The other thread got me to thinking, if everyone is so quick on the trigger when they see a coyote, what would you do if you see a bobcat? I've witnessed them stalking deer, and they take fawns every year.

Please refer to my answer on the coyote thread.

I'm a cat lover, and I don't think their density (in my area) nor predation numbers warrant killing them.

I let 9 bobcats walk last year. Don't really think of them as a major predator of deer; turkeys maybe,but we got enough to go around. Shoot every yote I see though

I agree wont shoot one unless im going to mount it.

I don't shoot bobcats

I have only killed 3 bobcats. I've let way more than that walk. I kill every coyote I see but I rarely kill a bobcat...

Same as the yote if it presents a good and stops long enough that I'm confident ill kill it ill shoot every time. With a bow ill shoot at most any thing regardless of the time

Wow, 9 bobcats in a year is a lot. Were they different cats, or 3-4 that you saw at different times? I saw 4 different bobcats in 1 day, my son took a 46lb bobcat, with a bow, that was stalking a yearling doe a couple years ago. I usually don't shoot them, unless i start seeing them a lot, and i'll take out 1-2. Amazing that hardly anybody else shoots bobcats, but are so quick on the trigger with yotes. I find deer hair in bobcat scat all the time. They are probably more successfull at hunting deer than yotes, when you consider their numbers versus coyotes. They sure look beautiful slipping thru the woods.

9 different about 5 totally different areas. One group of 3,two different pairs, and and 2 other random ones. I doubt they're more successful at taking deer then yotes are; how are you sure hair you see in their fecal matter isn't from another critter?

Typically give bobcats a pass...I think I will change my view on them.

I don't discriminate on predators they all get a ticket to the truck if possible.

Shoot.

I can tell the difference between deer hair and rabbit or squirrel. Cats are the most prolific hunters that there are. They have to be, their lone hunters for the most part,except for lions. If you think a 46lb cat can't take down a yearling doe, you better think again. Not trying to convince anyone to shoot bobcats, just thought it was funny how there's a big discrepany between pulling the trigger on yotes versus cats.

a 46# bobcat is rarer than a 200" buck in Alabama, most are under 30#s

I have spent thousands of hours in the wood over the last eight years and have not found one single dead deer that I attributed to a bobcat, a BUNCH from yotes, esp fawns. Turkeys, skwerls, rabbits, birds all fall to cats, but I doubt cats kill many uninjured deer or any grown deer.

Deer hair in cat scat dosen't mean the cat KILLED the deer only that it ate some deer.


I still ain't shooting bobcats...

Fred, your right, most bobcats are less than 30lbs, and yet we've killed 2 in the last 4-5 years that went over 40lbs., weighed on our scales and at the taxidermist. And i'm not trying to convince anyone to shoot bobcats.I saw a fawn recritment study done, somewhere in northeast alabama, that said after the bobcats and coyotes were hammered, the recruitment went from .6 to 1.6. so apparently i'm not the only one that realizes bobcats take their fair share of deer. I doubt they take as many grown deer, but if well populated, they could put a dent in fawn fatalities.

If it hunts and kills turkeys and I have a good shot at it BOOOOM!!

bobcats can , and do, kill fawns. I suspect from my experiences that a yote kill 10x as many as a bobcat and there are a LOT more yotes out there.

I mounted a bobcat 40+ years ago that weighed 45# from Marengo Co, biggest by far that I've ever seen.

I snuck up to the top of a ridge once, hearing turkeys shuffling the leaves just down the other side. I got my head up high enough and saw a group of gobblers. I watched em for prolly five minutes before I noticed a grown bobcat crouched maybe ten yards to my left, watching the turkeys. He saw me, turned to look at the turkeys, and then eased off to the lft out of my sight. I stood and spooked the turkeys. I may not shoot bobcats, but I didn't want him eating my turkeys either....

I don't know the bobcat population, however, i do know they are very sneaky and use stealth as their means of hunting. You typically will never hear a bobcat. They move slow and thats the reason we don't see that many. Coyotes on the other hand, are almost always trotting and you can hear and see them from several hundred yards away. Frequently, there will be more than one. Sightings are not a good indicator of population, although i know there are a lot more yotes than cats.

We shoot every bobcat we see. But we are also big turkey hunters.