The following are pics of a find at a place where I am a member. My guess is panther or a large bobcat.

Larry
While I was there hunting with you, I did see a pretty good sized bobcat! Maybe........

We have some panthers running around as well.

That would be cool to see!

A Lion or panther will break the neck with a bite behind ears and using the paw to bring the head back and snap the spine, then eat the stomach first, that's his salad...

A bobcat will mostly grab the throat and choke the deer, but this seems to be geographical to the area with bobcats. Look for claw marks in shoulders and hips,, gives you an idea of the size of the cat..If it was covered it was probably a Lion kill..If the lower legs were chewed upper neck chewed out it was coyotes. If the annus was eaten out that could be coyotes but more likely skunks, forxes sometime later..
the desert Lion will kill the biggest of Mule deer with ease, and as they can smell a rutting buck a mile away, they will kill him, that's when we always found those buck kills on our ranch..fortunately Lions are easy to trap if you know how to set a Lion trap..

Southern Bobcats are much smaller than Northern Bobcats and in the Texas SW Big Bend country the bobcats have large Mule deer to contend with so deer kills are not the norm, just ocassional IMO...as they primarily use the Javalina, Jack Rabbit,and quail as their food source. so conditions could vary in that your in a swampy wet area with much smaller deer as I see it..a may be a whole nuther ball game where you live.

I can't tell from the kill pictures..but hope this helps..

Hang a camera there to see what comes calling.

I’ve found fawns that were bobcat kills but never a mature deer. Not saying it’s impossible but the odds are against it. Looks far more likely to be a panther kill.

Ann is right, hang a camera or two.

ray's assessment on how it was killed is spot on for a big cat.
we lost a couple of steers in the 300lb. range a bit male had killed he drug them about 75-100 yds. over to the cliffs and stashed them each time.

it could also be a bear.
they like to cover their kills for later and will generally eat the meat before the insides.

coyotes usually go all in and gorge themselves before burying something.

Personally, I tend to think it was a bobcat. Primarily because of the volume consumed . In addition, it was the front quarter eaten.

There are bears but very very few.

Hard to say from the photos, but it does show to have been covered, and I suspect the locating person uncovered the exposed part for the photos, and perhaps the eaten part was by foxes and skunks or whatever..Not familiar with Florida cats at all..

A cat almost always cover the eyes. A bear could care less.

I’d grab a lion tag and see what shows up

quote:

Originally posted by gunslinger55:
I’d grab a lion tag and see what shows up

Jail time for that. They are very much protected.

Did you put a game cam on it.

It is always interesting to see what shows up.

In southern or at least in the South West of Texas a Lion will not return to a kill, he will cover it, piss all over it and wait a couple days and do a fresh kill...May be the same in all the hot climates..

Ok another reason not to move to Texas. What a shame....

Has it "always" been that way?

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:

quote:

Originally posted by gunslinger55:
I’d grab a lion tag and see what shows up

Jail time for that. They are very much protected.

quote:

Originally posted by gunslinger55:
Ok another reason not to move to Texas. What a shame....

Has it "always" been that way?

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:

quote:

Originally posted by gunslinger55:
I’d grab a lion tag and see what shows up

Jail time for that. They are very much protected.

Florida not Texas.

Texas has no season on preitors, open year around day or night hunting is legal...calls, blinds, traps cynide guns (getters) and poison are legal except for striknine