What are you guys gauging the size of this cat on? I've seen a few bob's that have been shot around my area, biggest was a large female about 35-40lbs. They sure are pretty up close and in person, dead. Gorgeous animals.

 

I'm gauging it on how filled out it is and from the size of my dog. I guess to really measure you'd have to stand my dog side by side this cat. My boxer dog is about 50 pounds I think last time at the vet he was in the upper 40's but thats been since the summer. To me this cat looks to be in th eupper double digits. It just looks really filled out and huge. But like I said I have never seen an actual bobcat, and I'm by no means a wildlife expert. I fish and run some traps(we trap for racoon and every now and then there is a darn oppossum that gets in there) and we have caught one fox. It just looks absolutely huge to me, but evidently it's just because I've never seen one in person. But usually I think pics make something look smaller than they are. Like I caught a huge, for me, catfish probably about 10-12 pounder and from pics it doesn't justify how big it actually was at the time that I caught it.

 

I don't know how big you think that cat is but it's something like 16-18" tall at the shoulders and probably close to 40 lbs. It certainly is no monster but it's a nice kitty worthy of being mounted. We get them all the time around here in 35-40 lb area. I would disagree with the Wiki info about 48 lbs being the largest as I've been witness to much larger ones. The biggest I've seen was 54lbs on a certified scale and numerous ones close to 50 lbs.

 

Having seen many, and shot a few, that is a BIG bobcat. Most are in the 35 - 40 # range as stated, but, just like everything else, there are exceptions to the rule. Normally, the farther north they are, like alot of other animals, the bigger they are to be able to survive the cold winters. I have seen a few that were close to being that big, but most are not.

 

Well I just looked at wiki because it quick access to information, even though it's not the most reliable information since anyone can access the database and change the information. To me that is a huge looking cat, but I have no personal experience with bobcats and have never seen one up close so what I gauge this pic on, is totally different from what ya'll would gauge it on.

Like I said here in Indiana our wildlife is your typical white tail deer, ducks/geese, opposums, skunks, mink, coons, fox, few beavers, coyotes and thats about it. And personally I've never seen a coyote up close since I'm not a hunter at all.

 

http://www.wildcatbluff.org/bobcat.html

Info from the page:

The Bobcat is a wild cat native to North America. They are found mostly in the United States, southern Canada, and northern Mexico. The bobcat is an adaptable animal that inhabits wooded areas as well as semi-desert, urban, and swampland environments. They live in a set home range which shifts in size with the season.

In appearance the bobcat is quite similar to the Canada Lynx but is usually significantly smaller. In color they are mostly tan to grayish brown, but can vary. They also have numerous black streaks in their coat, with dark bars on their forelegs and tails. Their spotted coat allows them to blend into their environment. The ears are black-tipped and pointed with short black tufts. There is generally an off-white color on their lips, chin, and underparts. Kittens are born well-furred and already have their spots.

Adult male bobcats are 28 to 47 inches long, and height to their shoulders is about 14 or 15 inches. Included in their length is a stubby 6-inch tail, which has a "bobbed" apearance, which gives this species its name. They weigh about twice that of a house cat, with adult males usually ranging from 16 to 30 pounds while the females, which are smaller, average about 20 pounds. They are muscular, and have hind legs that are longer than their front legs, giving the animal a bobbing run. They weigh 0.6 to 0.75 pounds and are about 10 inches in length at birth. By their first year they will reach about 10 pounds. They have sharp hearing and vision, and a good sense of smell. They are also excellent climbers. Bobcats can and will swim when they need to, but will normally avoid water.

Bobcats are generally most active during twilight and are therefore considered crepuscular. They keep on the move from three hours before sunset until midnight, then again from before dawn until three hours after sunrise. Each night they will move from two to seven miles along their habitual routes.

As a predator, the bobcat is able to go for long periods without food, but will eat heavily when prey is abundant. During the lean periods, they will often predate larger animals which they can cache and come back to later. The bobcat hunts by stalking or ambushing their prey and then pouncing or giving chase for short distances. Their preference is for mammals about 1.5 to 12.5 pounds in weight. Their main prey varies by region. In the eastern United States it is the cottontail rabbit, but in the north it is the snowshoe hare. When these prey exist together, as in New England, they make up the primary sustenance of the bobcat. In the far south, the rabbit or hare is sometimes replaced by the cotton rat as the primary food source. The bobcat is an opportunistic predator that, unlike its Canadian cousin the Lynx, can readily replace its primary prey with a variety of options.

 

Most people I talk to are.

I am starting to think about my next adventure. I want to go back to Africa and get a leopard but I also want to hunt Alaska.

 

A leopard would make an awesome mount! But so would a big Grizzley bear!

 

I know, that's what makes it a tough choice. I am leaning more to Alaska because I haven't been there yet. But now that you got me thinking about it a leopard fighting a grizzly bear would be pretty cool. I would settle for Tumba's bobcat though.

 

That would make for one hell of an awesome pool room type mount!

 

I haven't hunted in years, I just love to watch them in the wild. If I ever have to kill them to eat, I will. But I personally just don't like mounts. Not a Peta freak or anything like that, I just enjoy them more alive.

How about those peeps fighting the Japanese in Antarctica though, now they are sewing after running into the ship. The video I saw on Yahoo, it's the Japs that should be hauling them in. It is amazing to me that we as people have depended on the food and hides all of our history, and now we have the Peta trying to stop the hunt.

 

Like that would EVER happen in the wild??? Having dabbled in taxidermy, the main reason, is to replicate the animal as it appeared in real life. A Grizzly Bear and a Leopard live on two different continents, so the likelyhood of them ever fighting is slim to none, (I guess it could happen in a zoo if one escaped???)

 

No, it would not happen in the wild it was more of a joke than anything else.

If the goal is to always replicate real life why have I seen so many armadillos holding beer bottles?

 

There are, and always will be, those people that like things that are a bit "odd". How many "Jack-a-lopes" hae you seen, or the infamous flying-rabbit-with antlers, (combo of a rabbit, pheasant wings and deer antlers)? Those kinds of "Novelty" items are what some taxidermists make to use up some of the parts that they have around, and they do sell. It's no different than two people doing a painting of something and one does it in "abstract" form. To each his own

 

This off topic but I have posted it in SUGGESTIONS\ QUESTIONS.
I have a way cool video of a baby elk actually playing in a mud puddle taken on a game cam. I kept it cause my kids crack up when they watch it.

I can't figure out how to post a video, someone want to pm me a e-mail addy so someone smarter than I can post it??