New visitor on the farm

[Nesikep]

Well, we have a newly spotted species that appeared nearly on our doorstep today... a yearling Lynx.. I've spoken to some people in the area and apparently there've been a bunch of them around... one is waiting to get his hide tanned after eating too many chickens... I hear they're all really hungry and in poor condition.. we've had crunchy snow for a month, which probably makes it hard for them to stalk prey. This one hung out outside our living room window for nearly an hour. we put out some raw soup bones and stuff for him... our chickens are safe for now, and we'll allow him to catch a chicken before we knock him off.. meanwhile he'll be a low maintenance, effective rat-trap, and if we can live in peace, all the better... this one actually looks like he wants to be tamed.. though I really have doubts that would ever happen... certainly would make for interesting conversation with visitors when a lynx is sitting by the fireplace
I wanted to get a picture of him, but he took off before I could snap a decent shot

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

There used to be a fellow that drove a mid 70's ford high boy around Forks ,Wa. with a Bobcat on his dash! Alive!

 

[MistyMorning]

Wow, those Lynx must be in pretty bad shape if one is actually coming up to your house. I have never seen one in the wild, only heard them.

One of my good friends has a bobcat for a pet. I think she is nuts as I can't stand cats of any ilk.

 

[Nesikep]

I got a picture of it, not the greatest resolution, but still not bad.

These people with bobcats for pets... are they ever really tame, or are they always a bit wild? This guy seems to want to be tamed... so far he's really enjoying the meat we put out for him, and he sleeps in the woodshed... I wouldn't want to corner him, but so far he's never hissed or anything. with the snow we've had here that froze and is all crunchy it probably makes it really hard for them to stalk prey

 

[kenny thomas]

I love the picture. I could enjoy seeing one. We have bobcats here but rare to see one.

 

[Kingfisher]

You sure that is a Lynx? It's ears look pretty round? Got any more pictures?

 

[Commercialfarmer]

Feral cats are always wild, no matter what size. All may go well for a while, but they are equipped with 5 sets of razors to mess you up when you screw up and they are strong and faster than you.

Most big cats are cool for a while and then something happens and people can't wait to get rid of them. Knew a daughter real well of a guy that had several big cats from lions on down. The state would call him often to take unwanted cats, so he was pretty reputable. He could handle several that he had, and knew better than to handle many. But the thing that all big cat owners have in common is stories about close calls or serious wounds. He about lost a hand to one that he trusted.

 

[Nesikep]

I'm certainly wary of this guy and make sure that if I need to go by him he's got an out picked out already. Yes, we're pretty sure this is a lynx, there are a couple different types of lynx(es?)... We're going to keep this guy around a while and see how he behaves, if we have any trouble with him we'll take him to the vet and get him neutered (wouldn't the vet have saucers for eyes), I mean we'll call the warden in to trap him and take him elsewhere.. we wouldn't be nearly as sympathetic with a cougar... they're a lethal cat, for you or your stock, they get shot on sight. I've heard of people declawing their big pet cats, but unless you're committed to taking care of that animal and feeding it for the rest of it's life, you're only disabling it from taking care of itself.

 

[Nesikep]

The picture makes him look a bit bigger than he really is... I figure about 25 lbs tops, about 16" tall on at the back (thats 4 hands for you horse people) lol

 

[Commercialfarmer]

Thanks for sharing the picture, it is a neat looking creature. Hope everything goes well for you. Bet the chickens aren't as cool with it all.

We had a fox for a while that would eat bugs under the light. But was very skidish as expected. It would make me wonder a little if the lynx isn't more afraid of you. But then again, we had deer one year that I could walk within 6 feet of them and they wouldn't even stand up. Just watch me walk by chewing their cud.

 

[Nesikep]

He's a bit less hungry now, and because of that, has moved out of the woodshed to somewhere over the bank, still comes looking at 9 am for breakfast every day though... Here are some of the better pictures I took of him

The chickens are safe.. they're locked up tight at night, and this guy doesn't snoop around in the daytime... he's busy digesting the breakfast we gave him... Tomorrow it's beef kidney for breakfast for him. It's looking like he's getting wilder again, which is a good thing for him, hopefully when the snow leaves he'll go back to the wild, though we wouldn't mind seeing him again next winter... If he's anything like some cats we've had, they know where home is no matter how long they've been away... we were in a tiny town in the bush once, I mean middle of nowhere, and our cat disappeared for 3 or 4 months... there's all sorts of stuff out there that would have gladly eaten him, but in october or so he came back home.

As for deer... when they walk through our front yard and don't leave, does that still constitute "Hunting"?