The wife told me she saw a cougar in the yard a few weeks ago. I finally saw it last night. It's a wildcat and a dman big one. I would estimate it to be 40 pounds plus. Didn't get a good look as it was right at dusk, but it was cool watching it. The neighbor's dog smelled it and bean barking, but the cat wasn't very scared of it. I walked out on my deck and he looked right at me. Finally he wandered off.
I'm glad to see they are still around this ever more urban area.

You mean bobcat?

A well fed tom bobcat can attain an impressive size.



But then again, so can a well fed orange tabby!

Yep it was definately the one in the top photo. But not that big. I would guess it was maybe 2/3 that big.

So isnt a wildcat and a bobcat the same thing?

I've always associated the term "wildcat" with a bobcat. I call a cougar a "cougar", but I have also heard them refered to as a "mountain lion or wildcat". I saw a cougar last month on the colville rez while heading to one of my construction projects in Republic.

You mentioned cougar as well, so I was just clarifying. I figured that is what you meant, as there wouldn't be a 40lb cougar kitten this early.

Guess I wasn't clear. What I was trying to say was the wife THOUGHT she saw a cougar. Once I saw what she saw I knew it was NOT a cougar, but a bobcat/wildcat.

Better keep that new pup of yours within eye range..

I had a bobcat nearly torpedo the sale of my house, by making a sh!tty mess of the crawl space. Make sure your vent holes are all intact.

Here's the thread.

Bobcat Thread

Besides the bobcat that Sal was holding up, did you notice the other one lying at his feet?

My neighbor saw one near his chicken coop a few years ago, but not since. My goats have got to be nervous, especially with a black bear in the neighborhood last week, too.

Snake

Not to hijack, but...Sal, that is one BIG bobcat!


A quick web search shows the biggest US bobcat to date was just under 49 lbs taken in Wisconsin 1984.

I've seen a good number of cougars in the same pose that looked smaller than that specimen & all the bobcats I've crossed paths w/ are just dwarfed.....


Any details on that cat?

I'm going to save that one to file.




c/22

[ My goats have got to be nervous, especially with KK in the neighborhood last week, too.

Snake[/quote]

Couldn't resist fixing that for you. .. ... . .

Only wish that was mine.
I used the pic as an example of how big they can get,
However, my kid missed an absolute monster last winter.

Sal: A couple of folks have told me I'm full of shait cuz I estimated the one in our yard at 60-80 lbs. How much did that one in your photo weigh ya think?

A 40lb bobcat is a real toad Dave, I guess the one in the pic to be somewhere near that, they have pretty good hair making them took bigger.

If indeed the cat you saw was 60 - 80 lbs it must have been a young mountain lion.

Most of our Cali cats are about 20lbs with the occasional 30 -35 lber being exceptional.
The big tom that my kid missed was in Northern California's Modoc county near the town of Alturas last winter when we were hunting coyotes.
It came in to a distressed rabbit call, it was a huge tom that I guessed at 35+.
The kid shot right over him at 127 yards.
He was crushed.

Guess I'm full of shait. The one I saw was a bit smaller than the one you are holding. I thought it weighed much more than it does. Thanks, I guess (;-0

Strange. My brother got a couple of big cats a few years back and I remember the legs looking way longer than the cats in the pic. They had to have weighed all of 45. I know they are a bit fluffy but that guy can't be to tall if that cat only weighs 40. That's an easy 55 Oregon lbs.
OK it's after 1am and I got a ride home but I feel good about this call for now .

You may be closer than I .
I tend to understate things and cannot remember exactly what the guy said the weight was on that pig.

Here are a couple farm raised cats that tipped the scales at WAY over 50lbs.
Definitely not wild, but VERY BIG!

My god Sal
Taste just like PORK.

We hound hunted for years growing up SW WA and NW OR as well as the coast of both states, probably had the chance to see 40-50 bobcats taken over the years. Biggest I ever seen dead was a 38lb tom and it was a spitten image of the one in Salmonella's picture...

My personal best was 32 pounds... I was too young and stupid and broke to have it mounted.... Wished I would have...

I'll tell you as those big cats age they certainly get witty...... Run the best hounds in circles jumping from tree to tree and out of the area, we ran this one down near the Gray's River (KM Mountain) that was a true monster.... The tracks were just short of a cougar. That thing hung the dogs up on cliffs, had them false treeing and would constantly hole up in old logs/stumps.. Smart buggers.

Keith