Not the deer up there Seth.

No wonder I was so confused over the issue. I could see a fawn early on but around here the cats are so small and the deer are so big. I bet there are a few cats big enought to take down a smaller doe or year old buck. But most of the time I would say NOT. Good point about the size diffrence between Texas and Kansas deer.

I was confusing to me as well when I heard that down here. Just like my brother said, "of course cats can kill the deer down there...their not much bigger than a dog".

Yes bob cats will kill deer. My father set up a trail cam on a bobcat kill and they do eat deer. We set up a blind on the deer aend killed the cat. As soon as I find out how to host picks I will post them.

I might could see a bobcat taking down a fawn or yearling but I just can't see even 40lb cat taking down a older deer especially a big buck

It was a smaller deer.

I was sitting in a ground blind one morning down in a creek bottom 'bout 15 miles south of "Ranger Hill" on I-20 in Eastland County...on a very active deer trail. Had 3 does walk in from an angle I had not expected from the bottom of the dry creek bed and were acting all nervous and spooky looking over their shoulders...and I sez YES Mr Big is amongst us! Slipped off the safety but held the rifle inside the blind...and lo and behold a full grown spit kitty trotted up the trail on the heels of the FAST departing does and jumped up on a stump about 40 feet in front of me and sat there swatting the air and sniffing it, yowling and spitting looking around like I am the king of the hill right here and right now! for mebbe 5 minutes or longer...then jumped down and went after the does at a dead run...shoulda coulda shot the bobcat anytime I wanted but figgured I would make hash out of him with a 270 at 40 feet. Told the 80 year old landowner about it and she liked to whupped me for not killing the 'cat. Sez she knew a new one had moved in 'cause she was losing chickens off her front porch in broad daylight!
So I've seen a bobcat chasin deer but never saw that one catch one. Mr Big no showed that day and I skunked when I shoulda shot the cat at least with my 38 snubby that was in the back pack on floor of the blind 'cause he was as big or bigger than the 'cat in Brady's avatar...and looked like a fat and sassy african lion at that distance in the half light down in that creek bottom.
Ron

All predators by nature are opportunists. They are also or maybe often scavengers. I have never seen or talked to anyone who saw a bobcat take down a healthy, mature buck or doe. The odds just aren't in their favor and nothing in the wild can risk a career ending injury. I figure a big bobcat will predate on yearling or sickly/injured deer if the opportunity presents itself but the deer also make a pretty good living by avoiding those encounters. A deers most vulnerable time is at birth and the predators know it. I figure we have all seen deer that make it from year to year that should have been easy prey.

I have no problem with coyotes or cats getting their share of the deer herd. That's just part of the predator/prey balance that is absolutely necessary to ensure the health of the deer(prey) herd. It doesn't hurt to shoot coyotes and bobcats but, without them, the deer would seriously overpopulate.

If they start killing chickens or otherwise endanger livestock, that's a whole new ball game.

I had one once try to climb up the tree I was in a climbing stand in. Two jumps up the tree and one arrow from me made him change his mind. After dark, I went to get him in thick Louisiana palmettos and saw the wounded thing jump as high as five feet in the air and make a horrible sound. That was enough for me, I was out of there.