I posted my search on the "Canadian hunting" and the "Fur hunting and trapping" forum.
One of the members wrote me now I should probably also post it here.

Hi.
Bobcat is one of the cats that I still have on my list.
Who hunted bobcat and could help me with suggestions? I shot already a mountain lion; it would be just for bobcat.
It should be either with hounds or with a caller.(FoxPro?)
I saw some nice videos on youtube where they used callers for bobcat and it worked great.
I prefer them with a nice winter coat, so it should be in a State further north.

The price should be reasonable. I found places in Canada that take more than $5000 for a 5-day hunt or up to $7000 for a week.
Who of you US-hunters know where non-residents from Europe can hunt them?
Thanks for your help and take care Roger

I'd look at a guided predator night hunt in southern US. TX possibly. Very common to get bobcats along with the coyotes and grey fox. Missouri has quite a few along with Oklahoma.

Your best bet is a South Texas ranch around Laredo..You can shoot as many as 10 a day on some ranches. I have shot probably a hundred or so from deer stands during deer season, same with Javalina..West Texas south of Marathon is a good place to shoot a Bob Cat and Javalina at probably $100 per day, and no limit, good place to call, I have shot as many as 5 or 6 a night calling.

Try Alpine, Marfa, Sanderson area, all close to Big Bend and lotsa varmints...

Hi.
Are all theese areas in western Texas?
A game warden from Brewster County mailed me I should contact Tony Tebbe. He is doing bobcat hunts in western Texas.
I could not find out if the outfitters from Texas have an outfitters organisation.
Do you know any reliable outfitter in this area?

Take care Roger

If you get a reply, recommendation from a Texas Game Warden take it to the bank! They know most of the best outfitters in their area .They also know the best places to hog hunt.

PS. West Texas raises thousands of sheep and goats thus the predators follow the food.. Deer and pronghorn antelope also. If I remember correctly Brewster County is the largest county in Texas. It is three times the size of the state of Delaware

I ranched in Brewster county for more than a few years and I grew up in Brewster and Presidio county...Its good coyote hunting and Bobcats are fairly plentiful..The real Bobcat country is the Texas Brush country around Laredo, Texas....I've sat in deer stands and seen as many as 4 or 5 in an hour crossing the senderos..Contact the City of Laredo and other Texas citys near Laredo, they sometimes have a list of ranches that have hunts..A bobcat or coyote hunt should not cost you very much if you go direct to the rancher...There are few outfitters in Texas by comparison, as its mostly all private land however a few ranchers lease the hunting rights to individuals who then sub lease hunts..There are no "licensed outfitters" or an outfitters organization that I know of in Texas unless some interprising young wolf has formed one. I would deal direct with the local ranches and wouldn't expect to pay more than $50 to a $100 per day, not including room and board. I think we talked, did you have any luck, if not, I'll check around and find you a place.

You Texans do have lots of bobcats.
BUT: how good is the fur on them in such warm country?

Much better furred up north, or in the high country in winter. The man wants a nice fur most of all not just to kill a bobcat for the sake of killing one.

Thanks,
George

high country in winter.
yeah no problem there is only like 14' of snow up there.
I'd skip the northern states and go right up to Canada.
the open plains in Saskatchewan should have some good opportunity's and outfitters are pretty much on every town's website.
September would maybe be best or later on after the freeze and the ducks move on down south would be the easier times to find a guide looking for work.

Snow: I drove to Denver a month ago in that 26" blizzard. About as bad as I've ever seen. most of the time I couldn't tell where we were rolling along about 5-10mph wishing I was home by a nice fire, or in bed.
105 miles, hour and a half or so trip took 4 1/2hrs that day then the doctor called the day off "due to too much snow" so it was a wasted trip, then had to spend the night in a motel as too many had parked on the SB hwy. Total pain.
Much of the time couldn't see 10 feet.

Next time I saw the doc I tried to tease him a bit. He's from Hungary. "hey doc, what's the deal you have to take the day off for a little bit of snow, don't it snow in Hungary?" "not that much". "you need to hang around til it REALLY snows, like 5-6 feet over night". He didn't seem to have any humor, much like he didn't believe it ever snows like that. I'd like to take him over Wolf Creek Pass in the dead of winter sometime. OR over Snowqualmie in Wash. Or spend a week where I've hunted elk at LaJara Res. where it snows 3-4' many nights and has dumped 7 feet one night. Not much hunting on such days. Real hassle to get out to gas up the generator every 6-8 hours.

I drove that in winter in a cabover and the build up in the median I could barely see the top 5" of 13'6" semi trailers on the other side.
No way you could crash and hit anything, it's like a toboggan run, just one groove each way with snow banked up 12-20 feet on the sides.

Glad I got to drive the country when I did, but, sure glad I hung it up too and I do like to travel and look.

George

Since Texas has open season year around on preditors you can hunt in Dec and Jan. and the pelts are OK...but not like in Idaho or Colorado for instance, but if you call up a Lion, hog or Javalina your expected to shoot it and probably no charge in Texas..

Pelts are on average a bit better in DEC and JAN, in the Big Bend area that So. Texas as it higer and dryer. However I used to send my Bobcats to Colorado to a friend and he put them in with his Lynx and I got $600 a pelt for what the buyers thought were young Lynx..so did the game dept. and the bioligists.. go figure..

The towns of Alpine, Marfa, Marathon, Sanderson, actually from Del Rio to El Paso has Bobcat...My suggestion is South of Marathon to the Big Bend Park would be the best..

I would go direct to the ranchers and deal with them, outfitters just add to the cost..Best to call in this area as stands are non esistant..I always called out of the back of my pickup, and got from 1 to 5 or 6 bobcats a night and more coyotes than Bobcats....I put a pillow on top of the cab to kill the metallic sound, turned on the casset player with a dieing rabbit, meowing kittens or a bird call, got a big hand held spotlight Q-beam, cover the ligt with red cellophane or buy a red globe...Bright lights will run a coyote off sometimes. I lay a shotgun and a rifle on the cab..

For Coyotes get on a high knob, for bobcats get in a brushy draw...coyotes, foxes, Lions, Bobcats and ringtails will come to the calls there.

Id be hunting for $50 per day..Some might charge a $100 per day, especially if they know your from the East or North!!

When I ranched there I charged $50 to some and didn't charge others, just depended on my mood and how busy I was, sometimes I told them where to hunt and sometimes I went with them..Deer hunting was part of my ranching business and that's a whole nuther ball game. Getting rid of preditors just made deer management easier..

George,
I had the same problem in Oct. no snow and good weather and traffic was bumper to bumper for 100 miles on each side of Denver...Nightmare at 20 miles per hour even on the turnpike that I got lead off on twice and had fines to pay when I got home. I never saw a box to pay in!! I think its a racket...

The beautiful town of Walzenburg has all but shut down except for 15,000 new resident hippies growing dope and 3 pot stores..movie is closed and only two resturants left..What a shame.

Hi Ray:

I just got back on this thread. Real shame the drugs taking over. George from the drive in died a couple months ago. I enjoyed eating at his places over the years.

One spring i went down for turkeys 10 mi S out Walsenburg. Lot of cast elk horns laying around their pasture. Never been back. On the dirt road that goes straight south from the S loop. IS that near where you hunt elk?

I was in a ghillie suit walking up the hill when three elk came running up and jumped a fence about 10 feet from me. Don't think they even knew I was there. Heard 'em coming and stopped to see what the racket was. Quite a thrill.

I'd never called for turkeys before. Guess I had some coming in when I gave up and headed out of the sparse tree's. Spooked some out the other guys said.

George

Took several in W TX at night with rabbit call.

How was the fur on 'em?

George

The south TX brush is full of kitties right now. We are going on three yrs of rain that has the rodent population thriving! I see at least one cat a week just driving around, called in 2 in one sitting hunting coyotes and see at least one every time you sit in a stand hunting.
The fur is great right now due to our cold winter BUT I have no comparison for how it compares to cats from the north.

Perry

I hunt elk almost every year out of Walsenburg, the area is crawling with elk, and I see monster antelope and turkeys daily, not to mention some huge whitetail and mule deer...Its low hills and easy hunting..Last year I suggested Biebs call a rancher frind of mine for a cow elk hunt and he and his friends did 100%. as I do each year..Not a fancy outfit but we all get our elk within a day or two (cows) bulls take a bit longer sometimes.

His ranch borders Walzenburg and is 80,000 acres. His name is Ross Mckinna, 719-738-1119, he puts you up in the Odd fellows lodge that he bought and your in town, you get breakfast and a sack lunch and a room..A local guide and they are good elk hunters..Not fancy but the do produce, He has a lot of coyotes and I saw a Lion in a hay field one evening..made my day..Give him a call if interested..

I been hunting in Idaho, I have a good friend that ranches and gets about 10 depredation cow tags a year and I get one of those these days so didn't go back to Colorado this year.

quote:

Originally posted by perry:
The south TX brush is full of kitties right now. We are going on three yrs of rain that has the rodent population thriving! I see at least one cat a week just driving around, called in 2 in one sitting hunting coyotes and see at least one every time you sit in a stand hunting.
The fur is great right now due to our cold winter BUT I have no comparison for how it compares to cats from the north.

Perry

FWIW the Texas air-drops over a million rabies vaccine baits every year since 1995. Predators have benefited enormously as a result; coyote and fox rabies have been eliminated altogether. I think recent programs target skunk rabies and the border area to keep rabies from migrating back up from Mexico.

Maybe if you're a rancher that isn't the favorite outcome but it does make for productive hunting.

Texas eliminated the "screw worm fly" dropping boxes that sterilized the buggers, and the deer population became an epidemic..We are supposed to shoot 109 does a year on the ranch I hunt, its a low fenced ranch with wild deer..We opted to shoot 60 this year I think. Lots of deer, turkeys and low and behold no hogs, few preditors!!! No wonder we have so many deer.