Deer Taken Away By Mountain Lion In Southern Missouri

[boznarras]

Cougars get around, that's for sure.
We are told that we don't have cougars here on our islands in SE Alaska.
About 15 years ago children at the elementary school reported seeing an animal with a long tail. Just kids, what do they know?
Then a short time afterwards, a man living away from town shot a cougar, which he brought in to town and put on the bartop at one of the local watering holes. He was charged and convicted with shooting a cougar out of season. (Remember, we don't have cougars here, so there is no season for hunting them.)
The cougar was confiscated and after use as evidence, was done up in a full body mount and is now on display as the mascot for the middle school Cougars sports teams.
We still don't have cougars here, but others have been seen, caught in a trap, and photographed. Go figure. Maybe your cougar does not exist either.

[wapiti792]

Steadman makes a point about that bobcat. The biggest bobcat I have ever seen was standing under my stand here in IL this year. It was absolutely a giant, and I think it could have easily killed a deer. I just found one dead on the road that weighed 43 pounds, was long-legged, and really healthy. The DNR told me I couldn't legally keep it so I put it back in the ditch I found it after a post-mortum: this thing loved rabbits but I doubt it would turn it's nose up at a free bow-killed deer or a healthy yearling.

[Hookeye]

About ten yrs ago, north central IN, I got outta my Jeep with my Blackwidow for an afternoon bowhunt and the ranch hand of the farm I was hunting ran up to me rather nervous..........asked me to NOT shoot the cougar he saw that morning.

It was from a private zoo a couple of miles away, had gotten loose, was defanged and declawed and was scavenging for food (actually ran from barn, was in there eating regular cat food when the ranch guy showed up for work).

So when I hear of cougar stories I always wonder.........

Is it a lost pet?
Is it one somebody had illegally and just dumped?
Is it a game agency plant?
Is it a wild one that wandered into the area?

i used to date a girl that had one for a pet, he would come in the living room through the window, wow! i was nervous, she said just dont move real fast or freakout, he came in walked around the couch and back out the window, he got loose a couple of times and people would report sightings of him acasionly, i wonder what ever happened to him and her....ah- memories  

[Huntschool]

Frequency is based on home range.  Lions can range as much as 500 sq miles in areas where food is a bit hard to come by.

The cat sightings near Vienna are likely true.  I have seen two in my almost 40 years in the area.  This was close up and personal.  I am a wildlife guy so, for me at least, there was no guessing...  Lion!!!  nuff said.

[Hermon]

I guess that I will chime in.  I am not saying that they are not around here (eastern Kansas), but with all of the trail cameras that are out around here nobody has a picture of one that I know of.  We have a LOT of cattle around here and I would think that calves would be easy pickins for a cougar.  No problems in that area.  It is my PERSONAL OPINION that if there is one in my area that it would be either a pet that was released or escaped, or a wild one that got a "wild hair" to find a new territory.  There was a Moose sighted in Missouri one time, but I would not say that they were common. Just my two cents.

[Blacktail101]

Well i think we have some in California lol if there is they told us if you look at them to long the Fish and Game will give you a ticket they are well protected around here but i would put up a camera and find out for sure and tell no one and decide what to do with it

[kennym]

50 years ago,we had no deer here, they are thick in places now,reckon any hungry cats needin new territory would follow a food source?

Let me see, in the last few years,

trail cam pic at Chillicothe
road kill at platte city
coon hunter kill at carrolton about 1/1/ 2011

MDC said 12 confirmed lions in MO (by memory)

Couple killed in Iowa

Think one killed in NE a couple years ago


Naah , there probably aren't any here.........    

PS, I STILL haven't seen one!

[shadman]

I've seen black bear bury a deer in the manner that you are describing.In fact I've seen it twice here in MN and we saw the bear at the site! Both times just the head or antlers were showing.

[Eric Sprick]

Here is a link to a story from a couple of years ago mentioning my uncle's farm and surrounding area in central Missouri.
 http://www.emissourian.com/news/top_stories/article_8ffad98a-9bf0-5bb4-b677-c85695147d14.html

I believe there is a small population in Missouri.
About 20 years ago my Dad and I were driving out to my uncle's farm at night when about 100 yards in front of the car an animal darted across the road.  My Dad and I just looked at each other because we both knew what we saw and it was not a bobcat, coyote etc.
Pretty interesting stuff for around here.

Eric.

[1oldbowguy]

 What ever you do, don't tell the Arkansas Game and Fish that you saw a BIG CAT    .  They will tell you there are NO mountain lions in the state, but then will tell you that some have escaped from cages and may, and I state MAY be out and about.  NUTS, I have seen a couple and know of others who have also.  As large as the state is and with all the mountains, I am sure there are some out there, maybe not a lot but some for sure.  

[JimB]

I may have to change my tune.I didn't realize the deer had been drug or the liver eaten.I can't imagine a bobcat busting into the rib cage enough to get the liver.It is common for predators and scavengers,even bears to start eating at an opening like a wound.

I'm not sure now but I still would have put a trail camera on it.All conjecture and eculation would be gone in 24 hours.

[HugeBull]

Very intriguing, guys, and believeable.  

The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency published an article in their magazine stating clearly that there are no mountain lions or cougars in TN.  However the guy that wrote the article apparently didn't read the newspaper article which I cut and saved in which a TWRA agent posed with a plaster cast of a mountain lion track from Marion Co., TN!  

There has been a lot of talk about them near Chattanooga, and I know folks who say that they have seen them in our area.  One story from a forester was more reliable than the other (the panther was in a city park . . .).  

Like someone else noted, the cats might not be "wild."  A cat found dead on the side of a road in eastern KY was found to be genetically linked to South American cats, not US.  

Sometimes, however, the agency guys can be pretty dull-headed too, take FL.  The game agency kept telling all the folks who reported panthers that there were none.  Then, to prove the poor stupid people wrong, they hired a guide with dogs, I think from ID, and oops, he treed a cat.  The first cat was so in-bred that it had malformed "male parts."  The agency simply refused to beleive the eyewitnesses and damn near lost the remnant population of Florida panthers all together.  

So, I may not always believe the "party line" from the state agency, but I am not likley to believe my buddy who saw bigfoot in Cumberland County, TN (really, no kidding) either.  

Hugh Bullock
Signal Mountain, TN

[C Kerley]

Darren I guess since this post started you've seen the lion that was just killed somewhere between S'field and KC?  It was in the S'field Newsleader a few days ago.

A friend/co-worker of mine filmed a HUGE black bear under his stand a few weeks ago by Seymour, MO.  It had tags in it's ears and MDC told him it was a sow they were monitoring.  Another friend has gotten blackies on trailcams by Ava for several years now.

[C Kerley]

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20110104/NEWS01/101040332/Mountain-lion-shot-killed-in-K-C-area

[C Kerley]

I can't say I know if either a bear or lion took that deer, but it's pretty hard to deny they exist in MO with these vidoes!  I'm not sure exactly, but this is about 10 miles from my house.  

 

[RUSTY1]

I grew up in eastern Ia. When we were living in Sherrill we shared a gravel drive with a meat processor. My mom and I saw a mt. lion coming home one night at the end of the drive next to the neighbor's side door where the animals are brought into his shop. She told my step dad about it. He gave us hell for about a week on that one. That's ok. We know what we saw!

[Bonebuster]

Some people live in lion country with lots of lions...and they NEVER see one. This makes it easy for me to believe that a low number of lions can remain unseen for YEARS!

[wapitimike1]

I seen Bobcats cover there kills in CT. Small deer and fawns just like the pics. Not to say that's from a bobcat. I remember reading in North American Hunter awhile back (5-8yrs) a Lion was hit and killed by a car in southern Iowa. There most likely spreading around. With the deer numbers you folks have out there don't surprise me.

[3Bears]

I have had the same expreience with a bobcat here in Alabama.Shot a doe and found her the next morning with hind quarters gone and covered with pinestraw and dirt.Set two #2 victors and Mr. kitty was waiting on me the next morning.