Are bobcats making a comeback in Knox County?

MOUNT VERNON — The Ohio Department of Natural Resources sent out a news release this week talking about the comeback that bobcats have made in Ohio in recent years.

According to their report, 499 bobcat sightings were made in Ohio in 2023, including three in Knox County.

My question is this: How many of you can verify that bobcats never left Knox County?

I remember writing an article for the Mount Vernon News about 15 years ago where I interviewed a local resident who told me about seeing and hearing bobcats in the area.

I remember that when I contacted someone from the Ohio Division of Wildlife, I met up with a rather condescending spokesperson who, at that time, assured me that there were no bobcats in Knox County.

The man told me that people’s noises were often misinterpreted as bobcats and that sightings “always” turned out to be misidentifications of feral housecats.

I did my job and reported what the official said, but even then, I was irritated by his attitude. I still am today, though I might be a little more forgiving, as I can imagine what stresses might skew the mood of a publicist for a government agency.

But it didn’t change my opinion.

While I have never encountered a bobcat myself, I have talked to many who have, one of which was my own father.

My dad, Lloyd Jordan, is an avid fisherman who has frequented the lakes of this region for many years – though as an aside, I’d like to point out that my now-86-year-old father can’t go anymore because so few of our lakes are accessible to people who can no longer climb rocks and steep banks.

One of his favorite haunts for decades has been Knox Lake.

My dad said that he has many times over the years heard animal screams when he fished Knox Lake at night, sounds that he thought were bobcats.

He said the sound was wild, unlike the curious mewing of a fox or anything like that, somewhere between a growl and a high-pitched scream.

He certainly would have nothing to gain by telling me of that impression years before I ever wrote that article.

I think this week’s news release simply acknowledges the obvious: Bobcats have been here all along.

Perhaps the ‘tude I encountered 15 years ago was simply a misplaced attempt to discourage people from going to try and find bobcats — to allow them to recover in number after being driven nearly extinct in Ohio.

But if so, it was a bad idea, causing people to further distrust official reports, well beyond healthy skepticism.

Still, this week’s report does make it clear the Ohio bobcat population is slowly recovering, just as the bald eagle population has successfully done in recent decades.

Let us know your impressions of bobcats in Knox County over the years, so we can get an impression of what the animal’s history here has actually been.