I've not trapped bobcats hard since the early 1970s. Because pelt prices have remained high, I think they are getting too much pressure here in Idaho. I still harvest a few every season that are invariably caught in my coyote snares. They are a pretty neat addition to the fur collection.


This is an old, big tom caught in a coyote snare. I usually liked very much to eat them, but find the older tom's are decidedly musky and not good for the cook pot.



This bobcat was in a wolf trap in northern Idaho. Nice markings on his back.



This one is more typical of north Idaho, with a blah, tawny-colored back. Not like the "lynx cats" from eastern Oregon and western Idaho.



This is a pretty good colored cat from north Idaho; not "red" colored like most.



Another typical-colored cat from north Idaho.



Jack

Great pictures!

Jack, those are beautiful detailed photos. There are some very pretty cats out there. I wonder if markings trend more or less in certain areas...I would think it is hereditary. My guess, anyway.

I'm in a part of PA with no bobcat season, but they are starting to show up here.
They certainly are a cool animal.

A couple from the line last season and a rare event for South East Oklahoma, a cat track in the snow.

What western Oregon cats (coastal) look like after peeled and dried.

I love bobcats and cat trapping!

Great photos, Dan. Thanks!

Not as pretty as others posted here but they are a thrill to catch!

A couple of my favorite pics.

What evidence do you have they are getting too much pressure? Awful lot of different habitat in Idaho. Not all of it produces high dollar cats.

Wonderful Thread
.......Beautiful

Just my feelings and personal observations. Nothing scientific. Have been seeing much less sign of them in good habitat then I saw in the 1970s and 1980s. Talking with long-term trappers who've said their catches are down (by as much as 90%) from three or four decades ago.

Jack

Depends on where you are at, some areas of southern Idaho desert that I used to go and hunt and were absolutely infested with them, now have almost none. Other areas, especially forested areas that get heavy snowfall, seem to have as many as ever. Locally there seem to be as many now as there was twenty years ago. Which is just a fraction of what there was in the Owhyees twenty years ago, but much more than there is there now. Not sure that it is the pressure, seems to be more hunting and trapping pressure up here than I seen down there. But on the other hand trappers rack up higher numbers down there (I assume due to more favorable conditions and easier to get around) but hunters tend to take a lot more up here. I seen a real dip in the cat sign in this country about ten years ago, but then it bounced back and I could never determine what caused either the dip or the rebound.

Here is one after being released from a wolf trap.