What's everyone thoughts on bobcats?

I never pass on yotes or hogs. Should I leave the bobcats alone?

Never pass on yotes or hogs.
Shot a few bobs in the past and they are almost too easy.
Now, I just watch them.
Had a mom raise two kittens in a creek bottom near one of my feeders.
Had a few good shows of her stalking the rabbits that came to the feeder, both in person and on game camera.
In the picture below, you can see the reflection of the rabbit's eye to the right of feeder leg.

Yotes and pigs are S.O.S.

.....I give a pass to cats and foxes.....

Kill them on sight.

I pass on bobcats and foxes. Too much fun to watch, and also, wife will cut me off if I kill them. Coyotes, hogs, skunks, and raccoons do not get the same considerations.

On my place, coyotes and bobcats get a pass. On the places were I do hog control, I do what the landowner says, which has been always kill coyotes and sometimes kill the bobcats.

I have shot bobcats from time to time, but prefer watching them. Pretty cool creatures.

I got an interesting perspective on yotes from a rancher I work with. He is a veterinarian and very active in national cattle organizations, will soon be president of one. He runs about 6,000 head. Yotes are not a concern to him and he knows folks will disagree with him. They take out the weak, not the healthy. In his many years of ranching he feels yotes just haven't been a problem....and I tell you he has a lot of them. Flip side, he says there needs to be a balance. No yotes means many things such as rabbits survive more often. For him, rabbits are a significant issue in causing damage to his pastures. I don't know enough to comment on all that, but this is a highly regarded rancher and veterinarian whose family has been ranching in Texas since the early 1800's. I figger he knows better than me... I still shoot the yotes though...

He is absolutely right, take out yotes 100 % in an area and watch it go to crap,,,, Like every thing else,they do have a purpose here...

Gotta let'm walk.

Up to this point I haven't been going out specifically to look for predators, so I only see bobcats on game cameras. Hogs are always Shoot 'em All, and coyotes are Shoot if it doesn't mess up the hog hunt, unless they make it really easy and I can't pass up the shot.

I've killed one cat it was smaller than I thought so I would have passed on it if I knew it was small. I will shoot another one but it will have to be a big and pretty cat that I want to mount other than that they will get a pass unless a landowner specifically says kill them if I see them. Coyotes, coons, jack rabbits,hogs, skunks are all shot on sight and have shot a couple foxes but also let a few walk.

As a rancher I will tell you that if you are not having any varmint problems, leave well enough alone. You shoot all the coyotes, another batch will move in and they might be much more aggressive. I have ranched for 15 years and never had a varmint take down a calf. Dogs are much more of a problem along with buzzards and Mexican vultures. Dos will pack up to hunt, coyotes vary seldom will.

WIP you are correct in all my years i have seen yotes pack up twice,,, both times there where no rabbits of any kind and lots of snow,,,, Food was very scarce... they packed up to bring down antelope both times i saw this ! They would take turns running down the weakest animal until the antelope could no longer run !

We ranch small animals as well as cattle. Any coyote or red fox gets whacked. Our trapper has a permit to shoot black-headed vultures. Grey foxes and bobcats get passes. No hogs, thankfully, and we don't have feeders, so coons get to live. As for rabbits, etc., I don't mind letting the 10/22 help control the population when the need arises.

Bobcats and Foxes get a pass from me, Raccoons, yotes and skunks go down.

This, if I shoot a fox or bobcat it'll be mounted.

In the past have shot a few but now just let them do their thing, fun to watch.

X2

Interesting to hear that bobcats are fun to watch, but the same observation isn't made of coyotes. Coyotes can be a hoot to watch. It is cool to watch a coyote systematically mouse a field or to watch the group dynamics of a pack.

The first bobcat I ever killed was in the process of stalking two fawns that had strayed from their mother. It was cool to watch the bobcat until the point at which I needed to shoot it or let it attack the fawns. So, I shot it.

+1

I get much more satisfaction from watching wildlife and hearing coyotes. It'll be a sad day if and when they disappear.

My old man has the same philosophy and I grew up appreciating wildlife and not feeling the need to kill or destroy everything that walked, crawled, swam, or flew on my folks ranches. That philosophy definitely changed my perspective of hunting from a very early age and made me appreciate the outdoors. He's been ranching for as long as I can remember and his opinion was "I'm a steward and protector of the land. Killing for the sake of killing is irresponsible. Wild animals have to eat, and they have their place in the world. I'm not going to take the life of an animal unless I can eat it or it poses an immediate threat to my wellbeing or that of my family".

Those are his exact words. And I respect him greatly for it.

Yotes, Rattlers and Feral hog's get shot on sight, all others get a pass.

We started our HF place in 2002. At that time we seldom saw bobcats and had tons of coyotes with nearly every one you saw having mange to some degree. Since then, we have kept an active snaring program. It took a few years but by 2006 we stopped seeing coyotes with mange that were caught in our snares. There hasn't been extensive hunting of them outside of our place, just snaring our fence lines. I can tell you there is still and always has been a remarkable amount of coyotes in our area, but now there seem to be less sightings during the day, no mange within a mile or so of me that I have seen or have been told, and a lot more cotton tail rabbits inside our place. The rabbits are a good indicator to me of the varmint population levels. That along with the sighting of fawns. This time of year is when I see the most bobcat and coyotes. Usually I don't call for the bobcats as from what I have seen they will go mostly after the rabbits. The coyotes are a large concern for me. I have talked with some biologist that have told me the mange on the coyote was due to over population in my area and not enough food. I guess our active snaring contributed to a lot of that as the yotes I catch now seem to have healthier bodies(weigh more and better coats)and I have not seen one with mange in a good amount of time. The bobcats get a pass for the most part in the past but if I feel I'm detecting a problem in my area and feel the sightings are too frequent like right now(4 in less than two months) then I'm increasing my hunting/trapping pressure on them wether it be snares, firearms, or live traps. All three work very efficient.

I'm in a different situation than most I guess. I have some animals that I'm trying to raise that can be difficult if I didn't try to protect them. In some cases they are listed as Endangered and we have permits for them that require us to keep a breeding herd. That commitment means I have to control some predators but I do respect that the natural predators have a right and a balance to this area. It's understanding when the control is needed that is hard to accomplish and it's only through working out here every day that you can see it and understand what and when it needs to be done. One bobcat I don't get excited about. When I start seeing less and less cottontail rabbits each week then I know something is up and I need to step up the game a bit more. Those rabbits are a great natural indicator of the predators in my area.

I have never had a coyote chew thru my tractor or truck wiring. Anything that kills rodents is a friend of mine.

Folks who think that bobcats are less of an impact on fawns than coyotes obviously have not read the extensive reasearch that's out there.
They are rough on the turkey populations as well. My predator hunting partner is a wildlife biologist and restocks Eastern wild turkeys into their original range and they put tracking collars on all hens. Bobcats kill more than any other causes.

That said I usually don't take bobcats or fox unless the fur prices are good.
Some of the statements made in the above posts are from conclusions made from observations that may or may not be cause and effect. Some I agree with.... some are a bunch of hooey.

Judging by both the deer, and coyote populations in Texas, I really don't think coyotes or bobcats are really having that big a population impact anyway. If that's what you need to tell yourself to feel ok about shooting them, then it's all good, I just think you might be fooling yourself if you think you are really doing all that much in favor of the deer.

Everything has it's place in the system, including us.

I pass on the cats & fox, studies have been done in the east that fox control the rodents that carry the lime disease tick, like snakes, fox help keep the rodent population down.

I wonder how many bobcats are going to get a pass this weekend with the West Texas Big Bobcat Contest going on??????
Adios,
Gary

If they get one from me it'll have more to do with my marksmanship deficiencies than any bobcat hugger tendencies I might have.

I'm not familiar with that contest but it sounds like fun! If we had more access in my area I wish some of them would come here and help eradicate some. I don't want to see them completely taken away from the area, but I don't like finding a fawn/doe carcass burried on the creek bed, tucked into a hole on the bank and leaves scraped over it. I have been told that's what the cars will do. Seems when we put pressure on them and take a fe out, they come back in about two or three years and always more than one and about this time of year.

Been letting most things go on my place - hogs and beaver only get whacked thus far - stuff that does damage I can see I guess. Bobcats are cool to watch but keep thinking about taking one.

I leave cats alone

I killed one bobcat, got it mounted, that's all I wanted. I have a couple on my place that I see from time to time, now I just watch them...one of the coolest creatures in the wild.

Ok, I've been watching this thread for a bit now, and I need someone to explain it to me. I keep seeing how cool and neat cats are, and I just don't get it. If you call or trap much, it doesn't take long to learn they aren't particularly smart. There isn't 3 cents worth of difference between their behavior and that of my daughter's tabby. They aren't uncommin. To my view coyote is much more interesting with his adaptability and social structure.

Don't misunderstand, I like bobcat fine, I just don't understand why so many place so much special on them.

Depends on what the freezer looks like... I put them right below venison but that's about it.... they eat much better than wild hog and turkey.. if you can imagine getting a squirrel but 5xs the size... the meat is identical

Because most people see about hundred times more coyotes than bobcats. I've been hunting for about 30 years and have seen maybe a handful of bobcats in the wild, but I've seen countless coyotes.

Yup

Maybe so. Guess I see them so much because I look for them. I've had 3 hunts this year alone that I've seen more cats than yotes. Still a lot more to coyote.

Would never kill a bobcat. They are too interesting, rare, and beautiful to kill in my opinion. I have not had enough opportunities to see them in the wild so I would never shoot one.

Nothing rare about them they are just good at hiding

Yup, it's a night thing. I think I've seen more cats hit on the road this year than ever, was a pretty good one on the southbound side of 6 south of College Station Tuesday.

I shot a couple of bobcats a few years back, but won't do it again.

Its funny most want to see cats but they do nothing to make them at home... if your one that keeps pastures tidy, burns all brush piles, cleans the fence to nothing... this is why your not seeing cats... I have 4 large brush piles along side my creek I build up every year and leave for the wildlife.. I see more cats and foxes each year.. lots of undergrowth and thick areas on the property too.. I rarely see coyotes though... they stay up in the cattle pastures and more open oak timber properties... I do let plenty walk though they are cool animals and I don't want to rid the place of them... but at the same time I don't want them to thick... so I take out some of the older cats I see.. prolly every 1 out of 5 or so... and the one red fox that was the biggest iv seen.... those are one animal ill hardly shoot.. they greys have seemed to raise in population while our once good red population has gone to only seeing a few a year.

Agree with your comments Navasot. Personally when they get 35+lbs well... every picture tells a story don't it ;

X-2

That's an awesome cat Thermal!

I pass on bobcats and foxes as well. I shoot every coyote and raccoon I see.

Took 10 Bobcats from this past winter to sell the hides. These were all central/east Texas cats and best cats were 40.00 and smaller were 30.00. Two years ago they would have brought at minimum twice that.
That's why I have been giving most a pass when calling.... except contests.... they get shot.

I've pretty much always been a meat hunter. The only time I went after the cats is when I started seeing more of them than deer in my hunting area. Yotes I'm kinda on the fence about they're dirty little creatures like said above I'm sure they have their own place in the eco system.