# January Club Hunt



## Mark Steinmann (Jan 28, 2014)

This season is going by really quickly, only 2 more club hunts after this! Tim and I saved this area for January due to it being our best Bobcat spot and we wanted the fur to be prime! Forecast showed a bit of rain mainly overnight on Saturday...so we headed to our spot in search of the cats! The trip ended up being pretty slow going as far as numbers of predators called in but was a great time in the end! I'll recap the 4 stands where we had animals respond.

The third stand of Saturday had us calling some slightly broken country in the flats. Tim was calling down in a cut and I was posted back behind overwatching the area with my AR-15. He ran through a few distress sounds and around the 10 minute mark I saw a Coyote come from our left and he was headed to a small ridge that would allow it to see the source of the sound. Just before it was getting to Tim's angle I had my sticks moved and woofed the Coyote to a stop. The well placed 55gr Sprire Point made the Coyote spin and he ran about 60 yards before expiring. I was able to watch the round hit just above the front leg, double lung shot. He was your average sized desert Male at about 23lbs.

We had 2 more dry stands and the last one put us near a tank and the confluence of a few washes. With nothing showing we decided to walk in further and call another stand. This area is always loaded with Bobcat sign so we had to give it a other call. We crossed the main wash and posted up 50 yards up on the flats. With the sun to our backs Tim sat behind me to gain a different perspective and it paid off big time! I focused to my left and began calling. I worked through bird distress and different rabbit distress sounds, even mixed in some Coyote yelps. Right around 20 minutes in I hear Tim lip squeak a couple times! I very slowly scanned my area and came up with nothing moving! Knowing that it had to be a cat I just froze in place and got back on a call. After a few minutes with Tim not shooting and not seeing anything myself I turned slowly and saw Tim standing up. He motioned that there was something in the tiny depression of a wash next to me. I SLOWLY turned and stood up as Tim advanced and all of the sudden a Bobcat sprung up just feet away and made a mad dash for the thicket! Tim ran a wide circle in hopes of giving me a shot and I began squeezing off rounds of Winchester Varmint X BB's as I saw flashes of the cat through the brush. Just as I would shoot I would lose sight of the cat and then it would reappear a few bushes over running at full tilt! My very last shot before it was going into thick cover connected and I slowed it down enough for Tim to catch up and put the finishing round into the head with his 22 pistol. What a stand! Tim explained that the cat just slowly walked all the way in from my right side all the way across the flats and tucked into the wash just to my side where it disappeared from his view. In the end that cat ended up just 10 steps from me without me ever seeing it.

We did a bunch of dry stands the rest of the day and only had luck one the second to last one. We were driving to get to a cluster of tanks in hopes of calling something out but on the way there was a very fresh pile of scat in the road so we stopped and made a stand. It was in the middle of 2 small washes that had fairly thick cover in points. I set the ecaller out West of us on a dead tree upwind about 40 yards. Tim posted up on the ladder watching South and I stood watching the North side. I started with a rabbit distress loud and proud trying a new sequence due to the lack of luck during the past few hours. Within 3 minutes Tim's gun sounds off and it is met with a loud crack on an animal! He whispered to me that it was a Bobcat and I couldn't believe it! We kept calling but couldn't get anything else to show. That cat had to have been already walking in that section we setup in as Tim said he watched her just walk in from the direction of the wash on his side very similar to the other cat earlier that day.

We spent the night in a tent and it rained most of the night. We made our way to a spot where we have had good success with Coyotes in the past and hiked in before shooting light. Due to it being dark we misjudged the stand location and found ourselves about a half mile off. We made the best of it and hiked in a bit more for a better view on that stand. We sat up about halfway on a big hill to gain a good vantage, both armed with rifles. Tim sat just a bit higher than me to have a different perspective and I began calling. I called for quite a while before the Coyote showed up almost downwind. Tim and I saw his movement at about the same time and we moved to get on him. I didn't know he saw it since he was up above me. As I moved the Coyote looked up at us and paused. I got the scope zoomed and the cross hairs settled as quick as possible thinking it was going to turn and run. To my surprise the Coyote started coming towards us again and when I attempted to stop the Coyote it didn't work. I simply followed the walking Coyote and with it coming right towards us at 100 yards I let a round fly just under the muzzle of the critter. It met its mark and the Coyote simply tipped over in place!

We chose to move areas at lunch but just ended up in an area that didn't produce and looked like it gets called a lot. Ended up with second place bringing in the 2 Coyotes and 2 Bobcats.

Thanks for reading as always, enjoy the pictures! 

































































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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Good write up as always Mark! Congrats to you and Tim. Nice fur on them coyotes.


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

NICE LOOKING CRITTERS, CONGRATS..


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Nice Plate too !!


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

Some fast action and good gunning, Mark. The animals look to have nice fur. Thanks for taking the time to share with us.


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## Mark Steinmann (Jan 28, 2014)

Thanks guys, it was a fun trip with just enough action to keep us on our toes. Beautiful weather throughout the daytime as well which is nice!

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## SWAMPBUCK10PT (Apr 5, 2010)

*Wow !!!! Mark Thanks for sharing your Hunt --Beautiful Fur on them Critters---Congrats on placing 2nd Good Job*

*svb*


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