Mark Lewer has captured several photos of a female bobcat living on his property in rural Laporte.
One of the images was published in the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) magazine, called “Minnesota Conservation Volunteer.”
To me, this was a photo opportunity of a lifetime.
Mark Lewer, wildlife photographer
“I happened to look out the window of the house and saw this bobcat hunting a rabbit,” he said. “I grabbed my camera and took a photo. As the bobcat jockeyed for position, the rabbit countered. This went on for several minutes. Finally, the rabbit won out and disappeared into the brush and the bobcat turned to hunting squirrels, which led her close to the house, about 20 feet away. She crouched behind a pine tree and then laid down by the bleeding-heart flowers. I think she determined this hunt wasn’t going to be productive, so she backed away. To get the bobcat to look at me, I tapped the camera lens against the window. To me, this was a photo opportunity of a lifetime.”
Contributed/ Mark Lewer
The photo was taken with a Canon 1DX camera.
“My wife, Cindy, keeps certain windows really clean so I can shoot photos through them,” he said.
He has heard from several people who saw his photo in the DNR magazine.
“Everybody likes it,” he said. “Everybody with a camera, it’s their dream to get published.”
The Lewers are retired. They have lived in their home in the woods between Laporte and Guthrie for 30 years.
“We’re out in the country, about seven miles from Laporte,” he said. “We have 54 acres, with hundreds of acres of tax-forfeited land around us. I’ve seen this particular female bobcat half a dozen times. They’re very shy. I don’t think many people ever see them. I’m surprised it still hangs around because I’ve caught it three times with my camera and looked eye to eye with it. We looked at each other and I went ‘click.’ After that, she took off running because she knew that she’d been caught.”
Contributed/ Mark Lewer
Lewer said he believes the bobcat may have a den nearby.
“On our property, we have an old, overgrown meadow, so there’s shelter, a pond and a lot of rabbits, squirrels and birds for food,” he said. “Deer and bear come through, too. It’s relatively wild, and we don’t hunt. There is a trapping season for bobcats, but no one traps them on our property.”
He said he has even gotten a glimpse of one of the bobcat’s kittens.
“The kitten appeared to have blue eyes, so it must have been pretty young,” he said. “I imagine the bobcat watches us just like we watch her. We co-exist.”
His interest in photography started when he was growing up in Bemidji.
“My brother had a camera and I thought if he could do it I could do it,” he said. “Then I thought if I had the equipment others had, I could take wildlife pictures too. So I saved my money and bought a bunch of expensive stuff and as they say, the rest is history.”
According to the DNR website, the bobcat is the most common of Minnesota native wildcat species. About 2,000 bobcats live in northern Minnesota, but few humans ever see a bobcat in the wild.
Adult females weigh 20 to 25 pounds, and adult males weigh about 30 pounds. Adults are 26 to 36 inches long.
Bobcats got their name because of their “bobbed” tail, which looks as though it has been cut off at about 5 inches long. They climb trees, and sometimes catch and eat porcupines.
Lorie Skarpness has lived in the Park Rapids area since 1997 and has been writing for the Park Rapids Enterprise since 2017. She enjoys writing features about the people and wildlife who call the north woods home.
