I finally got a mountain lion!

[nickel plate]

For the OP: what type/brand of game camera? What kind of digital storage and how is it triggered (motion, etc or just timed)?

The camera is a Reconyx Hyperfire HC600, made in the USA! Digital storage claimed is up to 10,000 photos with a 4GB memory card. I leave mine out for usually three weeks to a month at a time and average around 300-400 photos and on the high side 1300-1400 photos.
The motion sensor can be adjusted to eliminate swaying vegetation. Trigger is motion and heat sensing or time lapse. Reconyx :: See What You've Been Missing... | RECONYX, Inc.
They are not cheap, they have an excellent track record and they miss nothing. If you're looking for a game camera, go to Chasingame.com: Scouting Camera Reviews | Performance Reviews | Trail Camera Models compared | Sample Pictures and Movies for unbiased evaluations (they do not sell cameras) and forums on all of the game camera brands, etc.

 

[JB4310]

Pictures are great, but is that a steep slope our is the camera crooked?

JB.

 

[buck12]

As a turkey hunter I am more excited by the flock of turkey.

 

[whodat526]

around here we call them panters but the game warden say they dont existed around here but we have caught abunch of them on game camera's

 

[nickel plate]

Pictures are great, but is that a steep slope our is the camera crooked?

JB.

The bear box and camera are level on both axes. This little spike's stance will demonstrate that. BTW, he hangs around a lot-easy to recognize because the tip of his left ear is bitten off.

 

[Shooter45]

Can you post some of the pics?

around here we call them panters but the game warden say they dont existed around here but we have caught abunch of them on game camera's

 

[mguitas]

That's cool pictures nickel plate.:thumbsup:

 

[foggy1111]

Great cat pics. Until the last few years Cougar sightings were slim....now lots more travel through our area.

A short cat story: About 25 years ago a friend and I were calling coyotes along a small river here in MN one Sat morning. After not calling any critters in....we split up and each of us slow-hunted back to our vehicle. It was dead calm....and as I rounded some dense conifers....I spotted what appeared to be a "yellow lab" about 40 yards away.

When the critter saw me....it immediately went spread-eagle....belly to the ground for a second or two....then slowly got up and turned to slink silently away.....at which time I saw the big-hooked tail. No doubt about it....Cougar. I let it walk....as it took a few seconds to realize what I had just seen (I would not have shot a cougar anyway - illegal game here). Sometimes it's just hard to believe your own eyes.

Never did tell that story very often....as nobody believed we had big cats around our area. Now days, folks see 'em pretty regularly.....and trail cams prove it.

 

[powerpace]

When I moved to this property my neighbor had just got his Cougar mount from the Taxidermist. He shot the animal within sight of his house.

In Southern Oregon they have had several school lockdowns due to sightings of Cougars in the last few years. Sightings increase when the younger animals seek out territory. Hunting pressure has decreased since use of dogs had been banned.

Personally In a five year period I have seen Bear within 150' ft of my barn. Game camera pictures of Bobcat, Coyote, Deer, Raccoons and skunks. Turkeys think that when I show up at the barn they need to be fed like the chickens.
I solved that problem real quick. Around here Turkeys are a pest and they come in flocks of 10 to 75 birds.

Elk show up on a hill about a mile away once in a while.

 

[schweizer]

Great pics!

I haven't seen any cougars yet in the wild and would sort of like to. We have 320 acres. We had some cougar tracks at the house site when building the house. Ever since a close encounter w/ a cougar eating a large tom turkey just yards from me while I was walking along our creek, I try to pack a 357 mag when I'm by myself away from the house. (Big tom turkey aggressive toward me when I arrived, then nothing but a skeleton about 1-2 hours later.) We had a local bear when we moved here, but then a neighbor down the road shot it because the bear was getting into their compost pile. So sad. Bears have never worried me, but when you see cougars they are too close, too many, or have lost some fear. Either way, they need to be "taken care of" if you see them. Oregon has too many of them and their territories are large. (Yes, we have goats and young children.)

Marcus