Thread: New Zealands big Cats

I hate feral cats and have shot some large toms over the years,before a camera was part of my hunting kit.Who has photos or stories of large cats in NZ?
I will start with a photo taken 2 yrs ago by an American tourist who was camping near me in Mt Cook Nat Park.He came over to our camp to ask if we had Cougars in NZ as he had just seen one about the size of a Labrador dog,it went into the scrub and a hare ran out so he had a size comparison at the same distance of approx 300yds.I asked if he was able to photograph it to which he replied sure and showed me the photo on the camera screen.He later sent me a hard copy.I have since been back to the same spot and looked at the rock the cat is standing on, it,s not a small rock that is a big cat!!.


These are some cat prints in the sand on a remote beach on SI Westcoast also 2yrs ago.That stride bigger than the average moggy.


This cat lost the fight with a .375 H&H Mag.It had no top teeth at the front only the bottom ones, it was a young cat in good nick shot this year Central Otago.