how much of a threat are bobcats to humans?

the noobie

the noobie

New member
im not sure if there are any bobcats in my area. mountain lions yes. but ive been looking at posts about bobcats and they are a REALLY neat looking animal id like to try and get one this winter if any are in my area but i was curious since they are somewhat small do they fancy attacking humans?
 
I highly doubt they would come after a full grown man.

A kid possibly.... though, I have never heard of an unprovoked bobcat attack on a human.

I have heard of Bobcats taking adult deer.

Guess anything is possible, I suppose.

 
Originally Posted By: Black_WolfI highly doubt they would come after a full grown man.

A kid possibly.... though, I have never heard of an unprovoked bobcat attack on a human.

I have heard of Bobcats taking adult deer.

Guess anything is possible, I suppose.



I agree. Unless cornered with no escape route or rabid I woulnd't worry about it too much. It's possible but not likely.
 
ok thanks all i was just curious because ive only seen one wild bobcat my whole life and that was late one night deer hunting just saw it flash across the road. they are neat animals id like to get one this winter but i have a feeling it will be a lot of work
 
I also will say that it is probably highly unlikely, however I do know someone who was attacked by a bobcat. It happened on the golf course, the guy was reaching into some tall grass where he had hit his ball out of bounds and got jumped by one. It went straight for his face and took(I want to say) about 30 stitches to close him up.

That being said, I think the guy had a better chance of being struck by lightning on the way to pick up his lottery winnings than to be attacked by a bobcat. But remember there is always the definite possibility of a probable maybe!

Chupa
 
Wow, Chupa!

Thats the first story I've heard of such a thing.

You see crap about Yote attacks but never Bobs.

Guess I was right bout anything being possible.

Poor guy, that sucks!
 
ya i can see the exception stories but no animal will not ever attack one day your best hunting dog may just get angry and bite you it can happen but in general im guessing bobcats are pretty shy?
 
Originally Posted By: john007I have read a couple of stories about hunters being attacked while turkey hunting.

That's not really an attack on a human is it? From the bobcat's perspective I mean. Turkeys are a natural prey species for the bobcat and when a fully camouflaged hunter crawls in a brush pile and makes turkey sounds… well the bobcat doesn’t realize he just jumped a human until it’s done. As soon as the cat does realize the situation he is gone in a heartbeat. Healthy unwounded bobcats only seem to attack those people with great imaginations while they are hunting alone. Rabid or wounded bobcats might get you if you screw around with them foolishly. Otherwise… they aren’t worrisome.
 
In our magazine "Georgia Outdoor News", there was an article about a guy here in Georgia that was carrying firewood back to a house from a woodline, when he heard something behind him. As he turned around, a medium size bobcat pounced on him and hit him square in the chest. The bobcat began clawing and biting as the guy attempted to pull him off. He eventually fell down (on top of the bobcat) during the struggle and put the cat in a death choke hold. After about a minute, the cat stopped breathing, but the guy maintained his grip around the cat's throat for another 5 minutes, just in case. (Can't say I blame him). The cat was able to bite and claw through his carhart jacket and leather gloves. The guy received numerous cuts and bites, but did not receive any major damage. Later reports indicated the bobcat was rabid (no shock there) and the guy ended up having to have the dreaded series of shots. The article indicated that the first rounds of shots included 13 shots directly into each of the deep cuts and bits. However, the following shots were the single series.

I've had a few come in on me, but once they realized I was there, they've sneaked off. Several have let me know they are there by getting vocal (high pitch sounds and spitting), but I've never had any approach me with the intent to take me out of the game. (Doesn't mean that they haven't scared the crap out of me at night when they've closed within 10 yards)

It sounds crazy, but around here (in Georgia), I'm much more worried about being hit by a rabid fox than I am a bobcat or yote. Out numbers of rabid fox have increased during the last 10 years or so to a point where we have reports pretty often. While I've called in yotes and bobcats to under 10 yards numerous times, I can usually see them coming in. The fox on the other hand, are harder to see as they approach in taller grass, and I've had some run across my feet before I knew they were there.

In closing, the only things that I've been recently attacked by was (1) a large horned owl that dived on me when using an open reed call. He angled off a fraction of a second before nailing me and the tips of his wing brushed my hat. AND (2) an annoying bat. I was using the IR feature on my night vision monocular, not realizing that bugs are equally attracted to IR light. I had a great swarm of moths and skeeters flying around my head, when all of a sudden I kept hearing this fluttering that kept going past my head. After several times (and remembering my encounter with the owl), I turned on the red filtered light to see what in the heck was going on. I immediately saw that I had this over energetic bat that was making meals out of the flying insects that were swarming around my head.
 
A number of years ago I was bowhunting in Connecticut on private land with my Dad. Bear in mind that Connecticut has not had a hunting season for bobcat in over fifty years or so thus they have a good population.

I was in my treestand down a short logging road at the base of a hill. To my back was a thick laurel patch with oak trees where the deer would go for refuge from disturbance on the hill top.

As I was watching down the road I saw something tawny colored walk by. I thought it was a deer but it didn't look right. I got my bow ready and waited. Again I saw something tawny colored walk past some laurel down the path. In a moment I looked beneath my treestand.

Right below my stand was a huge bobcat. I stomped on my stand and it barked. No growl,etc. Just a gutteral bark and it leaped back about fifteen feet or so to my right. It stood there looking at me. We watched each other for what seemed to be several minutes. I took my arrow and rattled the quiver and sort of yelled at it. The bobcat looked at me with it's ears slightly pinned back. Not flat like a mad housecat but more a triangle like in shape. To the best of my knowledge a cat will pin it's ears back like that when it is unsure of something. After that it turned around and walked off towards the other end of the property. As it walked off all of the squirrels chattered like crazy.

Later I met Dad and he asked what did I see. I told him you would not believe it if I told you. He then said a bobcat. He saw it as well. It was huge in size. I am not an expert but I did have the opportunity to measure roughly how big it was.

When it went below my stand it had passed between my climbing ladder and a nearby tree. The space between the ladder and the tree was one foot. The back of the bobcat touched the first rung of my ladder. That rung is exactly as high as the top of my knee. That is almost two feet. The length was more difficult to figure. I close my eyes and I will guess more than three feet. So those who are more expert than I can guess at the size.

Niether Dad nor I were attacked but this bobcat did not show fear towards us. It seemed to ignore us for a lack of a better term. Could it attack? For a moment when we had that staring match the thought ran across my mind.
 
Originally Posted By: GCOriginally Posted By: john007I have read a couple of stories about hunters being attacked while turkey hunting.

That's not really an attack on a human is it? From the bobcat's perspective I mean. Turkeys are a natural prey species for the bobcat and when a fully camouflaged hunter crawls in a brush pile and makes turkey sounds… well the bobcat doesn’t realize he just jumped a human until it’s done. As soon as the cat does realize the situation he is gone in a heartbeat. Healthy unwounded bobcats only seem to attack those people with great imaginations while they are hunting alone. Rabid or wounded bobcats might get you if you screw around with them foolishly. Otherwise… they aren’t worrisome.

Nope
 
A bobcat came out of a marshy bunch of cat tails and chased one of my dad's friends into his truck after parking his tractor. It may have had kittens in there, don't know but it certainly put Mr.Tucker to steppin' and a fetchin'!
This was in Conway,S.C. in the swamps where dad gets to pop a cat on a somewhat regular basis. I've got a picture of dad holding that very cat if i could figure out how and where to post it.
So yes they can and will under certaiin circumstances, at least that's what i believe.
 
Here's the cat

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Waaaaay back when I was a kid, dogs treed one in the front yard one night. Not sure how he wound up there as the yard was fenced and they had to chase him through a 36 inch gate. Dad walked out of the house with flashlight in hand, anticipating a coon or possum, and the cat jumped out of the tree after him and the light. (Screen door had to be repaired the next day! Everyone in the house got woke up too.)

Dogs bayed him up in the corner of the porch until the old man retrieved the 410 that hung handily in the hall for such instances, and did him in. That one weighed in at 25 pounds. Wasn't rabid either.
 
Ike Blassingame tells of a fellow he knew who was pretty handy with a rope. One day he was out checking cattle and spotted a bobcat sleeping on a deadfall. Always one to find a challenge to his roping skills and a chance for entertainment, he decide to rope it.

Bad idea. The cat came awake instantly and skurried up the rope and into the saddle with the cowpuncher. Neither the puncher nor the horse messed with cats again. Too much entertainment.
 
A very old second hand story was of someone hearing a disturbance in a chicken coop. Man enters with an axe handle and after a hair raising fight kills a bobcat.
 
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