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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Keith Zimmerman on September 09, 2014, 03:45:00 PM
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Just wondering who has seen one in person while hunting. And the story behind it. I dont mean lion hunting. I mean elk or deer hunting.
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The group has seen several over the years in middle Colorado while elk hunting. Two were relatively close encounters, a couple more were a bit further on, but in each the cat was difinate.
ChuckC
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I stopped at a local establishment in Pine Colorado once and as I walked in, there was high excitement in the air for a guess a big one had just walked by heading down the street... Missed it by a few seconds... This was during broad daylight, by the way...
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I have. I was out hog hunting and was glassing a nearby waterhole seeing if the hogs were there. Spotted a mountain lion taking a drink. Watched it for a while before it slunk back into the brush. Funny, that big cat walked into the brush like it was walking in a park, and I didn't see a leaf move. It was like it vaporized into the greenery. This was near dusk, I'm guessing I had another half hour of good light left.
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Ive seen one at night crossing the road. A cougar has been killing some friends of ours sheep. Got a picture of it on game camera. But ky wildlife say that we dont have any around here. :dunno:
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I cow called one in on my brother while elk hunting southeast of Jackson Hole. It was under 15 yards at one point.
D.P.
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why do so many eastern states' DNRs deny they have any cougars despite lots of sightings and trail cam photos? Just wonderin'
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I was deer/turkey hunting on a hill side with shrub height, 10 to 20 feet, cedars. I heard a turkey flock, they were making a lot of noise. suddenly, they all took to the air about 70 yards from me. A lion took a flying leap, rising out of the cedars, swiping at one and coming up just short. That explained the covered piles of turkey feathers that I found on the hillside.
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I have been told by DNR people that they have denied then for monetary reasons. If they are acknowledged as being here, money and human resources would be required to study and manage them. I don't know how accurate this is, though.
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When I lived in eastern NC, I saw two cougars. One walking across a field for about 5 minutes and the other crossing a logging road.
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I saw one two days in a row while hunting on the King Ranch down in Texas with Jeff Massie. This was about 15+ years ago.
We were hog and javie hunting and had corned some roads. Two days in a row on the same sendero I watched one about 150 or so yds away cross the road and walk along it.
I got a good look at it with and without binocs. No mistaking the tail swishing around and curled up at the end.
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Had one about 50 yards away, just moving through. There are many around here, but are seldom seen
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Not long ago there was a complaint about a cougar near Rock Valley Iowa. The game wardens went out and shot it. That was the third killed and reported being killed in our county. We found a nasty pile of cougar scat the other day scouting. I looked on line just to make sure and it most definitely was just that.. https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3156/2463385712_34fc6b30dd_z.jpg
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:campfire: :coffee:
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Originally posted by Uncle Buck:
why do so many eastern states' DNRs deny they have any cougars despite lots of sightings and trail cam photos? Just wonderin'
Sightings are notoriously unreliable - and we seem to have more of them in the NE than in states out west where they hunt them.
Also heard of dozens if not hundreds of alleged picture's. No one has ever posted one that didn't turn out to be an internet picture claimed to be from every state in the country.
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I see one every time I look in the mirror! Lol I seen one one evening while I was hunting a field edge. It walked between me and my way to the truck and it was getting dark. I was younger then so let's just say my imagination got the best of me and halfway back to the truck I was a nervous wreck!!! Lol
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I've only seen one in the wild. It was in Colorado sheep hunting. Been trying to get close to one for the last two Decembers in Montana with absolutely no luck.
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I have read that cougars run a huge amount of terrain. The cougar this year was seen repeatedly near the same location. The ones that were shot by a farmer just west of here a couple of years back, could very well have been the sightings we had 40 miles from where they were killed. Hopefully, the one set of tracks that I saw two years ago and the scat pile we found will be the only time that one will be where we hunt. It is difficult to take that two mile hike back to the car in dark walking forward and constantly shining behind me. A set of fresh cougar tracks or fresh scat makes one think twice about smelling like a deer. We are suppose to have bobcats around here too, I have never even seen a track of them anywhere.
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I saw a Florida Panther while fishing Lake George in 1984. There were only around 100 of them in the wild at the time (about 160 today). It was also fishing and snagged a gar from the shore and retreated quickly into the swamp. Very cool.
We have cougars in Indiana from time to time. According to DNR:
"A mountain lion was confirmed in a rural part of Greene County northeast of Bloomfield [IN] when multiple images of an individual mountain lion were captured on camera by the Division of Fish and Wildlife on May 1, 2010. The origin of this animal is unknown
and it is likely surviving on deer that it kills." (IN DNR Fact Sheet on Mountain Lions) (http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/files/fw-Mountain_Lion_Information.pdf)
I found lion tracks on top of my bootprints in the snow from earlier in the day while elk hunting in Idaho in 2006. Eerie but exhilarating.
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Some dnr statements about cougars are basically word games. Here in FL there is a breading population in south FL, but none of the females will cross the caloosahatchee river. The males do however and range we'll into GA. Dnr will tell you that panthers only live in S. FL, but will then confirm sightings all over the place. A bit of semantics that are meaningful to a biologist, but seem evasive to the rest of us.
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I called one in while elk hunting. It was less than twenty yards and I didn't see it until I moved and it ran, it could have been much close. This was one of my most memorable hunting experiences.
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Last year in Laramie Peaks area WY. I was going to a buggling elk in the predawn and so was he or she. All I got was a quick flash out in front of me and caught it running up the rocks not making a sound. One of the coolest things I have ever seen in the wild :)
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I have not seen one but we live very near where they hang out. Our archery club range is closed this week due to a mountain lion incident over the week end.
A six year old boy was grabbed by a lion in a nearby park. He is going to survive and rangers are out looking for the cat. We have a big shoot coming up this Saturday and the range should be open Friday.
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I'd love to see one. Never have, though
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Several years ago my buddies were sitting near a wallow in Unit 551. They felt they were being watched and turned around to see a cat watching them about 50 yds away.
So they got up and moved several hundred yards to a new wallow. Again, the same thing happened.
They havent been back since to the same wallows.
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I was hunting mules Behind the university of utah. I was putting a stalk on a group of mulies trying to get ahead of them and had a mountain lion his and growl at me. I couldn't see him until I backed out and he bolted. The next week two young toms were caught playing on camera in the parking structure on campus.
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Keith,
I was wondering if you had seen one on your recent hunt?
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Saw my first one with my flashlight on the way back to camp last Monday night. Terrifying.
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I was taking a hike with my dog a few month ago and one screamed in the brush about 50 yards away. I snuck to where I could see it. ( my dog really wanted to go the other way ! ) I don't think it ever saw me it just walked away
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Much of Iowa is a land of square miles with blacktop and gravel roads going around those square miles. When we do get the rare cougar passing through the biggest problem is not the cougar, it is the knuckleheads riding around with rifles and beer that think they are going to be the hero that shot the cougar. Six years ago one ran across a country grave yard near where we hunted. We were constantly being invaded by them driving in on us ready to shoot at anything out of their pickup windows. Although I think a cougar has the potential for being more dangerous than a black bear, that still does not justify the want to be hero cowards that were riding around trying to shoot them from the safety of their pickups. Iowa needs a no random shooting or protected species law concerning mountain lions.
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Hey Kyle, I didnt see it. But 2 guys hunting with me saw one sneak in at 17 yds.
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We have a few here.We are restricted to only about 2 months when we can use trail cameras and I've identified at least 4 different lions passing by a spot where I had a stand last year and have had 2 different cats pass a camera,the same day.During trapping season,I've had as many as 5 sets wrecked by lions in a single check,yet I have never seen one except over dogs or one that was called in.
They are efficient killers but for the most part are very afraid of man.There have been a few instances here,where lions have been killed in self defense but it is rare.I spend a lot of time in these hills,traveling before daylight and after dark and am sure cats must have watched me.I don't anticipate any trouble from them but try to stay vigilent and as prepared as I can be.
(http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/jbrandenburg/WolfTreeII013.jpg) (http://s10.photobucket.com/user/jbrandenburg/media/WolfTreeII013.jpg.html)
(http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/jbrandenburg/WolftreeJune2014174.jpg) (http://s10.photobucket.com/user/jbrandenburg/media/WolftreeJune2014174.jpg.html)
(http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/jbrandenburg/WolftreeJune2014196.jpg) (http://s10.photobucket.com/user/jbrandenburg/media/WolftreeJune2014196.jpg.html)
(http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/jbrandenburg/WolftreeJune2014163.jpg) (http://s10.photobucket.com/user/jbrandenburg/media/WolftreeJune2014163.jpg.html)
(http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a140/jbrandenburg/PICT0016.jpg) (http://s10.photobucket.com/user/jbrandenburg/media/PICT0016.jpg.html)
That huge cat at the end developed a yen for sheep and our government trapper took him out.I was really hoping to see that one,while hunting.
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That is a huge freaking cat. Any idea what he weighed?
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No idea John but I was told it was 8' long,counting tail.Cat weights are often exaggerated and they due truly look heavier than they are,but I've know of at least 3,honest 180 lb lions and he looks in that class.I've mounted a lot of them and have yet to see any that actually were weighed and made it over 183 lbs,only unsubstantiated rumors of bigger and there probably have been a few but I believe a true 180 lb lion is very rare.It is often tough to find one 160 lbs.
I guess we'll never know on that one.I know that was the biggest track I've ever seen.What a waste.
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Never seen one here in South Carolina but seems everyone but me has. Those black panthers science says don't exist seem to be all over the state also though I've never seen one either. Wildlife people say black panthers usually can be found hanging out with bigfeet!
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Last Saturday a man hunting the same my I'm hunting had one close and hissing. I personally have never seen one.
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We had the dnr denying they were here too, until it became too obvious. We have an invisible one in our hunting area, problem is I have found two more piles of sort of buried cougar poop with tracks this time. He obviously caught himself a deer this time, I was told the ones that were killed were eating raccoons and ferrule cats. I do not think it is as big as the one from Montana that was shown, but he has plenty big enough feet as far as I can tell. I hope that he stays invisible.
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I saw one about 20 years ago in southern Arkansas, we had heard them at night but that was the first and only one I have ever seen, it was stalking a deer, I was ground hunting and a couple does had passed at 50 yards or so, and it came behind them 5 minuites or so later, I was hesitant to tell anyone knowing they wouldn't believe me... my hunting partner saw one in NW Missouri a couple years ago, after we had seen its scat earlier in the hunt
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Originally posted by SteveB:
Sightings are notoriously unreliable - and we seem to have more of them in the NE than in states out west where they hunt them.
Also heard of dozens if not hundreds of alleged picture's. No one has ever posted one that didn't turn out to be an internet picture claimed to be from every state in the country.
With the exception of this one, at least: Connecticut mountain lion crossed US before death (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14303496)
More: Genetic Testing Reveals Mountain Lion Killed in Milford Originated in South Dakota: Traveled to Conn. through Wis. And Minn. (http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?Q=483778)
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That one had something none of the rest ever do - scat, tracks, dna, AND A BODY.
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I have bumped into 3 whlle hunting out west. 1 in Wyoming and 2 in Colorado . Spooky but I was really impressed at the sight of them. I was slowly picking my way downhill around Lake City Co. when the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I had that " something's not right feeling" when I saw it crouched about 30 yds away . When the cat realized I had seen it it leaped over a large boulder and was gone. The other 2 were not that exciting and from a greater distance.
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Had a pair check I and my buddies camp last winter. Talk about some excitement. Out here they have not been hunted in decades and they are not afraid of people.
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I drove past one in W.Va about 25 years ago. My passenger and I did a double take, stopped and it crossed the road behind the car. Amazing animal.
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I've seen three, but only one while hunting, at a distance in Colorado. The other two were in the East, where they're not supposed to be. One was on the MS/AL line and the other was in SC, roadside sightings that were unquestionable.
I'm convinced that most sightings of "black panthers" are house cats. It's really easy to misjudge the size of any animal when there is nothing else to give it size reference. The only black panthers recorded in the past were black-phase jaguars, which originally ranged all the way into the southeastern states along the coast.
A couple of years ago a tradgang regular posted pictures of a "cougar" in AL which was obviously a big yellow male house cat, but the pics were very convincing to many people.
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Years back the Doon Iowa newspaper editor was insisting that there was a mountain lion along the Rock River. Some would ride out to where he said he saw it. Some of them saw a farm cat that thought it was the cougar, others saw a farm cat and thought it was a farm cat. A few of times he printed pictures in his newspaper. Looking at the bad photos some saw a cougar and others saw a farm cat. Then one day he got good photos at a known location, then the response was 'holy cow look at that mountain lion.' The December kill was just a few miles from that spot, although I am fairly certain that it was a completely different cougar, at best an off spring of the original.
Mt. lion killed in Northwest Iowa
Posted: Dec 07, 2013 10:38 PM CST
A Department of Natural Resources officer and another man killed a mountain lion in northwest Iowa after determining it was a threat to people.
The DNR says a hunter spotted the mountain lion Thursday while checking a trail camera near Rock Valley. The cat was about 40 yards away and didn't move, so the hunter backed away.
He returned with a neighbor and found the animal, which walked away from a buck it had killed.
The men called DNR conservation officer John Sells, who checked the area Friday afternoon.
While searching, one man nearly stepped on the mountain lion, causing it to move. The DNR officer and another man shot and killed it.
Sells says it was necessary to kill the animal because it was near houses with children.
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I solo hunted the Big Bear area of So Cal about 20 yrs ago and cought a quick look a few times whle sneaking and peeking through the back canyons.........usually as they were exiting the far side.............
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I've never seen one, but noticed that they are listed in the Illinois DNR hunting and trapping regs this year. It says that they are not legal to shoot in Illinois.
Some friends with large farms claim that they saw one on their property a few years ago near Leaf River, Illinois.
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This was a big thing here in Pa. a few years ago, up in the Sullivan Co. Forksville area in particular. Lots of reported sightings but not much in the way of photos to back it up. There was actually an individual offering a cash reward for any physical proof of a Pa Mountain Lion. I have not heard much about it lately.
Good Shooting,
Craig
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I have heard of several reliable folks who claim to have seen them in TN, including one not too far from the MS/AL area mentioned. We have also had reports on the news, and I kept a newspapre article from 10+ years ago where the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency got a plaster cast of a mtn lion tract from Marion Co, on the AL border. A few years ago they found a small dead mtn lion in KY, and did DNA on it and determined that it was from South America. The guess was that it was an illegal "pet" that was released. Also, I have heard that the black panther sitings may be river otters. I have seen one running through the woods between two creeks and can understand the confusion. A wet otter is big and nearly black, especially on his hinds, and he runs with a loping motion and his big round butt is the most prominent feature. Baby got back, as they say . . . Hugh
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Our archery range was re-opened yesterday following the cat incident earlier in the week (post on pg 2). The little boy is out of the hospital and doing fine. DNR shot the cat and it was dna'd to be THE one.
The cat was shot and not tranquilized as it was deemed to be aggressive-it followed the guys carrying the boy to the edge of the parking lot. We have had lions in trees in subdivisions, school yards, hiking trails; and I still have not seen one!
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My hunting buddy saw one here in PA a couple years ago in the Allegheny Natl Forest. It came out of the woods on the left side of the road. Walked across the road in front of him about 60 ydas away. And jumped the small bank and walked into some crab apple trees. He said with the tail it almost took up half the road.
Ive been hunting with this guy for over 30 years. I believe him.
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This one.
http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000099
One more a few years ago while Moose hunting further north.
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About 15 years ago I was hunting hogs/javelina on a ranch down by Freer, Texas. Still hunting around I went to check on a waterhole I thought they might be using. Came up over a bank next tom it and there was a mountain lion drinking at the water's edge. I remember thinking "I wish I had my camera" while easing toward it. It left the water and went behind a bush. When it came out it was running and I put an arrow just under its chest.
Yes it was/is legal there. I would just have had to borrow $$$ to pay the trophy fee to the ranch.
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I used to hunt a farm in southern Indiana. One time I was talking to the farmer about deer and other wildlife. He told me that one time he was returning to his house after dark, after harvesting soy beans late into the evening. He stated he saw a mountain lion cross the road right in front of his combine at fairly close-range. He said the lion was well lit by the machines' lights, and he got a good long look at it. He said there was no doubt as to what it was. He said he never notified or bothered to tell anyone about it because he figured no one would believe him. I believed him and still do.
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I watched one from my treestand in Ripley County for a couple minutes on10/17/07. I almost hit another one in Ohio County with my truck 12/24/09.