Guns, Bows, Shooting Sports, and Hunting Bobcat or Lynx

[BIGNASTY]

Look's like I have kitty problems. Went to the chicken house to get eggs and 1 was missing 3 dead and track's from a Bobcat or Lynx. I know that there are Bobcat's dont know if we are in Lynx territory. Tracks look almost alike Bobcat the 4 front toe's are round Lynx are pointed. Cant tell the light rain that we had last nite soften the print outline. Time to get the BLACK RIFLE and sleep in the barn. DAM IT"S COLD AT NITE :{

 

[guldam]

I'll trade you the family of skunks that visit my yard every night (and who launch a bomb outside my open windows) for your Lynx or Bobcat. My chickens are locked up every night in their coop, safe and warm. Skunks are going to drive me crazy.

GulDam

 

[BIGNASTY]

NO thank's I called the fish and game folks. They are bringing over some live traps. I dont want to kill them. But dont want to feed them either. Lynx are protected so that would cost some buck's if I did one in.

 

[guldam]

Ok, after you catch the lynx, how about you send it here for a week. I think they find skunk to be a delicacy. Last night there was a big commotion, squealing and screaming of a skunk or coon, scampering, scratching across my wooden steps. Then silence. A while later my resident hoot owl started hooting, and I thought maybe the owl got one!!!! Oh the joy. But this morning I see no evidence. Sigh.

Time to go buy a . 22 cal pellet rifle and some way of illuminating it for some night shooting.

Guldam

 

[BIGNASTY]

When you absolutely HAVE TO GET TO SLEEP you need peace and quiet THIS WILL BRING ORDER TO YOUR BACK YARD

 

[HHhuntitall]

Yer killin' me. An good, old Savage 12ga will do wonders, is cheap, and can be used as a club if you run out of ammo. Tape a maglight under the barrel, and go to work!!



The lynx we get in New Mexico and West Texas have the same basic foot as a Bobcat, only they're larger. Look a lot like a mountian lion. The toes are all rounded, but the pads are flatter and wider on cats than coyotes or dogs. Prairie poodles pads leave a deep indention, even if the claws are not visible on harder ground, and are a more triangular shape. The overall size is usually how we try to tell a difference on the cats. And cats won't be out in the open very much. They'll hang near some kind of cover or at the edge of clearings, and almost always leave some fur on a tree or bush limb. Sometimes you get a big bobcat and small lynx, or very seldom a large lynx and small mountain lion. The lions are typically much deeper as they're much heavier per the size of the foot. The mountain lion cubs are all over the place, coming up from the South. The large males are running the cubs out or killing them. The population is really growing. The state of New Mexico let out 35pairs in Lincoln National Forest a few years ago, and they have decimated the deer populations, to the point resident and land owner deer tags are almost non-existent, as the residents know there are no deer left!! Public lands around Pinion are almost vacant of public hunters the last few years. The drought and lions have taken their toll, and the lions are spreading!! In the state of NM, you have to take a test to get a lisence, and you have to be able to identify a male from female BEFORE shooting it, and after shooting it, physical proof of sex must be left attached to any hides. My thoughts are, "Carry a shovel in your pack, and don't leave tracks!!" Everywhere I've been out there, if a landowner knows you saw one and could have shot it easily, but didn't, you're not only not welcome on their place anymore, you might have to fight you way out!! Many, many landowners are losing livestock to the bigger cats, especially the sheep men, and they're getting fed up with it!!



Oh, and for night vision : Thermal Weapon Sight

 

[BIGNASTY]

HH ive seen Bob's and Mt lions but have never seen a lynx. I know that predation is big in some states. But I lost the chickens to my own fault. I should have built a better coop and didnt so ill take blame. The fish and Game folks came rite out with and set several live traps. And gave some bait to catch what ever it is. F&G said that the Bob's around here are really big and allot of them. Lynx are protected and come with a 1k fine. Usually if I cant eat it I dont shoot it unless it's after something of mine. I told the F&G guy the same thing so I hope we catch it soon.

 

[HHhuntitall]

Good luck. Both Bobcats and lynx are really pretty little critters. I had a female I raised from 3 days old, when her mother died. She'd cry constantly, except when being fed, until finally, I was going to take her for a walk, and put her in my shirt pocket, where she fell asleep almost instantly. She was a tiny little thing!! I guess the heartbeat and warmth were what she wanted/needed? After that, we'd feed her and just hold her against you until she went to sleep, no problems. She was 19lbs at 2 yr/old, and could easily have taken a small whitetail!! She took several of my mothers turkey toms, a sheep, rabbits, and most of my barn cats!!! Vicious little killer!!! The lynx are usually even more pretty, I think. I don't think the mountain lions are that pretty..... unless they're behind the crosshairs!!



Well, at least you're sensible in knowing that they're out there, and respect it enough to know you had some hand in it!! A lot of people just don't understand and have the mentality that they were here first!! Which they weren't..... they just happen to help feed the wildlife in bad winters... . Well, if you can, get some pics of it before they relocate it... . and notch one ear. That way, if you trap it again, you know it's the same one.....

 

[BIGNASTY]

Fish and Game said they tag them with reference as to when and where

 

[Nyoest]

Nothing worse than loosing some good laying hens to a predator.

Hope you get it resolved with no more blood.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Ya store bought egg's SUCK but it was my fault, so ill have to go to my FIL's house and take a few of his Hens. He's gone for the winter so by the time he get's back ill have new one's.

 

[HHhuntitall]

Bump: Any luck?

 

[SRath]

This situation just begs for a good game camera, something I normally reserve disdain for. I would think any game officer interested in catching that cat alive would set one of those up imediately. A lynx is a very sizeable kitty-- much larger than any bobcat and has massive paws to run on top of the snow. When I was bear bowhunting in canada, there was a lynx I could almost set my watch by as it ran along a ridge next to my treestand every evening at the same time. A silent shadow.



Gotta watch those bobkitties, too. They can get pretty ferocious when cornered and a 12ga with 4-Buck would be my choice in that situation. My buddy and I were trying to clear some rats out of his grandpa's old barn back in our high school days. When he opened the barn door, I quickly switched on the flashlight just in time to see some huge kamikaze cat leap from the hay mow right onto his back and shoulders before blasting out through a broken window. His down jacket stood no chance against those razor claws. With a cat that big in there, I can't believe there were any rats at all. Southern Iowa bobcat populations are growing fast and you hear them competing with the coyotes every night in howling and screaming. We even have some mountain lions roaming the state now. If I had a chance at one with my bow I would take it, but probably not with a gun out of respect for a fellow tree-ninja predator. .

 

[BIGNASTY]

Never have got anything in the traps not even the Racoon that I want gone. But the F/G people said to hang on to the traps. And see if it returns.

 

[SRath]

I tried live traps for a long time to get rid of some very destructive groundhogs, all I got was coon after coon. My neighbor traps the coons at his place live and I learned from him to take them across the river and turn them loose since they aren't as likely to cross the bridge to return as they are if I just take them way out back in the timber.



If you're trying to catch coons, there isn't one alive that can resist a fish if you toss one in the cage for bait.

 

[BIGNASTY]

Ill have to give that a try thank you.