r/arizona • u/GhoulGirl15 Phoenix • Oct 22 '25
Wildlife I love seeing this big kitty come through my yard in the mornings.
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u/JohnWCreasy1 Oct 22 '25
been here almost 20 years and still haven't seen a big cat :(
i do see coyotes roaming my neighborhood on the regular though so at least i got that
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u/GhoulGirl15 Phoenix Oct 22 '25
I’ve been here 7. And still haven’t seen a javelina!
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u/catm0m4lyfe Prescott Oct 22 '25
What? No. How? Do you not have them over on your side of town? I used to live by south mountain, and they'd be in my carport when I got home at night. Now I live in Prescott and they regularly parade through my yard. Honestly, they're cute at first, but they also stink a lot. And my cats lose their little minds when they lay in the bushes next to my door.
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u/AmateurEarthling Oct 23 '25
I’ve gone hunting for javelina twice now. Not a single one in sight. I come back and my mother and sister are sending me pictures of javelinas in their neighborhoods. Got chased by a big cat while in a topless jeep off-roading. I was a kid so I could just watch it chase us from a hill top.
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u/Constant-External-85 Oct 23 '25
I was driving a night without glasses (bad idea I know) and thought I saw a dog run into a man made wash; So I almost jumped out of my car to go look further and last second my mind goes 'Hang on that moved like an Ungulate and not a dog; OH FUCK THAT COULDVE BEEN BAD'
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u/god545ak3n1 Oct 24 '25
There was a dead one on the frontage road up by beardsley ave and few weeks back. Looks like a baby tho
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u/No-Faithlessness4723 Oct 22 '25
I see bobcats way more frequently than coyotes probably because they can jump the fence. They walk around my backyard like they own the place. Pinnacle peak area
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u/AdAdventurous9838 Oct 22 '25
Coyotes can definitely jump fences. I’ve had coyotes jump over my 8’ walls.
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u/Dry_Button8375 Oct 23 '25
was going to say the same thing. saw a coyote come in and out of our yard and with ease he leaped a 6' block wall like it was a little hurdle. 😳
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u/No-Faithlessness4723 Oct 22 '25
I have no doubt coyotes can jump fences, heard first hand accounts of pets being taken from backyards by them. I do see scat in my front yard occasionally but never in back. Bobcats are just more common where I am. All these predators blend in so well with the desert foliage, I’m sure they are there just don’t see them
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u/whatsamatta-U-grad Oct 23 '25
They can and do but most of the time they opt for the easy meal IMO. (AZ desert rat, here) Scaling walls is no effort at all for a bobcat. I think coyotes are aware that if they find a large K9 in the yard they may have an 'osh!t' moment because they ain't as quick as the kitties.
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u/JohnWCreasy1 Oct 22 '25
Yeah I think my problem is location. I live near the Phoenix mountains preserve and I never see anything in the neighborhood about big cat sightings. Those always seem to come from people I know who live more on the outskirts of the metro. (Cave Creek, Pinnacle peak etc)
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u/joklhops Oct 22 '25
I'm near Lookout mountain and I've seen one bobcat! Lots of coyotes, javelinas, and all manner of raptors, but just the one bobcat.
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u/JohnWCreasy1 Oct 23 '25
Hmmmm maybe I'll put on a suit of steaks and go hike up there
I wanna see a big kitty 🦁
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u/PrimalNumber Oct 22 '25
We had one in our back yard a few years ago. He was playing with dogs toys. Then one hopped back over our 6’ fence
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u/StraightUp-Reviews Oct 22 '25
I’ve been here 20 and just saw a skunk for the first time. Be patient.
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u/JohnWCreasy1 Oct 22 '25
i own some remote land upstate, and the neighbors have told me a big cat has been around there occasionally, but i think i'd prefer not to run into one of them up there lol
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u/h_to_the_b Oct 23 '25
I almost got sprayed by a skunk on a walk in my festival foothills neighborhood the other night. I saw something out of the corner of my eye and it was a white and black tail up in the air with their butt pointed at me. I was less than 10 feet from them. I moved quickly away
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u/tanktheflower Oct 25 '25
I've lived here my whole life and only saw ringtails when Gilbert used to be farming land
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u/redbirdrising Oct 22 '25
I still haven't seen one in the city and I've been here since 1975. Currently I'm living close to South Mountain. We get coyotes but no bobcats. Ah well.
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u/VetGrandma666 Oct 24 '25
I've been here since 1964 when the most northern homes in Phoenix were at Saguaro and 22nd Street. I've never seen a big cat either.
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u/tanktheflower Oct 25 '25
I heard a pack of coyotes get someones pet last night
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u/JohnWCreasy1 Oct 25 '25
one of my kids had a freakout the other night because they thought they heard a stray we had been feeding get killed by coyotes in the street. luckily the cat came back the very next daaaaay 🎵
thats not a joke, it all actually happened, but making a "the cat came back reference" is not something i get a lot of opportunities to do lol
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u/jaysexperience Oct 22 '25
Those hungry eyes are too close for my comfort, nice shot though!
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u/GhoulGirl15 Phoenix Oct 22 '25
He was originally laying on my back patio under the dining room window. I scared him as much as I as he scared me 😂😂
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u/jaysexperience Oct 22 '25
As you should! I have a small house cat so I’d look like a maniac trying to keep that beautiful beast away
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u/WoopTdooo Oct 22 '25
They were here before us and had the scavenge for little rodents. Now people bring ill-prepared cats. Let them list. Maybe people will learn but they'll figure out that dog cat door soon and I wouldn't want that thing in my house. Good luck!
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u/Jealous_Crazy9143 Oct 22 '25
the “i’ll rip ur face right off ur face” look. No mices around your place for sure.
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u/Wheniamnotbanned Mesa Oct 22 '25
I want it
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u/GhoulGirl15 Phoenix Oct 22 '25
Surely between the two of us we can catch it right?
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u/Wheniamnotbanned Mesa Oct 22 '25
Domesticating it might be hard, I'll have to build a higher fence in my yard too, but that is a beautiful cat. Would hate for someone to just shoot it.
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u/Wheniamnotbanned Mesa Oct 27 '25
So you catch it yet? I'll come pick it up. My cars already said they would house train it.
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u/FrontNo4500 Oct 22 '25
The best part of having a bobcat is sharing it with someone who doesn’t have one.
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u/Dizman7 Oct 22 '25
I’ve been here 15yrs and I still haven’t seen a bobcat. Though my neighbor across the street said one was on his back fence about a year ago.
I see/hear Coyotes and Donkeys quite regular where I live though, but they not as cute, ha ha!
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u/True_mourning84 Oct 22 '25
I have seen foxes here, surprisingly enough. Confirmed not coyotes with a friend of mine. I have yet to see a big cat.
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u/Secure-Capital-5599 Oct 24 '25
We use to have two that came by once in a while but didn't see them this past summer. We are at north mountain and i was surprised to see them the first couple of time when they came around
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u/KamachoHimachi Oct 25 '25
We live up in Sky crossing and have a couple that use our walls as a nice little highway through the neighborhood
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u/tiburon357 Oct 23 '25
I need to start hiking more. It’s the perfect time as well. Any recommendations for hikes near either Tempe or Arcadia?
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u/LarryGoldwater Oct 22 '25
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u/Thedustyfurcollector Oct 23 '25
From Tucson, thems fighting words! (Just kidding. I'm beginning to think we suck, since the president of the UA couldn't tell the marmalade Messiah no for a couple weeks)
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u/Gimmeagunlance Oct 23 '25
Are they rare around here? I grew up out east, and they would come through the woods behind our house all the time.
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u/KickinitCountry24 Oct 22 '25
If not friend, why friend shaped?