Possible bobcat sighting

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Axis II

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Its 11pm and I'm on my way home and its a mix of farm land, train tracks, houses, river and woods. A lot of factories and such within a square mile and the city starts about 2 miles away.

I noticed something sitting in the middle of the one field about 50yards from the road. I turned around and shined my little amazon special 200 lumen light on it and the things eyes were huge and glared back really bright and were pretty far apart like it had a large head. It then turned broadside with a very slithery type walk and began to trot to the woods at a pretty good rate of speed without looking back. I parked and got out the 1mil candle power spotlight that was half dead and hit it with the light about 300yards away and the eyes were super bright and based on the way the field was pitched it had to of been taller than a coon or fox. I first thought just a fat coon, fox, coyote maybe but this thing just acted off with the way it slowly turned away from me to its left and began trying to sneak away. Our country warden said some of the surrounding counties have had sightings and the counties next to those are plastered with them now.

So, lets play guess what I saw? I'm about 95% sure it was a cat. Id say 30lbs animal.
 
Bobcats are a least concern critter distributed over the entire US. As much time as I have spent in the woods hunting, training in the mil, or whatever- I can probably count on 1 hand how many of them I have ever actually seen.
 
I have seen many bobcats but have only killed about a 1/2 dozen. I have three of them mounted because of the unique circumstances involved. The one I killed with my bow was a nicely-spotted male that weighed 28 lbs.
I shot high on one approaching me and later found the end of his tail where the bullet had clipped it off. That one really is a "bobbed" cat.
 
There’s been a lot of cat sightings in Ohio lately, I saw a trailcam pick of a Fisher in my county so things seem to be changing in the Buckeye state.
 
Thanks and yes--it was a good looking one. Will be laying on top of my gun safe for many years when the taxidermist gets done with him.

He was a big dummy. He had the wind on us, we were yapping and laughing in the stand, and he still couldn't resist the decoy. .223 with 40gr Blitzking dropped him straight to the ground with no exit wound.

Mark
 
I saw one about 6 months ago as we were traveling to a funeral in the middle of the day. It came out into the road as we topped a hill, saw us, turned and went back the way it came. It was a big un.

Have a blessed day,

Leon
 
It seems like they are definitely sporadic throughout the country with some areas having pretty high densities and some areas having pretty low densities. I have seen 2 in my life and I shot the second one and have it mounted. I think if I ever see any more, I will just watch them as they are very pretty and strike me as a magnificent predator. But again, my part of the country does not have a high bobcat density.
 
I've seen 5. Each time it was just enough to be like that is a bobcat and it's gone.
Southern Missouri has some that are almost black. Where I'm at in Oklahoma has the lighter colored ones.
 
We have bobcats all over this part of Fort Worth.

They're pretty brazen. Utterly unafraid of dogs on a leash.

I saw this one while walking my dog a couple of years ago. bobcat0.JPG
 
I've seen 4 in my life. One came in while calling turkey, one while calling ducks and another crossed the road in front of me. The 4th one I didn't actually see,but I did nearly step on it. My brother and I were making our way to a beaver pond to duck hunt early one morning. There was a full moon and we weren't using a light. I put my right foot down and heard/saw brush move inches from my boot. It ran behind me, but in front of my brother who got a good look at the bobcat.

I'm guessing he heard us walking and was waiting in ambush not realizing we were humans. When I nearly stepped on it it ran away. It did get my heart rate up.
 
I'm sure some places it is a rare treat to see a Bobcat. Where I live (Deep East Texas) we are covered up in Bobcats, Fox and Coyotes. I have so many videos from my game cameras I don't even bother saving them anymore. I will see at least a half dozen each year while out on the ranch doing chores or hunting.

I usually give Bobcats a 'pass' but Coyotes get no such reprieve.
 
Being that it was at night and at a distance that you saw it & the actions of the critter, I would suspect a cat also. But not at thirty pounds. It can be hard to judge anything in the dark,(and daylight sometimes) distance, weight etc. I assume by your signature that you are in Ohio. A lynx can reach that weight, but highly unlikely a lynx at your location or a bobcat that big. I have seen both bobcat and lynx in northern Minnesota but doubt that lynx would be that far south in Ohio. Just my opinion, so I'll stick with bobcat.
 
wankerjake said:
Great spots on cat Citadel
Click to expand...

My juvenile self is trying as hard as I can not to make a reference to Mt Lions that have had their tails ripped off by a hound. (Sorry folks it’s an inside joke).:) And yes that’s a gorgeous bobcat!!
 
1976B.L.Johns. said:
Being that it was at night and at a distance that you saw it & the actions of the critter, I would suspect a cat also. But not at thirty pounds. It can be hard to judge anything in the dark,(and daylight sometimes) distance, weight etc. I assume by your signature that you are in Ohio. A lynx can reach that weight, but highly unlikely a lynx at your location or a bobcat that big. I have seen both bobcat and lynx in northern Minnesota but doubt that lynx would be that far south in Ohio. Just my opinion, so I'll stick with bobcat.
Click to expand...

I would not worry about the weight estimate too much. The weight estimate may or may not be off, but even at 30 lbs, that is large but is not outrageous for a bobcat. http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Bobcat In fact, bobcats can get much larger than 30 lbs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobcat

Even down in Texas where you might think bobcats would be smaller (Bergmann's Rule), I have killed multiple that were in their upper 20s (weight on scale) and have seen one weighed in at 34 lbs.

Maybe his estimate is off. Or maybe he saw a very healthy and large bobcat.
 
H&Hhunter said:
My juvenile self is trying as hard as I can not to make a reference to Mt Lions that have had their tails ripped off by a hound. (Sorry folks it’s an inside joke).:) And yes that’s a gorgeous bobcat!!
Click to expand...

Hahaha. Yeah me too. First thing that can to mind when I saw the thread title haha.
 
A bobcat taken off our property by our farrier in early 2017. Wildlife officials said it was the first they had seen in east TN for sometime so the cats are returning.
BobCat.JPG
 
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