Large gray cat in Vermont

[B the Hiker]

I was driving up to Subsig cabin on August 13. I had just turned off of I-91N onto Rte 302 when a long, low, charcoal gray cat ran across the road. It was quite big, twice the length of a normal house cat. Long hair, face looked just like a snow leopard's. I don't remember if it had a tail, but if it did, it wasn't long.

Not sure what I saw!

 

[nartreb]

Both lynx and bobcat are possible throughout Vermont, though lynx is mostly restricted to the Northeast Kingdom. Your description sounds a lot like a lynx, but...

- estimating size of a rapidly-moving, quickly-glimpsed animal is just not reliable, even for experienced wildlife-watchers. Being off by a factor of two or more wouldn't be surprising at all.
- neither lynx nor bobcat is what I'd call "charcoal grey", at least in the summer. (I've seen a lot of charcoal and none of it was grey, but that's another story.) They're more brownish, with bobcats tending to be a bit more rufous than lynx, but then again, both are pretty variable in color and you don't say whether the light was good.

So pick your theory, in order from mundane to exciting:

- coyote or silver fox or domestic dog (not very catlike, very obvious bushy tail)
- grey house cat (unusually large?)
- fisher or some other large-ish weasel (not grey, long obvious tail, but their shape and movement can be catlike)
- bobcat (not especially grey, kind of unlikely in daylight, but you didn't specify what time of day)
- lynx (not especially grey, quite rare even in northern Vermont)
-puma (cub?) (not especially grey, long obvious tail, no breeding population proven in the state)

 

[iAmKrzys]

Perhaps this will get you to install a video camera in your car?

 

[B the Hiker]

Perhaps this will get you to install a video camera in your car?

Oh my god, and leave at that evidence for the police? (I'm a criminal defense attorney!)

 

[B the Hiker]

I left a message with Vermont Fish & Game, and a nice lady called me back today. She thought that given where I was, it was most likely a bobcat.

She said there are lynx in Vermont, but mostly in the North East Kingdom.

 

[peakbagger]

Its a conspiracy, the catamont has been hiding out in the woods for decades.

 

[B the Hiker]

A four-year-old was at my house earlier that day, and she asked if she could pick a raspberry off a bush. She didn't want to walk on the wood chips, and she didn't really know how to twist the thing off. It was all very cute.

It got me thinking about awe, and the excitement of doing something for the first time, and I got a bit depressed at the thought that I would only experience aw vicariously now, through the eyes of children.

Then later that day I saw a cougar run in front of my car! First time, and I realized that no, Mother Nature still had things to make my heart pound.