Mr. Bob-Cat strikes again !!!!!!!!!!!

[gander007]

Last Wednesday we lost a guinea hen to a predator during the night when the male's go back to roost on top of the porch for the evening ...


This is her proudly protecting her nest ....


Large cat track and her feathers were very evident and it looked as if there were several cats evolved so I set out several box traps with some smelly bait but nothing happened and then Friday night I heard the guinea making noise and nothing from the geese or the ducks so I went to inspect as this is not good at night so out I went and the geese were in a huddle this means something was out there but upon inspecting the yard nothing was found then tonight Saturday night or Sunday morning at 1:30 AM this happened again and when I went out on the front porch with the shoot gun in hand I looked and could see nothing but darkness and the geese and ducks were huddled and moving in a group not the normal gaggle but as one unit and the guinea were loud and very persistent so I stood there and looked into the darkness and I do have to admit age is steeling my eyesight along with other-things then a reflection and it was defiantly cat eyes so I took aim as none of the animals I own have them kind of eyes and the 12 gauge went off and several other cats went in all directions and yes one deceased cat lay on the ground .....



Well I don't like to put up pictures of deceased animals but this is a photo of one of it's relatives from last winter so it seems that no-matter how many I tag there are always replacements .......







Where I live we can no longer use leg traps as of 2002 or so I was told last year by the State Trapper really he had a title longer then the address to the State Capital so I just call him the state trapper as this is his real job ....... And he informed me that I could only use .22, shoot gun or box traps and that snares and leg traps were out law'ed the problem is I found them to work very well .........

If you could please do the poll so I can find out how others are handling the problem thank you and have a nice day ..












gander007

 

[enola]

Do you have a photo of the cat you shot the other night?
And how much did the cat weigh ?

 

[centrarchid]

I lost three birds to a bobcat just over a week ago. Dogs eventually took care of problem but took a while to get them into mindset bobcat smell is worth investigating and you can not rely on chickens giving the same long-duration alarm like made for other predators.

 

[gander007]

Do you have a photo of the cat you shot the other night?
And how much did the cat weigh ?

I got a rear end chewing last year for putting up a dead animal so I do not do that any more and I did not take a picture but it was young about 3 months and to guess weight maybe 8 pounds no more as it was mostly gray and the spots had not started but the yellow was still faint and yes the Bob-Cats do mix with house cats as I have bagged many of these also .......

 

[gander007]

I lost three birds to a bobcat just over a week ago. Dogs eventually took care of problem but took a while to get them into mindset bobcat smell is worth investigating and you can not rely on chickens giving the same long-duration alarm like made for other predators.

Bob cat smell is this something to get the cat's into the traps ????

 

[centrarchid]

No, the dogs cross cat trails frequently mostly ours and have learned to leave those alone. They also cross novel smells relatively frequently and as adults now tend to ignore such in favor of those they have experienced hunting for. I had to broaden their list of scents to have interest in. I think the bobcat smell is easy to distinguish from domestic cat smell but dogs have to get excited by a first encounter to want to chase later. We are there now. That is a down side of using hunting dogs where they are used against their breeding to go after a larger number of potential victims rather than one type and often one individual during a given chase.

In my experience bobcats and domestic cats do not mix well, at least in a natural setting. Former kills later very quickly, even big tomcats do not hold up well. For me bobcats are harder on domestics than coyotes are.

 

[enola]

Bobcats are solitary and territorial predators. You mentioned that when you fired the shot, several other cats went in all directions.......... I am not trying to argue........

The fact still remains that your guinea is dead and I am very sorry about that. I had a feral house cat get two of my Araucana project hens before I could get him. I saw the damage he did. I would not want to see what a bobcat could do.

 

[centrarchid]

Bobcat for me left very little in the form of feather sign. Also took only one at a time and roosters for some reason where targeted. They did not appear to miss like most predators do so little sound by bird as attacked and killed.

 

[gander007]

Bobcat for me left very little in the form of feather sign. Also took only one at a time and roosters for some reason where targeted. They did not appear to miss like most predators do so little sound by bird as attacked and killed.

What I am reading from you I do find a lot little feathers with chickens very true but with all the guinea it is normal to find sign of a struggle of some sort as chickens will just sit and let the cat take them in the dark as normal attacks go and that is why I am always getting new guinea as they will make noise and if there are enough of them the attack is on but I have never had a guinea reach two years old ether very close but none have made it so far ...

The bet kill I ever got was last year and that night I shoot three cats in a group and two were hurt in one blast ( just luck ) and two were bob cats and the other was a yellow house cat and here I get them all the time hunting in packs and this is the only place I ever seen where a house cat hunts with bob cats and a lot of times there are cat mixing ....... Now else where or any other places I have lived the bob cats hunt alone unless mom and kittens ........

But thank you for confirming my thoughts and the Deputies showed up last night to recover the cat as I live on the edge of town a 3 & 1/2 inch round fired from a 12 gauge at 1:30 AM tends to get attention some how and I live in county not city and with live stock I can shoot but the Deputies do show up and always ask questions and require the evidence ....