Coyotes, Bobcats and Cougars (Oh, My!)

Posted on May 4, 2019 by TJ

It’s been a tough week in which we tried to help someone and got sucked into a lot of unwanted drama, which strengthened our resolve to keep it out of our lives because it triggers huge stress in our lives, and we have absolutely, positively had enough drama stress!!!

But let’s not talk about that. Let’s move on.

Today was our township’s clean up days, which means that we could take unwanted items/trash to the local waste disposal facility for free. EJ had filled up the Suburban yesterday after he got home from work and we drove the short distance to the facility early this morning. We arrived early enough that there wasn’t a line, but we saw several vehicles–some with trailers some without–loaded up and headed that way as we drove home.

We had a few items that we didn’t want but which were too good to throw away, so I took photos of them yesterday while EJ loaded the Suburban and I posted them for free at local buy/sell groups at Facebook. The items included drainage tile, the snow fence that we had bought for our driveway a couple of years ago but which didn’t work as well as we had hoped, and our old printer that maybe someone with skills could fix. We quickly got a nibble on the tile.

The man, his wife, and their 3-year-old son came this morning to get the tile. They also took the snow fence, as well as some tires/rims. The couple lived just around the corner and down the road a bit so they are our neighbors. They were very nice and we had an enjoyable visit.

This is where it gets interesting.

They told us that they frequently see bobcats and cougars in our area. In fact, the man said that early one morning he saw a bobcat in OUR driveway as he drove past.

They have often encountered bobcats nesting on their property–possibly attracted to their pond. Sometimes when they’ve mowed the lawn, they’ve disturbed bobcats that had been lying n the grass only a few feet away. They’ve also had coyotes and, they said, coywolves (which are coyote/wolf hybrids) come right up near their house. They ended up fencing some of their back yard a couple of years ago when their son was only one year old because they didn’t want to risk him getting attacked.

As if bobcats and coyotes were not enough, they’ve also seen cougars. The man said that one day he heard coyotes chasing something, so he turned to see, expecting that they were hunting a deer. Instead, the coyotes were chasing a cougar. He watched as the cougar turned on the coyotes and tore them to pieces.

The wife said that one time when she pulled into t heir driveway, they were so close–I can’t remember if it was coyotes or a bobcat–that she was afraid to get out of their car.

This is in OUR neighborhood. Wow!

I was aware that we had coyotes–we’ve heard them yipping now and then–and I knew there were bears around, but I didn’t realize that we had cougars and bobcats so close to us. For the last year or so I’ve been telling EJ that I would love to get some trail cams on our property so I could see what wildlife wanders through. Learning about the bobcats, coyotes, and cougars in our area make me even more eager to get them–but we can’t afford it yet. At least I have been warned that they are here so I can be watchful and careful.

I’m really glad we met this family and heard such an amazing story!