Oregon’s 1163 bobcat records split the state along the Cascade crest. Deschutes and Jefferson counties, juniper country on the dry east side, hold the largest share, while a second strong run comes from the wet coastal forests of Lane and Tillamook counties.
Two Oregons, one cat
Few states offer a bobcat so wide a choice of cover. East of the mountains it works the rimrock, sagebrush draws, and juniper woodland of the Deschutes National Forest and the Oregon Badlands Wilderness, stalking rabbits and rodents where the cover is patchy and open. West of the crest the same cat melts into the dense, rain-fed understory of the Siuslaw National Forest and the Coast Range, and the record runs south through the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. What unites these landscapes is not vegetation but structure: thickets to hunt from, broken ground to hide in, and prey within reach.
Active in every month
Oregon records never drop away for a season. They run strongest from January through March, when the breeding season puts the cats on the move and bare or frozen ground makes tracks easier to read, then settle to a steady simmer the rest of the year. Even in a state where bobcats are genuinely widespread, the record rests on tracks, cameras, and brief crossings. An Oregonian can live in good cat country for a lifetime and never once see the animal itself.
Status in Oregon
NatureServe ranks the bobcat S4, Apparently Secure, in Oregon, and the species is native to the state. USGS NAS does not list it as nonindigenous here.
Full species profile
