and outdated regulation but I know a guy that had a cat confiscated this year because he used a foxpro. As far as where to look find long running ridges with bands of rimrock with brushy draws along the base.

 

[satchamo]

I can’t speak for MT but around here in the Midwest bobcats are not hard to call in. The hard part is locating them. Once you figure out the habitat they like and hunt though it becomes a lot easier. Here they love anywhere rabbits will reside - cedar laced thickets, Briar infested brush, etc. Basically if it’s hard to walk through for you, it’ll generally hold a cat at some point in the year.

For vocals, any rabbit or bird distress will work. They aren’t as finicky as coyotes. They’re very curious animals in general. I had had my best luck with cottontail but I’ve also called them in with coyote pup distress so who knows

I will say they can be very aggressive and respond incredibly fast. The cat I shot this year in IL was at the call within 15 seconds of me turning it on. But then I’ve seen them take 10 min to show up. For the slower cats, listen for birds. A lot of the times the Jays will start carrying on and smaller song birds will be busting out of cover as the come in.

If you’re lucky it’ll plop its butt on the caller and look around. Ive see them do this several times and it’s super cool to watch!

Good luck!!