have you ever gotten a picture of a MT Lion on trail cameras

[Michelle K linnane]

I was out to dinner the other night and someone claimed to have taken this picture of a MT lion off their trailer camera and showed
it to me. They said it was taken in Albany county NY. The property is very hilly and MTs he owns a couple hundred acres up there. I guess I was wondering why if this pictures is true why we do not see more of it? I can tell you many years ago maybe about 20 years coming home from my uncle house in NY state, we had had a hard winter and had like 13 snow storms and travel was hard for game and at night often you would
see more in the road than you normally do. Something was out in the road and I did not get a good look at it, but what ever it
was it was about the size of labrador retreiver and it's tail was a long as it body. There is only one thing I know like that and it is MT lion.

Just this year we had a neigbor up the road said he saw a MT lion cross the road. I guess I have a hard time
believing that when more people do not catch them on trail cameras. Would like to here from anybody in any state if have ever
caught a MT on their trail camera? Even though I think I have seen one many years ago, hard for me to believe they are in NY
state. If you do believe this it was thought the state of NY brought tem in to control deer population. But to me this is hard to believe.
By the way the picture that I saw was not small cat it looked to be good size maybe 100 lbs. Was just curious what other people
thoughts?

[jbooth]

MOUNTAIN LION CAUGHT ON TRAIL CAMERA IN ATCHISON COUNTY / 11/17/11 / Weekly News / News / KDWPT Info / KDWPT - KDWPT

I have never seen one or got one on a trail camera, but after several years of denial our game department has verified their existance in KS.

[TMR]

We have a friend that has a couple of trail cam pics of what appears to be a mountain lion. About 15 miles north of Two Harbors, MN where they have trail cams on trails at their deer camp. Only qualification to identity is that I am not sure what a mountain lion looks like...but this looks like what I believe on to be Fairly large with no particular spots or markings on fur...the cream/yellow tint fur like you see on television. Other seem to confirm it is a mountain lion...TMR

[nybirdman]

NYS DEC has been denying the existence of mt.lions for years.If you check the hunting guides they are now "protected".Why would they be protected if they did not exist.In northern NY there have been hundreds of sightings,I have talked to many who have seen them.

[Biggreenavalanche]

I captured an image on one of the old 35mm style trail cams...the image was of a cougar and was taken less than 150 yards from my front door in NW Louisiana...only got the one shot and never got another...incidently the state claimed for years there were no cougars (mt lions) in the state, however a couple of years back one had to be shot inside the city limits...they are "there" and I believe they are expanding their range back to historical areas...

I for one enjoy them and want to see them rebound...I do understand the rancher'/farmer's frustration with the predation by them though and don't have a problem with the rancher's/farmer's protecting their livestock...

Rich

[greasemonkeyok]

If you have lots of deer, you are likely to have mountain lions. But the big cats don't like being around humans and are very secretive, so it doesn't surprise me that they are not seen more often.

[Michelle K linnane]

After I wrote the orginal posted I was very curious and decided to goolge MT lion in ny and was surprised to see what came up.

Another article came up that really shocked me, I included the link so nobody would call me the worlds biggest liar.
I would say that USA today should be a realible source other than when they write about politics.

Mountain lion killed in Conn. had walked from S. Dakota

Mountain lion killed in Conn. had walked from S. Dakota July 26 2011
DNA tests show that a 140-pound mountain lion killed last month on a Connecticut highway had walked more than 1,500 miles east from the Black Hills of South Dakota., state officials said today.

The epic journey was the longest ever recorded for a mountain lion.

"The confirmation of a wild mountain lion in our state was the first recorded in more than 100 years," said Daniel Esty, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. "This is the first evidence of a mountain lion making its way to Connecticut from western states and there is still no evidence indicating that there is a native population of mountain lions in Connecticut."

The department explained the genetic sleuthing in a news release:


The genetic tests reveal information about the mountain lion's origin and travels were conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture's Forest Service Wildlife Genetics Laboratory in Missoula, Montana. DNA tests show that tissue from the Milford mountain lion matches the genetic structure of the mountain lion population in the Black Hills region of South Dakota.

The Forest Service lab also compared the Milford mountain lion's DNA to DNA samples collected from individual animals occurring outside of the core South Dakota population. This led to a match with DNA collected from an animal whose movements were tracked in Minnesota and Wisconsin from late 2009 through early 2010. DNA from the Connecticut specimen exactly matched DNA collected from an individual mountain lion at one site in Minnesota and three sites in Wisconsin.

The Midwestern DNA samples were obtained by collecting scat (droppings), blood and hair found while snow tracking the mountain lion at locations where sightings of the animal were confirmed. In addition, at least a half dozen confirmed sightings of a mountain lion in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan are believed to be of the same animal. The distance between the first documentation in Minnesota and the spot where the animal was killed by a vehicle is nearly 1,000 miles and is nearly double the longest distance previously recorded for a dispersing mountain lion.

Male mountain lions normally "disperse" in search of females, but usually travel only about 100 miles.

The big cat, which was fully grown and younger than six, was hit by a car and killed June 11 on the Wilbur Cross Parkway in Milford, Conn. It had been seen earlier in June in Greenwich.

I went on to find the following articles about NY (the CT cat was killed July 26 2011,, it can not all be the same cat )
Experts: Some Kind Of Big Cat Is On The Loose In Westchester County ｫ CBS New York
State silent as big cat passes Lake George - Times Union
EASTERN COUGAR SPOTTED IN NEW YORK! | Weekly World News This story was Feb 2012

Appeartly there has been many unconfirmed reports of MT lion in albany County. So I guess the picture on the stealth camera might be real! It is more likely to me that these animals could come down from Canada then from out west I have seen many timber wolfs in Ontario.

[nybirdman]

Stalking the Elusive Wild Cougar ... if There Is One Left to Stalk - NYTimes.com

[john_bud]

I like the critters, but they are one of the most likely to attack humans. Really, a scary animal. If you spot one, odds are it had been stalking you!

[greasemonkeyok]

If you want to see one, walk with a group but be the straggler behind the rest, and walk like you are injured.