Tawny, tireless, and shy creatures with spotted fur, tufted ears, and short tails.
That’s how Lawrence Wayne Murphy describes his menagerie of bobcats.
The veteran hunter and trapper keeps a half dozen of the feline predators in his backyard at Sophia.
Although comparatively few people ever actually see a bobcat (also known as lynx or wildcat), spotting one in the wild is a tremendous thrill.
Murphy is intrigued by the bobcat’s elusiveness.
“I’ve always been fascinated with them,” Murphy says of the cats. “You can hunt for most of your life and never see one. I’ve only seen two or three while bowhunting.
“They blend in with the forest. You blink your eye and they’re gone.”
Murphy’s spacious pens in his backyard allow his cats to move around in a kind of miniature woodland environment. His wire fence encompasses much of the same habitat as found in the wild—trees, driftwood, logs, leaves, twigs, rocks, mosses and more.
Even though it’s a fierce fighter, a bobcat isn’t a large animal.
A mature cat averages 36 inches in length, including a stubby, six-inch tail. The bobbed tail gives the bobcat its name.
Murphy says he caught all of his adult bobcats—three females and two males—in box traps baited with chicken.
The males range in weight from 25 to 35 pounds. Females are smaller, ranging from 12 to 18 pounds.
“People tell of cats weighing 40 to 50 pounds,” Murphy says with a grin. “I’ve never seen one that large.”
The bobcat’s rangy, muscular legs are longer than its front legs. This gives the animal a high-tailed, bobbing gait when it runs. The bobcat is a strong swimmer—although it usually jumps creeks or fords them on fallen logs. Bobcats are excellent climbers, too.
Biologists explain that while bobcats are mainly nocturnal, they sometimes venture out in the daylight.
Bobcats have large eyes, well adapted to seeing in the dark. Their pupils are slit-shaped rather than round and can open wide to admit light.
Small animals—mice, wood rats, squirrels, chipmunks, birds, rabbits—form the nucleus of the bobcat’s diet.
During bad weather, a bobcat may shelter under overhanging rocks or in rock crevices. As soon as the storm subsides, however, the creature will be out hunting again.
Larry Berry, retired wildlife biologist with the DNR in Beckley, explains that rock crevices, stumps, brush piles and thickets will be checked by a bobcat in search of a meal.
Berry says that in areas where food is abundant, the bobcat’s range may be as small as five miles in diameter.
Population is in many ways a factor of habitat. Poor habitat means low bobcat population.
“Earlier in the century,” Berry adds, “much of West Virginia contained bushy, second-growth forest area with large populations of grouse, rabbits, and small rodents.
“The abundant food supply and the uninhabited land allowed the bobcat to prosper.
“But as the human population expanded in the state’s cities and towns, the amount of habitat suitable for bobcats was dramatically reduced.”
The cats, though, seem to get along well together in captivity, according to Murphy.
Breeding takes place from late February to early March. Kittens are born following a 60 to 65 day gestation period. Litters range from one to four young, with about two the average.
Murphy takes the kittens from their mother after 14 days; about the time they are just opening their eyes.
“I bottle feed them,” he says. “That’s the only way you can turn them into house pets.”
Under the current trapping guidelines, trappers are allowed two cats per year. But there are other restrictions that apply.
To be legal, Murphy has a federal license to keep the critters on his property. Inspectors from the USDA make unannounced visits to his quarters during the year, and a local veterinarian makes periodic house calls.
Murphy has raised about 15 kittens during the past few years.
The bobcat breeder says his kittens are mostly purchased by out-of-state buyers who keep the animals as house pets.
But Murphy admits that feeding one of these muscular, bobbed-tailed creatures is no picnic.
His cats will devour about 120 pounds of chicken in a single month.
Ironically, though, Murphy traps his elusive prey only about 15 minutes from his home in Sophia.
“They’re everywhere,” the veteran woodsman says. “You don’t have to go very far to trap a bobcat.”
He says the bobcats of the region generally inhabit wild country—mountains, deep forests, marshes, as far removed from people as possible.
Most biologists maintain that since bobcats are elusive, nocturnal,and seldom seen, it’s not easy to come up with the exact number of bobcats in the Mountain State.
But, according to Murphy, they’re more plentiful than you might think.
“They’re out there,” he says. “They’re truly beautiful animals.”
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Top o’ the morning!