Photographing bobcats

Nature Talk
1

Has anyone successfully photographed bobcats in the wild?

I’ve captured dozens of observations on trail cameras and established some (so-so) patterns of travel, but I’ve yet to catch a glimpse of one from my photo blind.

I’ve tried:

  • Setting the blind up the day before and the day of
  • Setting the blind up downwind
  • Arriving before the crepuscular hours
  • Arriving in camo
  • Using scent wafers to mask my scent

Any other ideas? :sweat_smile:

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Only by chance:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/141542885

In my area (New Mexico) some residents who live on the edge of town near foothills and open space habitat have bobcats visit their yards. I’m not that fortunate.

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We have one sighting (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/89240276), and we were driving looking for wildlife. Vehicle as a blind has worked well for us. Bobcat was certainly a species we were looking our for but neither explicitly seeking nor expecting. This was a rural subdivision on garbage pickup day

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I’ve seen them in the wild before - although from a car or home window might not count in the same way that a blind would.
Juvenile bobcats, at least in my experience, are a lot less stealthy and are more likely to blow their own cover. What matters is if you’re around to see it.
A young bobcat once spent a good few hours up a dead tree, in full view, getting mobbed by birds. That was probably my best view of one, and it was from quite a distance.

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