Lion Caller Posted November 7, 2009 Report Share Posted November 7, 2009 Mark Healy of Wildlife Callers and Bob Bogaard of the Phoenix Varmint Callers head into Arizona’s Unit 23 and call this fine Arizona bobcat. Side note: I gave the video camera a rest for the weekend, and I’m glad I did. As a couple of Globe – Miami natives, it was fitting that Bob and I headed toward Roosevelt Lake, AZ. We only had Sunday to call and although neither one of us had been calling in this area for a few years, we both grew up hunting and fishing in it. With our previous knowledge of the roads, we’d waste little time looking for predator sign and setting up to call. We were on a “cats only hunt” and agreed to let everything but mountain lions and bobcats walk away unscathed. Our first two stands of the day were disrupted with truck traffic, cold howling wind, and people camping (I think we scared a few people out of their sleeping bags with female cougar growls – whoops). Needing to put distance between us and recreating people, we drove several miles into the mountains. We found a long hardpan drainage coming off the top of a high peak and rolling downhill for at least a mile or more. It was choked with brush and was littered with game trails and animal tracks. There was plenty of fox scat present, I grabbed my caller and we set up. About six minutes into the stand the dry wash exploded with activity. I called in three gray fox and was able to keep them running around the speaker for several minutes. After they disappeared back the way they came, I turned up the volume and three more grays arrived. I had them running circles around the speaker, when one or two of the original foxes showed back up. There was a frenzy of activity and fox barking going on when in walks a curious coyote. The coyote walks up to three of the unsuspecting foxes and tries to latch onto one of them. There is a short, but wild chase that the fox wins. The dejected coyote, still hungry, runs back to give chase to the other two. Those foxes successfully disappear into the brush and the coyote stands above the speaker for over a minute, seemingly mesmerized by the sound changes I’m making. Finally, all of the canines decide to leave and the wash bottom is empty once again. I continue working with various mountain lion and bobcat sounds, when this thirty to thirty-five pound bobcat steps over a dirt bank and walks directly at the bush the speaker is hidden in. The bobcat’s arrival time was 32 minutes. A single shot from my DPMS AP4 .308 cleanly killed the bobcat and the Lapua Scenar 155 grain bullet made a very small entry and exit wound. This is the largest Arizona tom that I’ve taken, and he should make a fantastic full-sized mount. I was using my Wildlife Technologies electronic game call. Some of the sounds used on the stand were: Adult Cottontail Gray Fox Distress (Adult & Juvenile) Bobcats Fighting Gray Fox and Bobcat Fighting Several Bird Distress sounds Adult Javelina Distress Whitetail Fawn Distress Ravens Fighting Snowshoe Hare Lamb Baby Distress Jackrabbit Distress Redtail Hawk Screams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wyohunter Posted November 8, 2009 Report Share Posted November 8, 2009 very nice cat... i wish i popped the one i seen on opening day, but i held out for a chance at a buck....anyways congrats, and yes it will make a awesome mount Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prairiepredator Posted November 8, 2009 Report Share Posted November 8, 2009 Awesome cat! That would be the ultimate predator to shoot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csimon Posted November 9, 2009 Report Share Posted November 9, 2009 awesome cat, will make a great mount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneshot Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 Great job on the cat and a nice one....But a .308??? Ouch!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion Caller Posted November 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 Great job on the cat and a nice one....But a .308??? Ouch!!! Oneshot, I know the .308 seems like overkill, but there's a reason behind it. I spend most of my time calling for mountain lions. I called and shot a very nice cougar last December with my .223 Rem--a very normal gun to take predator calling. I hit the cougar in the front left shoulder with a 50gr Nosler CT bullet. The lion took off with a very damaged left front shoulder and lame leg, but despite the injury we could not find the cat. Here's the problem - mountain lions are a tough deer sized animal and they should be shot with a deer sized gun. I know that many are taken with smaller calibers, but how many end up like my hunt? I'll bet it's a big number. I was calling for a lion that day - I called one - and I wasn't armed properly. But, bigger guns blow up the smaller predators--what to do... I went on a quest to find a larger caliber that I could load with a cougar stopping bullet and at the same time minimize damage on the smaller critters. This is a long story - I'll keep it short. My testing and research led me to the gun I use today. I chose the DPMS AP4 because of the short 16" barrel. Acceleration is limited in the short barrel and 155gr bullet speed stays fairly slow at around 2350-2400fps. I then tried several different bullets on the bench, and in the field. I now use a Lapua Scenar 155gr Match bullet. It sounds strange for hunting, but it shoots a nice tight 100yard 5-shot group and its field performance on predators is excellent. It is big and powerful enough to kill a cougar with authority. However, on smaller game, such as coyote, fox, and bobcat, it flys straight through the ribcage causing very little pelt damage, but kills very cleanly. Soft point hunting bullets were great on larger animals, but on smaller predators, the damage was far too high. My odd gun/caliber/bullet combo has raised more than a few eyebrows, but the performance speaks for itself. I am confident in all of my predator hunting situations now. One last upside: The Lapua bullet flight performance is very consistent from shot to shot. It gives me very measureable & manageable drop out to 500yards with the AP4 rifle, thus my reach in the field is excellent. It's good for tight cover and long shots. Best of the season to you, Mark Healy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitetail Freak Hunter Posted November 10, 2009 Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 Yep, for most preditors I will use .223 Rem (most likely a Barnes TSX bullet), but if I was hunting our big cats up here in Montana I would be using my 7mm-08 with a 120-gr Barnes TSX bullet or just stick with the 140-gr Barnes TSX that I am using now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion Caller Posted November 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 10, 2009 The TSX would have been my pick too (I use it in my large/mag rifles), but for some reason it wouldn't pattern at all in this short barrel AR-10. They were all over the paper. It was so bad they never got a chance in the field on actual predators. I wish the TSX has worked on paper, becasue they have been a very reliable big game bullet. Mark Healy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrandonBowling21 Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 beautiful cat, bob cats make gorgious mounts!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scdeerslayer Posted November 16, 2009 Report Share Posted November 16, 2009 nice cat, have you decided how you will mount it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lion Caller Posted November 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 16, 2009 nice cat, have you decided how you will mount it? I've seen another bobcat mount that was walking, half-sneak hunting pose that looked excellent. It really captured the cat hunting behavior/look well. I liked it because it reminded me of when you call a bobcat and they stop on the edge of the brush with their head low, eyes fixed forward, and one front foot stretched out. The only problem of course is the cost - I could get a rug for 1/3 the cost, but I'll likely not harvest such a great tom again (or it will be a long time). He'll be worth the $$. Mark Healy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arrow32 Posted November 17, 2009 Report Share Posted November 17, 2009 Thats awesome. Congrats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerkiller11 Posted November 18, 2009 Report Share Posted November 18, 2009 Nice Cat! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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