Bramblings: Bobcat

Photo by Becky Nelson
A magnificent creature came calling last week. A bobcat sauntered up the little hill in front of the house and sat underneath one of the Christmas trees I have on the lawn. I caught sight of him as I passed through the living room, heading to grab my jacket and head to the farm at the base of the hill. I didn’t have my “fancy” camera ready for the sight, but had recently gotten a new “smartphone” with an amazing camera, so caught some super shots.

I was amazed at the boldness and fearlessness of the big cat. And big it was. He was a lot bigger than a house cat — easily four or five times bigger than the cat sitting in the window watching his every move. He really wasn’t a whole lot smaller than the dog who was at another window, barking like the Hound of the Baskerville’s, alerting us to the intruder. Bobcats can be up to 40 inches long and weigh up to 30 pounds, and this fella was at the max.

The ruckus in the house with me fumbling for a camera shot and the dog going bananas didn’t phase the big kitty at all. I had to open the window and shout at him to get him to take off so the dog didn’t tear though the walls while I was gone to chase him back to the forest at the edge of the lawn. I didn’t see the cat again, but neighbors to the north and the south had cat tracks in their driveways and on their decks where he came looking for a snack I suppose.

There is a tremendous squirrel population around the farm, so I imagine the cat has good eating around these parts. Their diet is mostly squirrels, mice, rabbits, birds and other small prey, though they can kill animals much bigger than themselves and have been known to launch out of trees and kill deer on occasion. The cats are solitary, and usually nocturnal, so it was a lucky sighting for me to see the beautiful cat.

New Hampshire was toying with creating a hunting season for the cats. They have a large, healthy population here in North America I understand, but I am not in favor of a hunting season on any predator. As a farmer, and if you have a garden in your backyard, I enjoy having a healthy predator population around. Keeping the garden-raiding squirrels, rabbits, deer, possum, chipmunks and even skunks and porcupine populations in check is a good thing if you want to harvest your crops or keep down the tick-carrying population of mice. I am not thrilled when I hear of folks hunting coyotes/coy-dogs in the area, either. I enjoy hearing them howling around the area when they are hunting and I know they are chasing off or thinning out the huge population of deer or other vegetable munching critters around the farm. The hunting season was dismissed after lots of folks spoke against the plan.

It is exciting to spy one of the elusive wildcats living in our woods. It is a gentle reminder about the natural order and the delicate balance needed in our environment to support us all, and the need to support conservation efforts to keep our forests full of trees, streams and wildness and our undeveloped land in its natural condition in order to keep ourselves comfortably and safely in that natural order.

We need to keep aware and involved in our development plans in our towns and cities to make sure to keep these predatory animals safe and be their voice at the table when needed. I am not saying that we should limit hunting different species as their populations can become too big to handle when they start feeling comfortable in our towns and backyards, but we do need to be aware of our impacts on the environment and habitats as we build and develop and try to mitigate any negative consequences of our development and our daily activities.

It would be a shame if the bobcats, bears, and coyotes disappeared and their prey species populations blossomed out of control. Every action has a reaction, and unforeseen consequences are often to be expected.

Becky Nelson is co-owner of Beaver Pond Farm in Newport. You may reach her at [email protected].