What is this critter?

[scaredychicken]

Give it space

(that's all I got )

 

[BigBlue1]

I know what it is not...

Not hungry.

 

[wmfamily]

I think i know what this one is...

View attachment 806812

I think that's a bear of some variety.

 

[Threepoint]

I'm going to say Eastern Coyote, also call a Coywolf. A hybrid developed over the years between the western coyote and the Canadian gray wolf. Much larger than the western coyote, but not quite as large as the full-blooded wolf. They are common up and down the East Coast. We have a pair living in our area that take fawns and even yearling whitetails from time to time.

Or, it might be a less common Eastern Red Wolf.

Attached is a picture my nextdoor neighbors snapped of a Coywolf right behind their house a few weeks ago.

 

[lman]

I'm going to say Eastern Coyote, also call a Coywolf. A hybrid developed over the years between the western coyote and the Canadian gray wolf. Much larger than the western coyote, but not quite as large as the full-blooded wolf. They are common up and down the East Coast. We have a pair living in our area that take fawns and even yearling whitetails from time to time.

Or, it might be a less common Eastern Red Wolf.

Attached is a picture my nextdoor neighbors snapped of a Coywolf right behind their house a few weeks ago.

That picture looks nothing like the bobcat posted by the op. I guess they do both have four legs.

 

[Hoot Owl]

I trap in southern Mo. and that is a Bobcat with a longer than normal tail. I have seen them with a few long hairs also.

 

[ponytug]

We have all three here. I would add that here our bobcat coats are quite variable, spotted, not, tan to quite rufus, but tiny animals. We have only seen one as large as our coyotes. Even our big bobcats couldn't carry a fawn like that. We don't have the eastern coyote/wolf hybrid here, and again just by size, our coyotes couldn't carry a fawn like that. Ground squirrel, yes, fawn no.

Based on the size of the fawn and the ease with which it is being carried by the animal in question, I would vote for a mountain lion, who dine almost exclusively on deer.

Fun photos!

All the best,

Peter

 

[ning]

We have all three here. I would add that here our bobcat coats are quite variable, spotted, not, tan to quite rufus, but tiny animals. We have only seen one as large as our coyotes. Even our big bobcats couldn't carry a fawn like that. We don't have the eastern coyote/wolf hybrid here, and again just by size, our coyotes couldn't carry a fawn like that. Ground squirrel, yes, fawn no.

Based on the size of the fawn and the ease with which it is being carried by the animal in question, I would vote for a mountain lion, who dine almost exclusively on deer.

Fun photos!

All the best,

Peter

Same here; the bobcat(s) I generally see are about as big as my bigger cats - 11-15 pounds. I once saw a cat that was likely in the 20# range.
Our fox here is the California Gray fox and it's a little creature. Puffed up it's the size of our cats but though it chased (if you can call it that) the bobcat out of our yard one night - basically yelling at the cat, cat moves back another 20', fox moves forwards, yells at the cat, repeat until the bobcat finally left the yard - the fox is likely about the same weight as my smaller cats. It's not unwelcome in the yard as it's purely nocturnal as far as I can tell and my chickens are put away by then; the fox cleans up fallen fruit in our little orchard and helps with the rodents.

Coyotes here are coyotes... they seem to vary a lot in size. I've seen a couple that are "pretty good dog-sized" like a medium sized german shepherd, though likely much more lightly built. Most look to be in the 25-35# range. Strangely, I almost never see coyotes any more (area is 10-30 acre parcels in general with lots of undeveloped and wild space) - they used to regularly have moonlit festivals in the meadow (yip yip yip!) but I think I've heard that once in the last five years.

 

[MossRoad]

For comparison... video of bobcat killing a fawn.

Watch until near the end. There's almost the exact same camera shot as the OP's pictures.

 

[MossRoad]

Now compare the size of a mountain lion next to a bobcat.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Years ago a mountain lion walked right past me at my parents lake about midnight. They are big!

 

[Hay Dude]

Thats a mountain lion all day

 

[12Bravo]

For comparison... video of bobcat killing a fawn.

Watch until near the end. There's almost the exact same camera shot as the OP's pictures.

I will have to change from lion to bobcat. Good video and great comparison to OP's photo.

 

[wawajake]

I vote Bobcat.....they get bigger than ya think, (at least up here in Canada near Michigan) I get one on my trail cams every few years , and they are almost 4ft long nose to tail. Here is one in summer that I know from distance and size compared to deer and bears in same location from camera is almost 4ft......the winter pic based on width of snowmachine trail is also almost 4 ft.

 

[lman]

Not to mention, I've never heard of a black-tipped bobtail on a mountain lion.

 

[MossRoad]

 

[Eagle1]

Full grown bobcats are a tough spot. You can see kittens and young ones but the old wise cats are rare to see, I had one almost 4' about the size of my lab around for a while until I got big dogs to patrol. Still see the occasional young cat but only sign of the big boy are the deer kills deep in the woods.

 

[Jchonline]

Mountain Lion (small), tail gives it away. We have a Bobcat den just behind our place and have multiple sightings/pictures.

We also have mountain lions in our area and Nope….definitely not a Bobcat.

 

[lman]

Mountain Lion (small), tail gives it away. We have a Bobcat den just behind our place and have multiple sightings/pictures.

We also have mountain lions in our area and Nope….definitely not a Bobcat.

It must be one of those black-tipped bobtail mountain lions common in CO.

 

[otlski]

Looks like a long tail to me. Imported into Gimp and ran an unsharp mask to highlight edges.

I say mountain lion.