(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/33477/mountain_lion.jpeg?easyrotate_cache=1518977748)
Thy got this kitty bought 50 miles from my place
That is a big kitty!
:o There's not a lot to worry about walking in the woods around here. I'd hate to run into one of those.
We are becoming overrun with big cats . MN DNR denied they were here until more and more trail cam pictures . I saw 2 deer with skin flaps hanging off there front quarters .
Quote from: Gearbox on February 18, 2018, 02:06:31 PM
We are becoming overrun with big cats . MN DNR denied they were here until more and more trail cam pictures . I saw 2 deer with skin flaps hanging off there front quarters .
For a long thie thy said we don't have them eather but now we have a season for them
The Michigan DNR has dozens confirmed cougar sightings now but still say there isn't a "breeding population"... Are all the cougars in the state either female or male? Are they neutered? Ha If they aren't breeding they how come the sightings and number of cats poached is continually on the rise? Haha
Had a horse attacked with its flesh shredded off it's rump a few years back and claw marks down it's hips and giant cat tracks in the mud. DNR came out and said it was "just wolves", even though the giant cat tracks were still present in the mud.... it was a joke.
I don't know why the DNR's are always so adamant about downplaying sightings and such. But I figure they shouldn't be too concerned with me taking out something that doesn't exist, anyway😊 Goose, was that cat snared?
Everyone denies that they are around here. When someone has proof they say it wandered in from somewhere else. Well, I don't care where they are from, if they are here, then they are here, even if they are tourists.
David,that is funny.
How can something be here,but not here either? ???
That critter could eat a deer in one sitting. :o
They don't like to admit they are here because then they would have to start actively managing them and that would cost money and man power that they don't have. Cheaper to pretend they don't exist.
We got similar thing happening here. PFRA had a cat clean up on a cow real good. Left lots of tracks and there was a picture on a trail cam set up on the cow before dark hit. By morning it was gone. We spotted on about 2 miles from home and I called it in. The officer asked several questions and then asked me not to talk about it. Some neighbours panic too quick. Strange. Must be what chevy is saying.
Shoot, Shovel, and Shut up. We had a Caracal cat show up on the farm about two years ago, was told they don't exist here, couple nights later it was eating the layers, click, boom and the answer changed to "uhh - gee - don't know what to say".
It's a curiosity thing with me but I always wonder why pictures of cats are usually taken with the hunter holding them as such? Not just Mountain Lions but also Leopards, Jaguars, etc. ???
Looks like a really big kitty. What did he weigh? I'm not looking to hunt one but I have no problems with people shooting them where legal or they present a threat.
We have a local politician who had a public business and in it he had trophies from African hunts and one picture and a local newspaper article of a big jaguar he killed in South America. I read the article and discovered it was a "canned hunt" where the guide had trapped and penned the jaguar then released it and let his hounds tree it and our local nimrod came up and shot it. The jaguar had been penned a good while and was out of shape, was unfamiliar with the area where released, etc. and was unable to escape the hounds and treed quickly. Our politician said he had to leave the hide and such in SA because he did not have a hunting license or import license for the skin. I'd have been embarrassed to post the article or call myself a hunter under such circumstances.
Nebraska has been having the same issue with big cats re-establishing territories for some years now. At first Game and Parks was denying that they even existed in Nebraska. But with the technology out there (trail cams) and the rare but occasional loss of livestock the proof became to evident to deny. in past years several have been hit and killed by vehicles on the highways, and in more recent years officers have had to corner and kill one in a fenced in back yard well inside the city of Kearney. The state did have a season on them just a few years back but I don know how many if any were harvested.
A lot of guys say if they see one they will shoot it. I don't understand this mentality as I have yet to hear of one attacking a human here in Nebraska. I can understand the farmer / rancher wanting to protect expensive livestock such as cattle, horses, lama, and maybe even a highly loved prized goat. but I disagree with killing such an apex predator over a few chickens.
Although I have no proof there have been tales of many of the big cats having tracking implants making it possible for Game and Parks to locate the animal in some capacity.
Pretty much any rancher would at least try to kill them, if they move into an area and stay.
They can also wipe out the deer population in a hurry, I have read that a crown lion will kill a mule deer a week, hmm that is 52 a year for one cat.
They are hard to hunt and have any success ratio without dogs, some states have outlawed dogs, then a few years later offered cat tags for a dollar, funny how that works.
Where I lived in New Mexico, we didn't really have lions, but it was less than 200 miles to where there were huntable populations of them, and one would circle through where I lived occassionally and would generally cost a rancher or two some calves, and scatter their cattle over miles at times.
barbender it was cought in a snare the guy is after yotes at $10 ahead lots of guys are after them
I spotted the snare wire in the photo.
Had one pass thru NY a few yrs ago, several sightings, was finally killed by a car I think in western Mass
In the last few years there has been 2 sightings I know of within 2 miles of my house, both by people I trust, our game and parks always said they weren't here too but like DPatton said they got one in Kearny and one in a tree overlooking a school playground a few years before.
I probably wouldn't kill one just because, but if it was around the house I would without hesitation. I've got kids and I take no chances.
Like a Wolf shooting isn't easy . All I have seen is cat tracks with the tail imprint . Wolfs we see often for about 3 seconds . Time it and see if you can tell what it is get the gun up and shoot before it jumps into the brush .
Back when we lived in Oregon every year around spring at least one young male would get kicked out of his area and come down into the valley and without fail it would find its way into town. Sometimes they just got chased off but more often than not someones dog got chowed on in the back yard and the Game and Fish folks would come and track it down, they were not relocated after that.
Unless it happens to be running by at full speed an apex predator around my house and stock is not going to remain long. I am all for conservation, and we do a lot to support wildlife on our own farm, to include not taking any deer under damage permits, fencing cattle out of areas of ground bird nesting, turtle laying, etc but there is no way I will support the re-introduction of apex predators. Lets just say in 20 years technology allows science to bring back Saber Tooth Tigers or even a T-Rex - want one roaming around your back 40? Got to draw the line somewhere.
It was October 2000 just before sunset, and I was sitting at my table enjoying the view across the field behind my house,. They had harvested the corn so my view of the field was excellent and I was hoping to see some deer as they crossed a worn path through the field.
Movement from the woods caught my eye, and at first I thought it was a very large dog, It didn't move like any dog I'd seen, it was a low slung lopping stride. I reached for the binoculars I kept in a drawer, and moved to directly behind the sliding door. Lifted the binoculars, saw a cougar following the deer path. Lowered the binoculars, looked with my own eyes. Lifted the binoculars and could not believe what I was seeing.
The first thing that surprised me about the appearance, was how much silver showed on it's fur, particularly on it's face and it's magnificent tail, longer than it's body and almost touching the ground.
I had a friend that worked as a secretary at the State Police barracks, and when I told her the next day, she asked if I would tell what I'd seen to a patrol officer there, who was tracking sightings. She transferred me to him, and when I had finished telling him, he asked me to please, please report this to a game officer, although he warned me that I would not be believed.
I called the number and name provided by the trooper, and said, "I would like to report a cougar sighting." He said, "Lady, you did not see a cougar,." I said, "then I'd like to report seeing a mountain lion." He said, "Lady you did not see a mountain lion." So I said, "then I'd like to report a cat the size of a large German Sheppard." He took my name and number, and I took his name and number, just in case this imaginary cougar hurt someone.
we have seen them around this area to there was a reason the old timers got ride of them i support the SSS side of things
Quote from: Gearbox on February 19, 2018, 10:55:32 AM
Like a Wolf shooting isn't easy . All I have seen is cat tracks with the tail imprint . Wolfs we see often for about 3 seconds . Time it and see if you can tell what it is get the gun up and shoot before it jumps into the brush .
Get some livestock you will see wolves for long periods of time trying to outsmart the cattle and stalk up on them. Once the donkeys notice them and charge and bray the wolf dissappears quickly. haha
Also for those times you notice them before the donkeys I suggest a nice long range rifle...
I just mentioned donkeys in another topic. A customer of mine had donkeys which protected his cattle. Problem was that the old Jack saw the newborn calves as not part of "his" herd and started killing them. That was his big mistake. The customer sold the rest of the donkeys but that old Jack did not make it to the sale. :-\
Glad he didn't takethat jack to the sale and cost someone else a calf or two.
When we first got our mule he would chase the cows and goats and even bit the tails off a couple of newborn calves. Once we got the horse he has not bothered anything else. He just stays with the horse and leaves everything else (Now there is nothing else) alone. I never knew they were so social. If I pen them up and let the horse out first and he is out of sight when I release the mule he goes crazy running the fence and braying till he finds the horse. If the horse dies first I will have to buy something else to keep him company.
I never heard of keeping donkeys with cows for protection but up here everyone with sheep have a donkey or llama with them to protect them from coyotes and stray dogs and such. I don't know what they would do with a big cat or such. There is a video floating around about a mule killing a mountain lion somewhere out west. He was pretty vicious about attacking it. I think the hounds had bayed the cat then when the hunters rode up the mule broke free and attacked the lion.
WV - I run three draft horses with our cattle. They do work in harness and ride in saddle, but otherwise they graze and live with the herd. They lived out west and know what predators are - they fear nothing, and take very good care of the cattle, newborns and all, 2000 lbs behind a hoof the size of a dinner plate makes quite the weapon. One night some hunting hounds got in with the cattle and quite a commotion broke out I ran across the field but did not get there in time as I head several whumps and quite a lot of baying after. I did not find the poor dog or dogs, but did feel bad for them as clearly they were injured.
Southside,
Did you check the tops of the nearby trees? My horse is big but yours are bigger and I can see them putting a hound between the uprights if they landed a solid kick.
BTW - do you have to trim your horse's hooves? I have to get the farrier over several times a year for the mule but the big horse's hooves just naturally wear off perfectly with no maintenance required. I don't run shoes on them as we aren't working them and we have plenty of rocks on the place they could slip on if shod.
I gave up on shoes and trimming probably a decade ago or more, never have had a problem since. Once every couple years I might have to pick up a hood and nip a corner or something, but that is all. No cracks, great heel, no issues at all. Personally I think we have created a racket when it comes to equine hoof care, keeping them in a stall, then trimming and putting a hole in the hoof for a nail, only to add supplements to their diet to help the feet. I have seen many a mustang and burrow out in Nevada and Oregon, none were trimmed, shod, or wore a blanket in the winter and they survived on sage and cheatgrass, all in good flesh. My guys are not quite that hardy, but they seem happy.
Mine run in the hillside pasture year round. I admit I overfeed them in the winter. We generally have plenty of grass and springs on the place for water so in summer nothing needed. My neighbor has an adjoining fenceline and has me run them there in the summer so he get free pasture mowing and I get more grass so works well for both of us. The mules hooves grow fast and long and have to be trimmed. I waited too long one time and nearly crippled him. We have a very good young Amish farrier who got him straightened out after a couple of sessions. I get him a few times a year to trim them. Never takes him 10 minutes. Costs me way more time and money to go get him and take him back than he charges but he is a bargain in his workmanship to the mule. Other than the mule's hooves they get and require very little maintenance.
There are a couple of those big cats around here too. There have been several sightings in the last several years. I've seen a couple(or maybe just the same one multiple times ???) as well as the neighbors.
About 10-15 years back we had a Shetland pony that came running out of the woods with a large set of claw marks going down both sides of his back, which I'm almost certain had to have been from a mountain lion. That's the only problem we've personally had that I know of that was probably from one of those big cats. The only other. And just a couple years back I was way out in the woods hunting morels and found a fresh set of tracks, needless to say after that I started carrying my Springfield XDm when walking out that far :D
Also someone a few miles from me shot one in his back yard because it had been killing his chickens.
I think I would shoot one in my backyard, even if it was just laying there, doing nothing! ;)
Plain and simple, I just don't want them that close!
Chuck,
I'd have to think long and hard on that. I have let bears pass freely here and have told all my neighbors they are off limits on my place even though we have a legal season on them because I did not see them as a threat to me, my family or our pets or property. If someone was really worried about a big cat on their place and shot it I would understand and have no ill will but might not shoot one myself unless he was clearly threatening us.
I'm even pretty tolerant of even poisonous snakes if they are not in an area where they are a threat. I even let a black mamba go free in Ethiopia on vacation (of course I did not know that was what he was at the time ;D) because he was in an isolated area not threatening anyone.
Quote from: WV Sawmiller on February 23, 2018, 02:24:02 PM
Chuck,
I'd have to think long and hard on that. I have let bears pass freely here and have told all my neighbors they are off limits on my place even though we have a legal season on them because I did not see them as a threat to me, my family or our pets or property. If someone was really worried about a big cat on their place and shot it I would understand and have no ill will but might not shoot one myself unless he was clearly threatening us.
I'm even pretty tolerant of even poisonous snakes if they are not in an area where they are a threat. I even let a black mamba go free in Ethiopia on vacation (of course I did not know that was what he was at the time ;D) because he was in an isolated area not threatening anyone.
WV we did the same thing for years never shot any bears well it came back to bit us in the ars there are so many around here there like rats its nothing to see 4-5 bears a week and the tracks are way more than deer any more i had a cub get in my chicken coop a few years back and the dang thing couldn't figure out how to get back out till mama came and ripped the back half of the coop apart 2x6 studs t1-11 and osb board didn't mean any thing to her so i now have a no walk zone with in 500ft of my house
All I can say is if you have a mountain lion laying in your back yard and you decide to leave it alone until it decides to bother you, when it does decide to, it is too late.
If one was in my yard or even working close to the house, pasture, whatever, the SSS principle would be tested to the max.
I figure they have plenty of deer and such in the woods to eat, i figure they don't need to be in the yard around livestock or even worse young kids. They're fascinating critters and I'd have a hard time shooting one way out away from the house or pasture but if one was hanging around close the animals or house it'd be game over.
I saw the leash and thought he belonged to somebody. :D
Biggest cat I've ever seen.
Siamese maybe?
Poston, I was kind of thinking along the same lines as you. The cat's leash was too tight and he lost consciousness.
I have only seen two Panthers in the wild in Florida during my lifetime. The first was as I was pulling a John boat out of a phosphate pit south of Bartow about 30 years ago and the other was crossing the road two summers ago on HW 64 between Parrish and Duette. The males really cover a lot of ground looking for mates. Unfortunately a lot of their traditional ground in Florida has been developed or fragmented to the point that several are killed on highways. Most of our big cats are inbred (too much frolicking in the shallows) and cats from out west have been introduced to deepen the gene pool.
Interesting caveman, was it the game department that brought in more lions from out west?
Hybrid Panthers Helping Rare Cat Rebound in Florida (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/09/100924-science-florida-panthers-texas-hybrids-endangered-animals/)
In 1995, the state and federal governments began a genetic restoration project. Eight Texas females were released in South Florida and produced 17 kittens. The last of those females were removed last fall and retired to a private wildlife conservation center.
Genetic intervention will have to continue as long as there are fewer than 100 panthers, because the cats won't be able to find mates they're not related to, Land said. But the next phase won't start until more studies are completed on the long-term results of the last effort.
This excerpt was taken from Big Cat Rescue. The west I was referring to is Texas.
Its called "re-wilding" or was when i was studying these people 15 years ago. They want lions, tigers, grizzly and wolves to roam the earth again. Theyre a small bunch but were very active and tended to get jobs with influence in terms of wildlife policy. Many were into monkeywrenching, tree hugging and releasing smuggled animals illegally.