Bobcat

Breeding:
Mates February – March; 1 (occasionally 2 in South) litter of 1-7 (usually 2 or 3) young born late April – early May.

Sign:
Scent posts, established by urination, visible only on snow and identifiable only by tracks. Tree trunks used as scratching posts, with low claw marks. Food cache usually covered somewhat haphazardly and scantily with ground litter.
Scat: Similar to a domestic dog’s. Often buried, but sometimes merely covered with dirt scraped about and accompanied by scratch marks on ground.

Habitat:
Primarily scabby country or broken forest – hardwood, coniferous, or mixed; also swamps, farmland, and rocky or bushy arid lands.

Range:
Spotty distribution from coast to coast, most plentiful in Far West, from Idaho, Utah, and Nevada to Pacific Coast and from Washington to Baja California. Scarce of absent in much of Midwest. Found only in North America, where it is the most common wildcat, the Bobcat gets its common name from its stubby, or “bobbed,” tail. The animal spends less time in trees thank the Lynx, resting by day in a rock cleft, thicket, or other hiding place, but is also an expert climber. Sometimes it rests on a boulder or a low tree branch, its mottled fur providing excellent camouflage; if hard-pressed, it will swim.