No buck.. Bobcat instead

S

shayes11

New Member
Went deer hunting on the closing weekend of D9. Saw too many doe to count and two little spikes. We did see a nice big old bear crossing the road as we were pulling up to out hunting spot. I somehow lost the pictures, but his track was bigger than my size 11's. Tracked him for over a mile and I eventually lost him in a rock field.

Went back up the next day to look for the bear and about 1/4 mile away I look up the hillside and see white spots sitting on a stump. Pull out the rangefinder and it says 39 yards. Now I'm torn, do I waste time putting on my release and knocking an arrow or do I jump out behind this rock pile an grab the 12 gauge out of the bed....I decide the shotgun is quicker so I drop out of the truck. Grab the gun and make a run up behind these rocks. The whole time she is just watching me from the stump. The only shells in my pocket are 7 1/2's that I had used when I popped a few mountain quail earlier in the day. I load up and put the bead right at the base of her neck. First shot hit her square and she stumbled off hurt but not dead. So I run up a few more yards and finish her off.

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Didn't end up seeing any more bear or bucks. 3 Mountain Quail, 2 Valley Quail and the cat. Not a bad day of hunting.

She's stretched and drying out back now. She stretched out to 37 inches. Pretty big female. Getting the skull cleaned as I type this and hopefully dipped in the next few weeks.
 
Thanks guys! She wasn't my first cat but might be the biggest.

Taft, are you doing a life size? I wanted to but they are so expensive. I got two really nice Mountain Quail the same day that would have made a nice mount. I just tubed her pelt and I'm sending it off to a tannery in the next couple weeks. Want to get all of the major So Cal fur bearers pelts and skulls done. Would be a cool conversation piece.
 
That's what I'm looking at, maybe with a chukar. And yeah super expensive! I also have a badger that needs to be done..
 
Thanks again guys. Just to put it in perspective, I'm 6'1 230lbs. Pretty big. Just pulled her off the stretcher and cleaned up the pelt with borax. Crazy what borax will do! Shipping it off to the tannery at the end of the month.

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Excuse the mess. Just got some stuff back from powdercoat and have no where to put it.
 
where did you get your stretcher? My dad has some back in Idaho but I can only find them online and I would much rather support localish.
 
I took this one from my buddy. It's homemade but he usually buys his from a guy in Colorado. He traps so he's got 10+ laying around the garage. I just took the most beat up one he had.
 
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