I was recently in Navajo country and had the pleasure to photography this amazing Bobcat. For what its worth, here is a breakdown into the reasons why The Navajo trapped and hunted them, while simultaneously holding them in such high spiritual regard.

The Navajo trapped and hunted bobcats for their body parts and occasionally for their meat. If the bobcat was fat, the animal was eaten. The Navajo reportedly made a sausage of the meat, which was stuffed into casings from the skin. However the primary reason for killing bobcats was to acquire their skins and claws. Skins were used to make caps, mittens, scarves, and arrow cases, and claw were used to decorate clothing or certain ceremonial items. Bobcat sinew was employed as string to sew the medicine bag, or jish, used in some Navajo Ceremonies. Pelts were also fashioned into bandoleers or wristlets used by medicine men performing various healing ceremonies. Bobcat gall was ground and added to herbal powder to ward off witchcraft. The fat was added to the fat of other animals to create a lotion that was smeared over a patient in ceremonies to exorcise evil caused by ghosts and witches. The Navajo also believed that bobcats possessed the ability to “witch” people; they did this with their whiskers, which were said to have power.