“It was a cat footprint,” said Margaret, who knows cats, always having at least one, and usually more, around her house, and is familiar with the paw prints they leave.

“There were no claws, the way there’d be if it was a dog or a coyote track. Cats retract their claws, and dogs can’t. But it was bigger than a house cat’s foot. And then someone told me that a bobcat has been sighted near here.”

She said that a partially devoured deer, identified as a bobcat cache (food stored for future use), had recently been discovered in this area.

We cautioned each other about keeping our cats inside after dark.

“But,” I said, after a moment’s reflection, “This might be good for keeping deer away from our gardens this spring, if the bobcat sticks around.”

Did you know that feline urine is actually sold for this purpose online? Margaret and I have not so far resorted to purchasing cougar urine online although we have been fairly desperate on occasion, what with the deer eating our tulips and hosta and taking a bite out of every tomato. Deer don’t care for tomatoes, but that doesn’t stop them. They like to keep an open mind about food.

Margaret has been known to run out into her backyard, which borders on a woodland area, waving her arms and yelling at deer intent on ruining her hosta bed, once again. It’s a hardscrabble life for gardeners here in the Adirondacks. Why do we persist? What with the short growing season and the deer, and lately the ticks proliferating. But let’s not talk about the ticks. It’s winter and we don’t have to think about ticks right now. Bobcats are quite enough for today.

About twice the size of a house cat, the bobcat has a tail about 5 to 7 inches long and usually has tufted cheeks and ears. Bobcats are spotted, with markings varying from prominent to faded in appearance. The bobcat’s diet consists mainly of small mammals, including rabbits, mice, voles, rats, squirrels, chipmunks and muskrats. Despite its relatively small size, a bobcat will occasionally kill a deer, especially in the lean winter months, and cover the carcass, frequently returning to feed on it.

When I started looking for information about bobcats, I was baffled by the contradictions between facts cited by different reputable sources. The home range of a male, for example, is variously cited as more than 100 to a dozen miles. This incongruency is explained as follows by the state Department of Conservation: “The average home range of a male in the Adirondacks is 136 square miles. The average female home range is 33 square miles. In the Catskills, the average male home range is 14 square miles, while the female average is 12 square miles. Home ranges are smaller in areas of good habitat than in areas of poor habitat.”

Bobcats are known as shy, solitary creatures, not known to attack humans, which is a good thing, as they can leap 10 feet and climb tall trees after their prey, and they even enjoy swimming.

This is breeding season for bobcats, so if you hear caterwauling tonight, like tom cats only much, much louder, it is probably bobcats. Litters of up to five kittens are usually born in April or May, but sometimes as late as July.

Surprising facts: There are urban bobcats in Dallas! And they are no threat to family pets, either dogs or cats, at least according to a 15-month urban bobcat study conducted in the Dallas-Fort area in coordination with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the USDA Wildlife Service and the Welder Wildlife Foundation. Julie Golla, a masters degree student from Utah State, led the project, trapping 11 bobcats and equipping them with VHF transmitters and GPS trackers. Three of the research cats were killed during the study — one by traffic, one by a train and the other by a gunshot wound. The urban bobcats hunted on golf courses, greenbelts, gravel pits and creek or river corridors. They mostly avoided people, traveling through neighborhoods at night. They used sewers, underground drainages and narrow, treed, fence lines to move undetected.

Keep your eyes open, and have a good week!

(Martha Allen lives in Keene Valley. She has been writing for the News for more than 20 years.)