Bobcat Update

I went back up the river Tuesday March 6th, we had some snow last night in town so I knew there would be fresh snow at my set, I couldn't resist. Fresh snow is like looking into a crystal ball not so much for the future aspect but more of a exact time line of the past. On the drive in I pick up a pair coyote tracks about 3/4 of a mile from where the kill is and there hunting the road corridor by the way there tracks are working. Coyotes register in a straight line meaning there is no off set in their tracks like domestic dogs or bobcats or anything else for that matter.

A couple of examples I poached off the web :)

So it’s pretty obvious what there going to smell when they get down the road a ways, sure enough there tracks go left just were I figured they would but to my surprise no coyote pictures just tracks everywhere but in front of the camera or what the bobcat considers to be it’s personal space. The slideshow of pictures below shows it happening. The bobcat definitely defended it’s kill. The coyote tracks came in from the left circled around to the right then back around to the left, just exactly what the cat is showing in the sequence. You can see about half way through it charges out and then proceeds to give the evil eye to the receding coyotes. Sure wish I had the camera set to video with sound. Shoulda woulda coulda.

The lighting issues are from my slave flash, it’s a cheepo and doesn't quite keep up with my camera. A little tweaking is in order.

This cat is definitely a badass (sorry mom) it takes down a full sized doe, tries to scare me off and defends it from two coyotes ! From the time stamps on the photos the coyotes left at 9:45 the cat relaxed at it’s kill for about 15 minutes then leaves when it hears me walking in. I always wave my hand in front of the camera to get a timeline, we missed each other by 2 minutes, barley!

But wait ! About 40 yards away through the reprod (second or third or forth… timber plant) I hear a Stellars Jay scolding something !! What are the chances it’s scolding something other than a bobcat? Time to sit down and hide, I’m sitting off to the side watching through the holes here and there in the brush along the path that the jay is traveling and sure enough a flash of fur ! I gave it a while but no more appearances, it must of known something was up. After hoping to see the cat up close I circled the area to find it’s tracks, they’ll tell me what it was doing and how close it was. Sure enough it was in the brush directly behind it’s kill but wouldn’t show, then backtracked all the way around to my right 180 deg. and belly crawled up under a hemlock tree to peek out checking to see if the coast was clear but still no show. Man these things are sneaky, all the while never being more than 70’ away and at the hemlock tree about 30’ from me and I never even saw it. Of course I looked over my shoulder a few times on the way out, and yeah I had my shotgun with me.

Here are some of the better pictures so far.

Typical cat….nothing to do and all day to do it.

Feel free to use any of these pictures or request copies of the originals. The grouse will be drumming soon and are fun to set up for, plus I have a camera set at a local cougar crossing. I’ll keep posting.

Dave