Here is a photo of our resident bobcat (female I think)under our bedroom deck. The photo was taken out a ground level window. We have been feeding her table scraps and raw chicken to help her survive our extreme winter this year. Record snow falls have caused the local wildlife to face a tough choice...find a meal or die....and we can't let that happen to this beautiful creature, so we're keeping her fed through this tough time.

Here is a little bobcat info from the NH Fish and Game:

New Hampshire's Last Wildcat

"Several readers have requested a bobcat story, so this month we take a look at this elusive feline, the last survivor of three wildcats that once roamed the New Hampshire woods. Mountain lions (also called cougars, panthers or catamounts) were gone from the state by the late 1800s. The bobcat's taller cousin, the lynx, lived in northern New Hampshire through the 1950s. Today, only the tenacious bobcat is still here. No one knows for sure, but probably several hundred bobcats still live in the Granite State. The southwestern corner of New Hampshire has the most consistent reports of bobcat sightings.

For centuries, bobcats were killed for bounty in New Hampshire, and by the late 1970s, bobcats had become scarce. New Hampshire's hunting and trapping seasons for bobcat were finally closed in 1989. In less than a decade, bobcats went from being bountied in New Hampshire to being completely protected.

The bobcat population in New Hampshire has increased since that time, but not by much, because now the state's bobcats face new challenges. Fishers and coyotes compete with bobcats for a dwindling prey pool, and encroaching development breaks up the large blocks of habitat bobcats need. Humans have ushered in another dangerous element: busy roads that can be deadly for the wide-ranging animals.

Bobcats often roam between brushy swamp areas and the high-elevation habitat they prefer. Rocky, south-facing slopes and near-summit ledges of mountains offer protection, a safe place to raise kittens and a chance to soak up the sun. The bobcat's only real social grouping is females with kittens -- usually about 3 to a litter, dependent on their mothers for 9 or 10 months. This solitary lifestyle means bobcats need space, and lots of it. Females stake out a territory of about 12 square miles, and males roam over about 36 square miles. A lot depends on the availability of food -- snowshoe hare and cottontail rabbits are the bobcat's favorite, though they will eat mice, chipmunks, wild turkeys and even an occasional deer. Ongoing efforts to conserve, connect and manage protected lands continue to be the best bet for helping New Hampshire's last wildcat survive.

Winter is an especially tough time for bobcats in New Hampshire. Food is scarce, and the bobcat's short legs and small feet aren't well suited to hunting in deep snow. Driven by hunger during the cold months, bobcats sometimes gravitate to barns and porches in search of food, or stalk birds and squirrels at backyard feeders. Many young bobcats, as well as some adults, don't survive winters with long periods of deep, fluffy snow."

This article was written in Sept. 2004

I sure hope our bobcat population has grown since then.

Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: