Cougar

[stuckmotor]

I did some reading on cougars a while back when I heard that the neighbors had seen a "panther". An official said that if one is in an area far from it's known range, it's likely either an unconfined exotic pet, a house cat, or a black lab. I hope the one the neighbors saw was one of the latter two.

 

[TheMan419]

Where in Indiana? There was a confirmed sighting a few years ago down in Greene Co. The population out in the Black Hills have apparently exploded and young cougars are spreading out. I dont know why DNR just cant confirm that the cats exist.

St Joe County (South Bend area). I reported it through the DNR's web site, but they have not contacted me yet.

 

[The Deerslayer]

We have em here in CT as well, however the DEEP has denied their presence for years and only more recently state they have no credible evidence of their existence here. In 2011 one was killed by a vehicle which resulted in some pretty solid credible evidence in most rational minds. However, DEEP indicated DNA testing was done to confirm that the lion traveled on paw from South Dakota....a mere 1200 miles or so. The DEEP even noted that it is rare for a lion to disperse further than 100 miles. Go figure.

My father saw one while on his tractor as it crossed over the dirt road he was travelling. Size and length of tail confirmed it was not a bobcat...too bad he did not have a camera mounted on the front of his FEL. Who knows, maybe the lion was vacationing from California.

 

[DieselnHooters]

Cougars prey on deers but also on coyotes, wild hogs, feral cats and dogs, raccoons and other varmints people always rant about so their presence is not all bad news IMO

 

[jack707]

They are protected in WI. just like the wolf's most people do S.S.S about those things up NORTH

To many losses because of those animals.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

The deer in this area are everywhere. If you drive at night, even on the interstate, you had better have your wits about you. It's hard to imagine that cougars are not present with such a huge deer population. If you are near any rivers or large bodies of water you should expect them to be there. There have always been rumors of cougars among country folks here, and most of us have heard "screams" at night that will curl your hair.

On the other hand, bobcats are easily mistaken for cougars. Wife and I were out on a walk in our local park a couple years back and spotted what we thought were two cougars. At first glance they appeared huge, but a bit darker than I thought a cougar ought to be. When they turned to leave, I could see their tails...which by the way appeared to be about 10 or 12 inches long but much shorter than that of a cougar.

This one was sighted very near us.

Officials: Two mountain lions spotted in Oklahoma | KFOR.com

 

[TheMan419]

Yeah if it is a Cougar I am not complaining about it being around. It is part of nature. My only concern would be once we get the barn in and the horses around I don't want the horses being dinner. Last night went down to around where I thought I saw it. No good evidence of anything. No tracks or scat.

Saw two deer (moma and baby) come out of the woods and over to neighbor's pond for a drink. They were 100 yards or so away. Keep their good eye on us as we were hanging out talking.

 

[jack707]

When your out deer hunting and they follow you thought the woods that's when they become problems or you lose a dog to them.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Many years ago, I read of a study that was made on the records of the Hudson Bay Trading Company, that among other things, bought furs. Their records go back many, many years. The records show, over all of those years, that there is a relationship between prey animals and predators. It seems that when the company was buying lots of prey pelts, they were followed by an increase in predator pelts the next year...and when prey pelt numbers were down, the predator numbers went down the next year. With all the deer, turkeys, squirrels, etc. around, I certainly expect to see a cougar one of these days.

 

[XSFMED18D]

My assumption is that as the number of deer hunters decline and the resulting number of deer increase, we are going to have more cougars spreading out and reclaiming their role in the ecosystem.