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Posted by joel rosenthal on 20:16:31 08/22/09
Those of you familiar with Akira Kurosawa's 1962 movie, "Yojimbo" (whose plot was subsequently copied as "Fistful of Dollars" with Clint Eastwood and as "Last Man Standing" with Bruce Willis) may recall the arresting opening sequence, in which the ronin-Sanjuro(played by Toshiro Mifune-and subsequently perfectly mimicked by John Belushi in his Saturday Night Live skits) enters a tumbleweed town to see, at the extremes of his vision, a dog, zig zagging down the windblown dusty street with an object in its mouth. Mifune's face expresses the horror of what he finally observes, and foretells the violence to come, as the camera pans to the dog for the audience to see as well in full focus.
No such horror awaited me as I fished with my friend Don today out of Chokoloskee, but I was reminded of that scene when my peripheral vision picked up movement in a clearing behind some trees on the shoreline at Crate Key. The sun had been up for an hour, and my first instinct was that I was observing a dog, but as he came more into focus and my attention was fully directed his way(the fly rod and snook could wait)it was clear I was looking at a big cat(ok bigger than my 18 year old house cat). Within a few seconds I was able to make out his tail, or what passed for it, and concluded he was a bobcat. Meanwhile my fishing buddy Don had fired up the electric trolling motor to take us for a closer look. I began fumbling for my triple bagged point and shoot(usually reserved for pictures of released fish) while Don provided a running commentary of the cat's activity.. In three bounds the cat had climbed an 8 foot tree and was now out of sight as I finally got the camera in hand and energized..But before I could even contemplate the prospect of not having photographic proof of the encounter, the cat reappeared, poking his head out through the leaves, squinting and yawning into the morning sun, checking out the view from his penthouse in the leaves before retiring for the morning after a long night(no doubt) carousing..The bouncing boat and few override options on the camera conspired to produce less than stellar images, but the attached link will give you an idea of what we saw(including a short, terrible video).Bobcats are not rare, but to see one up close, by day, and in a tree on an island he had to swim to, certainly was a highlight of a day in which we caught some snook, saw, among other wildlife, gators, turtles, rays, dolphin pods, sharks , tarpon , redfish, oh and a pair of adult bald eagles.And to think that we were never in more than about 6 feet of water...I think Angel and Mariel have a euphemism for this...
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