Mountain Lion???

I shot another doe on Friday night with my bow. Because of the warm night, I boned her out and got her in the cooler under ice and then dumped the carcass next to the doe I shot last week. This morning when I passed where I dumped it I noticed that she was covered up.



I have had a few experiences with Mountain Lions in New Mexico and know how they will cover up their kills. I looked around and was able to find this cat track (bigger than a bobcat and no claws showing).



I put a camera on the doe and hope to have a picture soon of a Mountain Lion. Will make the walks to and from the blinds a little more interesting in the dark. We are about 6 miles south of Bowie on the east side of 287. I'll post pictures if I get any.

I agree that it is a cat but I am thinking a big Bobcat. Seen them do the same thing a time or two.

There are cougars around that area,so you never know until you either see or get a picture of them.

The track was close to 3" wide. I've shot two bobcats with my bow and if it is a bobcat, I definitely would like to drop it with the bow.

I just measured the 23 lb bobcat I shot a couple of years ago and the paws were less than 2".

I have a friend who has lost a Blackbuck male that was killed and covered like that in McCulloch County. He called a local trapper out and he caught a Bobcat. It was a huge old male. First night he set the traps the Bobcat came back and moved the kill. The next night he caught it. I have seen a doe shot on a ranch I managed that dropped just out of view on the road. When they went to pick it up an hour later, it was covered like that and a ham had a chunk eaten out of it.
Hopefully the pics will tell you what it is.

It's either a small cougar or a really big bobcat.

I'd prefer the monster Bob.

Mountain lions can be where you least expect them. I have 100 acre farm in town and before all the houses went up behind me I had a mare get her hind quarters torn up pretty good by a lion. I assume he went for the 2 week old foal and the mare got in the way. Had another one get torn up a few years later and again because of the position of the marks i assume it was a lion. You never know where they'll pop up.

Agree that it is a cat, could be Big bobcat or Mt lion, hopefully pics will tell.

Hard to tell, depends on the size of the track. But some time of cat for sure. Did you measure the size of the track.

Hope you catch something on camera.

I actually think there may be hope for a lion on this one.

I'll bet it's a bobcat. Lion would have dragged the carcass into deeper cover then covered it up.

In my experience, the cougars are mostly concentrated about 60 miles to the SE in Southlake Town Square.

Agh, grass hopper, as pappy once said: a mountain lion on its back, tis hard ta see, in the rolling plains ... Stay Safe

I will also guess big Bobcat.

I have a cast I made of a ML track I found in Colorado when I lived there. Don't have it sitting right beside me, but I would guess it is around 5-6" square and taken in arid dirt.
The smaller track you found would be a very small ML and unlikely on it's own I would think as well.

The few ML kills I have seen (only 2) where drug into thick azz cover and covered with a lot more grass, wood, leaves than that. I would have never found them actually, I was with a fella that outfitted for ML and we where out pre-hunt to locate cats in different areas using his dogs. He also told me it is very common for a ML, to pull a kill up into an elevated place like a tree, or rocky bluff type place.

Im From Bowie County and my uncle has pictures of mountain lions on his lease outside of douglassville!!

They are out there!

Interesting my house is about due west on the left side of 287, we've a couple goats this hear and haven't been able to tell what's taking them.

Odds are high it is a bobcat - lion possible but not probable

Post pics if you get any.

Yeah, until you get pics of a lion, you have to assume bobcat as it's about 100 times as likely.

We found a spike we shot up in a tree about 10 years ago. Immediately assumed it was a lion, but turns out bobcats are strong little suckers and can do that as well.

Bobcat. I have been on several calls where someone found a deer that had been killed, partially eaten and covered which is a trait of felines. In most all cases, the culprit turned out to be a bobcat. A lion is likely to move the carcass and will have no problem doing so. Bobcats generally consume where they find it.
Adios,
Gary

Ha ha.....I like FeetDown's answer !! Well played, sir !!

The cougar population in Southlake has aged some. Most of them are now considered sabertooths

I worked for a landscaping co. In Southlake it was always nice when they invited you in for coffee.

Don't be surprised if it is a lion. We used to actually field dress in the field, and not at camp, and put the offal away from the hunting area. One morning my son shot a buck, dressed it in the field, and carried the guts to the fence line always from the feeder. That afternoon, took my other son to same area and we saw a lion on the guts. When I spoke with my friend who happened to be the Game Warden at the time in Callahan County, he confirmed it was a lion. Multiple calfs and goats had been lost on the ranch and surrounding area. If you want to know for sure , get your GW involved and he will bring in a biologist as well. They can analyze not only kill sight but run possible DNA to confirm.

While on an Axis hunt a few weeks ago, the guide and I found this...




We believe it was a lion, but what say you THF?

Zombies.

Coyotes

No guts eaten and the puncture marks on the neck didn't really scream coyotes to either one of us

Agree, odd for a yote to go for the lower energy meat. Also odd a large cat didn't move it to a hidden area, or closer to brush, so it could be covered. Throat bite could lean to either, but iirc, big cats will bite the back of the neck on smaller game IDK.

Any tracks?

No sir only a slight blood trail where she was dragged about 15ft. I rolled onto the property at 6am, through a gate about 40 yards from where she was downed, and possibly ran off the cuprit at that time. She was definitely a fresh kill.

Could have been a "party" hunt, could have had a cat and/or yotes on it, but then if it was that fresh..... Could have also been a big bobcat, should still be a few mama BC with young out as well. Big cat would had no trouble picking that up and taking off for a ways, bobcat may have had its hands full.

Sasquatch!!!

Obviously a chupacabra