Monster Bobcat!

[COOSEFAN]

 

 

 

 

I don't know about you guys.....but that is the biggest dang ol' Bobcat I've EVER seen!

 

 

 

 

 

Seriously....These were emailed to me with very little info and I Googled it coming up with this:

 

"Arizona rancher Warner Glenn has now had two once-in-a-lifetime encounters with jaguars, the latest in February during a mountain lion-hunting trip in the Bootheel of New Mexico. “I thought it was an old tom lion,” says Glenn. “But when I got closer, I saw it was a jaguar—it was an absolutely beautiful cat.”

 

After spotting it, Glenn walked back to his mule and reached into his saddlebag. “This is a really remote corner of the country, where a rancher might easily say, ‘I don’t want to have anything to do with an endangered species anywhere near my land,’” says Jonathan Adams, a Nature Conservancy biologist. “But Warner Glenn didn’t reach for his gun; he reached for his camera.” And he did the same in 1996, when he took the first pictures ever of a live jaguar in the United States."

 

This probably isn't new to some of ya, but it's the first I've heard of it......That has got to be one of the most beautiful critters I've ever seen....aside from a big ol' Coues buck.....and..maybe my wife

[DEERSLAM]

I saw it just last week for the first time. Awesome cat!

[Dan H]

That's an awesome pic. Look how close that one dog is in the second picture.

I remember the game and fish had pics of a few from trail cams a few years back at night on h20 holes.

Nothing compared to these photo's.

Dan

[AZP&Y]

I 2 had seen the old pictures that he took and follow the azgame and fish pics, but nothing compares to these. WOW! Thanks for sharing Jim.

 

I can't believe how LARGE and healthy that cat appears. Nice to know they are still around (although very rare)!

 

AzP&Y

[grizzly]

that would make a great rug. May be pretty but still needs to be a rug, dang greenies infiltrating our game and fish!

[IHunt2live]

Quit a few years ago I was invited to a nature conservency meeting and the gentalman who was the first to document a jaguar in AZ was a speeker. It might have been the same man mentioned here. It was realy neat to see the rugged mountain lion hunter hold his own around all the tree huggers. Anyway, There were rumors that there were jaguars in az but there was no proof until this guy was out running his dogs an treed a jaguar. That day he acualy had a video camera so not only did he get pic he had video. The game and fish both in az and nw decited to make this man the jaguar expert so they sent him to South America to study how they feed so they could know if it was mountian lions our jaguars that killed livestock. Jaguars were historicly in az and the last know one, I not sure how long ago it was, was killed around the grand canyon.

[mattys281]

I know this is a deer site & I'll probably be chased out by the deer fanatics via pitch fork and torch light for saying this, but I like having a healthy predator population in our state & think it's fantastic that we still have a few of these rare cats around (with a pulse, not made into a rug ). It makes for a more interesting and exciting time when you go into the woods knowing that you may run into something other than an ungulate.

[GameHauler]

I know this is a deer site & I'll probably be chased out by the deer fanatics via pitch fork and torch light for saying this, but I like having a healthy predator population in our state & think it's fantastic that we still have a few of these rare cats around (with a pulse, not made into a rug ). It makes for a more interesting and exciting time when you go into the woods knowing that you may run into something other than an ungulate.

I somewhat agree, I would love to see a jaguar and there are so few they should be protected, But give me a chance on a mountain lion and Clay at Mogollon Taxidermy will have another job to do for me.

Mike

[Coues 'n' Sheep]

There was a rumor 10-15 yrs ago that there was a black jaguar living down on the Verde River. Where the East Verde meets the Verde..... probably just a rumor.... I talked to an old hippy that lived in the Wilderness down there for a couple of months and he swore that he saw it and heard it...... said it the scariest sound he ever heard..... but, he was an old hippy..... maybe he was smokin' too much of the ol' wacky tabacky out there in them thar hills....

 

 

I sure would love to harvest a jag..... no rug though...... full body..... That would be an Amazing mount!!! I don't think that you could bring one back into the country even if you legally harvest one in some other country though... ... come to think of it.... they don't hunt them anywhere in South America do they???

[SilentButDeadly]

Article from last year in the NY times:

 

Gone for Decades, Jaguars Steal Back to the Southwest

 

New York Times, The (NY)

October 10, 2006

Author: SANDRA BLAKESLEE

 

 

Using the same clandestine routes as drug smugglers, male jaguars are crossing into the United States from Mexico.

 

Four of the elusive cats have been photographed in the last decade -- one as recently as last February -- in the formidable, rugged mountain ranges of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.

And while no one knows exactly how many jaguars are here, or how long they hang around before sneaking back to their breeding grounds in Mexico, their presence has set off repercussions on both sides of the border.

 

At least 10 organizations are working to protect the jaguar in one or both countries. Conservationists are developing incentives to stop bounty hunters in Mexico from killing the big cats. Cameras have been set up near the border to monitor jaguar comings and goings and, inadvertently, the movements of "mules," or drug runners.

 

Some environmentalists are pressing federal officials to declare parts of Arizona and New Mexico critical habitat for jaguars. But local ranchers and many jaguar experts say such a move is unnecessary because the animals show no signs of breeding here.

 

And then there is the fence. If the Border Patrol builds a 700-mile barrier in the region to deter illegal immigration, the natural corridors used by jaguars and other migratory wildlife will be cut off.

 

Jaguars are the largest native American cat. They once roamed much of the Southwest, but when ranchers took cattle to the region in the last century, the jaguars were trapped and hunted to extinction in the United States. The last known resident female was killed in 1963 near the Grand Canyon.

 

Jaguars were thought to be gone from the Southwest until Warner Glenn, a cattle rancher and mountain lion hunter, saw a live one in the Peloncillos Mountains, near the New Mexico border with Mexico, on March 7, 1996.

 

"I thought the dogs had treed a lion, but when I went to look, it was a jaguar," Mr. Glenn said in an interview at his Malpai Ranch near Douglas, Ariz., where his office is decorated with poster-size photos of jaguars and the occasional plastic jaguar figurine.

 

Mr. Glenn raced back to his mule, pulled out a camera and snapped what seem to be the first photographs of a live jaguar in the United States, ever. Other known photographs show jaguars that were already dead. Sadly, the same cat was killed a few months later by a federal police officer in Mexico, 30 miles from the United States border.

 

Working with conservation groups, Mr. Glenn helped place trip cameras in the Peloncillos in 2001. But within a few years, he said, four of the cameras disappeared, apparently taken by drug runners. "And we never got a picture of another jaguar," he said.

 

That changed last Feb. 20, when Mr. Glenn photographed his second jaguar while on a lion hunt in the Animas Mountains.

 

Shortly after lunch one of the hunting dogs, Powder, disappeared. "Then one of the cowboys found him and said he has a huge hole in his neck and shoulder," Mr. Glenn said. "Something had pounded the pudding out of Powder. I thought it might be a feral hog or a boar javelina. It couldn't be a lion. They don't mess with dogs."

 

Picking up a scent, Mr. Glenn's five other hounds took off. He gave chase and soon got to within a hundred yards of the commotion. "I looked up and in the shade of a big cedar tree, I could see a big cat, dark in the shade. I thought, they have a big tom lion," he said. "I moved in closer. The cat charged the dogs. They scattered like quail. Then I saw it was a jaguar."

 

Mr. Glenn grabbed his camera and started shooting.

 

The jaguar caught another dog, Copper, bit him on the back and released him. When the hound Rietta moved in, the cat grabbed him with one paw, then another, and delivered two quick bites in the rump.

 

"The jaguar could have easily killed the dogs," Mr. Glenn said. "One bite to the head and they'd be gone. But he let them go on purpose." They were not seriously hurt.

 

Moments later, the rest of the hunting party arrived, helped gather the dogs and looked on as the jaguar looked back at them, struck a trot and left.

 

"He did not run," Mr. Glenn said. "He was not afraid of anything." Later he estimated that the jaguar, by the look of his teeth, was eight or nine years old and weighed nearly 200 pounds. Mr. Glenn named the cat Border King.

 

Another jaguar is now being tracked and photographed in southern Arizona by Jack Childs, a rancher and lion hunter from Tucson. Mr. Childs first videotaped the animal, which he nicknamed Macho B, in August 1996 in the Baboquivari Mountains. It left the region that year but came back in 2004, where it now wanders along the border.

 

Like all jaguars, Macho B has distinct black rosettes on his golden fur. A spot on his right rib cage looks like Pinocchio and one on his left rib looks like Betty Boop, Mr. Childs said.

 

With support from the Arizona Game and Fish Department and other organizations, Mr. Childs now has nearly 50 trip cameras along the Arizona border with Mexico south of Tucson. Macho B has been photographed 52 times in the last two years. "We're tracking him now," Mr. Childs said. "He is at least 12 years old. We don't know what he does in Mexico, but we know for sure he goes. We have photographed him at the fence."

 

A second cat, Macho A, showed up in 2001, was photographed first, hung around for three years and left about the same time Macho B came back, Mr. Childs said. No one knows what happened to him.

 

As in New Mexico, drug runners in Arizona use the same mountain routes where Macho A and Macho B have been photographed. Fourteen trip cameras have been smashed or taken in recent years, while six others have been lost to bears or flooding.

 

As for what Macho B does in Mexico, it is likely that he travels back to a jaguar breeding area 130 miles south of the border in a remote region of Sonora. In 2003, a Mexican conservation group, Naturalia, bought a 10,000-acre ranch called Los Pavos, put up a fence, removed cattle, hired jaguar guardians and established the first protected habitat for jaguars in northern Mexico. Naturalia estimates there are 100 to 150 jaguars in the region, including females and cubs.

 

Females tend to stay local, whereas male jaguars have wanderlust, said Dr. Alan Rabinowitz, a leading jaguar expert at the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York City. Males will migrate up to 500 miles, he said, spreading their genes as they go. Recent DNA analysis shows that because of such genetic mixing, jaguars from Patagonia to Mexico are a single species.

 

But the jaguars in northern Mexico are at the utmost edge of the animal's natural range, Dr. Rabinowitz said. The ones coming into the United States look like transients, which means it would be "foolish" to call them a resident population, he said.

 

The Northern Jaguar Project, based in Tucson, is a nonprofit organization helping Naturalia increase such jaguar protection in Mexico. The group hopes to raise $2 million to buy a 33,000 -acre ranch next to Los Pavos. The current owner unapologetically believes in killing jaguars.

 

The jaguar project is now in the process of setting up trip cameras in many more adjacent ranches. Ranch owners and their cowboys will be paid handsomely for each photo of a jaguar.

 

"Jaguar poaching is a serious problem in Mexico where laws are not enforced," said Peter Warshall, a biologist with the project. More than 20 jaguars have been killed in the past three years between the Los Pavos sanctuary and the United States border, he said, adding, "We hope people can make more money off live jaguars than dead ones."

 

In another approach, some Mexican ranchers in the area have formed hunting zones where jaguars are protected and deer are hunted by Americans happy to pay for the adventure.

 

Moreover, other wealthy Americans are buying ranches on the Mexican side of the border with the aim of protecting the natural corridors used by jaguars and other wildlife in entering the United States.

 

In all, almost a million acres in Mexico have come under some level of jaguar protection in the last couple of years, Mr. Warshall said, in a patchwork of conservation ranching.

 

And in New Mexico, Mr. Glenn and his neighbors formed the Malpai Borderlands Group, which has withdrawn an additional million acres from development through conservation easements and other agreements. The reason two jaguars were seen there, he said, is that the land is protected.

 

An environmental group based in Tucson, however, the Center for Biological Diversity, does not think enough is being done to protect the jaguar. When the United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced in July that it would not declare parts of New Mexico and Arizona critical habitat for jaguars -- arguing that the animals do not breed there -- the group filed an intent to sue. The matter rests in federal court.

 

Of course, if the Border Patrol built an effective barrier in the mountains where jaguars cross into the United States, "it'd be all over," said Jon Schwedler of the Northern Jaguar Project. "You could kiss the jaguar goodbye."

[mattys281]

I sure would love to harvest a jag..... no rug though...... full body..... That would be an Amazing mount!!! I don't think that you could bring one back into the country even if you legally harvest one in some other country though... ... come to think of it.... they don't hunt them anywhere in South America do they???

 

I think you can hunt them in Africa, but not sure. Never really looked into it. As far as I know, you're not allowed to import any part of a carcass from an animal on the endangered species list, but I would imagine that their cats have to be a different sub-species at least & may no be on the list.

[azpackhorse]

Jaguars are South American, Africa has Leopards. I beleive that Warner Glenn was one of the first, if not the first, to photograph a Jaguar alive.

 

I work with a feller that shot one (in self defense) in 1971 when he was duck hunting down by Nogales. I beleive the last one recorder being shot in Arizona was 1986 near Wilcox by a rancher. Jaguars are still shot in Mexico, men who killed Jaguars in Mexico became somewhat of a local celebrity and considered macho. Mexican cowboys also liked making chaps from Jaguar pelts.

 

I have a book that has every documented sighting and harvested Jaguar in Arizona. Some of you from up north may know the name Penrod, he shot one just south of Big Lake in the 60's I beleive. The book is called Borderland Jaguars and is a very good read with a nice mixture of scientific, folklore, and history on the Jaguar.

 

I think that most of you would be surprised at how many Jaguars were killed from the early 1900's to present in Arizona, I know I was. Even some of my wife's relatives are in there!

[.270]

ok guys, first off, there have always been jags in Az. always. my grandad and his brother took several of em years back. a fair number have been taken around white river. one was killed by big lake, in the 60's. the lee brothers caught several of em in Az. there have been quite a few killed in the southeastern mountains of Az. most of what we see here are what you would call transients. there ain't never been very many of em even in the northern half of mexico. they live mostly in the southern half of central America and the northern part of south America. Belize and some of the islands off the north eastern part of south America hold some good numbers too. they really thrive in dense jungles and around a lot of water. they don't have any problem swimming and seem to really like it. this is at least the 2nd time that Mr. Glenn has caught one with his hounds and took photos of it. they have been totally protected for decades in the U.S. along with all the other spotted cats, except the bob cat and lynx. the Azgfd and usfw have caught a couple on trail cams in recent years. one of the infamous outlaws from bowie got in a lot of trouble some years back for having several dead jags. seems like he had one mounted and maybe a couple other hides. also had some of the other protected spots like margays and ocelots. don't know if i ever heard for sure if they thought he got the jags in Az. or not, but it seems like that was the assumption. one thing for sure, they are about as impressive an animal as there is. the get almost twice as big as a lion. a big tom sometimes will go over 300 lbs. what an absolutely beautiful animal. i think what we're seeing is total protection resulting in a few more than the few that have always been around. i saw a deal on tv once with warner glenn narrating a video he took of another jag he caught several years ago. he seemed like he was about to tears because he felt so blessed to get to see one. the glenn's are some lion huntin' sons o' guns for sure. there is a book written by dale lee that has a lot of stories about hunting jags in south America. him and clel pretty much lived there for years guiding jag hunters. they probably had more experience with jags than anyone in history. according to them, they are one mean, dog killin' animal. Lark.

[mattys281]

Jaguars are South American, Africa has Leopards.

 

Ooops. Brain mis-fire. Guess they would definetely classify as a different species then.

[DesertBull]

Another jaguar is now being tracked and photographed in southern Arizona by Jack Childs, a rancher and lion hunter from Tucson. Mr. Childs first videotaped the animal, which he nicknamed Macho B, in August 1996 in the Baboquivari Mountains. It left the region that year but came back in 2004, where it now wanders along the border.

 

Like all jaguars, Macho B has distinct black rosettes on his golden fur. A spot on his right rib cage looks like Pinocchio and one on his left rib looks like Betty Boop, Mr. Childs said.

 

With support from the Arizona Game and Fish Department and other organizations, Mr. Childs now has nearly 50 trip cameras along the Arizona border with Mexico south of Tucson. Macho B has been photographed 52 times in the last two years. "We're tracking him now," Mr. Childs said. "He is at least 12 years old. We don't know what he does in Mexico, but we know for sure he goes. We have photographed him at the fence."

 

 

That's interesting. I wonder why the G&F never publish any of the photos?