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Jason Miller used a pair of motion-activated trail cameras to record the rare spotted cat from two different angles, one in color and the other in black and white.

He posted the Fourth of July footage on his YouTube channel, , on Monday, as part of that included a mountain lion, a ringtail and several bears with their playful cubs.

“It’s a rare catch,� Miller said.

The adult male ocelot was filmed in a canyon at the southern end of the Huachucas, roughly five miles from the U.S.-Mexico border and about 70 miles southeast of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.

Based on the cat’s markings, Miller thinks it is the same animal that walked past one of his cameras about two years ago in a different canyon, maybe three miles to the east in the same range.

State wildlife officials think so, too.

The ocelot in Miller’s video bears the same “markerâ€� — in this case, a distinctive spot shaped like the heel of a boot — as a cat that has been photographed in the Huachucas more than 160 times since May of 2012, said ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Game and Fish Department spokesman Mark Hart.

The animal smaller than a bobcat is so well known that ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥-based nonprofit group Conservation CATalyst , with the help of students from TUSD's Manzo Elementary. The name is a play on Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s other famous rare cat, a jaguar called El Jefe that made national headlines after being photographed in the Santa Ritas and the Whetstone Mountains.

Hart said the “little bossâ€� is the only ocelot currently known to be living in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ and one of just five confirmed in the state since 2009.

“And it’s getting pretty old. It was an adult or a near-adult when it was seen for the first time, so it’s getting near 12 (years old),� he said. “That he’s survived all this time says that’s a safe place for him to be.�

Protecting his habitat is key, said Conservation CATalyst executive director Aletris Neils.

"Lil Jefe continuing to live and thrive in the Huachucas demonstrates how important the southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ sky islands are for wildlife," she said.

The ocelot was last caught on camera in October. Based on the number and the timing of the sightings, Game and Fish biologists believe the ocelot has spent his entire adult life in the United States and “never returned to Mexico to breed,� Hart said.

Neils said the beefed-up barrier along the border is making that journey impossible.

"Lil’ Jefe is one of the last ocelots in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, cut off from most other ocelots by the construction of a border wall between the US and Mexico," she said. "The wall has bisected almost perfectly what has long been the terrain of male ocelots occurring in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ from the terrain of female ocelots, most of them concentrated about 40 miles south, on the other side of the border."

Hart said trail cameras placed by researchers, conservation groups and hobbyists have become a valuable tool for tracking wildlife across the state. For ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s most elusive animals, such footage can provide the only irrefutable proof of their existence “and to some extent their movement,â€� he said.

“The presence of spotted cats in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ generates a lot of public excitement and enthusiasm for wildlife,â€� Hart said. “Every time someone gets an image of one, more cameras go up.â€�

That's a good thing, he said, so long as trail camera operators don't inadvertently pinpoint the location of rare and sensitive wildlife or keep unusual observations a secret from federal or state wildlife officials. "We can't do our jobs effectively without (information) from the field," Hart said.

Miller said he started placing trail cameras on public land about five years ago with one goal in mind: capturing footage of a jaguar. Since then, he has recorded just about every other kind of animal Southern ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ has to offer, but still no El Jefe.

A landscaper by trade, Miller said his hobby almost isn’t a hobby anymore. “I honestly do it more than my regular job.�

Luckily, he’s no longer doing it entirely for free. He said his YouTube channel, which now has close to 5,800 subscribers, brings in just enough revenue to pay for the batteries for his trail cameras and the gas he uses driving around to check on them.

Miller maintains about a dozen cameras in various locations he has scouted out during long hikes, typically near water sources or in areas with signs of wildlife activity. He’s gotten good at it, too, capturing close-up footage of bears, birds, bobcats and snakes or of a shallow cave.

“I grew up a hunter, but as soon as I got into trail cameras I stopped pulling the trigger,� Miller said. “There’s nothing wrong with hunting, but once you shoot something, it’s over.�

Camera traps allow for a longer, more open-ended interaction with the natural world, one that lets him watch animals behave the way they do when no people are around.

And every once in while, if he’s really lucky, he gets to see one of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s rarest cats.