Sweetwater Pond Bobcat

The first bobcat I saw (in the wild) that I was able to photograph was this one in 2002. Daughter Ashley and I were taking a little hike through Sweetwater Ponds in Tucson just after dawn. I am a couple of steps ahead of her when I hear her say, "Dad!" I turn around, her mouth is open and she is pointing toward a bush along the path. I had totally missed it. A good size male bobcat lying down behind a bush. I took a couple of photos, but really didn't like the angle. So, I sat down in front of the bobcat, but that didn't work either. Then I tried laying on my stomach with elbows as tripods. This was the perfect angle. Unfortunately, I was much too close for the lens I had. So, I rolled over on my back, changed lenses, rolled back on my stomach -- I am about five feet nose to nose with the bobcat -- and take what was left of that roll of film. The bobcat, still unphased by my presence remained still. So, I rolled back over, put in a second roll of film, back on my stomach again, and 36 more photos. But, wait, there's more -- in fact, another roll of film before the bobcat stands up, looks at me square in the eyes, and I'd swear said, "don't you have enough photos yet?" and walked off. What a wonderful first experience -- that I would have missed had it not been for Ashley.