Cougar killing horses

[schweizer]

Totally agreed, Larry (near you in the Applegate Valley) about the deer. There are so many. Deer are just rats-on-stilts around here, and cougars eat lots of them. We have 320 acres and we're mindful that cougars are around because of our young children and goats. But, when they are not shy enough to avoid homes and livestock, then they are fair game.

Marcus

 

[Mousefield]

Cougar will do a lot to keep the deer population from overrunning your area. Also, they are not as scary as people make out. Generally they are shy and avoid confrontation. It's only the young stupid ones, or the starving ones, that create a problem. I have a Large Munsterlander who loves to run. He's a 100 lb. dog and a scrapper who likes to chase cats. I have seen him chasing a cougar once, and once he ran into one that gave him a fight. The fight ended about even, he had some new holes in his body, but so did the cougar.

The males have a huge range, so it's pretty inevitable that they will occupy any area with enough game to support them.

Cougars at around 1-2 years old have to leave their mom. They have to find a new territory and they seem to be the ones that ofter become a problem.
Their hunting skills may not be that developed and so they sometimes look for easy prey like livestock.

 

[toppop52]

I've seen three cougars in my life, all in states where"They don't exist." The first was in the mountains east of Ashville, NC in the early seventies, wee hours of the morning lying on a rock about 30" above the road in the moonlight. I'm originally from NC, northeastern corner. Found many tracks and animal kills from cougars, but never actually saw one there, just typical bobcats and a rare red wolf once in a while, especially near Hale's Lake, which really isn't a lake.
Here in Maryland my wife and I saw a cougar near Delmar , MD in about 1979 standing by the road, then my my mom and I saw one in broad daylight near where some guys were deer hunting in the mid nineties. That one was walking beside Rt 13 northbound, headed south, when we got near he turned sideways and leaped about 18-20' across an opening to the edge of the woods, he turned and watched us as we drove by. My friend has a small farm that isn't farmed anymore and he has a pair of cougars that I assume are siblings that have spent a few weeks for several years in a row, living in the end of an old chicken house. This year only the female came back. He has pictures of them stalking a deer herd in his side yard. They travel a long light line that runs for about 30 miles and likely they go further than that. There have been several sightings over the last 30 years on the Eastern Shore in Delaware, Md and VA. My son in law is a horticulture expert and manages a John Deere landscaping store (use to be Lesco). When he was managing a golf cousre the DNR brought them small signs to put up showing a picture of a cougar and explaining how to ID one and whom to notify. But as they said to him, don't worry, we really don't have any.

 

[jcummins]

We are about 15 miles west from the Wabash river, 5 miles East from the Embarrass (pronounced Ambraw, why I don't have a clue) river. About 45 miles SW of Terre Haute, In. 20 miles NW of Vincennes, In. 10 miles south of Robinson, Il. 5 miles west of Flat Rock, IL. and if your not confused yet we are close to Villas, which consist of an Amish general store. We are a little rural.

I am sure we have a viable population of Mountain Lions. An immature lion was hit by a car a couple of years ago, the picture is on display in the local barbershop in Robinson. There are pictures of them caught on game cameras. The neighbors that used to live north of us had a couple of little boys who were playing in the creek bottom. They came running to the house in terror saying a monkey man was watching them from a tree. The kids said it jumped from the tree then cleared the creek in a single jump. I am pretty certain they saw a big cat, thankfully the cat didn't attack.

DNR denies it, but they have been around for quite awhile.
I was bowhunting south of Devils Kitchen lake 30+ years ago. I did not see it, but of the two guys that was with me, one saw a black panther chasing a deer. The other guy, saw the deer no panther, said he never knew deer could run that fast. We started asking some questions of locals, and finally found one old gentlemen that really lived back in the sticks...and he said oh yes, we got black cats around here.

I just recently moved back to southern Illinois near Creal Springs. As the crow flies, about 15 miles from where I bowhunted many times. Every time I go to the woods, I routinely check for track. I have no doubt some are close to where I live now.

On edit: I lived in Texas for 25 years, bought a small amount of ground there. (Still have it, it's for sale btw) Have a friend about 15 miles form that ground. They have twice called out the conservation department about cougars getting their goats. And about a year ago, he caught the cougar drinking at a pond. Said it just stared at him, then walked off. He had no gun. Point is....they are around in many states.

 

[toppop52]

The cat my wife and I saw in the late seventies was black, as is one of the two my friend has pass through.

 

[s219]

So what's with all these states denying existence of cougars? When I was growing up in northwest Connecticut in the 70s and 80s, it was well known we had "mountain lion" in the area, and plenty of people saw or photographed them. I was talking to my dad about 7-8 years ago, and he said the state DEP's position was that they were no longer native to Connecticut. I couldn't believe it. My dad seemed to think the population had declined, but neither one of us believed they were gone. Now I see there are more and more reports of them in Connecticut. They have to be breeding/living in the area.

 

[deere755]

We are having a problem here that the DNR says does not exist. A Cougar has been killing horses in my neighborhood. The last one that I know about was two miles from my house and another at about 10 miles. The Amish have been having trouble with something scaring the horses so bad they are busting through the gate.
The horses killed are badly clawed and very large cat prints are left behind. They had an organized hunt for the cat but had no luck. I think it will take trained cat dogs to have any success, these cats are smart and elusive.
My wife heard a large cat take a deer in our woods last year. She heard a large cat growl and a deer bleating, so now if we go into the woods we have a gun handy. Sure never thought we would have this problem here, but here we are.

There have been some sightings around Lake Shelbyville here where I live but like you say DNR denies it. Some of the sightings come from straight honest people so I believe.

 

[Jstpssng]

So what's with all these states denying existence of cougars? When I was growing up in northwest Connecticut in the 70s and 80s, it was well known we had "mountain lion" in the area, and plenty of people saw or photographed them. I was talking to my dad about 7-8 years ago, and he said the state DEP's position was that they were no longer native to Connecticut. I couldn't believe it. My dad seemed to think the population had declined, but neither one of us believed they were gone. Now I see there are more and more reports of them in Connecticut. They have to be breeding/living in the area.

Four words; En Dangered Species Act. Have you ever dealt with the Federal Bureacracy? Dealing with the fallout would bankrupt most states... not to mention all the BS you would have to deal with, if you want to do something to your land.

 

[foggy1111]

We got a few cougars passing through here every now and again.....and a few lounge lizards too! :laughing:

 

[bullbreaker]

We got a few cougars passing through here every now and again.....and a few lounge lizards too! :laughing:

:laughing: :thumbsup:
Thanks for the warning !

Boone