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You do need a lens at least 200mm in length,
preferably longer, either a zoom or telephoto. This is a
classic wildlife chase safari where we travel throughout the area
that has a high density of bobcats, badgers, and raptors. The
bobcats live in rolling oak woodlands on the eastern and western
edges of the San Joaquin Valley -
in some of the finest ranching country in California. Typically, we
see bobcats every day, and dozens of raptors -
red-shouldered hawks, ferruginous hawks, bald and golden eagles, a
variety of falcons, great horned owls, barn owls, and burrowing
owls. Badgers are common in this area, but these small
predators are not easy to find. We usually photograph them
about 30% of our days in the field. In January 2019 we had a
12 bobcat day, photographing 10. So there are big bobcat days
out there, while the raptors are much easier. |
We meet at 7am (which can vary by the month of the year) at
the Harris Ranch Intersection Chevron Station, or at the hotel lobby
you might be at the night before - located at the intersection of Highway 198 and Interstate 5.
I would advise getting a hotel
room the night before because these are long days. (Best Western, Travelodge, and Motel 6, as
well as the more expensive Harris Ranch Motel). We drive up to
400 miles per day, so we do a
gas split, which amounts to $40/per photographer, per day. We return
between 5pm and 6pm at the end of each safari day.
Also, we do stop for lunch. The first day is on the western side of
the valley, the second day is on the eastern side of the
valley. We meet up at the Wyndham Hotel parking lot on
Airport Road in Visalia at 8am on the second day.
There is a Best Western here as well, or near my house in
Tulare on Blackstone Avenue.
Link
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It's been
15 years since I started doing Bobcat Safaris in
California's Serengeti. I've had over 1500 bobcat
encounters and photographed over a 1000 cats - we are old
friends after all this time. One of my main strengths
as a wildlife photographer is spotting animals, and I'm very
good at spotting bobcats and badgers. We chase all day and
photo-graph everything we see. |
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EASY - Long Days of
Driving |
1-day Safaris
$375
September 13, December 29
2-day Safaris $700
March 29-30
October 16-17, 23-24
November 13-14, 20-21
December 5-6 January 10-11 February
7-8
March 6-7 |
