Allen “horntagger” Morris | Missouri
I am a landowner in Southeast Missouri and I’ve been practicing quality habitat/wildlife management for the past eight years. Part of that process is using game cameras for wildlife monitoring. When November 1 rolls around and others are getting excited about whitetails, I’m also getting excited about what furbearers are roaming my woods and where I should be putting my traps.
With all the predators roaming my woods I decided to step up my game this year. Eight months earlier I took a four-hour drive to attend a cable-restraint-certification class put on by the Missouri Department of Conservation and hosted by the Missouri Trappers Association.
This past November I got a glance at my first ever rosetta bobcat on my game camera on the northwest side of my property. It was like watching a Jungle Cat. I’ve never seen anything like it. I was able to get more photos of this unique cat along with a very large bobcat on November 14, but this time on the southeast side of my property.
I set my cable restraints on a few trails going to deer carcasses that I had placed from firearms season in the center of my property. On Black Friday (November 28) I walked up to my sets and their stands a bobcat with rosetta spots!
There was tons of excitement centered around these rosetta spots as I shared photos with folks. I even had five offers within 24 hours to buy this 16-pound female cat. I was going to sell it to a fur buyer and then found out how rare it was for this area. It’s likely I’ll never catch another one in my lifetime, so I decided to get it mounted.
It’s always a good day to catch the ultimate predator and a beautiful bobcat!
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