Deer season is still open here in MO. BeeMaa guilted me into getting into the woods this morning, so 0758 I am set on my stool waiting for a buck to wander by. 15 minutes goes by and I hear something to my left/east. I turn my head and see what I thought was a trio of coyotes crouch running through the woods. Then I lose them against the forest floor due to their coats being such great camo. I turn directly east on the seat, dig out the squeaker from one of my dog's old toys and put it into my mouth, lean out over my elbow with the rifle. Two sprint on north, one swaps ends and head back south. Now I can see it was a trio of BOBCATS, not coyotes! (Figure must have been a mother and two cubs.) This makes the 4th, 5th and 6th bobcats I have ever seen. I get the scope on the one headed south, and I lose her. Then I find and track her - I am just about to break the trigger and she walks behind a 1' tree. I lose her coming out from behind it. I have to pull off the scope to re-acquire her. Just before she goes over the ridge she stops and checks her 6 - I see this, get the scope on fur, and break the shot. Estimated 75 yards. As I came out of recoil all I could find was a paw twitching, so I was pretty sure she was down for good. Turned out it entered left neck, exited right shoulder.
Same load as the deer I shared above - 250 grain Barnes TTSX in a .375 Ruger Alaskan - 69.3 grains of RL15 - Quickload data says 2581 FPS, 54,500 pressure, 3698 Ft.-Lbs.
I found two tiny crumbs of the blue plastic tip from the bullet when I was skinning the animal. I would have expected the thing to perform like an FMJ on such a small, thin-skinned animal, but apparently these things instantly expand and/or probably some hydrostatic shock on display here.
