Maine’s 228 bobcat records lean toward the coast and the south. Hancock County’s 49 around Acadia National Park lead the state, with Washington County Down East and York County at the New Hampshire line close behind.
A northerner at the edge of its comfort
Maine is demanding country for this cat. Unlike the Canada lynx, with which it shares the North Woods, the bobcat has small feet that sink in deep powder, so prolonged soft snow shuts down its hunting and pushes it toward lower elevations, wind-scoured ridges, and the sheltered lowlands where deer yard up. In that winter country it leans heavily on snowshoe hare, squirrels, and deer carrion, while the rest of the year it takes rabbits, rodents, and birds from brushy edges, regenerating cuts, and wetland margins. Records from Acadia, where rocky headlands meet spruce forest, capture the mix of cover it favors. Even in well-occupied country it works mostly at night, and most Mainers never see one.
Winter writes the record
Reports crest in January, with February and March close behind. Part of that is the cat’s own calendar, since courtship and mating peak in late winter and males travel far beyond their usual ranges, and part of it is simply that fresh snow records every crossing of a woods road. A round four-toed track with no claw marks is the encounter most people actually get.
Status in Maine
NatureServe ranks the bobcat S5, Secure, in Maine, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
