Hello FWP? I Have a Very Dead Deer and a Very Live Bobcat Here

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - I related to our Talk Back audience on Friday about some very strange and very loud animal noises outside my home in the Upper Miller Creek area early that morning.

Turns out that the noise was coming from an unusual source.

As I was preparing to drive my wife to the airport later that day, she pointed out something a little scary outside my back fence; a very dead deer and a very live bobcat standing guard over the carcass.

A Dead Deer and a Very Live Bobcat were Just Outside my Fence in Upper Miller Creek

I contacted James Jonkel, a member of the bear management team with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and related the story and texted a photo of the animals since I know that a deer carcass will draw unwanted predators (like bobcats) towards my neighborhood.

“We have not received any calls about bobcats in the South Hills at all, but when you sent me the photo, I was like, ‘That sure looks like a bobcat’,” began Jonkel. “I looked up the hillside and I saw the carcass, and I could see that little head. So I kind of got some of my gear together and started approaching, and sure enough, up popped a little bobcat.”

Jonkel Said a Bobcat Sighting is Unusual in the Miller Creek Area

Jonkel described what happened when he approached the deer and the bobcat.

“I got a little bit closer, and he (the bobcat) took off, headed up the hill,” he said. “Then when I got to the deer, I looked it over pretty good to see if it had been fed on, if it was a predation, and I didn't see any evidence of feeding. There was a wound on the underside of its neck that didn’t look like it was hemorrhaging. It didn't look like a violent death. So I don't really know what happened to the deer.”

After loading the deer carcass in his truck for disposal, Jonkel then began his pursuit of the bobcat.

“I drove around to see where he might have gone,” he said. “I did visit with a person that thought they had seen it kind of moving over there toward Moose Can Gully. But with all the deer coming down from a higher country as its greening up;  just sort of poking its head up, a lot of the deer have moved down, and so no doubt we'll start seeing more coyotes, more (mountain) lions, more bobcat coming down to get into where all this deer activity is.”

Jonkel Tracked the Bobcat to the Moose Can Gully Area

Jonkel did provide one possibly sad note about the doe found dead at the scene.

“I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't have one (a fawn) in the belly,” he said. “They'll give birth in late May, early June, but, yeah, most of the adult does are with child right now. So, if you're driving up the road, and you see a bobcat go across the road but it's in the urban area you can also hop on Missoula Bears.org and file a report there.”

That’s my story from this past Friday, and I can’t help but think that it was fate to have the public address announcer for the Montana football Grizzlies come face to face with a real live Bobcat.

On a very serious note, please remember it is illegal (and very unwise) to feed deer or any wild animals in Missoula, as it will most assuredly bring unwelcome predators into the neighborhood.