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Thread: Inflatable Kayaks, yay or nay?
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10-13-2010, 10:11 PM #51
I went fishing from my IK today...floated right past this huge Bobcat...pretty beautiful beast.
Last edited by Flaskman; 10-14-2010 at 11:31 AM.
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10-14-2010, 01:51 AM #52
No Shit! Did it just eyeball you as you drifted by? was it asleep? Cool!
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10-14-2010, 10:50 AM #53
At first I thought it was a cat, then when I made some noise and it didn't take off I thought maybe it was driftwood...but then as I got closer I could see it was definitely a cat...a BIG cat. He just laid there and watched me float by...I was talking to him the whole time and he just smiled and watched my go by...didn't move a muscle. It was an incredible experience.
After I got home I had to review some photos of cats to try to determine what kind of cat he was...definitely a Bobcat. But when I think of Bobcats I think of a 30-40 lb cat, this guy was easily 80-100 lbs, that's why I thought it was a Mtn Lion of some sort.
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10-15-2010, 01:00 AM #54
Sorry for trolling, but when they flip how do you just get back in? Or do you flip the IK over and then get in? What about bailing water?
They look awesome and make me wonder how seaworthy they'd be for trips up and down some local inlets..
Thx for sharing yer pics!
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10-15-2010, 12:47 PM #55
I have an Aire, and it's self-bailing as are all of the nicer ones. And yes, you have to flip it back over and then climb back in, but it's not hard to do. When I fish in mine I usually have quite a bit of gear and an icechest or flexible cooler, so I try real hard to not flip the thing which means it's not that good for big water. But if I'm just out for the whitewater then I keep the gear to a minimum so if/when it dumps me I don't lose all my stuff.
I've had mine in the ocean a couple of times and both times were with my woman on just a nice, lazy, paddle session around Malibu or Avila...though coming back in through the surf was a little rough. It's much wider than a cockpit type ocean kayak, and probably wider than most sit-on-tops by a little bit, so a longer paddle would be the call there. The wind would affect it more than a hardshell kayak so for short, easy trips it would be fine, but for longer trips it's not the right craft.
But it rolls up nicely and fits inside my subie with all my gear, so that's a plus.
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10-15-2010, 02:18 PM #56
Quantifying animals from sometimes sketchy photos was part of my job with the Alaska Dept of Fish and Game dealing with population dynamics and wildlife movements. I've looked at that photo up and down, and you are right, that is most definitely a bobcat...as derived simply from its tufted ears and facial profile. The hind area tripped me up for a bit, but I see that it does have the striations of a Lynx rufus...they have a a whole range of coloration and striation, from almost cougar-like to nearly ocelot-like.
You speak of 80-100 lbs. Based upon the vegetation in that photo, I derive a weight more in the range of 25-35 lbs. Based upon the setting and my experience, I can't really see 80-100 lbs in THAT particular specimen.
The weight you are talking about is so far out of range of the norm that I must wonder its accuracy, as it is about 2 to 3 TIMES the median range.
With that said, however, if you are CERTAIN that it was indeed in that aforementioned 80-100 lb range, I cannot definitively rule out the possibility of a very rare inter-genus hybrid between a cougar (Puma concolor) and bobcat (Lynx rufus), as they DO share territory in parts of California. While cross-genus hybridization is extremely rare...it is NOT unheard of. Note the case of the cougar/ocelot hybrid found rarely in South America. The cougar is in the Puma genus and the ocelot is in the Felis genus (same as the domestic cat, and ocelots are even smaller than SOME housecats!!), so one would not think their offpring would be viable, yet they ARE.
If it IS in that weight range, you MAY have come across an extremely rare cross-genus hybrid of cougar/bobcat...one that happens to take primary characteristics of the Lynx rufus, but takes the size and some coloration of Puma concolor.
So, in essence, you may have seen something altogether RARE!! Based upon the photo, however, it is my professional judgement that it is a bobcat in the 25-35 lb range, which puts it right in spec with a larger individual bobcat. Bobcats are known for widely ranging sizes in anomolic individuals, but NOT in multiples of two or three!!! That would be VERY odd indeed.
Nice cat, though...that's for sure.
Here's a bobcat of similar size in a similar pose...note the wde range of ear-tufting in this species, almost towards that of it's close cousin, the canadian lynx (L. canadensis).
I bet THIS cat gets its can of tunafish WHENEVER it wants!!!
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10-15-2010, 04:31 PM #57
Here is a different shot, it's zoomed out more and cropped so you can see more of the vegetation. I'll agree that the 80-100lb range I initially estimated is maybe a bit high(hey, I was excited), but my buddy has a 25lb cat (maincoon) it was more than twice as big as him. Plus, I've had a couple of 80-100lb dogs and this guy was very close to that size. My guess now is more in the 60-80lb range and that's well within the range for a large male Bobcat from what I've read. But hey, I didn't get to see him get up and move, so it was hard to really tell. If I could have gotten a photo from when I was right next to him it would be more obvious. What I can tell you is he was far bigger than the one in the shot you posted. When I was floating by I was within 40-50' and I had a great view and I was stunned/confused because of how big he was. I'm semi-familiar with Bobcats from seeing them over the years, but this one was MUCH larger than any I've ever seen in the past. But, his face was so close to the classic Bobcat look that I'm going to rule out any hybrid with a Cougar, he just didn't have that cougar look. He was just one huge Bobcat...and he smiled at me...it was awesome. Thanks for your input though!
Edit: Ok, now I can't find where I read they get up to 76lbs, that's why I said it was well within the range. But I also didn't see all the spots or stripes on the cat I saw like on the photos I saw when I googled "Bobcat", he was more plain colored, so maybe it was a hybrid? I'm not sure...he was a big cat, of that I am sure. Cheers.
(if you pm me your email I'd be happy to send the full res images if you are interested)Last edited by Flaskman; 10-15-2010 at 04:48 PM.
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10-16-2010, 07:48 PM #58
Sure...I'll PM you my email address. I'd like to see the hi-res pic. While I deal mostly with high latitude, sub-arctic wildlife, and bobcat are DEFINITELY out of that subset, I have a friend who works for the US Fish and Wildlife north of Eureka, Ca who HAS dealt with bobcat and cougars. I'd like to shoot the pix to him to see what he thinks about a possible hybrid.
Bobcat ARE one of the species that vary widely in size, and they have been known to be exist well outside the norm. Somewhere I'd read that the world record weight for a bobcat was 49 or 50 lbs, but that sounds a little light for a world record. And even if it was true, that doesn't mean bobcats larger than that don't exist.
Keep in mind though, that bobcat and lynx have a LOT of very dense fur, which make them look larger and heavier than they actually are. Ever see a soaking wet long-haired cat? Skinny as anything!
According to my Ca. US Fish and Wildlife friend, bobcats do vary widely in coloration and spotting/striping...some almost spotless like a cougar.
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10-17-2010, 02:56 AM #59
That don't seem right. i've ran with Golden mixes most my life, sheperd and samoyed retrievers that get 90lb to 110lb. Rather then the 55lb to 75lb gold retriever. THAT THING LOOKS BIG! I would luv to here how that thing came to be.
"I, the undersigned,
shall forfeit all rights, privileges, and licenses herein
and herein contained, et cetera, et cetera . . . fax mentis
incendium gloria culpum, et cetera, et cetera . . . memo bis
punitor delicatum!" It's all there, black and white, clear
as crystal! You stole Fizzy Lifting Drinks. You bumped
into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized,
so you get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!
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10-17-2010, 01:00 PM #60
Keep in mind, though, that those are bushes in the direct background, not full grown trees. Take a look at that picture again. No indigenous bobcats in Alaska, although there ARE a good population of Lynx as there is a good population of snowshoe hare...lynx are a species I just don't monitor, though. Lynx are larger than bobcat, and they appear even larger on first sighting because of their denser fur. But like I said, bobcat DO tend to vary in size much more than lynx, often greatly exceeding the norms. They DO have much denser fur than canines, so while they may APPEAR big, they won't have the same weight of a canine that looks the same size....unlike cougars, which ARE big and fairly heavy.
The reason the world record for bobcat is only 49 pounds or so is because of their fairly light bone structure. I'm sure with all it's fur, that world-record bobcat probably looked huge.
I'll wait and see the full resolution pix so I can speciate those bushes and then get a size off the leaves and other vegetation.
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10-18-2010, 01:08 AM #61
Another great float down the Kings River in CA. We put in just below the Pine Flat Dam, still got water flowing!
Got all the essentials...
Fly fishing the boulder section
Portage? To hell with that...run it!
The moment my best fish of the day got away...
Jeffry landed his though...a classic Kings River Lunker!
I love my Ik...
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10-24-2010, 03:12 PM #62Registered User
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But don't fuck up and get sideways CUZ that looks like a low head dam to me
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPaCXSwjLA4"]YouTube - Low Head Dam Dangers Boone Iowa[/nomedia]
Just want to point out that lowheads have killed many people who were not aware of the danger
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10-26-2010, 10:45 AM #63
Right on...we did initially portage, as we always do at a feature like this, but could see that the water was only about 6-8 inches deep.
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10-26-2010, 04:49 PM #64Registered User
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- northern BC
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cool ! I just wanted to make it clear to anybody seeing the pict that it is a low head and if the water was deeper it would be VERY dangerous
If you got sideways in that low head with only 6" of water you can just stand up BUT if you got sideway or were dragged back into a lowhead with 6 ' of water you would be stuck there ... and drown
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