Merry christmas to me!!

[lyonch]

On christmas day i ended up at my grandparents house for a luncheon and decided that instead of sitting around and BSing i was going to go check the one snare i had hanging on a pond i was trapping muskrats at, and the bucket sets in the barn i set for coon. Well i checked the buckets with no luck (i think it was too warm to force them into the barns). I took the short drive over to the north end of the property and looked across the pond where i had some muskrat carcasses dumped and noticed they were all gone. So i got out onto tht ice and started wallking up the frozen beaver run when i noticed the snare was gone!! I thought hmmm i wonder if something knocked it over since i didn't see any of the area torn up. So as i walk closer i notice something laying in the grass. I didn't know what to think of it at first until i saw the short tail I walked up to it and did a little happy dance Wow this is a great christmas day present i thought LOL. Out of the several trail cams that were on the property, no one got a picture of any bobcat. I know this was pure dumb luck, but i would rather be lucky than good in this case LOL. I know in northern MN there are several cats and most guys catch their 5 cat quota fairly easy. In this area, you don't even hear of anyone talk about visuals on bobcats. well without more blabbling the cat weighed 32 lbs and from the nose to the base of the tail as it hung from a nail measured 44 inches. I am having a full body mount done on him. I know he isn't an EO callers kick a$$ colored cat, or a wyoming/montana $1,000 cat, but this one has some meaning behind it, and well I was tickled pink to get him. So does anyone have any cat mounts they would like to share or a taxidermist that is good at mounting cats?? I don't want a halloween costume looking cat like some people end up with!!

[Tim Anderson]

Good job on the cat.. Surprised you have'nt caught more of them......

[lyonch]

Tim - i haven't ever cut a cat track in my area before. I did hear last year an older gentlemen caught 3 of them around sauk centre, MN. He metioned that he had several trail cam pics of the cats before he trapped them. I know if i venture north about an hour i would get into cat country. especially around the brainerd lakes area and breezy point.

[Coyotehunter]

Here is my first Minnesota cat...34+ lbs.....trail snare. Very cool Chris, good work.

[Prairie Ghost]

Very Awesome Chris Congrats!!!!

I would bring it to Sportsmans Taxidermy in East Grand Forks Jim Benson He did most if not all of Ron Schmidts stuff. 218-773-7972

[EO caller]

Well Chris My cats might be a bit more spotted, but that SOB is 10 inches longer and 20 lb heavier than the last one I caught. Which seems like a year ago. Its so freakin slow right now. I'm on shit ground thats been dogged and trapped to death. But starting next week I'm moving my stuff to virgin untouched kitty paradises. Just had to wait till the bird hunter were gone in a few spots. I hope I can hook up a 44 incher myself. Great job Chris. I can't wiat to see your put up on him.

[Tim Anderson]

Cats are most anywhere north of #94, farther west you go the higher the pop.

[Coyotehunter]

its not much of a population. I had one DNR employee tell me at the Sundrud Furs for the estimated cat population for the entire state was around 2500.......not sure were he got that data but that is what he was saying during his talk.

[Tim Anderson]

Here are some numbers from the DNR..
Bobcat harvest for 2010-11. 1012 by trapping and 195 by hunters..

The 3 counties north of Chris, Cass, Crow, Morrison produced around 23,29, and 117 cats last season.
Over all the cat harvest numbers have been around 800 for a year to year Avr.....

[bucksnbears]

thats cool Chris. i wish i would have been with you when you walked up and seen that. bet there was some happy dancing

[lyonch]

Thanks for all the great comments!

Bucks yes there was a happy dance when i saw him laying there Good thing you weren't there or it would have been two grown men dancing and screaming like school girls

Great cat coyotehunter!! Did you keep the skull from yours? I going to try and get it back from the DNR so i can have the skull beetled.

Prairieghost - i was at ron's house for a new years party and was looking at his bobcat that jim benson mounted for him. I do plan on talking with jim about it, and look at some other cat mounts he has done. I need to get that stupid cites tag on it first, then i can start looking a little harder.

I live right in the corner of 3 counties pretty much, stearns, morrison, and todd counties. Morrison county is a huge county much like stearns and the majority of those cats are taken in the NE corner of that county. In todd county most of that cats are taken in the northern part of that county. My cat was taken in todd county. I might have to do a little more research to see how many exact numbers have been harvested around me.


I do have a question for you cat guys - after i skun this cat for taxidermy, i opened the stomach up to see the contents and well there wasn't anything in that cats stomach. I mean nothing not any hair or anything it was 100% bonified empty. I thought that was really odd to see a cats stomach empty like that. Could it be from wanting to breed and traveling so much?

[Coyotehunter]

A little early for breeding

[LeviM]

You are a lucky bastard, it still doesnt make up for your mistakes earlier

[1Shooter]

Awesome catch Chris! That kicks some a$$! You should get it taxied like it's jumping up at a pheasant or putting a stalk on something. I've always thought mounts of predators hunting looked really cool. Congrats again man!

[DustyC]

Nice cat Chris!