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It’s after 10 p.m. and I’m in the middle of a massive ranch somewhere between central Texas and the Mexican border. I’m on edge. My wife, Michelle, and I are holding our guns tight, scanning across the mesquite-and-cactus-filled landscape as our guide, Jeff Whiteson, continually sweeps the area with a massive, red-filtered spotlight. The wailing sounds of a wounded rabbit are loud enough to make the whole situation a little disconcerting.

Jeff hits me on the shoulder, not so hard as to cause me to think ill of him, but hard enough to let me know something serious is happening. “Comin’ in,” he says, in a near mute whisper, thick with Texas accent. He sweeps the light in front of me, across a large, thorn-studded bush. A pair of eyes beams back with an eerie red reflection, blinking once. The eyes are close together and forward focusing—predator’s eyes.

“It’s a cat,” Jeff says. “Holed up in that brush.”

“Cat” is the key word, the word that makes us squirm and jump with butterflies. It’s a bobcat, and this one is acting as a typical representative of the species, taking its sweet time stalking the sounds of the dying rabbit. Michelle shifts her position slightly, settling her .243 across the shooting rail of the rack in the back of Jeff’s predator-hunting rig. I lay the forearm of my 12-gauge across the same rack. The electronic call continues to blare the rabbit sounds for 20 seconds at a time before Jeff cuts it off for a moment of silence and then turns it back on.

The cat stalls for a while; it’s agonizing, particularly because Jeff doesn’t let the light settle on the eyes for more than a second at a time, so long as the critter is hung up in the brush. But suddenly another set of eyes, this pair moving much faster, appears on the scene. The eyes are bobbing up and down—the telltale signal of a grey fox—and they speed by the cautious cat without a bit of hesitation. The cat decides it’ll have none of the little canine swiping its rabbit meal, and it too steps into the opening just in front of the call.

“Take ’em, take ’em, take ’em!” Jeff is urgent in his command. Michelle’s .243 roars with a blinding muzzle flash and a report that seems especially deafening at night. The fox tumbles. I squeeze the trigger on my shotgun before the cat can move, and a 3-inch magnum load of high-density B shot drops it with nary a quiver.

The Predator Mecca

Predator hunting has exploded in popularity over the last 10 years. A sport once practiced by a mysterious few outdoorsmen has transformed into a national hunting phenomenon, complete with specialized calls, camo, guns, gear and guides. These days, calling coyotes, foxes and bobcats is popular with hunters, stretching from New England to the arid Southwest. It gives many hunters something to do after season goes out, and what’s more, landowners who often aren’t keen on granting deer or turkey rights will often give hunters access to chase predators.

Popular as the sport is becoming nationwide, it’s always had a following in Texas. In fact, many of the practices among “modern” predator hunters, particularly those who use electronic calls, can be traced back to the tiny Texas town of Menard. This is where the Burnham Brothers Game Calls are produced, and these were among the first electronic predator calls, along with Johnny Stewart’s line (which also originated in Texas), on the market. To this day, Gary Roberson operates Burnham Brothers out of a small shop in Menard.

Jeff Whiteson calls Menard home as well, and he often compares predator-hunting notes with Roberson. Jeff has been an avid predator caller for many years, and he’s been successful—so much so that he’s become an in-demand guide in the area, particularly for bobcats. He’s been guiding a full-scale predator operation for two years.

Jeff’s setup is typical of many Texas predator hunters. With game laws that can best be described as “liberal,” hunting at night is the preferred method. Jeff uses his four-wheel-drive, complete with a posh shooting rack that will accommodate four shooters, in combination with the red-filtered spotlight and e-caller. He begins his rounds just after dark, preferring moonless or cloudy nights.

Bouncing along through the seemingly endless mesquite and cactus, Jeff finds areas with larger openings within the brush. Our first setup of the night was just in front of a round pen, yielding shots at four different foxes as they bobbed and weaved into the opening. One of them came straight down a gravel road, a common occurrence, as predators will look for areas of least resistance when coming to a call, especially at night.

Unlike daylight coyote hunting, where the caller lives and dies by his setup according to the wind, nocturnal sets for foxes, and especially bobcats, don’t require much attention to the wind. Even still, nights are best for hunting. But cats don’t play the wind when circling distress calls. Foxes will play the wind game to a degree, especially red foxes, but grey foxes often respond so aggressively (and in such numbers in places) that the wind is a worry the hunter needn’t consider. Coyotes are very cautious about approaching any nighttime setup in that part of the world, and since so many hunters have their hearts set on bobcats, coyotes are a distant, secondary consideration.

Here, Kitty Kitty

Jeff used both Burnham Brothers and FoxPro e-callers during our hunt. With both callers combined, there are a hundred or more variations of sounds, most of which are designed to attract hungry predators. However, Jeff focused on the classics—the distressed baby cottontail, along with a few jackrabbit squalls mixed in at the end of each setup. At times, he’ll throw in woodpecker distress sounds, and at the right time of year, he’ll throw a bobcat-in-heat sound in at the end of the setup. Most of the time, however, if it’s going to get done, the rabbit call does it.

Bobcats are unique among predators in that they often take the longest to respond to a call. Like a housecat stalking a bird under a feeder, bobcats will hole up in brush and study things for several minutes before taking a single step. Jeff gave each setup a solid half-hour, often letting foxes move in and out, before moving on. For cats, the thicker the cover, the better, provided there’s an opening for the shot. Intersections of sorts, such as two dirt roads, or a dirt road and a fence line, are always good places to sit and call.

If You Go

Though we had a few 50- to 70-yard shots during our trip, where Michelle’s .243 and Jeff’s custom .22-250 came in handy, most were between 30 and 40 yards. I used my shotgun, teamed with a good predator load and tight choke, to take the cat and a fox or two. Several good shotgun loads are on the market these days, including offerings from Remington, Winchester, Federal and Hevi-Shot. Turkey loads and buckshot loads (not legal in every state, but legal in Texas) are good choices as well. Whatever load you decide on, pattern it extensively from your gun, as predators are among the toughest targets out there for the shotgunner.

If two folks are hunting, putting one on rifle duty while leaving the other with a shotgun and pocket full of shells is a good arrangement. Also, keep in mind that wounded predators have sharp teeth, and they bite when unwelcome hands reach for them under mesquite bushes. I carried my revolver to finish things when needed, and it was needed on more than one occasion.

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