Hunters may not hear a bobcat move through the woods, but when shot, they don’t go quietly .
“When you shoot a bobcat with a bow everything in the
“Squirrels, deer all make noise, but those things walk on little stones or logs and
For the last couple of months, local hunters have been in the woods hunting deer, squirrels, turkey, quail and other game. And although they haven’t targeted the bobcat, some have harvested the cats because they tend to prey on turkey and small deer.
Bobcat season runs from Dec. 1 to March 31 state wide, according the to the
“We have bobcats in
“And they prey on turkey and fawn,” he said.
The bobcat does its hunting in the early morning or late evening.
“When it’s cold, they hunt more for their food,” Shoultz said.
Couvillion said on the two occassions he has encountered bobcats it was on the coldest days in the woods.
“It was in the teens,” said Couvillion, who was deer hunting in
On the day before he harvested the bobcat, one of the guys on the property saw a bobcat with a turkey.
“We knew they were prone to eat turkey and smaller deer,” Couvillion said.
“They are just like coyotes, bobcats are predators, so we take them off the property because they hurt our deer population.”
Couvillion has killed only two over the last few years, one in 2012 and another in 2013, and both at first daylight before the sun peaked over the mountain.
“One was in the fog and all I could see was the white spots on the back of its ears,” Couvillion said.
He shot that one straight down with a bow, while sitting in his tree stand.
“I was saying, ‘Oh please don’t come up this tree.’ There wasn’t a hair on my body that wasn’t straight out and just standing on end,” Couvillion said.
“And when they pass, they give a death growl,” he said, imitating this awful howling noise.
He shot the other bobcat the next year with a rifle.
“It was another cold, cold morning and it was just as quite as it could be in the woods. I never heard either cat, even the one that was below my tree.”
“And the only reason I’d kill one is because they eat our deer and turkeys,” he said.
The bobcats were 18 and 28 pounds each.
How can something no bigger than that take down a small deer or turkey?
“Oh man, the toenails on those things are well over a ½ inch,” as well as their teeth, Couvillion said. “And they are so fast.”
“You’ve played with a house cat before and they get aggressive … well take that and put that into a wild animal, four times that size and you have a force to reckon with.”
Couvillion said the two bobcats he killed are the only ones he has seen in the wild.
“I was not targeting a bobcat, but they were there where I was trying to hunt,” he said.
As a matter of fact, on both occasions on his next day in the tree stand he harvested a deer.
“So I didn’t feel like I had bad karma for taking them, because I was still able to harvest my groceries,” he said.
Couvillion had both bobcats mounted and are now in his home.
While he killed his to protect his hunting ground, others have been known to trap bobcats for the pelts.
Deckhand Andrew Ready on the Destin Princess said his dad used to trap bobcats for their pelts.
But when the price of the pelts went down, it got to be too much trouble, Ready said.
Although bobcats are found throughout
They’re not going to cause property damage, Shoutz said.
“But if you have chickens, they might cause problems.”
For more information about bobcats, go to myfwc.com.