|
Author
|
Topic: Bobcats on Trail Camera (In Indiana)
|
Jrbhunter
PAYS ATTENsION TO deTAIL
Member # 459
|
posted March 14, 2005 07:48 AM
My ole' hunting buddy found some bobcat sign while out calling coyotes a while back and hung a trail camera for them. He had little luck at first but Steve Craig gave him some pointers on getting the cat to pose for the camera and it finally paid off... better than anyone expected! Check it out;
Bobcats caught on TrailCamera in Indiana
Posts: 615 | From: Indiana | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
|
posted March 14, 2005 10:01 AM
Hey, great pictures. Thanks for sharing.
Couple observations. First, they aren't nearly as attractive as western cats. Second, although the thread describes them as a pair, I think the behavior is more like siblings.
Good hunting. LB
--------------------
EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31618 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Jrbhunter
PAYS ATTENsION TO deTAIL
Member # 459
|
posted March 14, 2005 10:23 AM
Really? You think they are siblings? We have no clue... hell this is the first bobcat I've seen in the state EVER! It has been 30 years since there was a sighting in this area... we're clueless.
What makes you think they are a pair? Do you think their parents will live close by or do they travel quite a bit to sew their oats?
Any info would be appreciated... we're just a couple eastern hilljacks taking pictures of some very elusive barnyard cats. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Posts: 615 | From: Indiana | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
|
posted March 14, 2005 10:39 AM
Well, I'm no expert.
I only have an impression, bobcat mating isn't something I am up on, but some people think they have two different cycles with some breeding in the fall and some breeding in the spring. Can't prove it by me.
In any case, the sexes aren't very much into "togetherness" other than when the female is in heat. I personally don't think it includes hunting together, and will stand corrected, if I'm wrong?
However, a set of brothers or sisters, or (?) one of each; but, could very well be companions? I don't see much size difference, so I'd guess two brothers or two sisters?
Hard to say, I wouldn't bet the doublewide.....
Good hunting. LB
--------------------
EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31618 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Jrbhunter
PAYS ATTENsION TO deTAIL
Member # 459
|
posted March 15, 2005 03:17 AM
Steve seemed to think they are siblings as well. We have to find a way to get rid of that dog roaming around there! ![[Mad]](mad.gif)
Posts: 615 | From: Indiana | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Weedwacker
Knows what it's all about
Member # 329
|
posted March 15, 2005 12:42 PM
Thanks for the info. Leonard. I was thinking must be mates to spend any time together, didn't know siblings hung out like that. Indiana's DNR bobcat write up on their site says late litter female young will often stay with mom through the winter, but like you said the size difference is not that great. The pics will run in the local paper soon, this is BIG NEWS in these parts. Showing these pics around town I'm getting two reactions. Women say "oh my, will they kill somebody?" and men say "oh those, yeah I saw one of those in my back yard" ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
--------------------
Weedwacker
http://pub119.ezboard.com/bindianapredatorcentral
Posts: 34 | From: Angola, IN USA | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Weedwacker
Knows what it's all about
Member # 329
|
posted March 15, 2005 12:48 PM
BTW what's different from the Western cats? You mean the light spot pattern?
--------------------
Weedwacker
http://pub119.ezboard.com/bindianapredatorcentral
Posts: 34 | From: Angola, IN USA | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
|
posted March 15, 2005 01:33 PM
western cats come in several flavors.
We have a reddish/orange desert cat, not a lot of spots on the top side, but well marked with large black spots on the belly.
The cats we see in Utah and primarily Nevada have faint spots on the back with a gray color, and white belly with good spots.
A lot of cats will have a doeskin beige color, well marked with good size spots all over.
Some of our cats almost look charcoal on the upper body, much like a lynx.
Now, "your" cats have a lighter color than most of the ones we see, and the color is more uniform, less of the darker saddle down the back, very little black markings, and if you ask me, the spots are more numerous, but smaller.
Granted, it's difficult to tell from a flash picture with an infinite focus.
I don't see the vivid colors, even though we have a wide range of markings in individuals. Younger animals seem to have brighter colors.
But, a cat is a cat, and those are sure enough bobcats you got there!
Good hunting. LB
--------------------
EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31618 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Tim Behle
Administrator MacNeal Sector
Member # 209
|
posted March 15, 2005 06:31 PM
Have you been sharing those pictures with the DNR's Non game Biologist?
When I left 5 years ago, they were a couple of years into a population study to determine if there was a large enough of a population to allow limited hunting and trapping.
A few of us tried talking them into releasing Bobcats instead of Otters. We could get the cats a lot cheaper. Cheap enough to put a breeding pair in every county for less than five of the otters cost.
--------------------
Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take
an ass kickin'.
Posts: 3160 | From: Five Miles East of Vic, AZ | Registered: Jun 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Weedwacker
Knows what it's all about
Member # 329
|
posted March 15, 2005 06:53 PM
The light coloring on these cats looks quite a bit like pictures I've seen of the ones killed up in Michigan. Hopefully next winter I'll get up there, call one in and shoot it and and see up close!
--------------------
Weedwacker
http://pub119.ezboard.com/bindianapredatorcentral
Posts: 34 | From: Angola, IN USA | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Weedwacker
Knows what it's all about
Member # 329
|
posted March 15, 2005 07:16 PM
I've been emailing updates to the district biologist and he's been forwarding it on. I have not heard back from him yet since I sent the pics. If they wanted to try to track one up here I'm not sure I would offer up the location. I might just as soon see them left alone.
I spent some time down in the Hoosier Forest in January. I could see a cat season down there in that country. Up here I don't think so, I think it's just too populated.
I have a theory that the only reason they've managed to hang on up here in this NE corner is because of all the wet glacial basins. I think they hang out in the thick shrub swamps and marshy stream corredors where they can remain relatively unmolested.
--------------------
Weedwacker
http://pub119.ezboard.com/bindianapredatorcentral
Posts: 34 | From: Angola, IN USA | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Jrbhunter
PAYS ATTENsION TO deTAIL
Member # 459
|
posted March 16, 2005 04:43 AM
Wonder what it would take to push for a re-introduction program for bobcats in the Hoosier National Forest? I think that terrain could definatly hold a healthy population and wouldn't suffer from much human interferance.
If we keep these coyotes mowed down around here annually with the Indiana Predator Challenge the bobcats would really have a chance! Could be onto something here!
Posts: 615 | From: Indiana | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Weedwacker
Knows what it's all about
Member # 329
|
posted March 16, 2005 07:56 AM
I'll ask those guys how the study is looking if they ever get back with me. Kind of odd, I e-mailed them when I found tracks and got a phone call back. Then I sent in the pics and nothing.
BTW I saw one of those otters a couple years ago well outside the area they were stocked. I think it's been a successful program, maybe they're ready to move on to bobcats?
--------------------
Weedwacker
http://pub119.ezboard.com/bindianapredatorcentral
Posts: 34 | From: Angola, IN USA | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Jrbhunter
PAYS ATTENsION TO deTAIL
Member # 459
|
posted March 16, 2005 08:24 AM
Yeah the otters were pretty succesful alright, the DNR cut one out of a beaver snare a few weeks back near our farm. He didn't swim away.
Posts: 615 | From: Indiana | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
The Outdoor Tripp
Knows what it's all about
Member # 619
|
posted March 19, 2005 08:21 PM
Great pictures. Maybe a trail cam for my lease? Thanks.
--------------------
The Outdoor Tripp
www.theoutdoortripp.com
"All great truths begin as blasphemies."
Posts: 805 | From: Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Melvin
Knows what it's all about
Member # 634
|
posted April 13, 2005 08:21 PM
Have any of you ever released a bobcat out of a trap?
Strong and ferocious little devils they are
I used a hog snatcher..There gotta be a better way Any one know a better way? A safe way
Posts: 661 | From: PA. | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Jrbhunter
PAYS ATTENsION TO deTAIL
Member # 459
|
posted April 26, 2005 11:24 AM
This story has finally died down a little bit... it sure made it's rounds! Ole' WeedWacker saw his 15 minutes of fame to say the least!
LINK ONE
LINK TWO
LINK THREE
LINK FOUR
LINK FIVE
LINK SIX
LINK SEVEN
[ April 26, 2005, 11:24 AM: Message edited by: Jrbhunter ]
Posts: 615 | From: Indiana | Registered: Dec 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
|
posted April 26, 2005 12:21 PM
I only got to read a couple because some had expired and some wanted me to register, which I didn't.
There seem to be many plagiarists in the newspaper business? One thing that bothered me was this bogus statement: "years of decline because of overhunting, population growth and farming expansion."
Good hunting. LB
--------------------
EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31618 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Weedwacker
Knows what it's all about
Member # 329
|
posted April 27, 2005 08:46 AM
I stopped letting inaccuracies in newsprint bother me quite a while back. If I feel there's alot to lose from an error showing up in an article it's probably best just not to talk to them about it. One TV station wanted to do an interview about the bobcats. I put them off a day so I didn't have a camera in my face before I could figure out exactly what to tell them and they backed out and just ran the photos.
The reporter who did the initial article works for a news conglomerate that has several newspapers and a TV station. Somebody there put it on the AP and everybody with some space to fill who thought it was interesting picked it up. I think it's all legal if they are AP subscribers. Not sure why the photos didn't go along with it, maybe they didn't release them.
Don't know where they got the over-hunting statement. I suppose for many years way back when, bobcats could be shot on site by settlers while the forests were all being cleared, the marshes drained and the praries tilled and planted. Not sure if that should be called "overhunting".
--------------------
Weedwacker
http://pub119.ezboard.com/bindianapredatorcentral
Posts: 34 | From: Angola, IN USA | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
|
posted April 27, 2005 09:39 AM
I can tell you this much. If I were limited to bobcats I casually sighted, I wouldn't kill very many, and neither would anyone else.
Those wishing to hunt bobcat are not very many, and those with enough skill and knowledge would be few and far between, since we are considering PRE-CALLING days.
In other words, I don't believe there is a shred of evidence to support the "overhunting" statement. It is biased, pure and simple. Only makes sense to PETA types.
We can't allow these prejudicial themes to poison the general attitude.
Good hunting. LB
--------------------
EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31618 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic
