i killed a bob cat behind my house today where i hunt.i have not seen a deer for about a week and i'm wondering if this bobcat could be the reason

 

yes, bobcats can and will scare off deer. At least in Louisiana that is....[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Deer are naturally scared of anything, especially cats....

it usually won't keep deer out of an area except if the cat is messing with them....

bobcats may be able to take down a fawn, but it is pretty rare....

here in New Mexico we have plenty of Mountain Lions....their main food is deer, so the deer keep and eye out behind them....

I came across a fresh kill a couple of years ago that two cats were feeding on, saw the tracks in the snow....two cats together is unusual, they must have been siblings....

 

I shot a 10pt Buck the next day after seeing two bobcats together at the same location by a dead cedar tree. A bobcat in my opinion wouldnt run the deer off or out of an area except for just a short time. Bobcats dont stick in to such a short home range like deer do. Cats will range up to 5 miles whereas a deer will normally stick within a 1 mile radius. Think of it this way, a human is a deers best predator and we dont run them off for long. Dont give up on your area, the deer are still there.
Hope that helps.

 

a few years back about thirty i believe , i met a old friend on a woodlot road. he was watching a a fork in the road. he related this story to me. he hunted this area quite a bit and noticed that some deer which were scarce during that time had a path down one of the roads under a bent over tree. he decided to show up there the next morning early. the next morning he arrived there before daylight and was watching the fork as daylight arrived. when it got light enough to see down both forks a bobcat jumped down from the bent over tree onto the path. he came to the conclussion that the bobcat was waiting for the deer. i believe that the presents of bears, bobcats , lynx, etc. has a impact on deer.

 

One of my hunting books says: Bobcat urine is one of the most successful masking scents that the author has used. Later he wrote that 5 buck and 4 doe showed no concern while crossing an area where he has walked. (with the scent on his boots)

 

I have been deer hunting for over 25 years and have seen Bobcat most of the time I hunt. And I hunt hard during 4 months of the year. Yes a bobcat may spook a deer if it happens upon it but it wont keep deer from your hunting area. Another thing, a very hungry bobcat may attempt to kill a sick deer already laying down dying but a healthy deer is a formidable opponent to a 20# cat. Bobcats are not considered a typical predator on a healthy deer, Mountain Lions, Panthers, Packs of wild dogs or coyotes yes, but not a 20# cat.

If a cat appears where your hunting it probably looking for food like quail, mice, turkeys, etc...A bobcat can only eat 3#s of food max at any given time.

 

Deer are very leary of cats, but not to the point that they will leave a 1 mile or less area. A growing number of yotes is enough to make them move. The yote family is larger than the occasional one or two that you might see.

 

I watched a bobcat for about 20 minutes the opening day of deer season. I killed a nine pointer that afternoon in the same stand. Of course he was chasing a doe in heat, so I dont think anything would have scarred him off. I have bow hunted one deer trail that was 15 yards from a bobcat den and succesfully taken 2 deer out of that stand. So IMO no bobcats dont keep deer away from a certain area.

 

I have a Doe that raise one or two fawns a year in my back yard, and a Bobcat momma, that raises one or two cubs a year there too. They pretty much go about their own business every day. The cats keep the rabbits thinned out but that's about all.