Bobcat "Cough Bark"

nc_deerhunter

New member
The other night I was using my howler to try to locate some coyotes. I had 2 different coyotes answering me when right above me on a railroad trussel I heard a bobcat doing a "cough bark". Ive heard bobcats make this sound before but never knew what it was called til today. Im trying to find an audio version of this sound on the internet but without any luck. Does anyone know where I can go to find it? And does anyone know anything else other than it being a warning call? I was really close to this cat and it done it twice. The second time was closer, almost like it was trying to get back across the trussel. Thanks for the help.
 
I have never heard that cough bark from a bobcat. Maybe a hairball coming up? I have noticed that grey foxes out here cough bark...I think that's all they got.
 
I dont think that ive ever heard a fox do a cough bark. I used to live in WVa and one night the moon was full and there was a few inches of snow on the ground. You could see almost as good as if it was daylight. I kept hearing this noise outside my window in my backyard. When I looked out the window I saw a bobcat heading back into the woods while making this noise. My neighbors dog was barking inside the house and I reckon thats what spooked him. I had 12 turkeys in a pen in my backyard and my guess is that he was looking for an easy meal. I heard this several times that year and you could here them make this call and all sorts of other calls right in behind my house during mating season. I had 2 coon hounds (plotts) that actually tree'd a bobcat on the hill behind my house at about 8:00 am one morning. When it seen me it jumped from the tree and one of my dogs grabbed him up but he ended up getting loose. He never did turn on my dogs though. He just wanted to get back up on the mountain and thats where he went.
 
In San Diego the grey foxes come out of the canyons into folks backyards and eat the dog's food right out of the bowl. My brother had them in his backyard EVERY night. So we'd set up to watch...the first one out of the canyon in the yard would bark...and here they'd all come...a hole family. No kidding.
 
With the greys coming that close to the house did they ever cause any problems? That would be something to brag about. Here we all are out hunting our buts off in hopes of getting a shot on a fox or a coyote and your brother has them coming up to his back door. The only fox ive seen around here (North Caroina)was during last bow season. It was a really nice red but im starting to miss some of my chickens and there are fox tracks all over the place. I wouldnt try to hunt him at all if he wasnt eating up all my chickens!
 
Rattler, I know what you're talking about. I've heard many a gray make that noise at night, I think they are trying to tell us they know we are there or something ain't right? As far as a bobcat making that noise, never heard it and I've been on alot of cat kills, I'm not saying it can't happen. Gray fox are not the only critters that come into peoples back yards and eat the dog food, so do coyotes and who knows what else?
 
The various calls of the Bobcat sound much like those of the domestic cat, although its scream is piercing. When threatened, the animal utters a short, sudden, and resonant "cough-bark."

http://www.enature.com/fieldguide/showSp...p;recnum=MA0017

I never would've known what was making the noise if I had not heard it when I was younger. When I heard the noise when I was younger I looked out my window and was lucky enough to see the bobcat making the noise. These are the only two times i've ever heard it. The bobcats never caused me or my dad any problems and thats why we never hunted them. But now since im hooked on predator hunting, im planning a trip to my dad's house in West Virginia to give it a try.
 
i had two do a growl bark sounded simeler to a fox.they came in to 20 yards with their hair standing up i was calling springtime and the season was closed but i think i was close to the den they wonted to kick a coyotes butt they came to a howler
 
I have not heard what could be described as a "cough bark" from a bobcat but have heard many different growls and screams from them. Greys have a variety of raspy growls and barks though. One of the strangest sounds I have ever heard from Greys is a real soft high pitched whine....almost a whistle that they make right before they fight each other.

I heard it one night as I saw eyes converge from two different directions on a hillside and boy did they get into it.

As for wild animals coming onto the back porch to eat the dog food...have seen or am aware that possums, coons , coyotes, fox and mountain lions do it. I would imagine that just about any enterprising wild animal would try it. One of the funniest scenes I have ever witnessed was the sight of a huge possum in the middle of a line of three cats eating some cat food I had put down in a line on the patio of our deer lease cabin. They all four just looked at me and went back to eating.

The strangest case of acclimation I have ever been shown was a picture of the camp cats at the Nail Ranch sleeping on top of two sleeping feral hogs that would come up out of the creek to the turkey feeder behind the guides cabin. The cats were laying smack dab on top of the pigs. All four were sleeping peacefully together.
 
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