Have a friend who has lost about 10 chickens and 5 ducks to ? She put a camera out there but hasn't seen anything. Called me and told me they saw a mountain lion take a duck at 6pm. All killings are in the daytime. After asking more questions they said the tail was short so I'm assuming a bobcat. I go out and sit from 1 to 6pm in 99 degree heat and nothing. Two days later they swear they saw it again and this time they say it was a mountain lion.
My question is how many have experienced killings in the daytime in this heat and is it worth my time to go out there and try it again. They see nothing at night only the daytime. Thanks for your advise

Well, if they critters are being killed in the daytime, then it sounds like you have daytime live bait and that is when the hunting would be most productive.

Day or night, don't expect the cat to be there every day. However, the timing of the day may be something to consider. When are they seeing this cat in the daylight? Is it from 1-6 pm?

You stated just one time (6 pm) and then you hunting from 1-6 pm. No offense, but cats don't wear watches or keep schedules even if it is making a regular set of rounds. 6 pm might have been an early day for it. You could have left and the cat been there at 6:15. If you have a working time frame, bracket it and don't just use it as a start or end point.

Everything killed from 4 to 6pm from what they say. I realize they could come in 5 minutes after I leave but I can't be there round the clock. I just think it is odd for them to come out in the day time and with the heat right now. Due to schedule conflict I have only hunted once and I felt like a baked potato. Thanks

A friend has a ranch near Cross Plains with a cat problem, he got a lion on the game camera. The pic was at 8am. He has his own work to do and can't hunt so I came and have been roasting in the blind. I have had bait out where the last kill was stashed but nothing has hit it. The big cat must be on another part of it's territory.
I did get a chicken killing bobcat yesterday. There is another bobcat that leaves tracks right up the middle of the ranch road every night and I am set up to try tonight, motion detection along road and a blind in the back of the truck.
Here nothing is moving after 9:00am so I go to the house.
While waiting for the cat I recommend a towel dipped in water on the back of the neck.... It can also be used to swat flys and mosquitos.

M

If they keep seeing it why haven't they killed it??

Forgot about the towel thing. Good idea. Only going to get hotter they say.
They aren't shooters

You don't have to be there round the clock, but if you have a time frame (we now know is 4-6 pm) you bracket the expected time. You came 1-6. You would have been much better off had you come 2:30-7:30.

Yes, it is hot outside. It is August in Texas. Set up in the shade. A popup blind would be a good thing. Bring plenty of water. Expect to sweat while there. Pray for a nice breeze.

Think the timing is odd? Maybe it is, but the cat doesn't know that. The cat is hungry and knows when he has free food and water available. Cats may be 'nocturnal' animals according to the field guides, but cats can read and being nocturnal does not mean they are not out in the daytime. I have a bunch of daytime bobcat pictures from my game cameras.

Bobcat with squirrel...


Bobcat going after turkeys...


Bobcat wrapped up on critter...


Bobcat wrapped up on squirrel as Coopers hawk flies by...


The commonality of these images is that the bobcats are going after and getting a daytime resource.

Thanks for all the insight.

Predators generally hunt by the solunar tables, (moon). Therefore, the active feeding times changes about 52 minutes everyday. Here is my question, are they penning the birds every evening and then turning them loose every morning so that they can feed during daylight hours? This may be the reason that they are experiencing kills only during the day.
Doubt that it is a lion around Parker County as there are too many folks in the rural areas. If it is a lion, chances are it was once someone's pet. That might help explain the daytime boldness.
Adios,
gary

Yes they are penned at night and semi free during the day. That does explain the free easy meals. 15 chickens and 5 ducks are just too many in such a short time. They have lived there 5 months. Guess I'll have to suck it up and keep going out there. Thanks to everyone for all the replies

Solunar tables? I would really like to see an actual study that shows this.

I am not a scientist, statistician or biologist, simply an old man that has spent too many hours in the woods. I first started studying solunar tables and how it affected my calling success in the early '90s. The reason that I started paying attention to these active times, was because I noticed that if you called all night long, there were times when no matter how many critters there were, they simply were not going to respond to calling. Then you hit periods that no matter how bad the set up or other mistakes made on the call, critters were going to run over you. That is when I decided to compare these really active calling periods to those major and minor periods on the solunar tables and began to find there was a correlation. As many of you know, I hunted with Murry Burnham for a few years and he always told me that he thought there was something to active feeding times but had no proof.
As an outfitter and somewhat of a predator hunting fool, I had the opportunity to guide literally hundreds of outdoor writers from across the USA. Many of them became aware that I studied the active feeding times (solunar tables) and concentrated much of my efforts around them. Wayne Fears became so interested that he wrote an article about me and solunar tables in the PROGRESSIVE FARMER back in the mid '90s.
I am not going to site different stories that might strengthen my case. I ask that the next time you see a bobcat, coyote or other predator out hunting or crossing the road in front of you without anyone chasing it, that you make note of the time. As soon as you get to the solunar tables, check and see if the critter were not moving in a major or minor feeding period.
While weather can override these times, I do believe that there is something to active feeding times...heck, bass fishermen have used them for years to increase their success.
Adios,
Gary

Thanks Gary. I've never looked at them as I thought it was all crazy. Guess I'll pay more attention to it.
Randy

Traps work 24/7

http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1559586
http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1746165
http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=37274
http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2033439



I watched a bobcat for 10 minutes last night, ending at 9:35 pm and that correlated with neither major or minor times

Let's check the pictures. Nothing is chasing these animals. They are hunting, so they are active.
Picture 1 above, NO correlation to major or minor times.
Picture 2 above, NO correlation to major or minor times.
Picture 3 above, close to major, but missed, not close to minor
Picture 4 above, NO correlation to major or minor times

I did say that weather can override the solunar tables and this excessive heat might have them going to water more often and there are exceptions to every rule. While I admit that I watch the solunar tables for I feel there is a correlation between active and inactive times, I DO NOT pay any attention to my horoscope. I may be crazy but not that crazy.
Adios,
Gary

Gary, I appreciate you admitting to not being a scientist or statistician and admitting to be crazy.

What I am gathering from your presentation of information is that the solunar tables work, EXCEPT when they don't and when they don't, they are apparently being overridden by weather. It is interesting that you presented a challenge and I had 5 data points, 4 of which were already presented before the challenge or mention of solunar tables (so I didn't cherry pick contrary examples to your claim) that failed your solunar test. And this is where it gets interesting. The explanation is that it is the weather for why they didn't fit the pattern. This is a GREAT explanation. Weather happens all the time and is ever changing. Even when you have the same weather pattern over a period of days, it has a cumulative environmental influence that is ever changing. It is the perfect excuse because it is always present and nobody really knows what it is doing to the data categories (predators and hunters) until after the fact!

My examples above were not all during particular dry periods, or excessive heat, LOL. We are not in excessive heat right now, either. We are in August and fairly typical weather for August. Actually here in north Texas, it has been a bit cooler than normal. Or maybe you are saying that solunar tables don't work during the hot months, is that what it is?

However, looking at solunar data, we find that for any given day, there are about 6 hours of major and minor periods, or approximately 1/4 of the day fits within when people should hunt, except for 3-4 days a month when there are only 5 hours of major and minor periods. That means that at any given random moment, there is about a 24% chance that we are in a major or minor solunar period. That is actually a LOT of time. In Vegas, those would be exceptionally good gambling odds.

Obviously, anybody getting a kill in that time period, it is because of the solunar predictions, right? After all, what else could it be? Anybody getting kills or seeing movement outside of that time frame aren't because the tables are wrong or inapplicable, but because the outside influence of weather has caused the animals to move at the wrong times. The logic is NON-FALSIFIABLE (statistical term) at this level of data. You can't be proven wrong. Interestingly, you can't be proven right either on the exact same grounds. The explanation is never that the weather forced animal activity into the solunar period. Why is that?

Just an aside, but I have noticed that raccoons are predators and they are often active for many hours at a time at my feeders, often starting before, during, after solunar periods and sometimes being there during times when there are no major periods.

dress up like big bird

What I am telling you is that when calling predators, I have found that they seem to respond more aggressively during the active feeding times and therefore I am generally more successful. If the wind is blowing 30 miles an hour, I am not going to call many critters no matter what the solunar tables say.
Feeders cause deer and other critters to respond when they hear it spin no matter what the solunar tables say because they know if they don't get there pretty quickly, may not get anything to eat.
A few years ago, we drove up to a ranch to visit and the ranch told us that he had just seen a coyote out in the field behind his house. He led us around the barn and pointed to a small bush and you could see the coyote's head above the grass. We moved around the field and set up to take advantage of the wind and I blew a series on the Mini Blaster to the coyote that was now lying flat.
The coyote picked up his head and looked in my direction and went back to sleep. We sat there for an hour and a half calling off and on with various calls, howled and hurt pup. When we changed sounds, he would pick up his head but he never got to his feet. The only reason I was still trying to call to him was that I knew the active feeding time was approaching. When the time finally arrived, I blew a series on the same Mini Blaster that I had called to him before and he jumped to his feet and looped directly to the call and it cost him his life. Coincidence, maybe but I have seen the exact same thing happen on a bobcat.
I am going to call all day long except when I stop for lunch. If I know that the active feeding time is from noon until 2:00 PM then I am going to eat a snack a little earlier so that I can be calling when I feel my chance for success are increased if only for a little bit.
I have a buddy in south Texas that makes a living capturing exotic animals and he has game cameras on all of his free choice feeders. He swears by the solunar tables and uses them to improve his capture rate.
Adios,
Gary

From our experience, location and calling to the rite set of ears makes the biggest difference in success when calling in our area but just for natural movement across the board, it always seems to be more weather related with changes in barometer than anything else. The moon obviously plays some kind of role in their movement but is it pattern-able enough to count on it? Highly unlikely!

The moment any human thinks they have them figured out down to the scientific level is when they teach you how much you don't know.

Last photo is really cool

Double Naught, unless your cam times and dates are off, your bobcat was hitting the feeder right in cycle with the solunar table with only the last pic being off.

For the are of Forestburg on the dates and times shown in the pics:
Pic1 APR 5, 2016 10:19am Major = 10:31am - 1:31pm. A difference of 11 minutes
Pic2 AUG 19, 2015 10:07am. Minor = 10:35am - 12:05pm. A difference of 28 minutes
Pic3 JUN 25, 2014 12:09pm. Major = 10:44am - 1:44pm. 5 minutes off the peak at 12:14pm
Pic4 JUN 26, 2014 10:36am. Major = 11:34am - 2:34pm. A difference of 58 minutes

Now while the solunar tables are not an exact science, there is an observable correlation with animal activity and the cycle of the moon. As a guide and professional at predator control work, I have experienced the same as Gary and do most of my work off the solunar tables when I call. It has been my experience whether hot or cold, I have had better success the closer to the peak times of the major and minor cycles during a new moon or full moon.

With that said there are numerous factors that come in to play as well. Weather, prey availability, predator population, and even the timer on feeders. The solunar tables are just a tool, not a rule.

If it helps the study, my wife is a retired elementary teacher. If said the kids were going to be acting crazy that day because of the moon, I went hunting...and stayed gone well after the third drink.

As stated above, "traps work 24/7"
Good luck!