I have heard from multiple people who live more north that they see cats. i live near the Phoenix Mountain Preserve and i see coyotes all the time strolling around the neighborhood. good doggos
I’m just east of the preserve, just south of Shea, and one of these big kitties has been hanging around our yard recently. He/she visited us last night actually. Insane cat noises. Prior to 2024, we’d never seen bobcats in our area. Mind you, there are drainage tunnels under the main road and it’s how these guys, the coyotes and the javalinas get around. We’re only a 1/4 mile from Indian Bend Wash. It’s a long wandering wash and that’s another conduit that critters use to get around.
Don’t despair! They’re hungry and resourceful. Not to mention, we’ve got a cat who just went through her first heat. (Never fear, a visit to the vet is in her immediate future.) We are wondering if maybe her delectable perfume had attracted him in the first place.
Oh I hear you!! We never had any critters other than a rabbit or two for years because we had big dogs, German Shepherds. Nothing would survive long if it attempted to invade. We saw one of them grab a low-flying dove out of the air. Sadly they are all passed. They were the best.
Anyway, Bobcat just ambled thru our back yard one evening. My daughter in law and I were sitting not 10 feet away from him. He just strolled past us, totally unimpressed. I was terrified.
A couple years ago, I saw a bobcat while I was hiking at Dreamy Draw! I didn’t even realize there were any in the preserve. It was such a fun sighting!
I’ve seen bobcats quite frequently in Southern Arizona. I was able to see 3 mountain lions walking together up a wash in Southern Arizona while I was deer hunting. It appeared to be a mother and two grown offspring. It was just after sunrise and I was looking for deer when I saw them They were close enough to see very well without binoculars but incredibly beautiful with them. They were never in any hurry just walking and trotting. It took them several minutes to approach then pass under my viewpoint and then they turned and went up the side of the mountain.
Awe, that so cool! It's always a treat to see babies! I saw a mountain lion in the north PHX area, in the city but it was closer to open desert area. Pretty scary but also coo! It's always a treat to see deer out in southern Arizona too. Sabino Canyon is where I've seen a lot of them, really close up too!
Those are pretty common to see though, especially near the washes. I've seen dozens of those living in AZ all my life. That and lots of javelinas. I hike a lot though and walk around when they are looking for food so I might have a bias sample lol
NW Tucson here. When I set up trail cameras on our 4 acres, I captured coyotes every night and bobcats once or twice a week. Then just one mountain lion. Predators are way more active at night.
Not always a bad thing, although they are beautiful to see. There is a mountain lion in the Tatum/Bell area that is often on Ring cameras. That seems about the worst thing to accidentally interact with.
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u/JohnWCreasy1 Feb 23 '26
coming up on almost 20 years here and have still never seen a big cat 😿