Abstract excerpt:

"Reproductive ecology of the bobcat (lynx rufus) and lynx (Lynx lynx) was studied in western Montana from 1982 through 1984. Home ranges averaged 111.4 km2 for male bobcats and 61.5 for females. Adult lynx home range sizes averaged 122.0 km2 for males and 43.1 km2 for females..."

The study area included portions of the Garnet, Cabinet, and Mission Ranges of Montana.

"Twenty three bobcats and 7 lynx were captured during the 1983 and 1984 trapping seasons. Five additional study animals, including three bobcats... and two lynx... were originally instrumented during 1980-1982 (Smith 1984), and all but one were re-instrumented. Seventeen bobcats (4 males and 13 females) and all lynx were radio-transmitted..." (18)

Dispersal and Movements

"Female lynx F115 made a long-distance dispersal of 325 km from the West Fork of Fishtrap Creek to the vicinity of Radium Hot Springs, British Columbia. This lynx was last located on 25 April 1984, within the limits of its normal home range, and was caught by a trapper in the Rocky Mountain Trench of southeastern B.C. in November 1984. A male lynx (M118) may have dispersed 36 km from the Chamberlain mountain area north to the vicinity of Seeley Lake, MT, although evidence is circumstantial; a radio-collared lynx was reported crossing a road near there in the fall of 1983, and M118 was the only Chamberlain lynx not accounted for during that period. In 1982, another male lynx (M104) dispersed 96.5 km from the Chamberlain area to near Lolo, MT, where it was harvested (documented by Smith 1984:41)." (34)