Bobcats

B

bullethole1

Moderator
Ive seen several of them around the farm but I only came in contact with one once. It was several years ago I was walking in the brush and I left the shotgun(single shot new england 12 gauge) I had laying on an ice chest before the brush got thick. I was looking for a calf and I came across a bobcat probaly about 10 feet atleast.The cat looked at me and slowly walked off kind off in a marching pace but not running. Are these cats known to be aggressive like mountain lions? I thought Id bring this up since I just remembered it a few minutes ago since another member here was talking about mountain lions on a previous post. Was I lucky or could I have been attacked? Id be more concerned about getting my eyes scratched out than having a bunch of stitches on the belly or back:eek:

Thanks,
BH1
 
Under any sort of normal conditions in the outdoors, bobcats go for mice, rabbits and birds such as quail. Yes, they will go for lambs, kids and fawns. I've never heard of them being aggressive toward any large animal.

Animals which have not been hunted are likely to avoid people, but not necessarily in a panic manner.
 
Bobcats are not remotely the same as Cougars (see my post in the other thread). Because they are so much smaller, they don't attack humans. I can't think of a story I've read where a bobcat attacked an adult human. Or even a child, although, if you're in bobcat country, I wouldn't let very small children out of my sight. You never know what an older, hungry cat might do if he's not able to catch his usual prey any more.

Art's comments above were correct.

--Wag--
 
bobcats are much like your average stray cat only twice as big, they'll eat quail, mice, roadkill, and they are usually very wary of people but if you have population problems(which I doubt since it's been years since your last sighting) they'll start going through garbage, chicken coops, and even start going after annoying little chihuahuas. I wouldn't leave a child younger than 4 alone outside but any bigger than that a bobcatll probably run away unless it's starved.
 
I came across a bobcat probaly about 10 feet atleast.
Click to expand...

Was the bobcat 10 feet long or was it ten feet away? No bobcat ever even dreamed of being 10 feet long from nose to tip of tail. I'd say none ever made it to even 5 feet. Your typical bobcat is not a whole lot larger than a large house cat. And they don't have much of a tail (thus "Bobcat").
 
I have taken two in my life time, one in 1982 with a 20 GA. and the other one around the year 1999 with a 12 GA. The one in 1999 weighed about 27 pounds. Both of them are mounted on a board. I have had other opportunities to take one while deer hunting but passed up on the shot. I had pictures of one on the game cam above the house back in the spring. They are pretty sneaky in the woods and can appear out of no where.
 
Good friends and neighbors of mine got attacked by a bobcat while camping. It latched onto Evelyn's leg and wouldn't let go and the closest thing to a weapon anybody had were their fishing poles that they beat on the cat with. The park ranger went and got an old geezer buddy of his who dispatched it with a 12 gauge, The head tested positive for rabies and it was a long uncomfortable summer for her because the series of shots they had to take in 71 was brutal.

That was the second time in 3 years in that park. I used to camp there myself for the fishing but never saw hide nor hair of any cats. I was a little better prepared than they were because I kept a 22 revolver in my tackle box. Never needed it but it was nice to know it was there if I did.
 
"Because they are so much smaller, they don't attack humans. I can't think of a story I've read where a bobcat attacked an adult human."



Wag, That statement is 100% incorrect. I know first hand of 2 attacks on a adult male. Actually the local Game warden was pounced on while turkey hunting. He left the hospital with over 50 stitches. I had one follow me late evening after a deer hunt. It got to the point i had to shoot towards it to get it to back off.

S7300566.jpg

S7300549.jpg

S7300550.jpg

S7300551.jpg
 
*this is article's origin* Florida 03/05/11 14wfie.com:

West Palm Beach – The search continues for a bobcat that attacked a Florida woman this week. A man on Friday spotted an animal, believed to be the same bobcat that bit the woman in the leg. The woman was attacked at her home on Thursday, and her husband came to the rescue. “It came from the neighbor, jumped his fence, came across the road, bit my wife by the mailbox, jumped my fence, came under here, got my puppy, came in my garage, and attacked my puppy again. I hit it with a four-by-four, and then a broom,” Rick Arnold said. The victim got a series of rabies shots at a hospital, and is now back at home. A wildlife trapper believes they will catch the bobcat this weekend.

I have heard of it before, but couldn't find the article...this one popped up instead
 
I recall my father trapping a couple on the farm when I was a teenager. I don't remember what the trap looked like but it was set up so the cat would grab the bait and then fall in a way that it's head would get caught in a Vee shaped ware arrangement and be strangled.

After he trapped the 2 bobcats in our area, there were no more attacks on our geese... Although, I'd rather shot the damn geese than the bobcats...

Tony
 
Another goose lover I see. I love the idea of them as guard animals, but doggone are they a pain in the tush, literally a pain in the tush. At least I could call the dogs off but them dadburn gooses don't pay much attention to you unless you have food for them.

Come to think of it the dogs didn't like them either. My dog that would go nose to nose with a full grown Holstein bull would stay away from a goose. That was a smart dog.
 
When I was a kid, a man my grandfather used to talk to in a coffee shop told a story about an evening he was deer hunting. He heard a comotion behind him and low and behold a bobcat. He said he shot it with a 12 ga. shotgun and killed it. He believed it was about to pounce on him.
 
All the bobcats I've seen were wanting to put as much distance bwteen me and them as they could.
However any animal especially wild animals that's acting strange I would be careful of.

As for the geese, when I was a kid there was a neighbor lady that had a big old gander and he was meaner then heck.
Many a times when I went by her pace that gander would peck me and draw blood every time.

Best Regards
Bob Hunter
www.huntercustoms.com
 
The stories in this thread are the first I've heard of bobcats attacking humans, especially adults. Greatly appreciated.

--Wag--
 
As a doctor, I have seen what a house cat can do to a person and the idea of a house cat on steroids is not one I would want to venture against. I suspect that they are more solitary and discreet than other north American predators and we just don't encounter them that often, but I wouldn't want to tangle with one of those critters.

We had lynx up in the Anchorage area, but I don't recall seeing any bobcats at that time.
 
Bobcats aren't aggressive. They do count as varmints so shoot them.

However make sure it's not a Lynx, those are protected.
 
I witnessed a bobcat stalking a guy who was sitting in his truck waiting for a part. As I drove up he left.
I rarely see them, a handfull of bobcats and two mountain lions.

In TX fur bearers can be dispatched as nuisence animals as long as the fur isn't harvested, in other words... they must go to the varmint pile.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top