Wild Cats and Other CT Wildlife

[Grassi21]

I ran out to the local Starbucks about an hour ago. I turned onto our street and drove past the first few houses. I looked to my right and saw what I thought was the fox we have seen several times around our house. But the face looked different, the muzzle was shorter and the coat was lighter in color. It was just laying on this person's lawn. I slowed down to get a better look. It quickly hopped up and started to slowly walk away. I noticed the short bobbed tail and would guess it was weighed around 25 lbs. It walked behind a pile of brush, took one last look at me and then dissapeared into the dense woods that lie between our road and the nearest cross street.

I got home and immediately start looking up bobcat sightings in CT. It turns out there is a pretty healthy population of bobcats in the state. What I also read was the possibilities of mountain lions and even cougars (no not the kind Powhunter likes) in CT. :-o A woman less than a mile from our house reported seeing a mountain lion. My wife has come across a bear while running near Roxbury.

So all this mountain biking and hiking I do has me thinking about my solo missions. Has anyone come across some scary wild life? I know DMC has some pics of bears at Hunter. Does this effect anyones decision to venture out?

 

[Grassi21]

Reading my OP makes me laugh. How many people can claim to have a story that involves Starbucks and a bobcat?

 

[Greg]

We've got a number of fox and a bobcat that have moved back into our neighborhood now that the heavy construction is over. Also a neighbor had one of those shepard hooks that held a bird feeder mangled pretty good. Black bear possibly....

 

[playoutside]

Ok, not CT, but we have some pretty cool wildlife in northern NJ...bears, foxes, skunks, racoons, bobcat, etc. We have a mama and baby bear that are regular visitors in the yard (they like our neighbors trash unfortunately) -- here's some pics from July. I think mama is just over 200lbs and baby was about 30-40. A month later that same baby is about twice that size. Same day that I took these pictures I saw a bobcat for first time. No pictures of the cat, but what a muscular, fast and graceful animal. Beautiful, sure hope to see one again.

 

[Grassi21]

Same day that I took these pictures I saw a bobcat for first time. No pictures of the cat, but what a muscular, fast and graceful animal. Beautiful, sure hope to see one again.]

I noticed the same thing. The bobcat was well muscled.

 

[ctenidae]

I noticed the same thing. The bobcat was well muscled.

They get that way chasing foxes.

I've been charged by bears, but not int his part of the country.

Marc has had some pretty close encounters with goats, but they weren't really wild. Not in the feral sense of the word, anyway.

 

[Paul]

Like Hawkshot, just some scary Hookers.

 

[hardline]

Ok, not CT, but we have some pretty cool wildlife in northern NJ...bears, foxes, skunks, racoons, bobcat, etc. We have a mama and baby bear that are regular visitors in the yard (they like our neighbors trash unfortunately) -- here's some pics from July. I think mama is just over 200lbs and baby was about 30-40. A month later that same baby is about twice that size. Same day that I took these pictures I saw a bobcat for first time. No pictures of the cat, but what a muscular, fast and graceful animal. Beautiful, sure hope to see one again.

there bears where really bad at the lake this summer. they have absolutly no fear any more. there are way to manny kids running around its really scary. i am afraid that they are going to mawl one of the kids and i am going to have to shoot one. they bears sneek around the houses looking for garbage and when you used to spot them they would run off now they look right at you (eye contact) and just keep doing what they are doing. its going to get bad next year.

 

[Grassi21]

there bears where really bad at the lake this summer. they have absolutly no fear any more. there are way to manny kids running around its really scary. i am afraid that they are going to mawl one of the kids and i am going to have to shoot one. they bears sneek around the houses looking for garbage and when you used to spot them they would run off now they look right at you (eye contact) and just keep doing what they are doing. its going to get bad next year.

shoot one? are you a cop or in animal control or something?

 

[playoutside]

there bears where really bad at the lake this summer. they have absolutly no fear any more. there are way to manny kids running around its really scary. i am afraid that they are going to mawl one of the kids and i am going to have to shoot one. they bears sneek around the houses looking for garbage and when you used to spot them they would run off now they look right at you (eye contact) and just keep doing what they are doing. its going to get bad next year.

Agree the bears were abundant this year. When they are in our backyard, there are way too many neighborhood kids and fools out checking them out -- often within 20-30 feet. If you ever saw a bear run, you know that distance will be covered before you have even blinked. I know who will win that battle and it won't be pretty.

Neighbor who puts the trash out has 4 kids, still year after year they put the trash in the shed and the bears come and get it. And now mama is teaching the next generation how its done. Only thing I'd like to shoot (or at least shake) is the neighbors. They are great neighbors, but really need to get a clue about the trash.

 

[ctenidae]

When I was living in a tent in Arizona, one of the Park Rangers told me about a guy they had in the 80's whose job it was to rehabilitate bears. Used to be a problem bear was trapped and released deep in the woods, but they'd tend to show up again, After the third or fourth time, they'd have to shoot it. This guy would trap the bears and cart them off, but they never came back as problems. It was great, until word got out that what he'd do was trap the bear, take it into the woods, and beat it up, re-instilling the fear of humans. Since not being afraid of humans is what makes bears problem bears, this worked pretty well. At least, until word got out and people protested his inhumane treatment of the bears. Now they just shoot them.

Because, that's better, right?

 

[bvibert]

I'm pretty sure I had a bear run away from me while riding my MTB at White Memorial in Litchfield, CT. It was hard to tell as I was riding at a good clip and whatever it was that I startled was very large and black and moving away from me through thick brush. It looked way to big to be a dog.

When I was living in a tent in Arizona, one of the Park Rangers told me about a guy they had in the 80's whose job it was to rehabilitate bears. Used to be a problem bear was trapped and released deep in the woods, but they'd tend to show up again, After the third or fourth time, they'd have to shoot it. This guy would trap the bears and cart them off, but they never came back as problems. It was great, until word got out that what he'd do was trap the bear, take it into the woods, and beat it up, re-instilling the fear of humans. Since not being afraid of humans is what makes bears problem bears, this worked pretty well. At least, until word got out and people protested his inhumane treatment of the bears. Now they just shoot them.

Because, that's better, right?

I think I actually heard about that before. Hey his system worked, I didn't hear the bears complaining.

 

[Greg]

Supposed to be a bobcat in Nass:

http://crankfire.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7327

 

[Grassi21]

Supposed to be a bobcat in Nass:

http://crankfire.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=7327

i was reading about bobcat and mtn lion sightings in CT. Burlington was up there as one of the towns in CT with the most sightings.

I called animal control today. I wasn't expecting them to do anything. As expect the response I got was, "oh yeah, they are all over the place. thanks for calling. we will note where the sighting took place.. keep an eye on our animals."