Scary discovery

[Pine]

So for a few months I have been finding raccoon skeletons, bobcat skeletons and deer skeletons on our property.
They all have the skull crushed but none of the other bones are crushed.
If they were kill by a dog or coyote, the bones would be broken and chewed.
We do have a bear here sometimes but I don't think it's a bear either.
My guess is a big cat. And the only cat I know that can bite the skull from the eye sockets taking the top jaw and lower jaw all in one bite is a Mountain Lion.
Now for the scary part, just found a deer skeleton with the same skull bit in two.
About twenty yards from the front door.   
My wife is freaking out because her goats are on the opposite corner of the house.

[McDave]

I guess that if you're finding skeletons, it's probably difficult to know when the animal died, unless you're an expert in such things.  Are the skeletons intact, or do they show signs that the meat has been eaten?  I know that some animals, such as wolves, have been known to kill just for the sake of killing without necessarily eating the meat, but I haven't heard that about mountain lions.

[Pine]

The bones are in one place and the one by the house,  we walk there everyday.
The bones are stripped clean and just some hide and hare are left .

[Captain*Kirk]

Well, that's a bit unsettling. Especially about the goats.

[kopfjaeger]

No other evidence available? Tracks, Fur, scat, etc?

[Al Dente]

Set up cameras to get clear evidence of what predator is there.  Mountain lions attack by biting the back of the neck at the base of the skull, so on smaller game, the crushed/punctured skull is very possible.   Be safe and carry a sidearm with you, that is way too close for comfort. 

[Wheels2]

Here in PA we have an expanding population of Bobcat.  And to a lesser extent some sightings of Mountain Lions in the northern areas.

[Jim Wright]

There is no predator that I'm aware of that strips the bones clean and leaves the skeleton. And concerning Mountain Lions, there have been 28 fatal attacks in North America since 1868.

[Terry Green]

Interesting. Have you contacted any authorities?

Keep us posted.....

[Pine]

Not yet, they usually just poo poo things like that.
But I will say, in 2011 the police were looking for someone and they came on our property.
One officer that was out back came out and told the others that he saw a big cat. And you could see he was visibly shaken.
You can Google mountian lion sightings in Kent County  Michigan and the sighting near Camp lake is our place.

[rastaman]

I would definitely put up some cameras.  That is too close for comfort!

[wooddamon1]

Wow, right over in Sparta? I used to hunt a farm on the Rogue a few years back. Sounds like a big cat.

[Trenton G.]

Lions generally take their kills and cache them somewhere, oftentimes burying them. I find it a bit odd that it would just leave a kill laying in the yard like that if it was a cat. Pictures would be interesting.

[Pine]

[attachment=1][attachment=2][attachment=3]
Finally got to a place with good signal to post pictures

[Even]

The odd time Mountain Lions will take something bigger and leave the carcass right there.  I came upon two baby Bison carcasses when I was out working, about thirteen years ago, and they were cat kills.   They had rear neck injuries, and the guts were eaten, but little else, so guessing an older cat.  No skull damage though, at first.   Until the wolves, bears, and ravens found and scattered them later.  The cat was working the edges of the herd. 

I think trail cams are a great idea, to know for sure, but I suspect what you are looking at is varied kills, from various predators, where the skulls have been cracked open by a bear after the fact.   They love that shit.  Brains are fatty.  Mmmm. 

One time, my co-worker hid a wolf skull up a ways in the trees, under an old stump, where some asshat had killed a wolf beside the dirt road, and left the carcass lying there.  He wanted to clean it off and mount it in his den.

The next day we stopped to pick it up, and the skull was missing.  There were Grizzly tracks all over.  He was choked.  They'll find a carcass pretty damn quick.

Addendum: Looking at your pics, its not a fresh kill, so guessing a black bear got the skull cracked open, after the fact.