I got it!

[Felonious]

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.

 

[2 shots]

no more chicken dinners for him.

 

[oldwood]

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.

 

[snakebit]

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.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Well you don't see one of them next to a muzzloader double gun!
Well done.
Now promise to stop using oil to preserve your gun with! Please.

 

[BillyC]

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.

 

[Gtrubicon]

Is bobcat good eating? I know mountain lion is.

 

[BillyC]

I’ve heard both are but never tried it. Cat is supposed to be a very good bait for coyote trapping though.

 

[ORBushman]

Congrats on the nice kill! Don't see that to often.

 

[oldwood]

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.

 

[Stykbow]

Nice cat!

 

[ETipp]

Congrats.

Best kind of chicken killer right there.............a dead one!

 

[Felonious]

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.

 

[Rodd Boyer]

Nicely done! I had a pair of foxes clean me out of chickens... ((

 

[Felonious]

I can't wait to show this picture to my buddy who told me that I should "get a real gun" if I wanted to be serious about hunting.

 

[Felonious]

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.

 

[PathfinderNC]

Great work!
I had a dog killing my chickens. Caught him one night inside the chicken pen at the open door to the coop (got in under the fence). Killed it with one bullet through his friggen head.

 

[Britsmoothy]

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.

 

[Felonious]

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.

 

[TDM]

Congratulations on the Cat kill. Glad the chickens are safe.