Chicken Killer, Part 2

It wasn't quite as early in the morning as I had hoped for, but I knew exactly where I wanted to be and how I wanted to set up. I slipped through a few shallow washes and into a small clearing amongst some junipers and cat claw. I had decided on using the FoxPro for this stand and I crept out into the opening and placed the caller in a small bush with my feather decoy stuck into the ground about a foot away. As I nestled under a tree with my back to some thick brush, I smiled to myself - this was a good setup, just the way I had figured it would be.

The distress noises started pouring from the e-caller with a few button presses on the remote, and it wasn't long before the birds came alive, chattering and flitting around with a certain concern in their bird calls. Soon they settled down, and as I scanned the terrain with my eyes I caught a slight movement in the far brushline - there he was. Sitting just barely in the open, I could clearly see the white fur with well-defined black spots on his front legs. He was 50 yards out and locked onto the decoy. Suddenly he stood and started stalking the decoy as the feather slowly twirled in the light breeze . . . . 40 yards . . . . patience, I tell myself. He will come closer - and he does. At 30 yards he sits near a small bush and then takes a quick look behind him. That's all the time I need to settle the red dot on his chest. Breathe out, hold, smooth trigger compression, and then . . . .

Though I don't like to hunt bobcats before fur is prime, this one has been causing trouble. If you read my last post, you'll know that I've been thinking about this cat for over a week now, ever since I became almost positive that it was the chicken killer, and that the local coyotes were not to blame. While I should go ahead and take care of a few of the coyotes in the area as well, my mission was this bobcat.

I grabbed a different rifle this morning than I usually have. If you've seen any of my hunting pictures or read my book, you'll recognize the camo-painted AR-15 with variable scope that I have been using for the last few years. However this morning I took out my "work" AR, a 16" carbine with a micro red dot mounted on it. So far I have been very pleased with this optic - it's a micro red dot from Primary Arms, a clone of the Aimpoint T-1, and it has been heavily used and abused in all weather conditions and has yet to fail me. But it hasn't seen any predator hunting yet, and I wanted to try it out on some animals. It didn't disappoint.

. . . . BOOM! The 55gr VMAX raced towards it's target, and the cat went down. After a few more minutes of calling, nothing else came in to the call, so I called off the stand and approached the cat. It had looked big sitting there, but they always do. When I got up to the cat and hefted him up, I discovered that he really was big. A curse flew through my mind as I thought of the price a cat this large would bring at the fur market had he been more furred up, but it was a passing thought. I had a chicken killer dead and down - mission accomplished.



Big paws with sharp claws.


A long tail for a bobcat, even in the summer time.


And so it begins! I'm looking forward to another predator season filled with adventure and excitement.