CAT TALES

My dog's trainer down at Bent Creek Preserve in Allentown said a bobcat was treed on the propery not long ago, and up on the Pennsy farm I hunt I saw my first wild cat, a large critter stalking along one of those old stone walls farmer's built around their fields 100 or so years ago to keep livestock in, or out.
A recent report says New Jersey's bobcat population may be rising, although spotting same is a rare treat.
Bobcats from New England were released here back in the 1970s by the Division of Fish and Wildlife (Fish & Game) back then before the outfit went politically correct.

COYOTE ROUNDUP

Coyotes are becoming a bit pesky in New Jersey, but in Pennsy they're a damn nuisance killing fawns, rabbits, birds, etc.
The recent Northeast Regional Coyote Hunt, in its 13 year, bagged 58 of the wild dogs.
Some 841 hunters took part, which means about one in 14 was successful, or less than seven percent.
Given the wary and wily nature of the coyote that's actually not a bad ratio.
Hunters could use dogs, calls or good old fashioned tracking in the snow.
A $2,000 grand prize was awarded for the heaviest coyote which was a 46.95 pound critter from Susquehanna County, which also recorded the most of the 58 taken with 16.
That's where my camp is and I hear coyotes howling at night, never seen one though...and now there are 16 fewer in the hills.