Cougar

[Midniteoyl]

I have never understood why they do this...

Me neither..

 

[MossRoad]

View attachment 475320

Here is the photo I was talking about.
The fern at the back of the cat to the fern at the front was a little over 3 feet apart. The ferns were 3 feet tall.

There's no tail visible and there's no ears visible. Heck, that looks like one of our house cats. Get a good picture.

 

[MossRoad]

View attachment 475320

Here is the photo I was talking about.
The fern at the back of the cat to the fern at the front was a little over 3 feet apart. The ferns were 3 feet tall.

Go out there and stand in the same place and show us the picture standing next to the same ferns. Lay the pictures over each other and see how big the ferns really are. If those ferns are three feet tall, that cat is less than 2' tall.

 

[JRobyn]

Our first "absolutely certain, 3 different individuals" sighting in middle Tennessee was in about 1996. Of a solid BLACK one, no less! Or at least very wet/dirty/dark! There had been the occasional sporadic sighting by various folks before that for many years. TWRA steadfastly denied even the remotest possibility at that time.

Over several subsequent years, more reliable sightings and game-cam evidence finally prompted them to admit the presence of cougars, but that it was "one or two individuals", most likely released "exotic pets" from Tennessee Tech students. No possibility of any sustainable population.

In just the last year or two, they have finally officially admitted their presence.

 

[Barry 1]

Well, I tell ya what....catch a cat like that down here in Cajun Country and we'd make a "Cat Courtbullion" (pronounced ...coo-be-yaw). It takes fresh tomatoes, tomato sauce and garlic, onion, celery and bell pepper... continue to sauté until it is cooked into the mixture. Add cat stock, one ladle at a time, until all is incorporated. Thennnnnnn, add your fresh Cougar....sme lemon juice, bay leaves, thyme. Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce to simmer.

A co-worker from Breaux Bridge invited me over for supper one time,and his wife made Debris. They waited till I had eaten a couple of bowls,and told me what it was made of-GUTS ! Darn good stew! I sure miss the food down there.Haven't been back down there since the oilfield about shut down in '86

And game wardens LIE.

 

[k0ua]

Our first "absolutely certain, 3 different individuals" sighting in middle Tennessee was in about 1996. Of a solid BLACK one, no less! Or at least very wet/dirty/dark! There had been the occasional sporadic sighting by various folks before that for many years. TWRA steadfastly denied even the remotest possibility at that time.

Over several subsequent years, more reliable sightings and game-cam evidence finally prompted them to admit the presence of cougars, but that it was "one or two individuals, most likely released "exotic pets" from Tennessee Tech students. No possibility of any sustainable population.

In just the last year or two, they have finally officially admitted their presence.

As i remember that is almost word for word how it went down here in Missouri.

 

[oosik]

I never gave cougars/mt lions a thought until about twelve years ago when two fellows in a pickup drove into my yard. They were looking for a pair of their dogs that ran off chasing a cougar - so they said. I chuckled at the thought but said I would keep an eye out for their dogs. Both dogs showed up later that night and the fellows who live up north in Chewlia, had to drive all the way back to get their dogs.

The fellows saw that I thought it was some kind of joke, so one of them said - come out to the pickup. There in the back was the biggest dead cougar I'd ever seen. They hunt an area about five miles west of me and at that time they said this was the third cougar they had got so far that year.

I don't go out at night without my big flashlight.

 

[MossRoad]

And the Indiana DNR would really like to hear from you if you think you see one...

DNR: Mountain Lions in Indiana

 

[comancheflight]

Local News: Four mountain lion sightings confirmed at NSA Crane near Burns City gate (09/23/10)
This is the corner of Greene, Daviess and Martin Counties

 

[comancheflight]

One with infrared pictures also Greene County
Local News: Mountain lion: Several more unconfirmed Greene County sightings reported (05/10/10)

Here confirmed
Local News: DNR confirms presence of a mountain lion in rural area east of Bloomfield (05/07/10)

 

[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.