Lions and tigers and bears, or at least the first and the third

[Maven]

Just got a call from our property manager (I live in a town home in a small city in Ulster Co., N.Y.) that a bear and a mountain lion have recently been sighted in the development and residents should exercise caution when out and about. Bears are in the area, as there are lots of cornfields nearby, but this has got to be a first. Mountain lions are rarely seen, but not unknown as I saw one not 100 yd. from my door while out walking 14 yrs. ago. Deer we have; ditto turkeys and an occasional fox, but lions and bears, oh my!

 

[S Mac]

Funny that this should come up, last Sat I was walking to my tree stand for an afternoon bow hunt and there were tracks of a grown lion and her cub, plain as day. several hundred yards worth. Not unheard of but sort of rare for my locale.Make you think about roaming around in the dark. SW MO.

 

[JWFilips]

Well that's a good one! Here in NEPA we are not allowed to say "Mountain Lion" We get corrected by our Game Commission that it was just a large Bob cat! ( Yeah with a tail as long as it's body!)
They too stand on the premise that there has never been a black bear attack here in Pennsylvania ( Guess they never read "30 years a Hunter" by Tome nor saw the regional news over the past 20 years!

 

[Ben]

Jim,

This one doesn't look much like a " Big Bob Cat " to me either.

 

[Rally Hess]

Tough nowadays for the G&F to lie when everyone has trail cameras. We had a camper attacked by a wolf last summer, just 22 miles NW of my place. No such thing as a stray dog here, the wolves eat them as soon as they get in the woods.

 

[freebullet]

We had a mountain lion try to go to the hospital in the city here, the cops shot it. It's unclear if it was trying to seek treatment prior to being shot.

Our g&p tried the head in sand "no cougars here" for years. They still claim giant bobcats abound and they do but, a cougars a cougar.

 

[35 shooter]

Well that's a good one! Here in NEPA we are not allowed to say "Mountain Lion" We get corrected by our Game Commission that it was just a large Bob cat! ( Yeah with a tail as long as it's body!)
They too stand on the premise that there has never been a black bear attack here in Pennsylvania ( Guess they never read "30 years a Hunter" by Tome nor saw the regional news over the past 20 years!

JW we've been told the same thing here since i was in high school despite repeated sightings over the years. I live in town now, but when i was living in the country not far from here, i personally saw three of those long tailed bobcats lol.

No black bear here either, except i guess for the 400 pounder that got run over on a river bridge years back(guess he was just passing through?). Didn't do the guy in the truck that hit him much good either!
I did hear years ago they turned some loose in north MS. to maybe have a huntable population one day.


We don't have Red Wolves here either, just coyotes, according to fish and game, unless they have changed that story lately.
The little wolves have been migrating from the Florida Everglades for years.
They're usually brindle colored and have a distinctive shorter and more cat like ear than coyote.
Of course they do admit we have coyote, of which we have tons of.

 

[Pistolero]

FL denied any "Florida panthers" for decades. Finally, someone dropped a car-killed dead one at their
place. "Escaped pet" was the conclusion. By about the 3rd or 4th one, they allowed as how there MIGHT
be a VERY SMALL breeding population deep in the Everglades......... Since then, they are well established
as ranging much of Fla.

Wife and I saw one here in east KS about 15-20 yrs ago. KS Fish and Game says it is not possible because
they are not here. Cat as tall as the guardrail to shoulders, tail about 2/3 of body length, tan overall -- must
be a German shepherd or a bobcat....... Right. Not sure why F&G depts. are so dead set on denying it when
the tracks and sightings are clear.

The game camera shots are pretty hard to deny, too. LOL!

Watched a lynx from 25 yds with 8X binocs for about 5 minutes one snowy morning
hunting mulies in SW Wyoming. F&G says no lynx in Wyoming. Biggest bobcat I ever
saw with the yellowest fur and 1.5" black ear tufts, pink eraser nose and yellow eyes.
Like no bobcat I ever saw. I must be blind, because F&G knows everything.

 

[Rick]

It is strange that F&G all over the country deny the existence of cougar with signs of them including photos from all over for decades. It's a conspiracy I tell ya, a conspiracy.

 

[KHornet]

Like Freebullet says! Believe that there have been 5-6 cougars shot, or darted for zoo, or hit by a car within the Omaha area and within an 8-10 mile area surrounding the city in the last 5-6 years.. Has also been a couple of sightings with the same area of females with cubs. There is no mistaking a cougar for a bob cat or lynx, they don't look anything alike.

 

[RBHarter]

NDOW brags on every critter claimed to have been seen in the state . Javalena (sp) is probably the exception.
We are in our 3rd season of Bear seasons . They aren't able to make an absolute count on the mountain lions but we now have an open season by tag and quota count . The rules are simple you can't knowingly take a female with kits or 1 with spots, that's it .
About 70 miles from me they had at least 3 all but in the city limits last spring . 140 road miles north in Reno the lion pursuits became so common they weren't news any more . Those ran the list from seeing them snatch resident honkers to "I flipped on the garage light and there was a mountain lion on my hood".

Hard winters and people exposure will make them seen more often. We have jaguars back in AZ and NM maybe Tx .

 

[Rally Hess]

It is not unusual for lions to travel hundreds of miles during winter migrations, mainly following food sources. There have been studies done on lions that anually migrate from SD to NC Mn and winter in the deer yards. If the cats are yearlings or kittens they were born where they're seen or fairly close.
There are also documented cases of Timberwolves that have traveled many hundreds of miles and some returned to where they were first collared. One documented female wolf, traveled from NC Mn. to Lacrosse, Wi and back in about a 7 month period of time.
A friend and customer of mine, is doing a urban coyote study in Chicago area. He caught a coyote in Busse Woods, a forrest preserve on the west edge of Ohare airport, that after being caught and collored, was killed 5 weeks later by a hunter near Desmoine, Iowa. Part of this study has been published if you are interested in reading about how adaptable the urban coyote has become.
The Mn. DNR claims there are 27 know black bears living inside the city limits of Duluth, Mn.

 

[Bret4207]

They told us we were crazy when we reported turkeys in the Adirondacks. They told us we we're crazy when we reported moose. They told us we were crazy when we reported Bald Eagles. They told us we were crazy when we reported cougar in NY. They told us we were crazy when we reported seeing black bear in the St Lawrence valley. They called us liars when we reported coyote over 60 lbs that hunted in packs like wolves.The only thing someone in my family has reported seeing that we haven't let public yet is a wolverine sighting years back. I'm afraid DEC will tell us we don't have those too and we'll be awash in them in no time!

I was doing some yard work one day when a big van with a college sign on the side stopped in front of my home. A bunch of kids and an older gent got out and were getting ready to start a hike or something. Being as it was private property along both sides of the road for miles, I wandered over and inquired as to their intentions. The older guy, their Professor, allowed that they were about to start scouting for Ruffed Grouse sign in the area. I mentioned having heard several grouse drumming just the morning. The kids all started snickering and the Professor gave me that, "you poor, uneducated fool" look, complete with the shake of the head, and told me win no uncertain terms that grouse did not drum at that time of the year. Right about then a grouse started drumming just past the tree line. I asked the Prof, if he wanted me to go tell the "partridge" that he wasn't supposed to be doing that.

They packed up and left without a word.

 

[KHornet]

It becomes obvious that some animals adapt better than some humans. Hard to believe, but I saw a big gobbler in full strut near down town about 5 days ago. Also about 5-6 years ago I started seeing woodchucks along the interstate 80, within the city limits. Never saw chucks before that time in this part of the country.