[Hot Tabasco]

Thanks for the great article. For the last few years, I have traveled to N.W. Kansas in the fall for pheasant hunting and have never seen so much evidence of Lynx, aka. bobcat as I saw out there...... BTW, for the uninformed, the common name for the Lynx is Bobcat. But of course the name Lynx garners more sympathy from the pseudo environmentalists as it is used less frequently and thus conjurs up images of potential near extinction......

If the numbers of bobcat are declining in the N.W. territories, which I do not belive, it is due to the lack of readily available food sources. In the plains state of KS bobcat are all over the place and that is due to the abundance of rats, rabbits, mice, pheasant, quail and anything else that runs on the ground

[Ben Ficklin]

Actually they are two different species. The Bobcat is lynx rufus and the lynx is lynx Canadis(sp?). Beyond the nomenclature there is a physical difference as well. Though not neccessarily larger in weight, the lynx is larger in stature. He has ear tufts and his fur is thicker with almost a mane. The lynxs rear legs are more hare like.

Forty years ago, while I was a teen, my family had one of each. We first had the lynx which domesticated very well and was loved by the whole family. After her mysterious death we tried to get another but ended up with the bobcat instead. He was was one wild and mean SOB. I characterize the lynx as regal and the bobcat as a varmit.

Its interesting to note that lynx we had was obtained from hunters who had gathered up a whole litter after bagging the female. This was on the eastern slope of the New Mexican Rockies.