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Felonious

Is not actually a convicted felon.
MLF Supporter
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This freaking bobcat has been coming out during daylight hours and eating my chickens. I've lost three over the past couple of weeks before sunset. I saw the cat run through the field and grab a chicken, and run off. It would hang out by the coop at night, and wait for them to roost. I actually figured out the cat was there because it was roosting time, and all of the chickens were by the front porch.

I got up on the roof of the coop, and saw those pointy little ears sneaking around down a steep hill, in and out of light cover. I have a FLIR device (not a scope, unfortunately, I'm not rich), and was able to follow it as it got a little darker. It came back to the coop (while I was on the roof) right at sunset.

I climbed down off the roof, and chased it for about a quarter mile through the brush, until it stopped on top of a log to look at me. Had my BP SxS 12g loaded up with 90 grains of powder and 16 #1 buck pellets. Got a nice clean shot, pull the trigger, "pop" cap goes off, misfire (I grabbed the gun and ran outside so quickly I didn't get any additional loads or caps to go with it). Luckily the cat just stood there and looked at me, so I took aim with a second barrel and got him. DOA. That #1 buck is no joke.

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Congrats........Another chicken thief meets it's maker. Here in Pa. , the blame commission stocked these thiefs many yrs. back. Now there are many , eating our fawns , wild turkey 's , and other huntable game animals.
 
Congrats........Another chicken thief meets it's maker. Here in Pa. , the blame commission stocked these thiefs many yrs. back. Now there are many , eating our fawns , wild turkey 's , and other huntable game animals.
Yep. They did the same with Fishers. Supposedly to keep the porkies in check. Big mistake that was.
 
I never saw a bobcat in PA until 3 years. Opening day of buck season one walked by me. I went back once trapping season opened and caught it. Last year a big Tom walked by on opening day and I never got a chance to try him. A week ago I had these on my trail camera. I’d like to trap another but it’s a two hour round trip to the spot. Maybe I’ll camp for a few days and give it a try again this winter.
 

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From personal experience , bobcats are not too difficult to hunt in a snowy woods. When my 6th grade buddy and I found cat tracks in the Preston Co. W.Va. woods , I had read an article stating that cats will circle , if trailed . There was a light snow on the ground , so my buddy took off after the cat and I posted myself up hill , and down wind of the critter's tracks. Shur enough , with in 20 mins. , here came the cat almost dead on it's old trail. Another friend knew where the Pa, blame comm. had stocked bobcats in the Quehanna Forest in Central Pa. , so the same method of operation was employed by him and his hunting buddy. They found cat tracks , his buddy took off trailing the cat , and the cat came back close enough for my friend to get great 35 MM camera photo's of it. They did this a coupe times that winter. So , trailing , and posting a shooter , works.
 
Is bobcat good eating? I know mountain lion is.
I wouldn't know, I just tossed this one out in the middle of nowhere with a trail cam to see what eats it. I'd be amazed if it lasts more than 48 hours.

Funny story, I thought I had shot it out of season, but it was eating my chickens so I don't really care what the law says. Turns out, it was actually opening day of bobcat season. 🤣 At the time, I just wanted the body disposed of as fast as possible, and the predators out here do a great job. Had I known I was legally able to kill it, I might have spent a little more time harvesting meat, or at least attempting to recover a pelt full of tiny little holes. It's definitely too late now.

For me, this was less of a fair chase hunting expedition and more of a kill a predator type thing. I've never used FLIR to hunt, and I think some people might consider my chickens as live bait. There was no fair chase here, I was running around with Crocs and the nearest loaded weapon I could find, trying to kill the animal that was costing me money and killing my animals.
 
Well you don't see one of them next to a muzzloader double gun!
Well done.
Thanks! 99.9% luck though.
Now promise to stop using oil to preserve your gun with! Please.
Maybe it was a joke or something that went over my head, but do you see a legitimate problem with my firearm oiling? I'm new to this and always open to advice.

I use Ballistol on just about everything except for the stock, which is Tru-oil, I just lightly wipe it down when I'm done. The "sealed" internals get a thin coat of Magic Lube, which is a high temperature PTFE lubricant that I use at work, it's probably overkill, but I have a ton of it, and it works incredibly well in high temperatures and disgusting environments.
 
Thanks! 99.9% luck though.

Maybe it was a joke or something that went over my head, but do you see a legitimate problem with my firearm oiling? I'm new to this and always open to advice.

I use Ballistol on just about everything except for the stock, which is Tru-oil, I just lightly wipe it down when I'm done. The "sealed" internals get a thin coat of Magic Lube, which is a high temperature PTFE lubricant that I use at work, it's probably overkill, but I have a ton of it, and it works incredibly well in high temperatures and disgusting environments.
The usual suspect for misfires is a coating of oil down in the chamber and flash channel, it doesn't take much .in fact I'm amazed at the miniscule amount it takes to stop ignition.

I no longer use oiled bores for storage and rarely experience a misfire anymore.
 
The usual suspect for misfires is a coating of oil down in the chamber and flash channel, it doesn't take much .in fact I'm amazed at the miniscule amount it takes to stop ignition.

I no longer use oiled bores for storage and rarely experience a misfire anymore.
Thank you, that makes a lot of sense. I had been using the mag spark 209 adapters (because you really do get a like 9.9999% chance of ignition, even if the flash channel isn't super clean), but when I was duck hunting, but I was shooting so much they were getting clogged up and almost impossible to remove, so I switched back to hotshot nipples. That actually was the first harvest I had actually made with a percussion cap.

I'll be sure to clean the nipples immaculately next time, and probably keep an extra one somewhere near my gun too.

Thank you for the advice.
 
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