Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Estimating Bobcat size?

While deer hunting last week a bobcat walked through my path. Having only seen one bobcat previously, I do not know how to judge the size of a bobcat.

I only shoot animals for a purpose, that being said I pull love a quality bobcat mount. Any tips on judging bobcat size?

I've killed a number of bobcats here in Kentucky, and the biggest one was close to 25 pounds. The majority of the mature cats I've seen here have been in the 23-25 pound range. With that being said, I've heard where cats in the northern and western states get bigger than what we have here. My thoughts are that you probably have to kill a few in order to judge them size wise. I have passed up some that appeared to be on the small size, that I assumed were young ones. I have also seen a few that looked as if they would outweigh the biggest that I have shot.

I'd say that nothing beats first hand experience in becoming able to judge them. I almost always shoot them if given a chance because they prey on the turkeys that I like to hunt.

Ground checking is the best method for any predators

They are always lighter than they look. At least until you get some experience with them. There are a lot of stories of 50+ pound "wild cats" from guys who have never seen a cat before.

biggest cat I've ever harvested was a 34lb male and he was built very long and lanky and I thought he'd be around 25 lbs till i weighed him, for me it's very hard to field judge a cat because they come in every shape and body build

The only difference between a big cat and a kitten is target size.

And any sized bobcat makes a nice trophy (or rug).