My answer to my gray squirrel problem …

vt_shooter

vt_shooter

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…a professional cat!

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I’ve had the treat of having this bobcat visit my yard each June & July for 3 years now. I know it’s the same cat from the scar on the end of her nose. She’s an amazing hunter – all business and no play, very strategic in how she hunts, and wastes no energy. She loves gray squirrels and rabbits, I suspect she’s avoids the animals that pose more of a fighting threat to her. When she recognizes that a stalking attempt isn’t going to work, she calls it off. Very quick and humane with the kills – gray squirrels are dead within a few seconds, she always goes for the neck. I call it a she because I’m assuming she has kittens somewhere near my house each spring. I haven’t seen her with kittens, but she *always* carries the kill off in the same direction. Why else would the cat appear each spring, and always carry the kills off in the same direction? I’ve seen a failed attempt at a rabbit chase, which escaped by darting into thick bushes by my neighbor’s house. On another occasion I saw her carry a rabbit kill across my yard, heading in the same direction she always carries her kills. I could go on and on about this cat – it’s been great to observe and learn about her. And she does a great job at knocking the gray squirrel population down when it gets to high. Come August, I probably won’t see her again until next June. It’s a tough world out there in Vermont, -20 degree winters, other predators, I have no idea how long she’ll live. Hopefully she’ll be back again next year. If only she could talk, imagine the stories and experiences she could tell. Last year she walked with a pretty bad limp for a couple weeks, gotta wonder what happened. Animal bite? Thorn? Cut? Nicked by a car? Anyway, this is a quick write-up of my professional cat visitor. Everyone should be so lucky to have one! I took this photo a couple hours ago. This photo was from a couple hundred feet away, high ISO, and cropped pretty significantly.
 
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vt, you are fortunate to have such valuable part time livestock.
i had a bull snake who worked here for a while n did the same things, only with rattlers n mice.
helpers like these are few while vermin are many.
cherish her.
 
Gorgeous pic. My mom's boyfriend in Ohio had a bobcat in his backyard several times this year. Amazing animals that give you a hint of what a domestic cat has the potential to be.

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Great photo of a beautiful cat!

Usually it's deer and turkeys wandering through the yard around here, raccoons and opossum munching on the outside cats' chow (summarily dispatched with #4 buck), and a couple of packs of coyotes terrorizing the property, mostly howling up a storm when I'm half-asleep and have no chance of a shot. The raptor population has increased significantly, as there are now two pair of bald eagles, a pair of golden eagles, two pair of red tail hawks, a pair of peregrine falcons, a pair of sparrow hawks and numerous owls that have all staked out territories in the area and make regular overflights.

Occasionally a few of the cats go nose-to-nose with some of the deer and they get into a game of tag. It is just hilarious! But the best thing My Lady and I have seen is a huge bald eagle that decided the neighbor's chickens (they free-range along our back road, along with a half-dozen geese, and make a mess in the yard) were on the menu for the evening. We spotted the eagle on the ground tearing chunks out of it's victim, and sneaked to a point about 75 yards from it for a better view (Damn... no camera!!!). We were surprised to see two other piles of chicken remains nearby, with feathers everywhere! I swear that the eagle had a smile on it's face, and I couldn't help laughing out loud.

Even surrogate revenge can be sweet! :D
 
That really is a great photo. Wer have a pair of skwerls round our place and hope the hunters leave 'm alone. In the last two months I have gotten 2 quick glimpses of the mountain kitty around the place. They are spooky. Have seen one bob cat but never gotten a pic of any of them. Saw a bear(black) last month. Where I live you do NOT expect to see a bear...wolves yeah bears no. Hope you get more pics of that cat..and post 'em
 
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I generally hate cats but that one I could appreciate. It's nice to see nature at its best right in your own backyard.
 
The bobcat was here again this morning, she waited patiently mostly hidden under some brush at the edge of the yard, waiting for a squirrel to visit the feeder. It's getting quiet here with gray squirrels - I went from usually having 4 - 8 at the bird feeder at a time, now I only see one or 2, and that's every now & then. A squirrel finally made a visit, and for some reason she waited a few minutes before making her approach. Interesting how she stalks - she doesn't move slowly and stealthily like a house cat, she instead waits until she figures her quarry isn't looking, then makes a quick series of lightning fast and long steps towards the quarry, and goes back to studying and watching her quarry. If there's a tree somewhere closer to her quarry than she is, she'll maneuver to put the tree between her and the quarry and use the tree to block the quarry's view of her as she closes the distance. She usually scores, but this morning she missed - the squirrel made a quick leap onto a tree at the last nanosecond. The cat jumped onto the tree and went up a few feet, then hopped down, and walked slowly away.

You just have to admire her intelligence - she learned what looks like perfect hunting technique for hunting within a yard with grass that's quiet to stalk on; I imagine she's had to learn other techniques for when she's in the woods when the ground is covered in crunchy fallen leaves, or in snow. She is so alert, and focuses like a laser on her quarry. Smart cat that works incredibly hard to survive.
 
vt_shooter said:
You just have to admire her intelligence - she learned what looks like perfect hunting technique for hunting within a yard with grass that's quiet to stalk on; I imagine she's had to learn other techniques for when she's in the woods when the ground is covered in crunchy fallen leaves, or in snow. She is so alert, and focuses like a laser on her quarry. Smart cat that works incredibly hard to survive.
Click to expand...

It isn't easy for most predators to survive. The ones that do become very efficient at hunting prey.
You can bet that cat you're watching is an expert!

Hopefully you can post more photos of that cool cat!
 
vt_shooter said:
You just have to admire her intelligence - she learned what looks like perfect hunting technique for hunting...
Click to expand...
Yes, I do admire that in cats.

I admit, I love cats. All cats. Big ones, small ones, whatever. You can keep the hairless ones though.

We have two house cats, complete opposites. The big one, ~17lbs, is afraid of everything. If you came over, you'd never see him because he'd be hiding under the bed. The other one is more aggressive. He's caught two birds and he's not an outside cat. He sits by the front screen door. He waits until a stupid bird gets too close, then shoved his two front paws between the screen door and the frame. Out of three tries, he's nabbed two birds this way.

Then there's the neighborhood cat:
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We don't see this one very often, but you can bet I keep a sharp eye when out walking.
 
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