SWEET 16

by Marlene Odahlen-Hinz

I’ve been bowhunting for bobcats on and off for

16 years. Two thousand and five turned out to

be my Year of the Cat .

Bobcats are strikingly beautiful with their spotted coats, tufted ears and stubby tails. The best bobcat habitat lies in the northern third of Minnesota. They are creatures of forested land, broken country, brush and swamps. The thicker the brush the better for finding traces of bobcats.

Native Americans called bobcats but most were actually taken by traps because the bobcat’s curiosity makes him susceptible to a clever set. Early one morning, my husband, Jerry, called one in using the agonizing squeal of a wounded rabbit. In 49 years of bowhunting he was able to do that just once. Bobcats are most active during the twilight hours of dawn and dusk so should you decide to bring one in using a distress call the best time would be early morning or late in the afternoon. Then, be prepared to call for many years.

Today the bobcat is hunted with hounds. The best time to find a track to run is after a fresh snow. Being a houndsman or a hunter of bobcats is not for the faint of heart. It often takes countless hours in the field and logging on many miles searching for a fresh track to run before even bringing out a dog to work the track. Wisconsin reports that trappers and houndsmen have a 10% success rate in tagging a bobcat.

For the past three years I’ve worked with Pat Melloy and David Peightal of Game Unlimited. Melloy started training hunting dogs while in college. Rather than finish his PhD he opened up a hunt club in Wisconsin. Melloy has been working with dogs for over 30 years. Peightal learned he liked the thrill of fair chase while growing up in Oregon and has been one of Minnesota’s premier houndsman for more than 20 years. I knew if I’d ever get a bobcat it would be with these guys and their team of dogs.

Melloy and Peightal are literally looking for tracks 24 hours a day during the season. I’d meet up with them right before dawn and then we’d discuss strategies. Freshness and size of tracks as well as where they were found were part of the equation as to run it or not. A fresh track naturally offered more scent for the dogs. Larger solitary tracks were a good indication that they belonged to a male. Taking a male bobcat has far less impact on the resident population than taking a female and these houndsmen are conservationists and wildlife managers. Often if a track was found crossing a major or frequently used road the dogs were not put out. It was not worth having a dog hit by a car or truck as it trailed a bobcat across a highway.

Melloy and Peightal calculate that with three days of good snow conditions, sizable tracks and hard hunting they are usually successful in getting a cat for their clients. That was before they consented to take me. Eight days afield turned out to be my lucky number. Melloy said that if I’d been his typical client he would have given up hunting bobcats years ago. He has accumulated an incredible amount of knowledge about where and how bobcats spend their time in the thirty years of running dogs. In my time with him I was able to experience first had the time and effort needed to hunt these extremely illusive felines.

Many obstacles and hazards awaited us along the way. Weather is always the biggest factor when hunting bobcats. As I mentioned, a fresh dusting of snow is optimum for finding the most recent track. This year the Midwest did get snow after the season opened on November 27, but then just before the Christmas holiday temperatures warmed considerably making it difficult to identify a fresh track.

Normally by mid December ponds and streams are frozen. The heavy snow we’d gotten early helped to insulate the swamps so following the dogs through these areas made it dangerous for those of us on two legs. Some of the streams had also opened up making crossing them dangerous or impossible.

Clear cut areas also posed a problem because the bobcats often took refuge in those piles left behind by loggers. They were either a haven or a hazard depending on who was being chased and who was doing the chasing. At one point Camo, the lead dog, had to be cut out using a chain saw after pursuing a cat into a huge brush pile. She’d gotten wedged under a sizeable log near the bottom of the pile. Bobcats are not as easily treed as their larger cousins the mountain lion. Bobcats will more often hold a dog a bay rather than use a tree for a safe haven if a brush pile is not handy.

Porcupines are also a hazard to be reckoned with. In such an encounter, the porcupine is always the victor. The dogs bumped into nature’s pincushion twice during the time I was hunting bobcats. The first time three dogs came back with noses full of quills. When this happens hunting is done and tending to the dogs’ medical needs is the priority. The dogs turned out to be quick studies with a short learning curve because the second time they stumbled on a porcupine they knew to keep their distance.

Conibear traps are probably the most dangerous thing a dog can encounter while trailing a bobcat. In areas where there were trappers, Melloy and Peightal tried to keep up with the dogs should they need to race in and release one of their dogs from a conibear trap.

December 31^st once again brought perfect tracking conditions and I was on the road heading north at 2 a.m. At 6:30 a.m. we all hooked up to discuss options since both Melloy and Peightal had found tracks. Another houndsman, Craig Buell, had joined us. We all voted to turn the dogs out on the freshest tracks which also turned out to be the largest ones.

Melloy leashed Camo and walked with her as she stuck her nose into each and every track the bobcat had made. As Camo got more excited and straining at the leash, Peightal was getting Peppi ready for the chase. When released, both dogs took the tracks with enthusiasm and tails wagging. Buell and I headed a half a mile down the road and then cut into the woods hoping to get ahead of the dogs and the cat. I posted at the end of a swamp where I felt the bobcat might skirt hoping to ambush it.

Peightal always runs with the dogs trying to keep as close to them as the terrain allows. We were in constant contact with Melloy and Peightal as they kept us aware of what direction the cat was taking the dogs. Usually one of the dogs had a bell attached to her collar so between the baying and the clanging of the bell we knew how close or distant we were from the dogs.

After several hours the cat brought the dogs back almost to where we started. These houndsmen have years of experience regarding bobcat behavior and strategies on hunting them, so when Buell heard the dogs turn south we immediately tried to once again get ahead of them. This time we could hear that Camo and Peppi had caught up with the cat and were holding it at bay. Getting to them through the swamp, blow down area and thick brush left me breathless. This canine A-team was able to hold the 30 pound male until I arrived. I took a deep breath, drew back my Reflex Super Slam and released a Rocky Mountain tipped Beman.

The hide must be registered and the carcass surrendered to the DNR for research. If you want the meat or the skull returned, you can petition for those when you make the appointment to the complete the documentation. The meat is excellent and a cleaned bleached skull makes an excellent accent to a rug or full mount.

This success was bitter sweet. For sixteen years I’d been on a quest to tag a bobcat. The adventure was now finished. I don’t think I’ll try for another bobcat—it’s way too hard. Maybe I’ll pursue something easier like muskoxen!

( For a look at the bobcat, look on the Pictures page )