A killing "machine".....

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Flintknapper

Flintknapper

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Whoa! Saw a bobcat kill a full grown fox squirrel this afternoon.

I have seen plenty of bobcats over the years…with all my time afield, but I have never actually witnessed one catch/kill anything.

The circumstance today was pretty unusual in that it was midday (about 1:30 p.m.) and occurred just 12-15’ off of a gravel road I was traveling down.

I was on my way to a spot where I feed some deer…traveling down the ranch road. The road is topped with crushed stone that makes a distinct “popping” sound under your tires.

Normally, this alerts the wildlife well in advance and they are generally “leaving” when you see them.

I wasn’t going fast, maybe 10 mph at most, I had both front windows down and was trying not to raise a lot of dust. About 20 yards ahead and just off the road on my side…I spotted a fox squirrel coming down the trunk of a small red oak tree. He paused about 6’ from the ground and as I got nearer he twitched his tail indicating he was watching me.

I slowed down just a little….when all of the sudden I see a “brown blur” go from somewhere on the ground straight to the squirrel and then land on the ground again.

I immediately shut off my ignition (still in drive) and coasted to a stop right even with the tree. Now….I could see what it is, a bobcat! There was a big flurry on the ground for a couple of seconds as the bobcat positioned himself over the squirrel…. then he starts biting and tearing at the squirrel’s neck.

I could literally hear the bones crunching and the sound of sinew tearing. The bobcat let go of the squirrel for just an instant… then grabbed it again near the shoulder, he looked up at the truck …then turned and trotted off into the brush with his squirrel.

I think what strikes me most about this incident was the dedication of the attack.

I can tell you this much, if you are a squirrel and a bobcat gets hold of you, your days are over! Wow!

On my way back from putting out the corn…I stopped again at the site of the attack and walked over to the tree. I could see the fresh claw marks on the tree where the bobcat plucked the squirrel off of it…then found a small amount of hair and blood at the base of the tree where he broke the squirrel’s neck.

I still can’t get over how quickly it all happened and amazed that I never saw the bobcat in the grass before he pounced. He made one leap 6’ up the tree from probably 8’ away.

Bobcats are bad!
 
It is awe inspiring to watch nature in action. I got to watch a red-tailed hawk swoop down from a telephone pole and snatch up a fairly large mole in Camarillo, CA years back. It's like watching a guided missile strike.
 
wild cats are one of the best hunters in nature, their patience, stealth and quickness is very impressive.
 
Yes, it was amazing. I was fortunate to have all this happen just 15' away...but what I was most impressed with...was the speed and ease in which the cat caught the squirrel. It literally had NO chance.

I never saw the cat in the grass or observed it moving forward. I think it just pounced from where it was once it saw the squirrel was distracted.

I am certain the bobcat had been watching the squirrel and had worked it's way up near the tree before I drove by.

All I can tell you...is they are FAST and agile.
 
Bobcats will sit and watch their prey for a very long time. I have seen a bobcat watch a rabbit for about 45 minutes while I was deer hunting. Nature made them to be excellent hunters and they are quite adept at it.
 
I had a couple of bobcat kitten's milling around the base of my stand for probably 10 minutes once this year. My son-in-law had seen 'em during bow season and thought they were house cats. They appeared to be liter mates. They are very cool cats, but I would NOT wanna wrestle one. LOL!

Just watching my house cats stalk in the yard is neat as hell, so I can imagine your amazement at the bobcat. Friend's son shot one a couple of years ago on my place, about 30 lbs, not REAL big, but adult at least. He had a local taxidermist do the hide. I've seen 'em out there several times, but never wanted to shoot one. I guess if I saw a 50 lber or more, I might be tempted for the rug mount, but I am a softy when it comes to cats. I just think they're the coolest animals in the woods. They can have their share of deer and game (they WILL take a small deer) I don't care. Now, if they were taking my chickens, I might get a bit perturbed, but I don't live out there, just hunt the place.

I've thought that the bobcat population out there might be why my quail population has diminished over the years, but I have a rather large rattler population and then there's the fire ants. I think the quail just have too much pressure there from combined forces. I don't have a dog, anyway, and have never hunted 'em. I only have about 40 acres out there to hunt 'em on, anyway, so no biggy. I used to like to hear 'em calling at day break and that's not a regular experience anymore down there, so I know they've been hit by something. I don't really think all the cats down there are the main problem, though.

I guess the neatest thing I've observed with bobcats was out on a lease west of Langtry west Texas. I'd killed a nice 8 point down in a dry wash the morning before, came back the next morning to look for a doe. Where I'd gutted the deer, a very large bobcat was stalkin' around and eating some of the entrails from that gut pile. I watched him for a few minutes, he was very aware of his surroundings and saw me move and that's the last I saw of him. He was huge and didn't get that big by being stupid, I reckon.
 
Something to consider with cats. Cats are natures perfect mammalian predator, they have a much higher sucess rate per attack than any other mammalian predator, and many predators such as birds, and reptiles.
The cougar has an 80% attack to kill ratio, higher than any other cat in the world.
The common housecat is the most sucessful feline predator on the planet with over 1000 species of prey item hunted killed and consumed.
I saw home videos of a housecat that used to drop out of low trees on top of adult groundhogs, and kill them, she couldnt drag them far, but she killed them in a matter of a few seconds.
 
Yes, bobcats are good predators but they cannot deal with fully grown wild hogs. While sitting in a tree stand I watched a big male bobcat hassle a sow and her 20 pound pigs. Every time the sow would go after the cat it would run only to come back when she and the pigs turned to leave.

Finally momma hog let out a hideous distress call and about one minute later here came the cavalry in the form of a 300 pound boar. That boar rushed out of the bushes and hit the bobcat knocking it 10-15 feet into the air. The cat landed on the ground and the boar was on it immediately. That big cat was cut to shreds.
 
Cats

I saw a small vagabond house cat set a trap for a full sized Sea Gull on the Atlantic City board walk. The intelligence was amazing, as was the attack, the ferocity, and instant death. The gull was much, much bigger than the cat. Two ladies were feeding gulls off the board walk, dropping food down onto the sand directly in front of a support pillar. I saw the cat sneak over and hide behind the pillar. The next gull that landed, the cat leaped on it's back. And bit it in the back of the neck. Instant death. The ladies were dumb founded, screaming and crying. As they unwittingly lured the gull to it'd death. The gull was so much bigger than the scrawny cat it could hardly drag it under the pier to feed. I was amazed that the cat had the intelligence to see the situation, plan and execute the ambush, in a heart beat. Seeing the real animal world they stood there dumb founded, guilt ridden. They cried for quiet a while. I thought it amazing that the scrawny, fearless cat slew a bird so huge it was incredible. I wish I could be so brave and fearless.
 
Cats have almost all fast twitch muscle tissue (all pure power, very very little endurance capability). So regardless of how small or scrawny that cat or any cat is, they are far stronger, and are capable of feats of strength in bursts that nothing their size or weight could match.
Cats are ambush hunters, and masters of this, with higher sucess rates per attack than almost any predator on the planet.
About the video with the eagles being used to hunt wolves. There is a certain group of mongolians that train Golden eagles to hunt for them, they hunt deer, etc. When hunting wolves they select young smaller wolves, inexperienced. The eagles are trained to attack by driving their talons into the ribcage at full speed then without hesitation attack the closest eye with their beak then the other eye as fast as they can to blind the wolf. The hunter (human) converges as fast as he can to prevent the wolf from getting away or killing the eagle if the attack goes wrong (which happens frequently sometimes). If the attack on the smaller young wolf goes great, the little wolf dies from the injury inflicted by the talons, if not, well, the average age of these eagles trained to hunt wolves is only a few years after they have been trained for wolf hunting.
Ive seen videos of them bringing down huge deer with eagles in deep snow.
 
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Heres our "killing machine" in action with a very dominant male husky.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI2pquRNcmE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwFwbwOFKkY

keep in mind that our husky and husky mix have spent their lives around this cat, and others. Dont try this with a Siberian husky that was not raised with cats, Siberians are notorious cat killers, and may eat the cat also (30,000 year old breed of dog, very strong natural instincts).
 
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