Opponents of bobcat hunting season, and some supporters

[trapper9260]

If this is in the wrong area please move

http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/20839712-95/opponents-of-bobcat-hunting-season-and-some-supporters-crowd-state-house-hearing

[Rick Hodges]

Typical knee jerk reaction. 50 cats per year and they will still increase in population. They would react the same if they allowed taking one cat per year. You could have 5 times that number of cats and most would still never see one in the wild.

[Geezer in NH]

We the trappers in NH asked the season to be closed when it was limited to 50 per year. Now the northern section has restrictions on traps for the LYNX, I see no need to open the season at the same limit we said close it and that was before the Lynx ****.

Do what you want in your state but leave NH alone.

[leeggen]

Well some of those people should own chikens and see how they feel after a bobcat thins them out while feeding cubs. They would like to see exstinction. They are like mice if you see one you have many.
CD

[Yodogsandman]

I've only seen two around here in my whole life. My son called one in while coyote hunting last weekend, his first sighting.

[Beagle333]

We have a lot of them around here. I don't bother them and they don't bother me. I got no problem if somebody wants to shoot one though. It's the coyotes that are getting outta hand.

[kenyerian]

159843Accidently caught this female in Fox trap behind my pond. Turned her loose as they are still protected in Ohio.

[DIRT Farmer]

indiana is a maybe this year. When the turkeys were stocked they exploded.

[FISH4BUGS]

I have only seen one here in NH - and it was dead on the side of the road after being hit by a car.

[starnbar]

We have a big tom near our river house and you can all ways tell when he is nearby on those nights you won't hear a yote call all night.

[mac60]

I've shot 4 in my lifetime. All 4 while deer hunting.

[Geezer in NH]

Well some of those people should own chikens and see how they feel after a bobcat thins them out while feeding cubs. They would like to see exstinction. They are like mice if you see one you have many.
CD
We do and in 30 years have never had a bobcat problem. We did extinct some house cats that did.

[TCFAN]

A few years back this one came into the back yard to take a little nap.I got to about 50 feet before he decided he had other places to go....................Terry

http://i755.photobucket.com/albums/xx200/TCintheOzarks/Game%20Camera/bobcat.jpg (http://s755.photobucket.com/user/TCintheOzarks/media/Game%20Camera/bobcat.jpg.html)

[Plate plinker]

Nice picture bud.

[dtknowles]

Accidently caught this female in Fox trap behind my pond. Turned her loose as they are still protected in Ohio.

How big was that cat (she doesn't look much bigger than a large house cat) and how would you let one out of a trap. I saw a big cat that was hit by a car on Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge, it was very alive but its back end was broken and it just sat in the middle of the road keeping a very evil eye on everything. I would not have dared to get very close to that cat, it might have been a Florida panther but they are so rare I just figured it had to be a bobcat.

[TCFAN]

Thanks....We had 5 or 6 Bobcats that year come thru the yard going to our spring for water. It was a very dry year...........Terry

[Taylor]

I won't shoot a bobcat,or any cat for that matter,unless it is messing with the livestock.

[Plate plinker]

Feral cats? poof.

[dragon813gt]

Used to see one from afar every now and then at my cabin. A few years back I ran across fresh tracks while hunting. I removed myself from that area quickly. I have no desire to be in an area w/ a wild cat. I know they aren't that big but all cats are unpredictable.

[Clay M]

I occasionally see them in the woods when I am hunting, but I don't bother them.

The only predator I hunt is Coyote. We are overrun with them.

[Mal Paso]

Quite a few bobcat here over the years. Neighbor doesn't like it when they go fishing in her pond but she isn't upset enough to do anything. I'm sure the wood rat population would be larger without them. Not too many chickens this close to wilderness. I know 2 chicken coops that turned overnight into mountain lion exhibits.

[kenyerian]

How big was that cat (she doesn't look much bigger than a large house cat) and how would you let one out of a trap. I saw a big cat that was hit by a car on Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge, it was very alive but its back end was broken and it just sat in the middle of the road keeping a very evil eye on everything. I would not have dared to get very close to that cat, it might have been a Florida panther but they are so rare I just figured it had to be a bobcat.
It took two of us. I have a cable ran through a 60" piece of pipe that my Grandson used to hold it's head and I got the steel trap off . It didn't weigh much over 20 pounds if that. It was an older female as we got a good look at her teeth when she was biting the cable. She was upset with us but was unhurt. Seen her a couple of days later and she was fine.

[trapper9260]

It took two of us. I have a cable ran through a 60" piece of pipe that my Grandson used to hold it's head and I got the steel trap off . It didn't weigh much over 20 pounds if that. It was an older female as we got a good look at her teeth when she was biting the cable. She was upset with us but was unhurt. Seen her a couple of days later and she was fine.
That remind me of the time before Iowa open a otter season ,I had some get in my beaver set and I had someone else help me to get them out of the trap.Yes what a fight but they took off to the water after the trap was off and release.Here we only have a season on bobcat in south part of the state.I have seen foot prints around my coyote sets once in awhile.

[kenyerian]

http://www.pcsoutdoors.com/lightweightpvcanimalreleasepole48.aspx I always carry a home made animal release pole in case I catch anything that should be released. Even though that bobcat wasn't a large male she was still tough to handle. I grew up here in S. E. Ohio and there has always been Bobcats around but it seems like their population has exploded. Hopefully there will be a season on them in the near future.

[Hickok]

I won't shoot a bobcat,or any cat for that matter,unless it is messing with the livestock.I have had bobcats in my scope several times, and I wont shoot them either.

I do know one thing, when a bobcat let's out a squall when I am out in the woods, it makes my hair stand on end for a second or two, until I realize what it is!:shock:

[dtknowles]

It took two of us. I have a cable ran through a 60" piece of pipe that my Grandson used to hold it's head and I got the steel trap off . It didn't weigh much over 20 pounds if that. It was an older female as we got a good look at her teeth when she was biting the cable. She was upset with us but was unhurt. Seen her a couple of days later and she was fine.

Thanks for the reply. So she was not that much bigger than a big house can but of course meaner and more muscle than a big fat Maine Coon Cat. I am convinced now that the hurt cat that I saw in Florida was a panther. I guess that is why the Park Rangers had not put it down and were routing traffic around on the shoulder while they dealt with it.


Your pipe and cable rig sounds just the ticket and I can see why you need two people.

Thanks again.

Tim

[Geezer in NH]

We have used a 3 foot sq of plywood with a V cut in the bottom. Walk to the cat behind board slip V over leg with trap and release the foot they take off away from you at light speed.

[dtknowles]

We have used a 3 foot sq of plywood with a V cut in the bottom. Walk to the cat behind board slip V over leg with trap and release the foot they take off away from you at light speed.

I guess that way could be a one man job?

Tim

[Geezer in NH]

Yes 1 guy can do it but 2 is way better feeling. Mine has a brass plated handle on my side of it.

I have to use tools on a foot hold or I cannot press the springs, getting old and arthritis blows.

[Hickok]

If I was with you guys when you were freeing a bob cat, I would be shouting words of encouragement,.....I say shouting, because it would be from a distance!

"All right now,.... be careful there,.... watch yourself,.... don't get in front of him,.... yee haa!,":lol:

[kenyerian]

I have used the plywood trick but it's still safer with two people. They are very quick and strong. I prefer the pipe and cable if it is a back foot hold.. Cable plus plywood if it is a front foot catch.

[Blackwater]

There's no cure for idiocy. Remember, the word "idiot" comes from the root word "idea." It basically means when someone takes an idea and takes it WAY beyond what its rightful applications are, kind'a like obsessions of various types. Libs pretty well fall into this category, and I've used the word "idjit" for those who go way beyond idiocy. It just seemed that a word like this was needed now to draw the distinction between your average, expected idiot, and the really far gone ones in whose shadow the regular idiots can't even walk.

Bobcats are really pretty much a self-regulating population. When their numbers fall for some reason, natural or man made, you'll have a VERY hard time seeing one. When their numbers rise tot he point they're taking household pets from yards, it's time to start cropping them. The idjit libs in most cities and even occasionally in the country now, seem to think they live in a bambi movie. A very good friend lives up in a gated community in the mtns., and many there are liberal oriented, but most are rational enough to at least learn when they have to. They had a problem with a particular mama bear and her two cubs.

One idjit among them kept feeding her and the cubs, until one day the mama got concerned about the cubs, and growled and made an advance toward her. She dashed inside, and called security. Security found she'd been feeding them against the covenants for a long time, and warned and cited her for it. She was incensed! She felt she should be able to feed the poor lil' bears any time she wanted, and defied all authority about the matter, and went back to feeding them, despite her alarming experience, and it seemed evident she was doing it for pure spite.

Well, there were a number of incidents and set-tos involved, and eventually, the homeowners org. wound up wresting possession of her mome from the couple and selling it to someone who'd comply with all the covenants. This was one occasion where covenants actually did something good. That bear, named "Betty" was beginning to threaten kids and toddlers in the area, and that woman HAD to be stopped, lest someone else (or maybe even she) lose their lives!

But to this day, I'm sure she thinks she got a raw deal and that she should be able to do even the most nonsensical things at will. She simply cannot or will not accept any truth she doesn't care to accept. And that's the whole crux of the matter any time wildlife populations begin to intrude on the safety and security of any area or people. Some think more of their opinions and delicate sensibilities than they do of human life, even their own at times! This kind of idiocy seems to have no real cure, short of a real mauling, and even then it seems to be grudgingly given, and likely to come back when they heal up. As Alice said in Wonderland, "Curiouser and curiouser!"

[Hickok]

We have bobcats and black bear, but if you are not a woods/hunter type, you will seldom if ever see one. We are getting some mountain lions too, although the DNR flatly denies they exist. I can 100% truthfully say they are wrong.

At our coal-prep plant, us workers watched a mountain lion one day as it crossed an open field and headed into a tree line.

Big cat, long tail, brown/buckskin color, long tail, NOT a house cat.

[GaryN]

"New Hampshire has about 1,400 bobcats, according to a recent study."

I would be really surprised if that number was close at all. They are seldom seen so how do you count them. They can't even get a good number on deer.

[DLCTEX]

I have taken too many bobcats to remember the count. Their furs in the 70's kept my family fed. I killed one in the late 60's while quail hunting when it chased our bird dog out of a sunflower patch. Bird shot at ten yards is lethal. He weighed 44 pounds and was the biggest anyone around ever remembered. I took another Tom of equal weight in 1974 and got a nice sum for his pelt. My brother in law carried his 22 with him while checking his cows and a cat jumped up on a big rock a few yards away. He shot in the head, it dropped, but jumped back on the rock so he shot it again, only to see it jump up on the rock a third time. When he looked he found a female and two almost grown young. He collected $750 for their furs as they were sold at the peak of the fur market. I snared a small one under a fence where I was expecting a coyote or fox. He was in a shallow depression with his eyes shut. Thinking he was dead I lifted him with the snare and he exploded like a hand grenade. I was lucky to escape with minor scratches.

[Blackwater]

Hickory, we here in the SE swamplands of Ga. have long been hearing reports of big, black cats. Some are certainly just mtn. lions ("panthers" here) seen in the shadows so they just look dark, but some, seen in broad daylight and described as jet black, and VERY large (far too large for housecats) by normally sober and reliable people have LONG been reported. This would tend to indicate some species or subspecies of jaguar, which have LONG been REPORTED as totally gone from our area. How these idjits think they know EVERYTHING that goes on in the swamps is beyond me, and that kind of hubris seems always to be eventually proven for what it really IS, at least over time. One friend of mine shot one. We'd noticed the turkeys that were planted were being eaten, and we naturally suspected a coyote, but then we started seeing them much more readily than one would expect from coyote predation, and then that big, black cat walked out and sat down at about 200 yds. on some power lines. It was his last squat. However, though they claim there are NO big black cats in Ga., the DNR got a law passed that it's illegal to shoot one of those non-existent figments of the imagination! Curious, that, ain't it? So he burried it on the spot. I saw the grave, but not the cat. He had one more experience with one, too, but that's too long a story to tell here.

And we will NOT get into the whole Bigfoot thing here!!!!