Thursday, December 22, 2011

Called in a ? today


Went out to try a little predator calling today.  On the first stand I saw something come down the hill and stop right at the edge of the brush line.  I couldn’t be certain, but I think it was a bobcat.  I had a video camera set up on a tripod, and I looked down to turn it on.  When I looked back up the critter was gone.  I tried calling awhile longer but it wouldn’t come back.  We were on bare frozen ground, but I turned my dog loose anyway to see if he might get lucky.  He was gone quite awhile, but eventually came back.  All he got out of the deal was exercise.  It’s really not difficult to call predators, and not much harder to shoot them.  Catching them on video is what is hard!

I went back to the truck and drove up the road toward another good spot.  On the way I saw these tracks in a bit of snow.

Lion tracks


Lion track

Yep, the bobcat’s larger cousin with a long tail. – Cougar.

I set up for another try at calling, but drew a blank there.

2 comments:

Gorges Smythe said...

We have a few mountain lion here, too, but the DNR is in denial. It's getting harder for them, though, with plasre casts and video cameras

Bob Mc said...

Hi Gorges. Mountain lions are common here. I live in the heart of bear and lion country. I forget just where you are located, but I love it when cougars keep turning up where various game departments deny their existence. The eastern mountain lion has been officially declared extinct, but they keep turning up regardless of what the experts say.