My First Wildcat

By Jacob Kinney

It’s early morning, February 4th. My alarm rings and I hit the snooze button, it’s (5:30 a.m.). I worked the 2nd shift the evening before and have only slept three hours after getting home. However, the fatigued feeling fades within minutes before my alarm rings again. The motivations of my first potential wild feline compelled me to get out of bed. I walked into the kitchen, made myself a cup of coffee, and noted the temperature on the outdoor weather probe. A brisk 13F degrees with no wind, perfect conditions for predator calling. I gathered some gear, grabbed my layers, and headed for the truck.

 My initial plan was to get to the spot 20- 30 minutes before daylight at (7:00 a.m.) and take my time setting up. It takes me thirty minutes to drive to the area I chose to hunt, then another 10-12 minutes to hike into my set location. I don’t know where the time went but it was (6:10 a.m.) when I hit the pavement. I knew I was cutting it close and was beginning to get anxious. I knew the conditions were perfect, I just had to be there.

I hastily drove my truck and got to the spot at (6:45 a.m.). As I parked my truck and put my warm layers on I noticed a thin beautiful orange glow above the trees in the darkness. I knew I needed to hurry up and get to my set before full daylight came. I grabbed my pack and .223 Savage and started up my trail. Right off the bat, I had another burst of anxiety. The cold air of the morning made the top layer of snow a crunchy dilemma. The crunchy snow along with no wind projected each step I took loudly into the woods. In the moment I wouldn’t doubt a person could hear me coming a quarter mile away or better.

I was distraught walking into the set because of the noise and my timeliness. In any case, halfway to my set my anxious feelings dissipated. I told myself  “It might be dumb to set up now but I’m here. I may as well try it out, I’m not expecting to see anything now but let’s see what comes in”. I went out there for a bobcat but I wouldn’t be regretful if a coyote or fox came into the set either.

After a few more minutes of hiking, I finally arrived at my set. It’s a knob on the landscape amongst a dense conifer forest of juniper, white cedar, and white pine. Mixed in are young hardwoods where they can reach sunlight amongst the conifers. Ice Age limestone ledges and bare stone scatter all around. There’s a grown but wide trail I’m on that cuts right over the knob, through the dense woods from east to west, an old farm road maybe. It’s the only open area in this location enough to see a critter coming in.

I sat my gear right behind a big boulder that covered my body and gave me a steady rest for my rifle. I put out a quivering rabbit decoy 40 yards from me on the old trail to the east. I had a broader view facing this direction so I assumed I would see more movement this way. I laid my electronic call down next to the decoy and crunched through the snow back to my boulder. I’m using an older model electric predator called the “Speak-Easy ” by Primos. I’m pretty sure it’s discontinued, but it’s an effective little call for coyotes.

I knelt, grabbed the remote for the call, and pressed the “cottontail in destress”  button, but nothing happened. I pressed it five more times, but still nothing. The transmitting range between my call and the remote is pretty short and the temperature makes the range even shorter for some reason. I had to get up and bring the call closer to me by 5 yards. I noisily crunched my way back to my shooting position. From all the noise I had made during the last several minutes, I thought, “Everything within a half mile has been spooked off by now”. I had zero confidence in seeing a single animal by the time I sat down for the second time.

 I took note of the time, (7:02 a.m.). I got into a rested shooting position on top of the boulder and again pressed the “cottontail in distress”  button. This time the screeching noise I wanted billowed from the call. I sat waiting and ready for a legal predatory creature to appear out front of me. My selected noise from the call played out after 50 seconds. I clicked the same button on the remote again and continued sitting motionless ready to shoot.

Not five seconds after I turned the remote on again I saw something in my periphery to my left 7 yards away. Being in my periphery it was a fuzzy blur because I didn’t move my eyes over yet. I couldn’t tell what it was at first. Just that it was light colored, a tan, grayish, brown, and that it was a medium-sized animal. I soon deduced it couldn’t be a human, deer, fox, fisher, or coyote, it had to be a cat. Without moving my body, remaining at a calm heart rate, I just moved my eyes over and had an instant shot of adrenaline when I confirmed it was a cat. At the moment I certainly was not one to be knowledgeable on judging the maturity of bobcats but at this distance, I knew it wasn’t a juvenile. Within those first few seconds of noticing it there, it remained still, fixated on the direction of the call. Between the cat and the decoy was a single dense juniper tree, which was also in front of me. It couldn’t see the decoy but it knew it was there. After a few seconds of watching it stand there, it fell into a stalking position and crept towards the call so slowly. It was oblivious to me as I remained motionless. It crept to the edge of the tree where it could get a look at the decoy, much like a house cat would in your home before pouncing on a toy. It was like a precision machine with laser focus. An incredible sight to observe firsthand and so close.

At this point, it was more in front of me than beside me with its head and eyes forward still fixed. I was safe to move subtly and pivot to make a shot. I looked through my scope and took my shot behind the shoulder as soon as I was on it. I was unaware of its next body posture so I took my chance. I was surprised that after the shot it jumped in the air about four feet and ran in the woods straight in the direction it was facing. I shook in disbelief and joy, the rest of the adrenaline kicked in. I noted the time (7:04 a.m.). I went from zero to one hundred within two minutes. This is just one reason why I love to hunt and fish, the lowest of lows and the highest of highs. You are always learning something and feeling unknowing extreme emotion. 

After a few minutes, I composed myself to move and head to where it was standing. I paced it out and used ONX to determine it was 10 yards away when I shot it. I saw blood when I shot initially and it was evident in the snow it was a lethal hit, yet I was still surprised it ran so far. Following the evident sign in the snow, I tracked it 20 yards in the woods where it lay. The first bobcat I have ever harvested. It ended up being a 22 lb female and is the most beautiful animal I have ever taken.

Knowing what I know now has opened my eyes to how I should have been looking for this species all along. I have been hunting in the wrong areas and calling sets for years. They prefer a very distinct habitat type paired with an abundant food supply. They have been living among us forever, right under our noses. They are as common as the coyote yet they rarely make their presence known. We can hear coyotes but how many have you seen in person? Along with incredible stealth and concealment, it’s rare to witness one in the browed daylight here unless you know where to look. A true creature of the shadows. However, over the past few years, there have been more sightings occurring locally across the islands. Who knows the reasons why, but I feel fortunate to have learned as much as I have so far about them. They truly are an incredible animal.