Taunting!

Well, I was really hoping to catch a bobcat over the holidays this past year but it didn't work out.

I pulled the cards on my game cameras last weekend and got some pictures of a bobcat taunting me. You can see some of the traps that I had set out for raccoons in the forefront of the first picture. I had a bobcat set about 10 yards to the right of the camera in the this picture that he was walking toward but I guess he didn't like it enough to stick his foot in the trap!


Not sure if this is the same cat or not. I had pulled the traps by the time this picture was taken, but I had a trap about 30 yards to the right of this location too. That is the trap that kept getting clogged up catching 2 possums and a porcupine.

Here's a cropped close up picture of the bobcat in that second picture. Not the best picture but it looks like it has some spots anyway.

I guess that just means there will be more of them out there next year to catch!

I got a few pictures of some deer as well, but nothing too exciting. Still getting a lot of pictures of the tall young 8 pointer. He seems to spend most of his time on my property. It is going to be a tough call next year if I see him whether I will shoot him or not. He should be pushing Pope & Young minimum next year as a 3 1/2 year old but if he makes it to 4 1/2 he could be a REALLY nice buck. Of course if I don't shoot him next year someone else might so it is going to be a tough call for sure. And that is a big "IF" I see him next year during the season. Lots of time to pass before that happens.
I did get some pictures of a 3 1/2 year old this year after the season was over but he seems pretty sporadic. I got a few pictures of him during the season but it seems like he is only around every 2 or 3 weeks. He had a couple tines broken off this year by the end of the season, but maybe next year he will be the dominant buck and not get so broken up.
I think that's about it for now. Nathan

TRAPPED my first coyote!!!

Well I went back to my last post and edited the title from "Trapped" my first coyote, to "Caught" my first coyote, because for some reason catching one in a snare just didn't seem the same as if I had caught it in a foot hold trap.

And, because now I caught one in a trap!!

I have a few traps set about 400 yards away from the house where I've seen coyotes in the past. You can see our house in the background of this picture. I was able to look out through the upstairs window with my binoculars this morning and see that I had a coyote in the trap! I was pretty excited.

The coyote wasn't a giant by any means but it was an average sized coyote and it was really pretty and since it was my first coyote caught in a trap I decided that I was going to have it tanned. I took it to the taxidermist to skin it and he is going to send it off to be garment tanned and although it will take up to 7 months, it should come back very soft and it should last a lifetime that way. Here is a picture of me holding it in the backyard. I'm 6'2" and 225lbs for reference to size.

I'm actually out of town right now, but I'll be back home tomorrow evening. Things are starting to get busy at work so I'll probably be a little slow again on posting for awhile.

That's about it for now. Nathan

Caught my first coyote!

Well, I went down to pull my traps today and was pretty discouraged. I pulled all the traps and didn't catch anything for the 3rd check in a row. I was getting ready to go home and remembered that I had a couple of snares set that I had forgot to pull up so I went to get them and what do you know! I had caught a coyote!

Here is a picture of the snare from when I set it.

It really doesn't look like a coyote would try to go through there, but they do. Not sure if they just don't see the snare or if they think they can go through it without it closing or what but I guess it works.

Not sure when I'll get back down to the land, I might still go quail hunting sometime before the season ends the first part of February but no plans anytime soon.

That's about it for now.

Nathan