Big Cats in your neck of the woods?

Washington state also has a problem with more active cougars because they are no longer allowed to be run with dogs. The "citizens" can't understand that treeing the big cats teaches them respect for humans. NPR sometime ago had an interesting program about cougar attacks. An expert on them said a big part of the problem is that they are no longer afraid of dogs due to the prohibition of running them. His advice was to never go alone in cat country. Every person killed in the last 20 years by big cats has been alone. Those who survived had someone with them. I agree with not shooting them, but they should be run with dogs. We are also not allowed to use leg hold traps. If we have a cat or coyote problem it takes a long process with the wildlife folks to get permission to trap them. IN the meanwhile they can clean out your livestock.
In our area we have evidence of cougars, bears, coyotes (of course) bobcat, lynx and wolves. I lost a lot of chickens and ducks to a bobcat before I got electrified netting. A friend has seen wolves run deer through her woods. Way cool! They leave her goats and dogs alone. Since we have an over population of deer, livestock predation is not much of a problem.

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If angels existed, they'd probably be considered big game. (Don Swain)

Home schooling.........not just for scary religious people anymore. Buffy

I was driving on a two lane highway in western WY in a light snow once and saw a lion cross the road where it went over a hill about 200 yards ahead. He looked like a nice one. I've seen plenty of real lions, but I stopped to take a look at him. He was standing there in the sagebrush 20 yards off the road, a 15 pound tom housecat. With him skylined and no scale, he fooled me.

I jumped a large bobcat out of weeds 15 feet from me this morning. He trotted off without killing me.

immature lepards and some other spotted cas appear to be black when young .
finding an adult Black big cat is rather unlikely .
our resident kitty is a tawny brown.
I can not imagine someone mistaking a bob cat for a moutain lion but then some have no clue

Here in Doddridge county in WV about 15 miles from our house there has been both seen. I don't have pics but have seen pics of both cougar and black panther taken with a game camera within 50 ft of some ones house. There is very little difference in size of the two. Some of the tracks found are said to be 3 1/2 ins wide. A friend saw the cougar and took a shot at it but missed. I think they are protected here but when they kill deer that we eat I guess if I get the chance I will sss. Also we are not sosposed to have bear in our county but we have a hunting season for them. I think the big cats pose a threat to people whether they are hungry or not. I also carry a good weapon when in the woods, usually the 44mag. Stay safe and keep the eyes open. Sam

I've heard stories about black panthers around here. My neighbor, a preacher said he saw it. But ya know what... there has never been a documented kill of a black panther. Black jaguars have been killed and jagurundis. I think even some black bobcats. But no documentation of a black American cougar with pictures. I've researched it. I'm not saying it ain't so. If anyone has a link about black panthers being documented I would like to see it. Again, before I offend anyone else, I can find no concrete evidence for them. I would really like to see some.

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There is a lot of talk of pumas in the Ozarks. I do not believe there are any near where I live, but I know for certain that there are some in Eastern Arkansas as I have a friend there with a large flock of sheep and she, as well as many others in the area who raise goats, lose several to pumas on a regular basis. The Department of Conservation says that there is not a "breeding population" but that there might be a few isolated individuals here and there. Yeah, right. My friend had to get 14 LGD to protect her girls and she was fortunate that there were no kills this year. But her neighbors were not so lucky.

donsgal

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Life is what happens while you are making other plans. (John Lennon)

There have always been some cougars here but so few they're hardly ever seen. Until a few years ago when the MNR got the big idea to allow elk to be imported from Alberta and released, then the eggheads in Toronto got the idea they also needed a predator that could take down an elk so they brought in breeding pairs from New Brunswick and released them and the sightings went WAYYYY up. Now the higherups still say there are no cougars but the local conservation officers will tell you they've always been running in Eastern Ontario, Quebec and down into New Brunswick. I doubt they recognize the border with Vermont, NY or any other states either.

http://www.ontariopuma.ca/

These folks claim there are about 550 pumas/cougars in Ontario.

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The internet - fueling paranoia and misinformation since 1873.

When I lived in in Okla. (eastern part) I saw cougars and black panthers. Also saw a wolf on two ocassions,even tho there aren't supposed to be any there!Believe me they weren't coyoties. They were twice that size.

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"Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village tho...."

a good bit before this jaguar was pictured a rancher got lots of pic's of one.he and daughter were out hunting mtn. lion with their pack of hounds.the dogs caught a "lion" and they went in ot catch the dogs off of it....well...they got a bog surpirise...down in a crack in a ledge set a adult jaguar.he tooks lots of pic's as this jaguar broke and ran and the dog recaptured it several times.they made a boog called eyes of fire...a border land encounter.i have seen the book and it has some nice pic's of the jaguar.i hope they come back in the southern america and maybe the jagurandai will also...it is a slate grey colored cat about the size of a bobcat.

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i went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately to front only the essential facts of life,.......,and not,when i came to die,discover that i had not lived...Henry David Thoreau

I believe you tnokie. I have seen wolves in Oklahoma and Texas. People say they are just big coyotes but that is impossible. Coyotes don't get the size of German Shepherds, at least none I've seen ever have. I will never forget the one I saw in Texas, standing on the side of the road eating a dead something, I honked at it (thinking it was a dog), and it turned to look at me with those slanty eyes and the hair on the back of it's neck stood up. Gave me the willies! It was at least 60 - 70 pounds and I would guess about 24 inches tall at the shoulder and it had a very thick tail (which is not typical for coyotes).

donsgal

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Life is what happens while you are making other plans. (John Lennon)

Thers Big cats Here & there Ocelots, Jagurundia? and the Mnt lion. as well as Bobs. But they are down by the river just 10-15 minutes from here. And Northern OLD Mexico is loaded with BIG cats!!

people in oklahoma...you have one of the highest concentrations of bobcat of the lower 48.there are several famous cat hunters that lived in your state and they lived there for the hogh wildlife population.

also....i seen a old photo of a mid size cat that was grey in color a houndman caught in the 1940's.i am sure it was a jagurandi(sp)...so way back then the cats ranged far up in the middle of u.s.the photo was published in a houndman magazine by the guys son...it was a black and white pic and was blurry but it wasnt a bobcat.this guy and his son caught 100's of bobcat so they were very familiar with what cats.

heres a link form arizona about jaguars...read the current status and see what triggered the search for the jaguar.....2 different hunters caught a adult jaguar in the same year.

http://www.gf.state.az.us/w_c/es/jag...nagement.shtml

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i went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately to front only the essential facts of life,.......,and not,when i came to die,discover that i had not lived...Henry David Thoreau

This subject came up in a conversation at a Christmas gathering today. It has been report there is a large cat (cougar or mountain lion) seen north of Ada in the last few days. Big cats have also been seen by my BIL at his hunting farm near Ludington. There is a male and female who travel a 20 mile radius around the town of Fowler. There are pictures and documentation of this pair and they have raised cubs along the Maple River. However, if you ask a DNR person from Michigan they will tell you there are no big cats in the southern part of the lower. I've heard what I thought was the sounds of a large cat at night but I'm not familiar with the calls to say what type of cat. Several years ago there was a black (cougar/mountain lion/panther) in our area, my husband had it run across the road in front of him at night. Fortunately they, so far, have not taken a likeing sheep or lamb.

While not a "big" cat, we've been having bobcats roaming around and we do not live in what you would call the country. A friend of mine almost lost her small but fierce dog to a bobcat, the only thing that saved it was the owner running out and the bobcat running off. We don't live that far from them so we are keeping an eye on our dog.

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My thoughts exactly....learn to live WITH nature....not rape it. Let everyone else be scared and live in cities, I prefer to be outside and left alone.

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If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.
~ James Madison ~

I live on the southern border of Clarion and Jefferson County and about 25 miles south of Cooks Forest. In the summer of 2006 we tilled and re-seeded a portion of my uncles yard in the country. After a rain a neighbor noticed these large tracks in the mud as some large animal crossed this portion of my uncle's yard. The tracks measured about 3.25 inches wide and 3.5 inches long. Mountain Lions walk with retracted claws and these tracks showed no evidence of claws. My neighbor had a large dog and so I walked him across the same area and his tracks showed very distinct claw marks. We have Bobcats here but these were much too large to be a Bobcat. We carefully photographed and made castings of the tracks. Opinions vary as to what made the tracks.... but occassionaly we hear of sightings of big cats with long tails and I have a friend also who claims he saw one. I have little doubt that there are a few big cats living here in Western Pennsylvania.

Back in the early 1970's there were BEARs in NE Ohio. but the state denied it. Even after they were photograghed in the area. And theres big cats All across the U S . But the D N R doesn't want folks scared!! just my take on this!! And I saw MonsterQuest the otherday that showed the cat In west Virginia. It was big and BLACK. the Expert said That it was NOT A housecat. By the way Monsterquest is on tonite again Differnt show!

With so many black panthers seen it would seem like they would have been some hunter kill one, one get caught in a trap, dogs tree one, or one get run over crossing the highway. So far there hasn't been any, not even a single hair of a black panther has been found. Either they are very lucky or they have been watching and learning from Big Foot.

I have always heard the old stories of a blackpanthers around where I live. The old folks said they sounded like a woman screaming , But, I have never heard or seen one. That said, I do know we have a very high bobcat population, over the years I have killed perhaps 5 or 6 and have seen alot more. Now if you go out in the public around here and ask ten people have they ever seen a bobcat in the wild, nine out of those ten would say they've never seen one. Too many people have said they have seen large black cats, for me to say they don't exhist. All I say is I haven'et seen them. Eddie

Here is one reward for a black panther.

"$13,000 and a free mount still awaits the first one to bring a dead or alive BLACK panther to Turner Bros. taxidermy in H'burg. This reward has been available for 2 years now and I believe it'll be available until the Lord,in all his Glory,comes back on his white horse."

Even with all of the game cameras in the woods nowdays there still hasn't been a black panther caught on a single one.