really.. a mountain lion

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Not trying to jack your thread or anything, but there is some rumer that in Illinois, the DNR traded wild turkey for some Couger years ago to help with the deer population and released them in Shawnee national forest. Every year I hear of a few hunters spotting one. I think it would be kinda cool to see one out in the timber, but it certainly leaves me something to think about while going out early in the morning turkey hunting in Shawnee. I really don't know enough about them to know if I would be in any danger if I ran across one, but I wouldn't be real comfortable about the whole situation. You also hear of Wolves every once in a while around here. It is pretty cool to see something not native to this area every once in a while though.
 
I really don't know enough about them to know if I would be in any danger if I ran across one
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Chances are, you'd never know you had come across one. The vast majority of the time, they're not going to attack a human, but when they do, it often goes poorly for the primate.
 
It is pretty cool to see something not native to this area every once in a while though.
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You mean people, right? No, I could do without the people.

Cougar/puma/mountain lion/catamount/panther are native to the North American continent, and until the arrival of the Europeans they were found in all mainland areas of the North American and South American continents, as far north as Alaska and as far south as Tierra Del Fuego. Cougar populations are growing rapidly in most areas of the continent.

And FWIW, wolves are also native, 5 species used to range over most of North America. Bears are also native, both black and grizzly, and were once ubiquitous (big word for "found everywhere").
 
if you control damage done by deer, let the mountain lion assist you. Why shoot it? Btw, I love them.

puma-concolor.jpg
 
I hunt pretty extensively in southeastern OH. I would like to know exactly where these sightings are taking place. Please post or PM me the specifics. 2amen and shell, I'll pm you a few pics when I get them downloaded.
 
Yup. They're not in Missouri, either. Before I was 18 I had two encounters with them, nine years apart. Could have been the same one twice.

The second was pretty close and personal. I was on a nature call and the last thing I expected to see through the leaves was the tip of a cougar's tail twitching (your funeral notice) not 30 feet away. They're not dumb animals and the 'snick' of the old model Blackhawk's hammer sent him on his way.
 
These big cats dont belong where there is lots of ppl or livestock! they prefer to eat calves and small horses over deer. And they dont just kill one. They will kill about 5 or 6 of them and maybe eat a little bit of them. They also will stalk ppl. I think its more of a territory thing.
It is safer for everyone if the deer population is controlled by issuing more tags and a longer season.
 
The real truth about Lions in the USA

Mature cats eat ONE Deer each week 365X24X7. That and Poachers have decimated some areas that were once great places to hunt. I place them both on the same list.

If a spotted owl dies in the forrest of natural causes can I make soup out of him?
 
cougar

If you have one, it probably needs to be there. I've assisted in an area where they actually were problem children, coming into town to partake of excess german shepherds.
You really should consider it an assistant and let nature run its course a little. If it is indeed a problem child than you will need to look at using a bear type call, there are some great ones on the market. You goal is to be as close to a deer in distress as you can, if you've heard a deer being taken down by coyotes than you have the idea.
Don't expect an all out rush like the coyotes, expect a ghost. You will need to be in your very best form, guaranteed, it will have you before you have it. All you are going to hope for is that it can't id you until it is close enough to not be able to turn around without you picking it out.
Sure you still want to try??
Baiting won't work, it will return to it's own kill but not to anything prekilled by someone else (carrion). They just aren't built that way. You can id its kill by the carcass being covered and the kill being made by punctures to the rear of the neck.
If you're lucky enough to find a recent kill, it probably saw you find it. If there's lots of deer around, it'll just go find another.

As I said, you're better off just letting nature take its course.

You can usually tell they are becoming a problem when there are alot of reports of Fifi and Rover going missing in the neighbourhood. Cat's hate cat dogs, but they love the taste of the regular kind.
 
They had a Mountain Lion spotted in Omaha a few years ago along a bicycle trail, they darted the cat and I believe it now resides in Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. Just south of Omaha on the Iowa side of the Missouri river I believe either in the Bluffs or the Riverton Wildlife Area a state biologist shot a Black Bear that he could not scare out of his backyard where he had dogs and his young children played. In Iowa we had a Bobcat season this year with a harvest limited to I believe 200 as they are becoming more common in the state.

If this Cougar is a released pet and you consider it to be a danger to pets and people, contact the Authorities again, would advise hiring a professional Hunter with Dogs to tree the Cougar and then dart it and relocate the animal or if you have to, shoot it.
 
Mature cats eat ONE Deer each week 365X24X7.
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That's one of those "it depends" deals. Florida cougar eat lots of pigs instead of deer. As you move further south cougar depend less of deer.
In the North deer are a much larger portion of what a cougar eats. But there is still variation.
Cougar will eat anything from mice to moose.

I kind of doubt that cougars have a significant effect on game available for hunters.
 
Ianb9644 said:
As I said, you're better off just letting nature take its course.
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If nature had 'taken its course' with the one who was twitching his tail while I was taking a whiz, I might not be here typing this. Nope...any big cat that takes that attitude with humans at close range needs a big dose of lead.

Nature taking its course is predators killing things dumber, smaller, weaker or slower than them; eating want they want of it and going on to the next kill.
 
Mountain lions, puma, catamount or whatever you want to call them are native to the Western Hemisphere, both North and South America. They were in Ohio before you were. On the other hand, since we have been forced to stop hunting them in California, they, and bears are showing up in people's back yards. there have been a couple of fatal attacks here in SoCal but it is still a protected species.
 
same stories

I've followed similar stories here in my area as well about panthers and mtn lions. I've heard them enough from reliable and unreliable people, to believe they're seeing something.

I've got a book loaned out whose title is "Eastern Mtn Lion, fact or fiction."
Its a pretty analytical study of big cat sightings and carcasses in the southeast.

Don't have it in front of me now, but the consensus was they are exotic's, crosses between mtn lion, and south american cats (sorry, can't recall species. jacarundee or something similar) that are raised illegally as exotic pets and escape or are released.

Have never, in many years on the job and in the field hunting, seen anything close to what these reports are describing. Nor have I seen a whitetail kill site, that could be attributed to big cats.

I have seen bobcats that look like they could go 50 pounds plus!!!!!!
 
overpopulation

Personally, I think shepherds and people are overpopulated.:barf: I don't get extremely upset if something like that gets killed by a couger fighting to survive.;) I generally feel sorry for the cougar that gets shot grabbing a meal or defending itself in our world.:( Humans and their worthless pets are the imbalance. The pictures are great.:D There are also some really informative web sights about the cougar that help with some of the paranoid misguided beliefs alot of people have. I'm still looking for one I found out of Wyoming.
 
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I agree, what is the big rush to kill this creature?
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It can eat me or mine. It ain't healthy to be threat to my kids.

Yeah, I know it is "protected". USF&W don't have kids in the woods. I do: 3 S's.
 
direction of posts

Some of the responses to my post have been very helpful while others arent. I didnt put this out there to be chided. I did it to get a good direction to approach this problem from. I would be amiss to do or say nothing about the presence of this animal and then a school group of kids gets stalked or injured by a cougar. I know that this sighting is credible and I have found a bedding site. That site is only 40yards from one of the main park trails. For myself I will say if it gets in my sights I will do the necessary thing for the safety of the community I live in. I am not paranoid about carnivores, but there is reasonable danger presented by this particular type of animal.
 
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