In recent times there seems to be quite a few mountain lion sightings, mainly in the midwest and east. My impression was that they were pretty well limited to the Rockies and west of there. I know there's a small residual cougar population in the Florida lowlands. It seems more logical to me that instead of travelling 2000 miles east or north that they were always there, but the numbers were so small they were rarely sighted. You hear of the odd sighting, but State agencies invariably refuse to confirm it. Maybe it's bad for tourism! What do you think? Where are they coming from or are a lot of people hallucinating? Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I saw a mountain lion near Bennington, VT while deer hunting about 1957. I was walking uphill along an old stone fence in the forest and I spotted a cougar walking along on the other side of the wall only about 40 yds away. Just as I raised my rifle it went out of sight behind a very large tree that was close to me. I never saw it again.

There was no closed season on them, or as many rules at all for that matter.

Today I would have shot faster. On the other hand I walk slower.

About 40 years ago, in north-central Missouri, myself and 8 other morel mushroom hunters saw a black variation cougar, running off into a dozer pile. As I was about 6 at the time, and so were my 4 cousins, we were hustled into the car and the grownups investigated. Tracks were definitely there, so it wasn't our imagination. Since then, several other sightings in that area have been reported amongst the neighbors. No one has been able to get a good look, to tell the truth, they are pretty flighty.

Hi , I'm new to the forum and live in central Missouri at Lake of the Ozarks.Just this last year a mountain lion was killed by a car on US 54 near Fulton ,which is just a little north of Jefferson city. This was confermed by the conservation dept. The cat was believed to be between 2 and 3 years of age, wild and very healthy.I also know of several people ,whom I know and trust, tell me that they've seen cougars in the 7,000 acre Leadmine Conservation area. Several of these cats were of the black type.I think Missouri has enough large tracts of rugged timber that cats could survive quite well and never be seen.

I saw my first couger in the wild about 45 years ago in east Tennessee,my most recent sighting was about 6 years ago here on my farm in middle Tennessee.A friend saw one run across the road about 10 miles southwest of my place last week.

I lived in SW Florida for 21 years,during that time I saw 6 panthers.Three of those were kittens playing in the median strip of I-75 south of Fort Myers Florida,which caused a mile long traffic jam in both north and southbound lanes.

We also have red wolves in Tennessee and N.Carolina.

WC

When I left Tenn about 20 yrs ago, the DNR had "fessed up that there was a viable population of cougars in Tenn. Just too many sightings had occurred to continue blowing them off. There are supposed to be cougars in WV also but I doubt it. Too many trigger happy locals.

Last year there was a couple of cougars in downtown Omaha! They caught one, and think it was someones pet that got away, but the other was caputred.

My parents have seen them outside a local cattle farm a few times. Dad keeps wanting to get out the old 30-30 and pop one, and Mom just wants him to get the h#@$l out of the way!

The topic of mountain lions came up at the local gunshop this week. Some there have seen them recently in the corner of NY, CT and MA. Both adult lions and cubs have been spotted.

It was pointed out that although the Cougar is not mentioned in the CT hunting regs that the "eastern cougar" is a federally protected species. I have not confirmed that statement but you know how laws are today.

There is a videotape around of a medium size cat that was seen in Garrett County, Maryland about 15 or 20 years back. I don't know if it ever made digital media, it was on TV though. Walking a snowy fenceline in a wooded bottom, IIRC.



That area is relatively mountainous, with elevations up to 3,200 ft and a lot of steep stuff, 500 ft drops in 100 horizontal feet, etc.. Big chunks of thick woods, rockslides. Joins mountains in adjacent WV and PA. Plenty of deer, groundhogs, small game around most years.



I (and everyone else around) would say it was an escapee or otherwise transient. Weather can be really bad in micro-climates and could have moved him. I've seen black bears and bobcats there, both relatively rare, but never a cougar.

NJ and WV have introduced them.VT says they have them.NY PA refuse to admit it though I've talked to reliable people in both those states who have seen them. You might do a search on eastern cougar research.

There have been numerous cougar sightings in Michigans Upper Peninsula as well as the northern lower peninsula. Our DNR still denies there existance, even though a researcher confirmed cougar DNA found in a scat sample from this state.
Fordfreak

Back about 1985, and friend and I were camping on an island
on a Flambeau Flowage(near Mercer Wis), and one evening,
we had a couger scream just across the narrows, on another
island. My dog's hair went up, and my friend and I reached
for our pistols(grin). Having spent some time in the
Colorado high country, I know a cougar scream when I hear
one. In the morning, we went to the island across the
narrows, and looked for sign. We found plenty of fresh
cougar prints in the sand, and found the point where the
cougar swam off the island. The DNR refuses to admit
there are cougars in Wisconsin, and when one is caught
on film, it is explained away as one that was raised
as a pet, and released into the wild. There are
a significant number of cougar sightings, in Wisconsin,
so there must be one hell of a lot of cougars being
kept as pets, and then being released(grin).

Squeeze

Vermont always had them. Legend has it that a cougar jumped Ethan Allen who was a Revolutionary War hero. The story is that he had borrowed a large soap making kettle with spikes for legs and was carrying it over his head when the catamount landed on a leg when it jumped on him from a tree.



www.catamounttrail.org

Hello eshell,

The black bear has only popped up again in Maryland in recent years. I spent my youth there, and the black bear was pretty much gone by the 1930's. I guess these are largely ones that have moved in from Pa. and WVa. I'm told they are fairly numerous now. When I opened this thread I failed to mention that many of the cougar sightings in the south and midwest have been black ones or what we commonly call panthers. I find that most interesting. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

I don't think I have ever repeated this story. But my Uncle who was a local farmer, told me on many occassions he saw a panther on his farm. Usually around the barns that were a mile or so from his house. I usually just smiled and listened as he would describe the cat. He said it was big..over 100 pounds. Always carried his model 12-16 guage on his tractor. He is gone now, but after reading some of these posts I am believing that he may have seen a dark cougar...go figure... too much activity around the barn to find tracks. Tractors and so forth.

I live in Southwest Ohio, so now you know why it was kind of hard to believe....

In the current issue of Countryside magazine, a couple by the name of Ken and Barbara Davison wrote a short article about how a Mountain Lion killed the wife's sister and about how fish and game covered it up. They were told no matter what they said, the report would read as a dog attack. This same F&G dept. refuses to give them a permit to deal with the problem because the cougar "doesn't exist", yet they also told them that there is a $1000 USD fine if they get caught killing this same non existant cat! All this takes place in the Ozarks in Arkansas. Sorry guys, the article is not available online, but it did list a url on cougar attacks.



Toolmaker



http://users.frii.com/mytymyk/lions/attacks.htm

ToolMaker - That article is a great read. My confidence in Government dropped a couple of more notches!! Over the years, various articles have appeared in the PA Game News about cougar and panther sightings in PA. Lately I have not heard to much. A few years ago, my son and I were deer hunting in a very rugged part of Garret County, Western Maryland, and we observed, with our scopes, a wolverine crossing a near(125yds), open mountainside for a good minute. No one believes that either, but ID was 100% positive in our minds. First live one I ever saw but have seen many mounts and pictures. That sure made our day!!!

There are wolverine in my area but not many. I've never seen one but can imagine your awe at spotting one in Garrett Co. I used to hunt there when I lived in Maryland.
My big thrill was being on a rocky ridge waiting for a moose to appear in Ontario when a pack of wolves (probably seeking the same moose) went through, about 50 yards from me. There were 8 in the pack. Surprisingly enough, at least to me, was that the predominant color was black on most, brown on a few and grey on none of them! I had always associated gray with the primary color of wolves. I guess you never can tell. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

That aint nothin. I live and hunt in southern alabama and one of my scout cams has a pic with 3 yes 3 panthers. I took it to the local biologist to confirm and sure enough. I also have sited several cougers in a 100 miles radius around my home town