bobcat sighting near Rio, WI

[Bigshooter19]

There not very common in the lower half of the state. "up" north there are pretty well seen along with bears. Southern Wisconsin has a higher population so they make a big deal out of it.I have never seen one around by me or a bear but my friends grandpa owns land about 4 hrs north and bear and bobcat outside the cabin nightly.

 

[Tree Spud]

Hey guys....educate me about Wisconsin. I'm reading the comments in this thread and I had go back and be sure this wasn't a "bigfoot sighted" thread. You're making it sound like bobcats and black bears are exceedingly rare. Is this the case? Just never knew that. They are everywhere here in NW Mass. Where bobcats ever abundant? If so, what made them rare?

Natty ... they are native to all of Wisconsin. A very solitary predator that tends to disperse. males have a range of 20-25 miles and females 10-15 miles. A very territorial animal that establishes a strong hierarchy ... juveniles are pushed and will disperse 80-100 miles to establish their home turf. I do not believe they are a pack animal.

Preferred habitat is dense tag alder thickets and white pine, black spruce, cedar swamps. They are not rare, they just want to avoid human contact. They like the northern forests in Wisconsin; however, these woods have matured to a point where there is limited holding capacity for the game animals they feed on. This is probably pushing more south in the state.

In our area bears & bobcats like folks who put out bird seed, corn, etc. That draws lots of squirrels, gophers, rabbits, coons, etc. Add food plots which attract deer and lots of fawns in our heavy deer density area (55 dpsm).

As a predator, they are like coyotes on the predator chain ... small. I have 100's of pictures of coyotes and sightings are sparse unless I am hunting them. Very wary and want to avoid contact.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Thanks Bigshooter and Treespud. A lot of you guys are from Wisconsin and I really know nothing about the state. Would love to visit it some time. Interesting about the North/South differences in the state.

 

[Bigshooter19]

Thanks Bigshooter and Treespud. A lot of you guys are from Wisconsin and I really know nothing about the state. Would love to visit it some time. Interesting about the North/South differences in the state.

Goes from AG fields and city's to rolling hills 1000s of ac of woods.

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[dsinwi]

Black bear are anything but rare in Wisconsin. I don't hunt them but many do, both baiting and running with dogs. My neighbor at the land baited a few years back and had 5 or 6 bear coming in. I've never seen any sign of any but they are certainly around. My land is about an hour and 45 north of the capitol of Madison so relatively close to civilization. Not really what I would consider "in the sticks". I wouldn't consider bobcat rare. I don't hunt them either but have several friends who trap and a cousin who runs them with dogs in northern Wisconsin. They have enough action to keep doing it so...
My point was that just because you don't see a particular animal regularly does not make them rare. I can't speak to the actual population of bobcat in Wisconsin but they are hunted by some. I've spent a fair amount of time in the woods all over the state in the last 40 years and have only ever seen one bobcat so they aren't behind every tree either. In that same time I've seen a single wolf on 4 occasions. Some would say they are not rare either.

 

[bueller]

Goes from AG fields and city's to rolling hills 1000s of ac of woods.

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Everyone always forgets about the boring flat as a parking lot central sand plains in between :emoji_desert:

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Black bear are anything but rare in Wisconsin. I don't hunt them but many do, both baiting and running with dogs. My neighbor at the land baited a few years back and had 5 or 6 bear coming in. I've never seen any sign of any but they are certainly around. My land is about an hour and 45 north of the capitol of Madison so relatively close to civilization. Not really what I would consider "in the sticks". I wouldn't consider bobcat rare. I don't hunt them either but have several friends who trap and a cousin who runs them with dogs in northern Wisconsin. They have enough action to keep doing it so...
My point was that just because you don't see a particular animal regularly does not make them rare. I can't speak to the actual population of bobcat in Wisconsin but they are hunted by some. I've spent a fair amount of time in the woods all over the state in the last 40 years and have only ever seen one bobcat so they aren't behind every tree either. In that same time I've seen a single wolf on 4 occasions. Some would say they are not rare either.

I got your point.

But there were like 12 other responses besides yours that made it seem like bobcats where truly rare, not just rarely seen.

Same thing with flying squirrels...a common arboreal rodent, but seldom, if ever, seen.

 

[bueller]

I got your point.

But there were like 12 other responses besides yours that made it seem like bobcats where truly rare, not just rarely seen.

Same thing with flying squirrels...a common arboreal rodent, but seldom, if ever, seen.

I saw a flying squirrel last season. I was 15' up in my ladder stand, not quite daybreak yet. I see a small squirrel jump from one oak towards another, trunk to trunk, not branch to branch as they normally do. He is losing altitude and looks like he may be in for a hard landing. Suddenly he "flies" up a couple feet and silently lands at eye level on the oak no more than 15 feet in front of me:emoji_chipmunk:. I wasn't sure if I was hallucinating or what before realizing that I had just seen my first flying squirrel. I told the rest of my crew about it and got some crazy looks .

 

[dsinwi]

Flying squirrels are really neat animals. Cute as heck. We had some hanging around in Minocqua when we camped up there a lot. I have at least one that hangs out in the oaks around my cabin. See him quite often the last two years when I am there but always at night.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I had a squirrel jump on my back when I was in stand, first and only time I can remember screaming like a girl while hunting, never heard it coming!

 

[Tree Spud]

I got your point.

But there were like 12 other responses besides yours that made it seem like bobcats where truly rare, not just rarely seen.

Same thing with flying squirrels...a common arboreal rodent, but seldom, if ever, seen.

Natty ... to give you some prospective, here are harvest/permit #'s from the WI DNR ...

2016 Bear Harvest - Total Registered 4,643

2017 Bobcat Permits
Northern Zone

• Early period - 88
• Late period - 88

Southern Zone

• Early period - 73
• Late period - 73

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Natty ... to give you some prospective, here are harvest/permit #'s from the WI DNR ...

2016 Bear Harvest - Total Registered 4,643

2017 Bobcat Permits
Northern Zone

• Early period - 88
• Late period - 88

Southern Zone

• Early period - 73
• Late period - 73

Thanks TreeSpud.

 

[JFK52]

I have flying squirrels on my home property and they are exclusively nocturnal. The only way I know they are around is when I see my three pronged corn holder start moving around after dark. They move like sprinters. Down the tree, get a kernel of corn, back up the tree. On occasion they will jump onto my tube feeders to snag some black oil sunflower seed. They are a protected species. I have spotlights on the front of my house that illuminate the yard at night or I would never see the flying squirrels.

 

[Red Picqua]

you wanna jump?? Be sitting in a tree and having a flying squirrel land about 2 inches above your head at dusk. I covered my head and face and cowered like a little school girl. I seriously thought I was going to punch my ticket right then and there. My heart was racing!!!! And it was coming right at me like a Kamikaze. I will never ever forget it.

 

[BobinCt]

I seen them twice while hunting in CT. Nothing the size of the ones above.