I had just moved to Brevard county and the woods backed up to our house. Sitting in the den, I glanced out to the end of the property line and lo and behold there he stood!

I was dumbstruck...not knowing what a bobcat was....I just kept staring at him. And he at me! We were both frozen, staring at one another. Looked like he just had dinner, as there was blood on his face. After a couple of minutes, he decided to continue walking and I just said to myself "What the *&^% was that? After that I had to go and research what it was I was looking at.

I really just looked like an oversized mean looking cat.

I have never seen another since!

I meant to say...it really just looks like an oversized mean looking cat, although sometimes I do too...aaahhhaaahhhaahaa!

Wow, Goldenpond, you are so lucky to have seen a bobcat. I think wildlife is getting displaced with development. There are less and less places for them. Although I live in a subdivision, I have a very small natural area in my yard that I share with possum, and sometimes racoons.

I do not have a bobcat story - how about a deer? Around Christmas 2006 we had a deer in our subdivision for a couple weeks. The first time I saw it in our back yard I thought someone's dog was loose - Then I looked closer. I know people in rural areas have deer but we are not rural. We are in an area of subdivision after subdivision. But at the time they were working on creating a new park a few miles away and I think it was displaced in the process.

I previously lived on 5 acres in a semi-rural area in Kissimmee. We saw numerous bobcats on the property but they always looked scrawny and scruffy. I'm sure they weren't getting enough to eat. I felt so bad for them.
Wanted to feed them. But the most fantastic thing I saw on my property was a Florida Panther! I got up early one morning and went out to pick up the newspaper and walking back down the driveway I saw this huge tan animal walking across my back yard. I knew immediately what it was from the cat's boby shape. Very distinct. I was stunned to say the least. I watched in awe as is slowly moved into the woods. I called the game and fish commission and they said they had been tracking one in that corridor for some time and that I was really lucky to have seen it. I thought so too!

Wow a panther bunnyhouse!
Wanda that is neat that you got to see one do you still live in the house that backs up to the woods?
treelady,I think we need a deerstory post !
I told everyone my bobcat story even the bank teller.It is not that I have not seen them,I just saw two kits out on a rural road .It I s just I didnt expect it in my own back yard.

Okay, here is MY bobcat story. You all probably know that I have spent many, MANY hours hiking, birding and canoeing in the Florida wild places. Ever since I was in my 20's, I have wanted to see a bobcat. However, apparently bobcats have never wanted to see ME. No matter where I was or who I was with, or how often bobcats had been spotted in the area previously, years and years and years went by, and I never saw a single one.

Once when I was birding in the very early hours of the morning on Anhinga Trail in the Everglades, I saw a Florida panther strolling down the road in front of my car. She stopped and watched us long enough for me to get out my telescope (or stellatope as Tabby calls it) and enjoy some close up views of her. I mean, I saw one of the rarest animals in Florida, if not in the country, but I still hadn't seen a bobcat. (Which are quite plentiful, btw).

Fast forward a few years and I'm approaching 60 with no bobcat viewings to look back on fondly. After walking many a mile in the woods and swamps and fields of the state...not a one. But one afternoon, driving home from Publix, down a urban road in Lake Mary, next to a subdivision, just past a church, a mile from a school, nowhere near a woods...there, streaking across the road in front of my car was...yes...a BOBCAT!!! My one and only glimpse of one was practically in the Publix parking lot! I have to say I almost ran the car off the road in excitement.

Boy, if I thought I could entice BOBCATS into my backyard, I would tie the squirrels to tiny little stakes as lures!! They are beautiful animals, and so clever and crafty. Lucky you, GP, to have seen one in your own YARD!!! Now THAT'S a garden!!

Marcia

I'm afraid my bobcat tale isn't so happy. They attacked the weanling calves that were in a seperate pasture from the cows who couldn't get to them to protect them. Before the dogs could drive the bobcat(s) away, my poor little calves were severely clawed and bitten. Fortunately, I never lost one, but it broke my heart to see them so wounded. cora

Aw, I'm so sorry your babies were attacked. Of course, the bobcats were just acting naturally when they saw what looked to be a great food source, but that doesn't make you feel any better when it is YOUR animal on the receiving end. I'm so glad they were saved, and so sorry they were injured to begin with.

Marcia

I would tie the squirrels to tiny little stakes as lures!!

Ha ha haaaa! I would do that too and not just for the bobcats. I'm sure the eagles would appreciate it too.

I'm very jealous of all your stories. I have never seen a bobcat or a lynx in the wild. I spent many years in Minnesota & Wisconsin camping and hiking in all kinds of weather. I've seen bears, wolves, coyotes, beaver, martens and fishers. Came across a huge pair of porcupines while cross country skiing, even. But never a bobcat. Don't they understand how much I like cats? (Maybe they're hiding out with the Sherpas...)

What a timely post!
I just saw my first ever bobcat last Tuesday morning while I was out running. We live in a densely wooded area and it ran right across the road! I was thrilled.