Called a cat in.

I have to tell you guys a story about 2 seasons ago coyote hunting.

I go into a area where 5 draws come together with my 18yo daughter to call some coyotes. There is about 2in of fresh snow on the ground. We set up with out backs against a rock cliff about 10-12 feet tall. We are facing west and the sun is coming up so we are in the shadow of the rock ledge behind us. My foxpro and mojo are about 60 yards in front of us and we have pretty good view down 4 of theses shallow draws. Up above the draws in farm land mostly wheat stubble. The animals use these draws like a highway to travel. I turn the caller on and start out really soft. I go through 3-4 call sequences and turn up the volume more and more. Its weird we always get a couple of coyotes here. Nothing dead silence. I am thinking what the heck is going on and all of a sudden in the shadow projecting out from above us is the outline of a cougar. I see him standing there for a bit looking out at the caller I think more specifically at the little flipping flopping spinning mojo. The cat sits down about this time my daughter notices the shadow I look at her and shes white as a sheet. I am thinking in my head if the cat hops off the rock ledge he's going to land right in our laps. I turned the call off. I am trying to run thru what is going to happen when this cat hops down. I kind of look up and I can see the tip of its muzzle and i can see the mist in the cold air as the cat is breathing. I am carrying my AR in 17Rem and my daughter has her AR in 204 Ruger we dont have 60gr of lead between us. On my AR I have a burris fast fire on a 45deg mount so I can shoot coyotes close and moving with it. I turned it on. My daughter has a 4-16 zeiss on her AR. I think well I know either of the guns will kill the cat but I dont know how long with a vitals shot, we have to shut off central nervous system. I think well if I can lean out a bit and turn around towards the cat I might slip one under its chin. As I start to turn I have on a gortex coat and it just barely I mean barely touched the rock and you know the sound it makes and instantly the cougar is gone. Neither my daughter or I ever heard a sound. I stand up and take a couple steps out of the shadow and cant see the cougar anymore. So we walk around and up above where we were sitting and can see where the cat was sitting in the snow and it was less then 15 ft from us. Stuff slowed down like crazy while this was all going on and I didnt realize. The cat had been there for well over 1/2 hour just sitting watching that mojo. From the track it was a pretty good sized cat Id guess 125lb or so its hard to judge it but was definitely not a juvenile cat track and when it left it was running and it was pretty long strides.

Now I dont even go coyote hunting without my 10mm in my chest rig. It made me think i wonder how many cats have sat and watched me and I never knew they were there...
 
I believe the same thing. I've called up a few cats that I was able to see, but I imagine that I've called in a whole lot more than I've seen. Generally when I see one, it's just a glimpse, and it gives me the impression that most of them pass undetected. We have plenty of them where I live, but they seem to stick to the thick brush. I see tracks all over the place, and call right on top of them. Their senses seem to be far better than a coyote, except smell. They don't seem to circle for wind, but I think they think nothing of standing 10 feet into a tree line and observing for as long as it takes for them to be comfortable. I think they will often sit there watching for 10 minutes or longer, and when you have had enough of that gnat buzzing your face and decide to almost imperceptibly push it away, they see it and are gone. I also think their color perception may be much better than a coyote. Coyotes only see in 2 shades as I understand it, and unless they see motion, you can get away with a garbage camo job, but cats seem to see everything. Disclaimer: everything I just said may be wrong, it's only what I've observed.

Time means nothing to an animal, and they can stand there watching you for far longer than you can sit there without moving. I called in a bobcat one time while turkey hunting in western PA, and the only thing that clued me in to his presence was when I had the feeling that I was being watched. I have no idea how long it took for me to figure out that what I was looking at was the face of a cat, but he just sat here like a statue for even longer after that. At one point he turned and looked directly at me, and then we made eye contact. That was the end of that encounter, as you might have guessed. The cat just disappeared - melted back into the background and just wasn't there any more.
 
Nope, I videoed it moving from left to right until he was out of sight and back in the woods. It walked under my stand and looked up and back a few times, knowing something was not quite right. The video is about 4 min long. A very rewarding experience. It's amazing the animal activities I see from my stands, sometimes I shoot, sometimes I just watch and video. Cept the yotes I always shoot the yotes.
That's good - you should always shoot the yotes.
 
I believe the same thing. I've called up a few cats that I was able to see, but I imagine that I've called in a whole lot more than I've seen. Generally when I see one, it's just a glimpse, and it gives me the impression that most of them pass undetected. We have plenty of them where I live, but they seem to stick to the thick brush. I see tracks all over the place, and call right on top of them. Their senses seem to be far better than a coyote, except smell. They don't seem to circle for wind, but I think they think nothing of standing 10 feet into a tree line and observing for as long as it takes for them to be comfortable. I think they will often sit there watching for 10 minutes or longer, and when you have had enough of that gnat buzzing your face and decide to almost imperceptibly push it away, they see it and are gone. I also think their color perception may be much better than a coyote. Coyotes only see in 2 shades as I understand it, and unless they see motion, you can get away with a garbage camo job, but cats seem to see everything. Disclaimer: everything I just said may be wrong, it's only what I've observed.
Got plenty of em here in South LA. They are drawn in to the mousy squeaks very easily if they are around. I've noticed that they lock up and sit for a while staring when squeaking stops. When you squeak again, they move in quickly but in stealth mode with body close to the ground like a house cat. When they notice it's all fake... they can disappear much quicker than they arrive! Makes the coyote hunt fun.
 
Went for coyotes was in a 20 foot observation tower up the road from me at a doctor friends place, lots of rock cliffs there.
In the past called several coyotes and foxes in, this guy came in but got a free pass, not many around in this part of Ohio.
Last fall, however the landowner keeps seeing them on occasion.
Yep, it does happen, it's the reason why I always hand a pistol in my lap when calling mountain Yotes on ground level, there was always that chance of Bear or Cat coming in from behind and me not picking it up until it was right on me'..., my pistol was just easier to get into action if needed.
 
Went for coyotes was in a 20 foot observation tower up the road from me at a doctor friends place, lots of rock cliffs there.
In the past called several coyotes and foxes in, this guy came in but got a free pass, not many around in this part of Ohio.
Last fall, however the landowner keeps seeing them on occasion.
Yup...house cats are known to go feral too!
 
We have quite a few in our part of TX as well. Initially, my wife and daughters thought they were too cute to kill, but then my wife witnessed one of them trotting across our yearling horse pasture with her favorite barn cat in its mouth. No more resistance about shooting them now:)

If you shoot that one, your wife will probably fix you your favorite dinner for your reward.
 
Already done!
Already done!
Good for you ! Every time the nasty critters eat one of your wife's kitty-cats, you bring back a carcass and then you get to eat like the king. That's the way it works around here when the squirrels eat my wife's rose bushes. I go pop one with the pellet gun and she says "Is that the one that I saw eating my roses ? I tell her "Yup, that's the one." "Great !!! What do you want for dinner ?"
 

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