Can You Spot a Bobcat

The following article appeared in the Fairfield Glade newspaper on August 19, 2009.

Enjoying Nature

Don Hazel

Can you spot a Bobcat?

You have to admit that here in Eastern Tennessee we live in a very wildlife rich environment. If you like wildlife, this is a great place to be. If wildlife drives you nuts…then you are probably…nuts. I know friends, neighbors, and acquaintances, who are obsessed with battling every bug, squirrel, woodpecker, and snake. But for me….I like all those things.

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get a picture of one of our rarely seen mammals…a bobcat. Actually, I have seen 3 in the four years that I have lived here and that is 3 more than I had seen the rest of my life. Bobcats inhabit most of the United States but they aren’t often seen because they are mostly crepuscular (active around dusk and dawn) and they are very stealthy and elusive. If you are active around those times and stealthy yourself, you might see one too. Several of my neighbors have also spotted our neighborhood bobcat.

I was out for a walk just before 6 a.m. one morning when I heard a sound that most of you have never heard, but one that I recognized immediately. The sound was that of a rabbit in distress…a loud screaming rabbit. The reason that I knew the sound was that I have a cassette tape of a rabbit that is used to call in predators such as bobcats, coyotes, or fox. The sound I heard that morning was exactly like the sound on my cassette tape, only this one was real. I raced a hundred yards toward the sound and just then I spotted the bobcat in the picture casually walking away.

The bobcat didn’t have a rabbit in its mouth so I figured that he/she was investigating the sound just like me and that another bobcat or a coyote or a fox had caught the rabbit or that the bobcat I saw had left the rabbit for her kittens to finish off. I don’t think the bobcat saw me as I snapped the photo.

Another time, a year ago, I was riding my bike here in Fairfield Glade and had stopped on a bridge to try to spot an otter where I knew one lived. As I was sitting on my bicycle, balanced against the side of the bridge I heard a loud commotion directly across the street of bark ripping from a standing dead tree. Up the tree going 90 miles an hour was a grey squirrel and right behind it going 80 was a bobcat. Bark was flying as the squirrel scrambled for its life. The squirrel took a suicide dive off the top of the tree and luckily caught another tree and dashed to safety. The bobcat looked at the squirrel, looked over at me, and then calmly backed down the 50 feet to the ground and disappeared into the vegetation.

I believe that we have lots of bobcats around. Their main food is rabbits, squirrels, birds, mice, insects, and even an occasional deer or deer fawn. Bobcats are about twice the size of a housecat; usually about 3 feet long, 2 feet high at the shoulder, and about 15-30 pounds. As opposed to a house cat, they have a short little bobbed tail (hence the name). Rock outcroppings and caves are often used for den sites and heaven knows that we have lots of those around. Sometimes bobcats are heard but not seen. They can have a blood curdling scream that will make your hair stand on end, but they are not a threat to humans in any way. It is a real treat to spot one.

So keep your crepuscular eyes open and maybe you will see your own bobcat. If you do consider yourself lucky that we live in such a beautiful area with such a great diversity of wildlife to enjoy.