The link at the bottom is a link to my photobucket album that has pictures of the bobcat, the deck that she feeds under, and a video of her washing up after a meal.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bobcat photos and video

Vilcat, I am torn between patting you heartily on the back and telling you this is a good thing/bad thing to be doing. I'd be inclined to do the very same thing you are doing, helping this beautiful cat through the winter, and then I'd be overcome with paranoia thinking it would lose its fear of humans and amble up to my neighbor's back porch for a handout...and my neighbor is a coon/coyote hunter who would love to make a lampshade out of it. The thing is, if I did not get a birthday or christmas gift for ten years I wouldn't care because I got the best gift I could ever hope for this fall. During deer season the hunters toss their carcasses over a small bridge about 1/8th of a mile from my front door. It's a nasty habit, but I figure as long as they don't wrap it in plastic that won't degrade, scavengers make quick work of the stuff and in the process provide me with good wildlife viewing if I approach quietly. I dropped by one afternon to see how successful the locals had been and casually leaned over the railing...and got the shock of my life. There on top of the closest carcass, maybe 9 feet away, was a female bobcat and her two yearling kittens. The shock for everyone involved was nearly palpable. After freezing for a moment the kittens broke and ran, leaping the bank of the creek and scuttling off through the brush. The mother flattened her body and gave a bit of a hiss, and then just crouched low and watched me, unsure. I was cursing myself for leaving the digital camera on the kitchen table. I would later realize that this certainly didn't match the folklore-the terrible screaming wad of claws and fangs, dropping out of trees on folks. There were less than ten feet separating us but I never did feel threatened, even though she had her kittens there. On the contrary, I felt a little like an intruder, uninvited. I wished I could slowly just leave the scene as I found it, remove my presence and her unease, but she was aware of any twitch. What she did then surprised me...I assumed she might take a flying leap at escape like her youngsters did, but instead she very deliberately began slinking away from me with her eyes still on me, growling very low and softly, almost a wheeze. THen she got to the creekbank, paused, and with two simple moves she was up and over and gone. I found myself wondering if I had even been breathing this whole time, and I don't remember if I walked back to the house or ran, or if my words made any sense at all when I first found my husband in the garage. I returned to the bridge twice a day for the next few days and was rewarded with several additional encounters. I took my husband once, and realized that I married a man who couldn't walk quietly to save his own life. Despite this, we still managed to see them, and I now have slightly less respect for the hearing abilities of cats. I even set up my trail camera, hoping for some good stills, but the weather changed and flooding was a threat so the camera came down without results. Since then I have found tracks within a few hundred feet of the house and I realize these creatures are not easily put off by human activity. That's good and bad...they are welcome on any of my 400 acres but I can't protect them elsewhere. I am not even sure they ARE protected by law in my area, since their official status is up in the air. Around here the practice is shoot, shovel, and shut up.
For the last ten years I have been closely following the slow return of two of our wild cats, bobcats and mountain lions, to our area of southern Illinois. I saw tracks first but was uncertain. I had two nighttime glimpses of what I was sure must be bobcats, but 99% sure is still not 100%. When I came face to face with my first individual about 8 miles from here this summer, a much larger cat than the female by our house, I knew it was finally a reality. Now I know there are reproducing adults here and the story continues. I have doubts that a top predator like the cougar could make a comeback and peacefully coexist with nervous, armed humans, but the smaller bobcat might just be able to pull it off if it can adapt to this fragmented, agricultural landscape.
Question is, will humans let them?

Here is a link that will be of interest to anyone following the issues of wild cat population increases and declines, and it is unopinionated and based on scientific study, not emotion. If you like, you may also sign up for automatic updates as information and situations arise.
http://www.cougarnet.org/breakingnews.html

This site is dedicated to the ongoing study of wild cat populations in North America and is not limited to bobcats.
There is an automatic mailing service if you'd like to receive notification of breaking news, too.

Dirtgirl,
I think I can allay some of you fears about our bobcat. We live in a rural small town that backs up to the White Mountain National Forest. We have a permanent population of around 2000 +-. There are in average about 50+- children in our tiny multi-grade four classroom school (K through 6). The children are taught to respect our wildlife through a program that is presented by our local Tin Mountain Conservation Center. For the most part the people in our town love our wildlife, and desire to protect it and keep it wild, with the exception of a few foxes and squirrels that insist on being friendly (I've known two such foxes and one squirrel that would seek out human companionship even when not being fed, the squirrel even came in the house through a screen door left ajar and was gently escorted out. It has not tried to come in since.) During the winter, I, and others, supplement the natural food of some animals that seek it. When spring arrives, they are given less so they can forage on their own, and the birdfeeders are taken in because we don't like to encourage the local bears to hang around and become a nuisance. There have been occasions where a bear would begin to make a habit of getting into the dumpsters of the Inns/restaurants and my husband, the police chief here, had to shoot the bear with a non-lethal beanbag to discourage the habit. Most times a shot of ammonia/water mix from one of those far-shooting kid's water guns does the trick and the bear heads back to the forest.
Our house, even though in the heart of our village, is surrounded by woods and on a knoll and a great place to see the wildlife. I take pictures and video of any that I can, mostly, like the bobcat and bears, from inside the house, as we rarely see any while outside, they just don't show themselves when we are out (which is just the way I like it as I have an unusually strong fear of bears). Once I was outside on my greenhouse step watering plants when I saw a mother bear and two cubs about fifty feet below on our driveway, and quickly slipped into the house, but they had gone by the time I found my camera. That was the only time that I was outside at the same time as a bear (that I saw).
I did have a fox hang around me while gardening in my flower beds back in 2001. He/she would see me come outside and come wander around me, even sitting within several feet of me and a times would play with my son's vinyl snakes and dinosaurs, tossing them into the air as a dog would (he stole quite a few and chewed the hands off of one of my daughter's Barbie dolls that she left outside).
Unfortunately, we believe it was killed by a car, as my husband saw the body of a fox on the side of the road near the Covered Bridge, at the entrance to our village which is in view of our house and we never saw that fox again.
Just this summer we had another human seeking young fox that stayed around for a month or so (I have video of that one), but believe it was chased off by a larger adult fox for the territory. We still have that large fox around and hear its calls at night. As much as I love our more unusual wildlife like the bobcat and foxes, I would never try or want to touch them as they just wouldn't be "wild" anymore. I do let the little red squirrel sit on my knee and eat sunflower seeds (chipmonks too), and hand feed the Chickadees but not often.
I'm pretty sure that by spring, our little bobcat will find plentiful wild food and head back to the mountains to raise a family. Maybe next winter it will return, who knows. I am being blessed with its presence for now.

Kathy

Sounds like you are very fortunate to live in such a wonderful place, with so many like-minded people.

Maybe we are just lucky to have more Good Ol Boys per-capita than yourself. I am sure that the local schools here also stress some level of environmental awareness, but I cannot say their parents ever had that same level of exposure at an early age.

I hope you get to enjoy the presence of your bobcat and other wild neighbors as long as they allow. Keep the pictures coming!

Dg

DG,
It is indeed a blessing to live here in Jackson, NH, where the biggest threat to our wildlife is speeding cars. Moose are in particular danger of this as they have no fear of cars and come out of the forest early in the morning and evening in the spring to drink from the roadside ditches that are full of roadsalt laden runoff. They are so tall, that at night, the driver, whether speeding or not, cannot see the "eye-shine" of the animal and plows right into it. Most times the moose is killed or so badly injured, that it has to be put down, and more times than not the vehicle involved is totaled and the people inside suffer some type of injury requiring a trip to the hospital, sometimes even death. It is illegal to remove a moose carcass from the roadside, usually the driver of the vehicle involved is offered the carcass after Fish and Game takes the animal's info, and if the carcass is declined by the driver, it is given to someone who has their name on a "moose roadkill" list, to butcher for food. We seldom see any dead animals along our roadsides (or trash for that matter). Either other animals scavange them in the few hours after being hit or they are picked up by road crews. All large animals like moose, deer, and bears are taken away at the time of the collision, by people on the "list" or in the case of bear, by Fish and Game.
I can't imagine living anywhere else. Having lived in MD where trash and dead animals on the side of the road was the norm, I am very fortunate to live here, even most businesses have flower boxes and plantings that beautify the area, which surprised me when we first moved here. I wish it were this way everywhere.

Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: My Photo and Video Album

I am so jealous! I love your pictures! I know I live in the wrong state. It's still legal to trap them in Pennsylvania. I would love to see one someday but at least I know they are still around, just elusive which is probably for the best since they are still being killed legally here How I would love to see it banned in my state. Anyway you are so lucky and your pictures are amazing! Thank you!

The link at the bottom has a fewmore pictures of wildlife (including the fox from 2001) and some local scenery.

Kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: Local scenery

I can only imagine what a horrible experience it must be to hit a moose with your car. I have hit deer twice in my life, and despite wishing it had never happened in the first place, we never let the meat go to waste.
Once while in Canada, my husband and I very nearly hit an adult elk with our Volkswagen Fox. We managed to get stopped just in time, and realized that the animal was so large that our little car would have almost gone underneath those tall legs. Most people here are totally unaware that both elk and bison once roamed our state, and that by the early 1900s even the deer had been hunted out.
I have only seen moose at a distance but even then I was amazed at their sheer bulk. Such a powerful looking animal, and to think that a grizzly can snap that neck with a single swipe of its paw...how did we weak, naked humans ever survive the Stone Age? An uncle of mine lived in Anchorage for 30 years and told of several uneasy encounters with cows with calves. And I would imagine that a moose hit and only crippled by a car would be a sad and potentially dangerous situation.