Bobcat Tracking by Steve Gifford - a photo on Flickriver

Bobcat Tracking by Steve Gifford

            Today, I ventured out to Columbia Mine at Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge to see if I could find and follow some bobcat tracks in the fresh snow.  Sure enough, within a few minutes I located some fresh tracks and proceeded to follow.

Unlike tracks I have followed in the past where the cats traveled mainly along the abandoned roads and trails of the property, this particular cat chose the road less traveled.  First, the cat spent some time searching for rabbits in tall grasses and thickets as it followed rabbit trails and sniffed out a few rabbit holes.  It then continued along some deer trails through the tall  grasses to some isolated pine groves where from some fresh blood I found it seems it found and killed a mouse or other small rodent.

From there the tracks led from the high ground down to a lake where it walked the frozen shoreline into a bottomland forest.  Once in the woods the tracks entered a large cavity in the root ball of an overturned tree where it seems the cat may have taken a brief rest before moving on towards a river which it eventually crossed by walking along a fallen tree that reached from one bank to the other.

Some days, wildlife photography is less about photography and more about learning and developing a better understanding about the wildlife you photograph.  For instance, why did the bobcat not stick to the road where travel was much easier?  Is it trying to avoid the coyotes which have become more abundant and also travel these roads?  As the tracks entered multiple hollow trees and root balls is it looking for rabbits and squirrels or a den for the upcoming breeding season?

Part of the fun and a lot of the work behind wildlife photography happens on days like today.  No bobcat pictures but a lot of walking and studying, learning to think like a bobcat.

Taken on: January 21, 2016

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Sets appears in: • Wildlife • Patoka River NWR

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