Daver
PMA Member
Just a curiosity...if you are just starting to see cats in your area...what does your turkey population look like? I would be interested to hear your thoughts in the future if the cat numbers rise and the turkey numbers fall, etc.
You will absolutely see fewer squirrels in your timber IMO...for many deer hunters though, that is a good thing.
I think you will notice fewer turkeys too, but will be curious to see.
You will absolutely see fewer squirrels in your timber IMO...for many deer hunters though, that is a good thing.
I think you will notice fewer turkeys too, but will be curious to see.
hillrunner
PMA Member
They are an elusive critter, I get a few pictures every year, but I almost never see one. I like having a few around, I'd love to shoot one sometime. We've had cats for a while in Western IA and the Turkey numbers have been very high at the same time. I'd happily give up a few turkeys to have a few cats around. The woods would be pretty boring if it was all deer and Turkey.
I am overrun by turkeys and get cats nonstopJust a curiosity...if you are just starting to see cats in your area...what does your turkey population look like? I would be interested to hear your thoughts in the future if the cat numbers rise and the turkey numbers fall, etc.
You will absolutely see fewer squirrels in your timber IMO...for many deer hunters though, that is a good thing.
Not saying there isn't a correlation. Not saying there is.
I did talk to DNR at length about this topic. They swear there is zero correlation....
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Daver
PMA Member
I have talked with several DNR personnel, at length, over the years about this too and yes, they remain convinced that there is no cat/turk correlation. I remain skeptical that their opinion is correct. The key reason why is that the normal reasons, which are very valid BTW, given to explain the very precipitous turk decline do NOT explain what I, and other neighbors, have personally witnessed.
That is...1. Predators taking out nests - very valid IMO. 2. Weather/rain - that floods nests and/or kills poults from exposure - also very valid. BUT, and I cannot stress this enough...when our turk population was in free fall, about 10'ish years ago now, we COMMONLY found dead, ADULT turkey carcasses. The primary reasons given by the DNR, again, very valid IMO, affect eggs/poults, not ADULTS.
Every adult carcass we found in those days was eaten, usually freshly. On one particular day my son found 4 or 5 fresh dead adults, which I found terribly unusual, as in all my years I rarely if ever found a dead adult turkey carcass...let alone 4 or 5 in one day! It so happened that when we came out to the road after several hours in our timber, we met some neighbors at the road...guess what...they reported finding several dead turks that day too! What the...? Roughly 10 dead adults in say 300 acres or so. Unreal.
So while I do not dispute that nest predators and weather can really do a number on overall numbers, I do not for a minute think those factors explain finding so many dead adults in such a tight time frame. Through the years I have come to wonder though if there was some sort of disease factor that killed the birds and then something, bobcat or otherwise, found them and ate them up. That is a plausible explanation to why we found so many dead adults in the time period IMO. There is some "movement" on this front as more and more agencies are studying why the turk pop has dropped so much over a wide range of the whole country. Be glad you still have good numbers...I miss a good spring gobbler hunt.
But it is also true that our steep decline in turks coincided perfectly with the rise of bobcat sightings...so I am still leaning towards that being a factor. Thus concludes today's rant.
JNRBRONC
Well-Known Member
My first bobcat trailcam pic was back in 2013. That first year I only had one three pic series. This year, I've gotten more pics scattered across multiple cameras and properties. Seems that most of them are in the middle of the night, with only an occasional dawn/dusk pic (no pics midday). So if they are middle of the night hunters, not sure if they are climbing huge oak trees to get the turkeys off the roost. Maybe in thicker timber the cats are day time hunters and encounter turkeys on the ground?
kelcher
Well-Known Member
So since we got this first trail cam pic I have had two in person sightings in our county. One maybe two miles from where that camera was and one about 10miles away.
Crazy how a guy could not see any in the area ever and then in a matter of a few months have multiple sightings.
Crazy how a guy could not see any in the area ever and then in a matter of a few months have multiple sightings.
cybball
Well-Known Member
My place in Ringgold Co is full of cats. I get pics on a pretty regular basis and I see them in person on quite a few hunts. They are really cool to see and watch. Back when I trapped (around 2005 to 2015), I caught a couple in Madison county. Had to let one go before you could keep them (which was fun). I do like having them around, but wonder about Turkeys as Daver said. I'm not seeing much for turks and see lots of cats, but do believe all of the other factors have taken their toll.
CottonwoodCanyon
Well-Known Member
I got a pic of a female and three kittens about a month ago, pretty cool. South-central. Our turkey population seems to be doing just fine and I definitely consider myself lucky in that regard. Nest raiding predators (namely racoons) will always be harder on ground nesting bird populations than coyotes and bobcats getting adult birds. Trap coons, skunks, possums, fox, etc before worrying about bobcats.
Rut Nut
RUT_NUT
We have lots of bobcats and lots of turkeys. I had 3 bobcats by my stand this morning. A momma and two young. We have been trapping coons during the summer with permission of game warden for crop damage and have averaged over 100 coons a year the last 4 yrs. This probably has helped the bird population as much as anything.
hillrunner
PMA Member
That's a lot of coons. That had to have a big impact.
How big of an area are you trapping to get that many?
Husker
PMA Member
I have had bobcats on my property for several years now, getting multiple pictures most every camera card pull. Hadn't seen one up there in person yet until last Sunday. Walking into my stand corn on my right, woods on my left with about a 10 yard wide path give or take. About 150 yards ahead of me a bobcat comes out of the corn and walks across the opening & glances my direction, but heads into the woods. I to got about 20-30 yards from where I figured it crossed and out of the woodline comes the cat, runs about 10 yards or so in front of me into the corn field GROWLING. It was not happy with me being there... all I can figure is it didn't know what I was when it crossed the opening and it sat on the woodline watching me until I got too close for comfort.... I don't care to repeat that again anytime soon, I was a bit jumpy walking out in the dark that night.