When my family moved to Preston County in the mid-90s, we were enchanted by all the wildlife. We moved from the Baltimore suburbs, and these peaceful hills filled with birds, mammals and more seemed magical to me — I was preschool age.
The peace and quiet was occasionally pierced by animal noises, including what sounded like a woman screaming. A local told us that there was a mountain lion in the area, but not a mating pair. But we assumed the screaming we heard was a bobcat.
With the aid of the handy-dandy internet, I’ve now learned that those sounds we heard did in fact sound like a mountain lion. Some also could have been foxes screaming, and of course some were very likely to have been what we assumed — the bobcat.
We caught glimpses of bobcats in our early days on this land. For years we continued to hear some screaming and screeching, although not the same as the sounds comparable to human screams.
When I was still pretty young, I often heard that I assumed was a screech owl at night. Only recently I learned the screech owls around here make a trill rather than a scream. I’m not sure what animal made those sounds — but I’m glad I didn’t know then that it was probably a mammal, as I’m sure I would have been much more spooked.
Over the years we stopped hearing the eerie sounds. We assumed the bobcats had left our valley for whatever reason.
Then a few months ago I heard an incredibly eerie sound. Not screaming like we had years before, but a soulful howl and scream combination. This sound went off and on throughout the day for three days in a row.
The animal moved slowly across the valley over the three days. I thought it could be a bobcat, and shared a recording on my social media. Some folks agreed with me, some said they thought it was a coyote. Whichever it was, it seemed like odd behavior.
Last week one of my family members spotted a bobcat crossing our road. I was hopeful these wild felines might be back when I heard that strange sound, but having a sighting to confirm their local presence was pretty exciting.
Breeding season for bobcats in West Virginia runs from mid-February until June, and it’s possible that if the sounds I heard were a bobcat it was a young one, kicked out by it’s mother to begin living life on it’s own. Heard in July, it was unlikely to be a mating call.
Female bobcats reach reproductive age after their first winter, and have a territory of about a mile. Males have much larger ranges, especially during mating season. Females birth an average of two kittens per litter, with a 62% survival rate.
Since 2014, the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources and West Virginia University have partnered to research bobcats. Non-invasive methods have been used to collect fur samples across the state.
My understanding is that their data is used to inform hunting and trapping limits. Many states had very low populations of these wild cats due to over-harvesting, but with some protections bobcat populations have been recovering.
Currently, hunters and trappers are permitted to kill three bobcats per season (Nov. 5-Feb. 28) in West Virginia. Surrounding states vary greatly, with some protecting these cats completely and others having higher limits.
Knowing there are definitely bobcats nearby, I’m eager to learn if I hear them again during mating season, as I did in my childhood.
ALDONA BIRD is a journalist, previously writing for The Dominion Post. She uses experience gained working on organic farms in Europe to help her explore possibilities of local productivity and sustainable living in Preston County. Email columns@dominionpost.com.
