Deer Taken Away By Mountain Lion In Southern Missouri

[Friend]

Great story and pics! Thanks for sharing.

In NW Iowa we were told there were no mountain lions.  Hard to explain the two that were shot by a farmer by Ireton, the one hit by a car In the Loess Hills, the one in a country grave yard a half mile from where we were hunting and the one that followed one our hunting party to with in twenty yards.  She was making a doe in heat scent trail to her blind, the lion was following the scent.  I found buried turkey feathers, covered fawn carcasses under the junipers nearby and saw some impressive claw marks go up a dirt bluff, twenty yards from where I was told she stood her ground against the lion.  We have not heard of any in the area for a few years, however, we do have a moose now.

[J-dog]

Jim you think a bobcat could eat so much in one evening? I doubt it. I have never seen a lion kill so no experience there. Beaver carcasses I have left in the woods and babcats have gotten have not had that much eaten off them? Seen a black bear cover a dead deer up once and lost a doe to a black bear, found later and was coveed similar but damaged much worse.

Tracks tell the tale.

Jason

[John Scifres]

For sure it could be a mountian lion.  We have had a spate of sightings here in Indiana this year and DNR actually got trail cam photos of one:   http://www.theindychannel.com/news/25142280/detail.html

Remeber the lion in suburban Chicago a couple years ago.

[bondo]

I would have to agree with JimB and Trapper. I live in the Ozarks myself, and earlier this season I made a good shot on a doe with my longbow. It fell less than 50 yards out of my sight. I waited an hour and trailed it up. I almost steeped on the deer before I saw it. It was totally covered up in leaves. And I mean totally. It had fallen right at the edge of a clearing and had at least 6 inches of leaves on it with only one leg sticking out.I have been hunting this area for 25 years, and while I have heard of stories of big cats in the area, I have yet to see one. I have, however, seen many bobcats. Had an old trapper tell me once that the way he trapped for bobcats was to put out a deer carcass, and wait for a bobcat to cover it up before he set traps for it. Also lost one deer a few years ago to a bear. You could see where it had set down and ate a big part of the deer. skin, ribs, bigger bones, guts and all.

[highpoint forge]

All the mountain lions work for Al Quaida.......arm yourself! It's an invasion!

Man if I had a buck for every "mountain lions living in the place they are not supposed to be, cover up by the state" story I'd be far richer.  Why don't you take a kill and have them analyzed (bite marks, cat DNA in saliva, claw marks) rather than get all freaked out?

Every East TX bubba has three of them living in his yard or across the road.

Just sayin'. Not tryin' to offend anyone. By the way I happen to have a thing for mountain lions and bobcats.

[wycomtman]

Interesting story, funny thing is...my father had the same experience here in souther WV a few years back in an area with a pretty high population of Black Bear.  I've never done any research to see if Black Bears will cover their food but that is what we always suspected done it.

[Earl E. Nov...mber]

Not too late for a camera,, The culprit is still likely to come back looking for it.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

We do have both here in Missouri. I've seen articles where the MDC admits there is a small population of lions and now bears. They denied the existence of big cats for years, but then had to change their stance when a farmer had one on his place with a fresh deer kill. The agent and farmer both saw the big cat pick the deer up and carry it off.
I just recently read another article in Fur Fish Game magazine where the MDC also recognized the fact that we have bears in the southern part of the state, they said it was probably a trickle over from Arkansas where they were re-introduced in the late 60's.
A co-worker of mine showed me trail cam pics of a bear he had at a feeder in south east Mo. near Piedmont. He said it had turned the feeder over 3 times already and they had to drive steel posts in the ground and chain the feeder down to keep it upright.

Missouri even has a hotline number to report mountain lion and bear sightings. If they didn't agree they were here, why would they offer a phone number to report sightings?

Both are protected and killing one will land you in jail.

There is a possibility that someday Missouri will have a bear season, but don't count on it.
Mountain lions will likely never be legal to hunt and kill in Missouri.
With that said, a man has the right to protect himself from either one.

My brother had the exact same thing happen to a doe he shot a few years ago. He left it till morning and found it drug some 60 yards away from it's death bed, fully covered with leaves partially eaten.
I've seen big cats, my dad and brother have seen big cats, and 2 of my friends have seen big cats. All in mid/north east Missouri.
If/when you ever see one there will be no doubt in your mind what it is. They look absolutely nothing like any other creature you have ever seen or are used to seeing in the state of Missouri. The 2 sightings I had, I knew immediately it was a big cat and the first thing that stuck out in my mind was the sheer size of it and that un-mistakeable long tail. The way they move is nothing like a coyote or a deer, much more like a bobcat except 10 times bigger and longer tail.

Sorry for the long response, but every word of what I just wrote is the honest truth.

All of us that have had big cat sightings are experienced trappers/hunters and outdoorsmen. I have personally caught 4 bobcats myself and have watched them from a tree stand many times, I know the difference between a bobcat and a mt. lion when I see one.

[kennym]

These are from several years back, when we had "NO" lions in MO.

You make the call...  :cool:  

Start of attack, looked like it ate some innards and started toward brush with it...

 

The blood trail,about 30 yds,to out of site of road..

 

What was left....

 

Bite mark in back,little big for bobcat I thought. Sorry for crappy pics,my digital cam was crappy..

 

Button buck,bit in the spine on back,top teeth 2 3/8 c to c,then bitten on throat and bite position shifted once.

I found it one morning in Feb,was really frosty,no tracks about. Ate a lot of meat,you call it.    

Sorry Darren ,not tryin to hijack!

[K.S.TRAPPER]

I wish more people were like you Kenny and took picks of the findings    

As a animal control agent here in Kansas I have taken hundreds of calls over the years of Mountain lion sightings. You can not go anywhere in this state especially my town and around it in a public place and say the word mountain lion without ten people coming up and saying I saw one. 99% of those sightings are in the broad daylight too.

I have responded to calls immediately after the sightings with the news papers there and all. I would say 95% of all calls were proven to be a dog/coyote tracks, 3% bobcat and 2% unknown. I have made bait stations with trail cams and used call lures, predator calls you name it I've used it.

We run trail cams almost year round anyway so I figure one of these years I might get one on film but not yet. To be honest I hope they move on through or stay away they are one of the most efficient and awesome predators out there and can pull down a elk and kill it. Do you really want one a 100 yds from your house I don't.

It is a proven fact that they are in Kansas,Neb,Mo,OK I'm surprised at the response that some of you don't know this. There's always a article somewhere popping up about them. Yes there are bears in southern MO. and have been for years.

Right now fur bearers are paired up for breeding season and in groups too. That might account for extra meat eaten or coyotes got to it then left it then the lion,bobcat,bear or what ever came along and had there fill.you will never know with out some kind of prof

Not trying to step on anybodys toes either just make sure to get some good prof and pictures to go with it like Kenny's. Somebody else said it already but now is a good time for a trail cam and I hope you get the pictures you are looking for and I look forward to seeing them. Really    :D  

Tracy

sasquatch?....  

[kennym]

My find there was still warm when I found it,figured I bushed the critter off,but didn't see it and was no tracks I could tell. So next guess was killed middle of night and maybe left before frost towards daylite??


FWIW- I spend a lot of time out,and have never seen a lion. I did see 8 bobcats for sure last year, and a couple unconfirmed (just wasn't sure)

Thought I saw a bear once at 4 AM on the way to work, but hell it was a late nite or an early morning, the guy with me was already asleep 1/2 mile from my house , so no witnesses.....

 

[Bob B.]

Well, Here in SW Wisconsin, the DNR dennies any mountian lion population.  However, a few miles from my house a man took a picture of a deer up in a tree half eaten.  We both doubt it was coyotes.

Many years ago a farmer watched a young lion chase his heifers through his new fences 2 days in a row.  He called the DNR to get the lion trapped and outta there.  The DNR relied, there are no cougars in SW Wisconsin.  On the third day, he called the WI DNR and said he was going to shoot the lion. The DNR said he could not shoot the lion as there was now lion season in WI. He told them since there are no lions in WI, he was not breaking any laws. The Lion was cought and removed with in the week.

[Looper]

It could be a cougar.  I'd be setting up a trail cam on that spot.

This sight has several documented sightings of cougars in Missouri:   http://www.cougarnet.org/centralmidwest.html

[dhaverstick]

Man, I didn't mean to stir up so much controversy! Here are a few of the reasons why we think it was a cougar that ate on the deer. Granted, we have no experience with these animals but....

1) My dad keeps hounds whose sole purpose in life is to run coyotes so I doubt any coyote is gonna get that close to the house. Besides, when the coyotes around our farm fall upon a deer carcass there usually ain't nothing left but the smell and that is faint.

2) I don't know what kind of bobcats you all have around but I have a hard time believing that a 30 pound cat is gonna drag a 150 pound doe under a log, eat 25 pounds worth of meat, and then bury the rest. I didn't mention it in my original post but Dad said you could see where the eater had torn into the body cavity where his arrow wound would have been and had consumed the liver.

3) This is anecdotal evidence only but...Three or four years ago my dad and his friend saw a cougar on the Pole Pile Ridge which is about 2 miles due east of our farm. There was a light snow on and Dad has a picture (poor quality) of a cool cup sitting inside one of the tracks. About 2 weeks after that, Dad saw a cougar in our lower field. This past November, there was a cougar spotted over in Texas County which is about 50 miles northwest of our farm. This cat was found on top of a deer a guy had shot during rifle season.

As far as the trailcam goes, yes, I wish Dad had left the carcass alone and had put a camera over it. However, you have to understand Father. He would rather hunt coyotes than breathe so when he's got some fresh chum for them he's gonna put it out in hopes of getting to burn some ammunition. That deer is now nothing more than little piles of coyote dung scattered about the farm.

[wapiti792]

After elk hunting in WY last year and watching a lion slink through the boulder field like an overgrown house cat I can honestly say I have seen nothing like that in my part of the world here in So. IL. I also log about 30 days a year in a tree here. This year alone I had 6 bow-range bobcat encounters. Funny thing, they moved just like that lion I saw in WY.

My neighbor called me a couple a weeks ago all fired up about seeing a lion. He, like alot of folks here, have seen several big cats. Since I am a bit of a "show me" person I asked if I could put up a couple of cams on his place. So far, lots of deer, 2 house cats, birds, a skunk, and the neighbors dog, but no big cat. I believe my neighbor saw something that he wasn't used to seeing, but until I get a photo or have one in my lap, I will be a skeptic.

I have no doubt those cats range through parts of the world that has not been part of their home range before. Perhaps I have missed the boat and missed seeing them. I have been to parts of MO and AR that looked like cat country for sure! Here in the heartland with small woodlots and big Ag fields I find it difficult to believe we have a sustainable group of lions. Coarse, I been wrong berfore, and I look forward to seeing one (on camera is fine)  

[waknstak IL]

I believe its possible they are in the midwest. I personally have never seen one. However my hunting partner called me about 830 one morning sounding kinda shocked and told me of the one he had seen. It had a young one with it. he said it was kinda pouncing on the little one and chasing it around. He saw them about 80 yards from his tree stand and said he watched them for about a half hour before they slipped off into thicker timber. This was 2 years ago down close to Vienna IL. He also had a deer partially eaten and covered with leaves the season before. That happened about 300 yards from the sighting.
I had heard of people seeing them but always kinda wrote it off as peoples imagination until then.

[steadman]

I am definitly not going to dispute anyones clain to see a lion, or where they are. But I have lived in UT and CO where there are a lot of cats, and have personally seen three without dogs and that's 3 more than most people I know. That's 25 or more years in the mountains chasing muledeer and elk. So for all these folks to see cats, there must be a lot of them in the midwest? Darren if your Dad keeps hounds and that cat was within 100yards, those dogs should have been going nuts as well. Lions hate dogs and dogs hate lions. Also go look for tracks between where the deer was found and where the last sighting of the doe was from your Dad. Yes they look the same as bobcats, but they have a size advantage, unless it was a small lion and a big bobcat. And a little food for thought, if a 150 lb lion can drag and elk (500 lbs) why couldn't a 50 Lb bobcat drag a doe (150 lbs). Seems possible to me. I would love to see some track pics with a size reference. Again I don't doubt what you are saying.

[TD2]

Its a fact that they are in the midwest. Confirmed sightings and pics here in Indiana