Another Bobcat

[Texasnorth]

Well I made it about 45 days until another bobcat showed up. He got one hen chicken and one hen guinea fowl before I realized he was around. Set live trap and caught him on the 2nd night. Gave him to a friend of mine who released the cat about 50 miles south of where I live. That is the eighth bobcat I have caught in less than a year. Guess living along a river bottom has its own set of rewards and hazards as far as wildlife and chickens are concerned.

 

[sourland]

50 miles is nothing for a bobcat. It will be back within 2 days well educated about live traps.

 

[microchick]

I have to agree with @sourland. As much as you want to not 'harm' a wild animal, that bobcat has proven itself to be a threat and danger to domestic livestock. I had the same thing happen in our area with a fox last year. I didn't loose any birds, but everyone around me did. When I contacted the local conservation department, they advised me to shoot the animal as it was a threat to livestock.

Your bobcat now has a taste for chicken and it will range until it finds its way back to your chickenyard, or somebody else's. I took this directly off of the web:

A female bobcat's territory ranges about 6 square miles while a male may range 60 miles. Male bobcats are slightly larger and heavier than females. Most adult males weigh 20 to 22 pounds, while females average 18 to 19 pounds.

Please be on guard. Did your friend release the first bobcat close enough that you have just caught the same animal twice?

If you encounter another one and can trap it, please call the conservation department and have them destroy the animal if you do not want to destroy it.

I'm so sorry you lost birds to this animal, but in releasing it and it doesn't come back to the buffet table, it has just effectively became somebody else's problem.

 

[microchick]

No, but they are opportunistic hunters, meaning they will hunt where they can expend the least amount of energy to get the job done. That is why a fox cleaned out entire flocks of chickens and guineas in our area last year. No predator is going to expend time and energy hunting illusive rabbits where there is a nice fat hen free ranging right in front of it.

I've lived rural most of my life. Where we live now no predator would be allowed to predate upon livestock. Even the Amish have rifles sitting at their doorways so they can react fast if they see one. Nor does anybody catch and release for the predator to become somebody else's problem.

Here they go as far as to hold predator hunts a few times a year to bring down the population of coyotes, foxes and raccoons.

And yes, coyotes develop a taste for lamb also and nothing is more heartbreaking then hearing a lamb being dragged away from it's mother by a coyote. They too are opportunistic hunters.

 

[llombardo]

The thing here is that as someone said 50 miles is not anything for them. Did you trap all the others and release? Is it possible it's not 8 but just one or two of the same ones?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Definitely a very expensive addition. What state you live in?

It (a specific breed guard dog) would not be an acceptable solution for me as my homeowners insurance would be cancelled in a heart beat... even if one of my dogs dispatches a cat! But yes, I have three standard shelter dogs that protect my birds to the best of their ability... And having them DOES help detour issues.

And dogs don't come without challenges of their own to livestock.

 

[Below frigid]

Next time I have to exterminate a bobcat l am making taco's de gato! First time I did not know they were good eating. I did notice the meat looked good. Looked somewhere between pork and veal.

 

[The Phantom]

 

[Trish1974]

I too live along a river bottom. I have every kind of predator except bobcats and bears.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

China and Russia has reciprocated to our trade policies in the last three or 4 years and they have stopped buying fur, especially low quality furs like Western bobcat fur. The result is a huge reduction in most fur prices. While the best bobcat pelts, male Rocky Mountain bobcats still fetch $500 or more. To paraphrase the early Hollywood actor Al Jolson, "You ain't seen nothing yet."

The invasive pythons living in the Everglades cover way over 100 miles in short order to get back to their home territory. A python is also legless while a bobcat has 4 legs.