Will a bobcat crap/poop on a rock or the middle of a trail (like they're proud of it)?

I've found "unidentified" scat at two different locations about 100 yds apart. The first was on a game trail about 20-25 yds up from a creek and looked pretty much like the "text book" version of bobcat scat (2-3 inches with blunt ends). The second was "spread" between two rocks crossing the creek, presumably to meet up with the same trail the first scat was on. This one resembles the first but one piece wasn't as blunt and the other piece was relatively pointed in one end (2 different cats?).

I saw no indication of seeds or anything that suggested any plants had been eaten in either one.

They poop in the middle of trails all the time. Either as a calling card so other cats know it’s be through, to make a territory, or because it just had to go.

Yup

Thanks men,

Look close on those prominent rocks and you may see tiny teeth and bones or flattened hair that’s there from way before.

They probably have been doing that behavior since the beginning of their existence.

when you find that kind of sign often a set will produce a big tom. I dont think females and kittens do that

I pulled a female off this trail last month about 10 yds from the poop. Time constraints kept me from trapping that area like I wanted. My lack of experience probably didn't help things.

I appreciate all the good info

All cats poop.

All cats poop.[/quote]

Yes they do. Pulled my traps Saturday and noticed one left me a calling card about 20 feet from one of my sets. I'll give 'em "what for and how come" next year, lol.

females and kittens cover it up.

In general droppings and spraying serve as territorial, traveling presence advertising and boundary markers. Heading into and during reproductive times of the year droppings and scent spraying I am sure are done with a direct purpose and more vigorously in their travels. Needing more water due to this behavior I would reason.

This obvious behavioral increase during this time of year is most likely interpreted with more intense interest. Their body waste and urine now provides more significant details for breeding purposes for both searching males and advertising receptive females. Their droppings and urine carries their sex / current biological condition such as any specific hormonal presence which provides key markers as to their reproductive cycle readiness to an animal.

During litter rearing times I believe that females as an instinctual self preservation behavior may cover and blend their droppings to discourage potential predators from finding and killing the kittens, Masking and covering the droppings I believe is their attempt to hide the females hang out areas and dening site(s) during this critical time of year..

Even though droppings may be covered to a degree that may certainly reduce the more visual recognition of the droppings however the fecal odor is still quite prominent if the wind is right and it hasn't dehydrated too significantly It will still be found and evaluated by others who discover it.

Well said Bob.

I would add that here in Texas from October - July I don't find many cats that cover their scat piles, and we catch females and males with equal vigor.
Female bobcats are wicked killers of deer in June - July. A 15-16 lb. female bobcat can routinely bring down 100-120 lb. deer if she chooses to.
We see this quite often - it's what keeps predator contracts rolling in.

Folks that haven't seen first hand deer kills by an average size cat would be amazed. Once they make contact with a deer and get a good neck bite hold not many deer get away clean. I have only seen that happen once in my lifetime. I saw this deer running out of the corner of my eye while making a set, it was this making noise which caught my attention and caused me to look up toward the noise to focus better. If that deer hadn't run across a part of an open field I wouldn't have been able to see well enough what I was hearing and seeing.

I couldn't make out at first what I was seeing as I watched with interest. I finally focused better on what it was on that deer's neck and shoulder area. It was a bobcat holding on like a piece of flopping Velcro. I only had a few seconds to see this play out before they disappeared over a small hill. I went over to see if I could see anymore of this event where I last saw the deer but the it had gone down into a steep ravine into the woods. It didn't look good for the deer but who really knows how it played out in the end.

It is difficult to judge size of a cat at that distance and generally speaking not knowing the size of the deer. You definitely could see it was a cat. Makes a fella wonder how long these rides like this go on before the deer drops or the cat gets knocked off or looses its grip.

Bob, Mark, Thanks for weighing in. There‘s a ton of excellent info in y’all’s replies. Good stuff for this greenhorn.

yes other animals can easy sniff out covered droppings and urine markers. but a cat turd left on top a flat rock in a dry creek bed or sandy wash, out in plain sight, is almost always a big tom.

I'm new to bobcats as they have just moved in. Found this on a gravel road below my house. Scooped it up and in the freezer. Probably going to use it in front of a trail cam as I have already filled my bobcat permit. Can't draw again for two years.

Dang, I would love to set some traps there.