jhoffman

Has anyone ever seen a black bobcat?

I saw something that was way too big to be a house cat, ferral cat. It was bigged than a small dog and could not notice from the way it was standing and the distance from the road if it had a bobbed tail or a normal cat tail. If it was a cat it was by far the biggest cat I have ever seen. I know that Mt Lions have a black phase but it is rare. This was way too small to be a Mt. Lion though and about what I would expect the average bob cat to be in size. There are the occational bobcats around but not too many. I have only ever seen maybe three in my area one of which was crossing an old dirt road carrying one of its kittens in its mouth.

I think its pretty cool everytime I see things like this. Black bear, bobcats, fisher, and otter. I spend alot of time in the woods and it just seems that even though you know these animals are around they are very seldom seen in Western NY. If any one knows what color phases bobcats have I would be interested.

ipscshooter

You might try google-ing "melanistic bobcat".

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://myfwc.com/panther/images/blackbobcat.jpg&imgrefurl=http://myfwc.com/panther/handbook/natural/blackpanther.html&h=180&w=150&sz=9&amp ;hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=QKbNIgOtfWDy SM:&tbnh=101&tbnw=84&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmelanistic%2Bbobcats%26svnum%3D10%26u m%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4ADBX_enUS216US217%26sa% 3DN

StillHunter90

I have never seen one butapparently its possible so who knows what you saw. It would bepretty sweetto see onethough. In the links above it looks kinda evil.

Phil from Maine

I was on a dirt road about 3 weeks ago, about 35 miles from nowhere. I was driving along side a pipeline with a powerline being installed on the other side of the road. A black cat ran across the road about 100 yards away. It was no doubt a cat and never saw a tail. My guess was because of it's size it was most likely a bobcat like you are asking about. I cannot say for sure as it was to quick to get a good look at though.

Redneck Archer

It was a panther, man!

Redneck Archer

Sounds like a panther. Ask your local game warden.

Windwalker7

Black bobcat

Phil from Maine

First of all welcome to the forums, We are told we do not have the cougar/panther here. They tell us we do not have wolves either tho. What I had seen clearly did not have a tail and was without a doubt a cat. So I am summing it up as a black bobcat. I was talking with a trapper that said he had never heard tell of a black bobcat but, then again never heard tell of an albino one either. He also knows I know wildlife when I see it, regardless of what it is...here is a photo of a surprised bobcat for you and the black one looked alot like this only running full tilt..

biscuit jake

I've heard of dark brown bobs, especially in wetter areas. Have not seen any like that in Iowa tho. We have so many now we just about got a season granted. We don't officially have cougars but lots of cougar sign in the state. They are making a comeback so sooner or later I am sure we will have resident panthers again.

I am not real crazy about the big cats in civilization. They get a jogger or bicyclist from time to time in Kalifornia.

Chris_H

I'm not gonna get into another arguement about black panthers being caught on camera or seen in the south/north.

I can tell you that link is very good, but it says that there are no records/documents of black panthers being seen in North America. FALSE. They're have been several seen in arizona and in the rockies. Plus there's that black bobcat picture.