Cougar Attack ????

[BobR]

 Is there another explanation for the scars on this small doe?  To me it appears this doe had a very close encounter with a small cougar or a bobcat.

[testar77]

I must say that the quality on those pics is VERY impressive!  What kind of camera are you using?

[saylean]

something got to her...the ear looks more healed than the others...perhaps a different wound? Great pics.

[Huntbear]

If she is close to farmland, I would also suspect barbed wire.  Other than that, predator of some kind.

[gkowen]

Does Mike Tyson live in the area?  Great pics!

[Alan K]

Does Mike Tyson live in the area?  Great pics!

LOL

Good idea setting that camera up on the creek, I like having nice scenery in the pics too.

[jackelope]

i'm wondering if its a health or bug issue more than a predator issue.

  just a thought.

[BobR]

This set is 60 yards from a friend's house and five miles from our house. They had a 13 year old black lab almost killed by a cougar in late April. A cougar has been seen twice recently.  I went to investigate before committing one of my cameras. I found fresh cougar tracks in the mud near the creek where I made this set.   This is ranch country. I have seen lots of wounds caused by barbed wire.  There are no leg wounds on this deer. I can't remember seeing an animal that got tangled up in wire and came away with no leg wounds. The wounds on this deer were caused by a small cat in my opinion. I have trail cam pics of two dead deer that looked just like this one. I set up cameras to see what killed the deer. One was killed by a large bobcat and the other was killed by a small cougar. I will see if I can find some of those pictures later.
Bob

[boneaddict]

Normal wear and tear with the change over coming in hair is my opinion.  Ear can be from anything from another doe to wire.  hair is jsut them starting to change.  And maybe a blackberry patch or something exciting like that.  Ever walk through the woods all day and come home without a scratch?

[BK Dave]

I vote for a skin/fur disease as well...maybe molting??
I would think if a cougar got ahold of that little doe, she would be a goner?? my

[Kain]

Is it possible she was hit by a car?  Those big scratches on her back just dont look like cougar claws to me. 

[BobR]

  I guess there is no way to know what happened to this deer, but I don't think it is hair change. In six years of operating trailcams, I have never seen this. I am getting lots of deer pics daily, and none of the others look like this. I have watched my dogs heal up from an encounter with a bobcat several times, and this is exactly what they looked like. I have been trying to locate pictures of a yearling deer that was killed by a bobcat in February '08. My neighbor found that deer laying by the road just 150 yards from our house. He stopped by to tell me about it to see if I would set up a camera watching it. When I went out to to look at the deer, I was not sure what had killed it. I had never seen anything like what I saw that day. It was obvious that the deer suffered long and died a slow death. I have seen fresh cougar kills, and one of those was a cow elk. But none of those were anything like what I saw that morning. I have never seen so many wounds on one animal.It looked like someone had tied a rope around its neck while it was still alive and drug it for miles on a rocky road behind a truck. I drug it off of the road 20 yards and set up a camera watching it. I posted pictures of the deer and the set on our homebrew trailcam forum. There were many suggestions and theories about what had killed that deer. Most thought it was a pack of coyotes. No one including myself even considered that o bobcat could have done this. But that is exactly what came back and fed on the deer for about a week. That cat stills hangs out around here, and I have about 7,000 trailcam pics of it now. I am sure it is the same cat that nailed my dogs three times now. I have posted  pictures of that on here several times. I remembered my computer was down at the time, and those pics are on my wife's computer. I will try to get them.
Bob

[BobR]

  The first three pictures is how I found the deer that morning. I had not touched it yet.





  I drug the deer up off of the road about 20 yards and set up my camera. I could see the deer and the camera from our house. That night just after  dark, I saw the camera flash fire. I watched the camera take at least 100 pics and I knew I would know what had killed that deer the next morning.
Saturday, I got home from work early, so I rode my 4-wheeler over to check the camera. When I got over to the place on the road just 20 yards from the camera, I saw the bobcat was laying at the deer watching me. I turned around and went back to the house to get a camera. When I got back over there, the cat was still laying there watching me. This happened again a few days later.

[River]

Sorry about thhe deer, but really the cats have to live also.  I always look for the cats as secondary targets in season and would really like to get one this year.

[Elkpiss]

I vote hair loss on that doe, its just that time of the year.. They dam near all look mangy and scared up right now.. its just that time of the year.. the ear who knows, but i dout its a cougar attack or that little doe would be buzzard bait!! 

[jackelope]

i still don't think its a predator either. some hair loss or shedding  or irritated skin or something. i'd be looking for more pronounced claw or teeth marks or something. that irritation looks like something's been rubbing on it.

[BobR]

 No way to know what happened to that doe. I am getting lots of deer pics on the set now.  I hope this  is not a pic of the "cougar" everyone has been seeing around this area. Their dog was mauled in April. Sometimes, people get paranoid and everything looks like a cougar
Bob

[billythekidrock]

No way to know what happened to that doe. I am getting lots of deer pics on the set now.  I hope this  is not a pic of the "cougar" everyone has been seeing around this area. Their dog was mauled in April. Sometimes, people get paranoid and everything looks like a cougar
Bob

That looks like Dman's bobcat.

[Elkpiss]

What do you think Dman? Cougar?    

[wildebeast]

Doesn't look like a cougar to me Bob, and don't think a cougar tried to get the deer either.  I know you have lot's of cougars in the area and a deer hasn't much chance if a cougar makes up it's mind to get one.

cliff

[bucklucky]

Oh god, here we go again 

Looks like you got Chester on your trail cam.

[BobR]

  In 1996, we had three cougars hanging our around our house all summer, a female with two yearling cubs, We found six whitetail deer cougar kills within 200 yards of our house that summer. Two of those kills were within 50 yards of our house. I sat and watched one of the close kills with my rifle one evening, but the cats did not return until after dark. While I was watching that kill, one of our dogs went to the kill. That was in June. When I came home from work one evening in August, I found that same dog laying in our front yard. It looked like it had been dropped in  a paper shredder. It was covered with dried blood and flies. I thought it was dead, so I went to get a shovel to bury it. When I returned with the shovel, my wife had arrived from work, and she was bawling. She said she saw the dogs eyes blink, so we loaded the dog up and rushed it to the vet. This happened on a Friday, and the vet kept the dog until Monday evening. When we left the vet that night, we were told the dog might not survive. But it did survive. We went to pick up the dog Monday evening to bring it home. The vet had shaved it so he could stitch up the wounds. This dog was a 40 pound Dingo. It has twelve canine punctures to its throat. The cat had tried three times to kill the dog by biting its throat. Somehow, the dog made it back to our yard before it collapsed.  I think the dog found a kill somewhere in the woods, and one of the 50 pound cubs jumped it, because I am sure an adult female would have dispatched the dog very quickly.  Most of the problems caused around rural residences are from small cats that are not accomplished hunters.  Cats don't always make quick clean kills. The Eastman's Hunting Journal had a DVD called " Hunting Mule Deer High and Low". On this DVD, there is video footage of a 150 pound cougar tom taking down and killing a 160 class mule deer buck. The cat had a hard time with that buck before it finally got the upper hand. The buck kicked the cat in the head several times. I think those blows would have knocked me out. That cougar mule deer battle is worth the price of the DVD. Some times, deer are not as easy to kill as you might think. It would be easy for a small cat to let one get away. That almost happened on that DVD footage. The deer in these pictures has lots of wounds that can't be explained. Who knows what could have caused them
  Cliff, If you think I thought that yellow tabby cat is a cougar, then you did not read my post closely. I made this set because of reported cougar sightings in this area. I was cracking a joke saying I hope this is not the cougar everyone has been seeing because if it is I am wasting my time with this set.
  I have seen plenty of cougars, I know one when I see it.
Bob

[bow4elk]

Dman's Bobcat? 

[BobR]

  I have not checked this camera for three days, but I plan on checking in tomorrow. I hope to get more pics of this doe. The last time I checked it was only bucks. I have been trying to locate pictures of 8 deer that were killed by cougars ten to thirteen years back. These kills were all close to our house. The wounds on all of those deer are on the head, neck shoulders and throat. This is consistent with where all the marks are on this doe. Thirteen years ago, after our dog had healed for three or four weeks, his neck looked just like this doe's neck. I have ruled out barbed wire and hit by a car because of where the marks are located and because there is not one scratch on the doe's four legs. Here are some close-ups of the doe. I can see three claw marks and wounds to the neck that are healing. There is definitely more here than molting.





 This is a picture of a cow elk that was killed by a cougar. My wife, son and I found this while hunting mushrooms nine years ago. I think the death blow was a bite to the throat that crushed the windpipe. The cow's tounge was hanging out of the corner of her mouth, and her eyes are bulging out of her skull. This is a still from a VHS video. I have more stills of this elk somewhere. As I was making this video, I was describing the kill to the camcorder. I did not hear what was taking place in the background until we watched the video later that night. Right about here my son said he heard something moving around downhill in the brush. So he started throwing rocks. My wife said I am not sticking around to see what it is and she took off.
Bob

[PNUTCHI]

Well Well anything yet more pics I hope COUGAR yet?

[heavy hauler]

looks like the deer was attcked by something. no way thats hair loss. i am a expert on that subject

[Caseyd]

Oh god, here we go again 

Looks like you got Chester on your trail cam.

Cheetah   

I thought Chester walked on its hind legs....half cheetah half sasquatch