Well guys, Today was the day. I caught a nice little bobcat behind my house the other day so that was fun, don't have any good pics of that one to share unfortunately. But otherwise things have been pretty slow. Still had 2 days of season left but snow was getting kinda hard to get around in and hadn't had a whole lot of luck recently. Any way, just thought I'd share this story with you all from my last trap check of the year.

It was a sunny day and I'd rather pull traps in the sun than in a storm. Got all but the last 3 sets checked and pulled and was making the last hike. Dad came along today and we decided to split up and pull different sets to make quicker work. As I'm walking up to my first set I can see things are a bit tore up and I got excited. I also saw tracks headed toward my set in the fresh snow on the other side of my set. I wasn't close enough to know what they were but assumed bobcat. walked right up to my set and saw grey fur hiding behind the rocks and logs. I then Ran across the hill and yelled up to dad "HEY! BOBCAT!" he started down to come see and I walked back over to the set. By the time I got there this time the "Bobcat" had moved and stood up on the logs.... It took me about no time flat to realize - That's not a bobcat at all! That's the long tailed jumbo size variety! Well.. I carry the catch pole to every set so I guess we had to put it to use. I do know about the plywood method and if I had to I would've done it, but carrying a sheet of plywood up 200' vertical in a foot of snow is something I'd rather not do if I can help it.. LOL.


With dads help we got him turned loose and although it was a bit of a rodeo went well overall. He jumped/ran off in the most amazing way. What an awesome animal. Although I would've much rather caught a bobcat today, being able to be so close and experience a mountain lion in this was was really kind of an awesome experience. It was stressful but when we watched him leap down the hill and the rocks I was grateful for the experience. It wasn't a real big lion by any means but I think it'd be hard to call it "small" hahaha. A young cat though, under 100 lb but still twice as big as any bobcat. Anyway that concludes my cat season. It was a great one. Didn't catch quite as many as I hoped but had a lot of sunny days and nice light snow year which sure beat last years having to chain up the truck every day to get around. If any of you guys have cat pictures I always love seeing them. Anyway hope everyone is doing well and here's my pic of kitty kitty.

Nice

Nice. He doesn’t look happy at all.

Fun story Ted. Eventful way to end the season!

Nice looking critter.Too bad you had to release it.
But if they get more plentiful maybe your trappers association can get a season on them.

Never seen one that dark very cool cat there.

That's great and he looks like he was rather irritated with the whole deal. Bet he was a bit feisty!

Cool story.

Better you than me Ted. Glad you had a good season. Take care!

How cool, thanks for sharing.


I believe I’m going to try catching at least one, maybe several bobcats if I’m lucky once they start hitting my carcass pile again. I walked to within 5-10 yards of two bobcats eating beaver carcasses on the edge of my pond a while back. Their pelts aren’t bringing much here, but I’d still like to get a few. A mountain lion would be off the charts cool around these parts

... big cat Bud ... thanks for the story

Always enjoy your posts Ted! I bet today will be one to remember. Good stuff
Hope those bullets found ya

John

That's awesome Ted, as much as I love catching bobcats I couldn't imagine getting a lion in a trap. Love hearing your dad goes with you. My dad is in his 60s now but still my favorite hunting partner and likes to run traps with me on the weekends. Here's the last cat I caught

My 10 year old was stoked

What kind of trap was it in a mb550?

And was the lion big or a smaller one?

That look alone is enough to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck! Glad you had help.

I do wish they’d let us keep 1 a year. We actually have lots of them around here it seems like. I come
Across tracks all the time. Oh well maybe some day they’ll give us a trapping tag.

I thought the same thing! I’ve never seen one quite that grey myself.

Thanks! Sure was. And they did! Sent you a text message

Awesome! Pretty cat!

It was a Mb 650, not a real big cat but not real small. Young female I think probably 80-100 lb max.