Big Cat Sighted In PA Family's Backyard.

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https://myfox8.com/2018/08/27/mystery-big-cat-in-familys-surveillance-video-has-neighbors-on-edge/

Although it's profile in the picture certainly resembles that of a Cougar, it clearly has no long tail so my conclusion is that it is a large Bobcat.

BTW, I constantly find it amazing that folks out there assume that Bobcats are small animals, similar in size to domestic house cats. They can get rather large and are extremely ferocious. I believe it's because many people confuse the terms Bobtail Cat and Bobcat.

I was at a cabin several years ago out in the Boone area. Several of us were sitting around the fire enjoying some good food and drink when we started hearing some screaming nearby. It continued to get closer and closer. We finally realized that it was a Bobcat and it kept getting closer to the camp until we could see it sitting on some rocks illuminated by the light of our fire.

One of my friends had his German Shepherd there with him that night and the dog was going crazy. My buddy looked over and told me he was going to let his dog loose to go get that cat.

Fortunately for him and his beloved pet, I talked him out of it.
 
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Looks like a lion, but I think its a trick of light washing out the spots.

Bob cat.
 
Bobcats can get big, for sure. I had let my dogs out one night to do their business and my JRT went on alert. He started snarling and barking, which caused my Pitbull to go investigate. I turned on the floodlights and saw a Bobcat just in the tree line on my property. Both dogs attacked before I could get them controlled. My JRT suffered a puncture wound to the neck and, sadly, my Pit did not survive the encounter.

We only had an invisible fence at the time but a 5’ wooden fence was installed the next week. Really wish I had done it sooner.
 
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fsj80 said:
Bobcats can get big, for sure. I had let my dogs out one night to do their business and my JRT went on alert. He started snarling and barking, which caused my Pitbull to go investigate. I turned on the floodlights and saw a Bobcat just in the tree line on my property. Both dogs attacked before I could get them controlled. My JRT suffered a puncture wound to the neck and, sadly, my Pit did not survive the encounter.

We only had an invisible fence at the time but a 5’ wooden fence was installed the next week. Really wish I had done it sooner.
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Sorry you lost your pet.
 
I'm originally from Western Pa along the Butler & Armstrong County line. The Pa Game Commission will lie and deny that mountain lions/cougars live in Pa. My neighbor has pictures of one (w/long tail) in the corner of her yard circa early 2000's. If that's a bobcat in the photo it's a BIG bobcat. :eek:
 
Bunsen said:
If that's a bobcat in the photo it's a BIG bobcat. :eek:
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He is Big
His name is Bob
And he is a cat.

Freaking cougar is what that is.

I saw a bobcat that had been hit by a car. Took me a moment to figure what it was. I passed by the.same spot a couple hours later and it.was.gone. Somebody picked it up and probably saved the pelt.

Sent from my SM-J320V using Tapatalk
 
Bunsen said:
I'm originally from Western Pa along the Butler & Armstrong County line. The Pa Game Commission will lie and deny that mountain lions/cougars live in Pa. My neighbor has pictures of one (w/long tail) in the corner of her yard circa early 2000's.
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I agree. There was a show a while back, maybe "Monster Quest"? And it would investigate stuff like Bigfoot. One episode was about Mountain Lions in NC, specifically very eastern NC like Bladenboro. all the authorities swore it was not possible that they exist here anymore.
But locals had a lot of sightings, and then finally someone got a verifiable pic of a mountain lion
People still said - it can't be a true Eastern Mountain lion, it must have migrated from the west. Or - it must have been someone's pet that escaped.
Who cares where it came from - it was there, despite the fact they said that was not possible. :)
 
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Bunsen said:
I'm originally from Western Pa along the Butler & Armstrong County line. The Pa Game Commission will lie and deny that mountain lions/cougars live in Pa.
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The NC folks will do the same, but I've seen too many trail cam pics and heard too many eyewitness accounts of big cats to believe their propaganda. There's a pretty noticeable size difference between a bobcat and a cougar.
I think OP's post is a bobcat.

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Average size of a bobcat.

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Compared to a cougar.

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Compared to cougar and house cat.
 
Let me weigh in on this eastern cougar discussion. I had a roommate in college who is still a very good friend of mine. His Dad was an an internal auditor for the state of WV.

I know for a fact, directly from his Dad, that the state of WV released at least 8 big cats, either Panthers or Cougars, into the wild up there because hunters weren't keeping the whitetail population in check. That was in the late 1980's.

I also have a pic somewhere of a very large Cougar that was shot and killed up in the mountains of VA sometime around 2006. The guy who shot it is my brother's friend.
 
charliesgrave said:
The NC folks will do the same, but I've seen too many trail cam pics and heard too many eyewitness accounts of big cats to believe their propaganda. There's a pretty noticeable size difference between a bobcat and a cougar.
I think OP's post is a bobcat.
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Thanks for not fully quoting my above statement and omitting the part where I said that the cat in my neighbors photo did have a long tail. :rolleyes:
 
Qball said:
Let me weigh in on this eastern cougar discussion. I had a roommate in college who is still a very good friend of mine. His Dad was an an internal auditor for the state of WV.

I know for a fact, directly from his Dad, that the state of WV released at least 8 big cats, either Panthers or Cougars, into the wild up there because hunters weren't keeping the whitetail population in check. That was in the late 1980's.

I also have a pic somewhere of a very large Cougar that was shot and killed up in the mountains of VA sometime around 2006. The guy who shot it is my brother's friend.
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The Pa Game Commission did something similar in Western Pa with coyotes in the late 1980's to also control the deer population.
 
Bunsen said:
The Pa Game Commission did something similar in Western Pa with coyotes in the late 1980's to also control the deer population.
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Here, I'm going to agree with you again, but I'll include the whole quote this time.

I know someone who saw the NC equivalent do the same thing with coyotes in Alexander county in the 80's.
 
One of the limitations of a text based forum.

Either way, I think we can both agree you can't trust the state government to tell you the truth about what's roaming around in the woods.
 
I actually saw a cougar up at Ol' Whitney in Stanly County it was around 15-20 years ago I heard tell of sightings around but never thought i would see one here.
 
Qball said:
https://myfox8.com/2018/08/27/mystery-big-cat-in-familys-surveillance-video-has-neighbors-on-edge/

Although it's profile in the picture certainly resembles that of a Cougar, it clearly has no long tail so my conclusion is that it is a large Bobcat.

BTW, I constantly find it amazing that folks out there assume that Bobcats are small animals, similar in size to domestic house cats. They can get rather large and are extremely ferocious. I believe it's because many people confuse the terms Bobtail Cat and Bobcat.

I was at a cabin several years ago out in the Boone area. Several of us were sitting around the fire enjoying some good food and drink when we started hearing some screaming nearby. It continued to get closer and closer. We finally realized that it was a Bobcat and it kept getting closer to the camp until we could see it sitting on some rocks illuminated by the light of our fire.

One of my friends had his German Shepherd there with him that night and the dog was going crazy. My buddy looked over and told me he was going to let his dog loose to go get that cat.

Fortunately for him and his beloved pet, I talked him out of it.
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We have see tracks up in Boone I’m sure are from a bobcat and neighbors have spotted them several times. I saw I good sized one several years ago on the parkway just west of Asheville. Actually pulled off the road to watch a momma black bear with 2 cubs about 25 yards off the road. Sat in my truck for around 5 minutes watching the cubs when I noticed momma was gone. Thought it was about time to leave and turned to see a huge bobcat coming out of the brush 15 feet in front of me. It stopped on the road for 5 seconds or so looking my way and dissapeared. Was a pretty cool experience!
 
A good friend in MO caught two guys in a Dept of Conservation truck releasing a mountain lion on his hunting lease several years ago. They were really cagey when he approached them and left the scene as soon as they could get in their truck. He called the head office in Jefferson City and everyone he talked to denied they were releasing mountain lions, despite his seeing it firsthand.
 
Two years ago friend with hundreds of acres in Zebulon got a rear half game cam picture of a very large dark cat with a long drooping tail. I did see the pic, and another with him standing in the same place for size reference.
He asked the local game warden he grew up with about it being a cougar, and was informed they don't live around around here. When he said fine I'm shooting it, then he was warned it most likely has a tracking collar and he'll be in deep poo for killing it.
 
I've seen lots of bobcats, and a few mountain lions.

When I saw the lions, it was readily apparent exactly what it was. Hard to mistake for a bobcat. There is just nothing else like it. They are amazing creatures!
 
np307 said:
It was a lynx. We called 'em souped up wildcats.
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...down here in Amite County :D I love hearing the fellow laughing his butt off in the recording of him telling that story.
 
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