The neighbor down the road from the barndo has a trail cam. On that cam, he captured a bobcat near his home headed back into the woods with a squirrel in its mouth. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was.
Bobcats are present and common in Indiana (including southern/central areas like Jackson County), especially in wooded, brushy, or rural spots near water or edges where they hunt.
Then Mr. Pesky sent this photo:
He took the photo right behind their place and knew the neighborhood bobcat had been there. Skeptical, I uploaded the photo to Grok for verification.
By golly, Grok said it WAS a bobcat print!
Me: Grok, are you SURE it’s not a dog print or coyote even?
Grok: Bobcats have retractable claws so they rarely show in tracks unless the animal was digging or running hard. Canine prints (dog, coyote) most often times show claw impressions.
Grok proceeded to provide more details on why the determination was made… like spaces between toes marking an X or a C… mainly a verbiage dump that I skimmed over once I bought into the concept that Mr. Pesky has a new pet cat.
And I thought having regular ole’ cats coming around here was bad. 🙂
I have a friend that lives on a farm here in Jackson County that probably has bobcat stories to tell. If he reads this, I’ll betcha he rolls his eyes at me thinking it’s a big deal to have this particular critter in the vicinity.
Now you know: Bobcats are one of the most widely distributed wild cats in the U.S., with populations doing well in places like Indiana.