what is this on my game-cam?

[Cloverleaf Farm]

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Amen to THAT statement!!

We have cougars all over the place here. A couple months ago, a neighbor just up the road from me (less than a quarter mile away) woke up in the morning to find a half eaten deer carcass in his flower bed!

 

[navasima]

Actually - a cougar in the area (not approaching your home or livestock) could be good news. Had any problems with smaller predators? Raccoons, stray cats or dogs and such? A hungry big cat passing through may help you out there....

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

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Nope!

I've had a skunk in my yard from time to time, but no opposums or coons to speak of. This cougar (I'm pretty sure it's a mature male) comes through every summer, he's just never passed this close (usually stays on the other side of the river from us) BUT there was a sickly looking deer in our neighborhood deer, that must've been the one he took out because I haven't seen it since he was here.

 

[PitterPaws]

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Why That's a raccoon who hailed a Cab-in-da-woods!

 

[angie3881]

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What part of Iowa do you live in? I live about a half hour from the Quad Cities. Also, I'm not exactly sure on the year, but my girlfriend thinks it was in 2006, a man shot and killed a cougar (mountain lion) in Keithsburg. that's about a half hour from me, and Keithsburg is about a half hour from Muscatine. So in most cases, game wardens to be blunt, are idiots.

I am in Washington. 30 miles south of Iowa City. And yes.... the DNR is dumb. Our good friend walked out on his deck one morning and there was a mountain lion ten feet from his deck. And he was sober.

 

[LilBrat]

*pokes nose in good thread*

thinking someone might have imported a weird critter (exotic?) .. the fossa comes to mind

I think it's about the right size

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Fossa_(animal)

 

[harveyhorses]

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Just passing through from Madagascar? (but it really does look like it, from a different angle etc.)
How do people import these things? I mean, I know people do, but aren't there enough weird native critters?

 

[lb]

I would guess that you have a young cougar in your area. The time it is out would also support that theory.

 

[farmdude]

Cougar for sure!
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[woodmort]

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As far as I know, a Lynx and a Bobcat are the same thing.

They are not! They are two entirely different species in the same genera. Bobcats are Lynx rufus. Lynx or Canadian Lynx are Lynx canadensis. The range of the two animals only overlaps near the northern US/southern Canada border with the bobcat's going south and the lynx's going north from there. You are not going to find a lynx in GA except maybe in the Atlanta Zoo.