This story was originally published in October 2022.
It was a perfect fall day in Aroostook County.
Andrew Perry of Easton and some friends spent the day riding the roads while bird hunting and scouting for deer in the Oxbow area in the North Woods.
They were not prepared for the show of natural beauty to which they were treated.
“We just happened to come up around a bend and spotted fur,” Perry said. “Initially, I thought it was coyotes.”
Within a few seconds, they realized that what they were seeing was two Canada lynx in the middle of the gravel road.
“We all got pretty excited and I was scrambling to get my phone out to get the video,” said Perry, who was kind enough to share that captivating footage with Bangor Daily News readers.
Perry said he has spent a lot of time in the woods and has seen lynx before, but not for long.
“Usually, it’s a quick glimpse and they’re gone,” he said. “They don’t stick around.”
On this occasion, the gorgeous lynx were preoccupied with each other and carried on with their haunting cries during what appeared to be a largely non-confrontational standoff.
“I’d never seen anything quite like the interaction between the two of them,” Perry said.
He said the hunting party drove back through the area a couple of hours later and saw the darker colored lynx sitting 50 yards down a side road.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2000 listed Canada lynx as a federally threatened species in Maine and 13 other northern states due to inadequate protection of habitat on federal lands.
Maine conducted a 12-year study from 1999-2011 from which the state estimated there were between 750 and 1,000 adult lynx, according to Jennifer Vashon, bear and Canada lynx biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Vashon told the BDN that the federal wildlife service concluded in 2017 that Maine is home to the largest lynx population in the lower 48 states. As of data available in 2024, estimates suggest between 750 and 1,000 adult lynx likely occupied northern and western Maine spruce/fir flats, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Lynx make a variety of vocalizations, including for mating, contesting territory and potential mates, and for the cats and their cubs to communicate.
Since the mating season occurs from approximately February through April, The County lynx likely weren’t involved in courting or fighting over a mate.
Perry and his friends came away from the experience realizing that what they witnessed is something they probably won’t see again.
“We just feel insanely fortunate,” Perry said.
