Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Predators and Varmints Mountain lion in our back yard in Connecticut.

My family and I saw one here near what is now a National Monuement. When I have discussed this with DNR officers they have invariably told me it was a bobcat. That might would work for some people,but, I grew up on a farm and have hunted all my life. I have trapped bobcats and shot them, I know a bobcat!
I have been so tempted for kicks to tell them " I'm sorry! You are right. I did not see a cougar and I did not shoot it and it is not in my freezer!" And walk away. Wonder how they would respond?

GreggH

There have been at least 2 lions hit in Missouri in the last few years. One near Fulton, Mo and one near KC. I hear lotsa rumors about cats and I suspect some may be true. I think I recall some rabbit hunters actually treeing a lion somewhere in MO a few years ago as well. I'm 31 now and when I was a kid Bobcats were unheard of, now there pretty common and legal to take.

Every once in a while there's some hard headed dumbphuck east of the Mississippi claiming to have seen a Cat...

Then it is explained to him that he didn't see a Cat...

Then he gets all pissed off because he knows what he saw and someone told him he was wrong...so the argument about who was right or who was wrong for the sake of being either ensues.

Fact of the matter is WE don't WANT it to be "known" that there may be Cats in the East.

Which is exactly why State Officials aren't tripping over themselves to "confirm" anything Cat like.

If you are too much of a dipshitt to understand this then you deserve what you get. If you are too young to remember what happened with the Spotted Owl fiasco in the Pacific NW then Google it.

We don't want to "prove" anything about Cats in the East..........

I believe my wife. First of all SU35 you were not even there so you cannot say one way or another about anything in my back yard!

We have been seeing more deer in that exact spot. Yesterday we watched 3 deer feed there.

Here is a picture of "The bear of the week" from the Bristol Press.

You be the hardheaded dumbphuck I was talking about........

Yessiree, Bob! This cat sure is well-traveled. Rumor was around here last year that it was filmed on someone's deck just south of Jamestown, NY in a little town called Busti. I had seen the photos several times, and they still had the EXIF info embedded. They were taken on March 10, 2004 at 7:15 AM. (And they were taken with a Nikon camera.) Then I wrote a newspaper column on it: Mountain Lion Mania and the Internet.

Do mountain lions exist in Pennsylvania (or New York, Connecticut, and ....)? Probably not. Have they been seen? Yes. And every documented case turns out to be an animal released into the wild.

If they exist, why hasn't anyone got a photo on a trail camera? Why haven't any game officials caught one in a bear trap? Why hasn't one been hit by a car? Why hasn't any deer hunter shot one? Why hasn't anyone found a track?

I was talking with a local wildlife conservation officer yesterday and he told me the principal at a local elementary school reported one behind the school a few years ago. He wouldn't let the kids outside. The WCO went to investigate and discovered tracks in the snow, right where the school principal saw the lion. They were about an inch in diameter. He tracked it to the porch of a nearby house.

People say the game agencies are covering up the presence of mountain lions. If that's true, then there must be a conspiracy that includes all the agencies, as well as the organizations that study mountain lions.

By the way, we had a case here in Pennsylvania about a week ago that was proven to be a hoax. And the hoaxes will continue to live. I suppose only BigFoot knows the truth.

Steve

Geez Wilds, since you put it in that context I agree with where you're coming from, but the reverse arguement could be made that they are successfully expanding their range and doing just fine with habitat the way it is negating another "spotted owl" goatphuck.

Well you and I wouldn't have a problem with the natural order of business conducted by good old Mother Nature....let sleeping Cats lay, as I say.

But, enter in the well funded animal rights Eco Freaks and their relentless desire to play God........

My mother has a picture she took through the screen door of a bobcat that was curled up and sleeping on their deck. It just looked like a really big house cat curled up, except its head was up showing its tufted ears.

i know for a fact one was spotted at least twice 75 miles south of st. louis. that was 2 years ago. one of the assitant scout masters was on his tractor on his farm ad was within 20 ft of it before it bolted off. and yes he admitts to changeing his shorts soon after that.

Believe what you want to but History should be a lesson to a lot of folks......

Corrolate this to Cougars in the East, it DID happen with the Owls.

The Spotted Owl Controversy.....

You and I, have had this discussion, if you recall, right?

Yep.....

Ok people of the east I'll respect your concerns. But out here in the SF Bay area we have daily Elvis sighting. Are the Lions looking for food?

The mountain lion of the New England states is a new species, suspect it will receive a unique genus species classification very soon. A lot of people report seeing them near where I live. Most recent encounter is from a man and woman that were muzzleloading together last week during our early ml season.

The new species behaves very differently from the western variety. The eastern puma is capable of flying and always fly south to escape the winter weather. This explains why a track is never found throughout our months of winter snow. Personally I believe they actually follow the geese and probably take some while in flight to sustain them during the long flight.

Their flying abitlity is also the reason why the cat and coon hunters have been unable to tree any, at the approach of hounds they take flight immediately. They also eat deer in a way very similarly to the way hyenas eat in Africa, by completely devouring the bones. It is reported this is why it has been impossible to locate their multiple weekly kills for DNA verification.

There are some that believe this species may be a herbivore accounting for the lack of located kills. Typically you would expect about 100 or so per year. But I find that assumption too hard to believe. From the visual accounts it leaves me to believe they are likely still carnivores.

The one trait that has me puzzled is how they hide their scat, one would think at least 2 per day. In western states it is not that difficult to find their little scratched up piles but around here nobody has found any. I'm not sure how to explain that part of their mystery. Maybe they only go while in flight over water, could be!

I was very lucky to get this photo of one, I say lucky because I am still here to write this. They are reported and known to be extremely vicious. Most sane people flee from the woods after encountering a northeastern panther!

Those same people generally believe a democratically controlled government won't jeopardize gun ownership and hunting freedoms. Just had to add that last part. Fire suit on!

well according to Tundragriz's post then there are no cougers in Missouri at all. so those three dead ones that MDC has in their possesion from the last couple years must not exist. these cats are very secretive, they hide their kills, hide their scat and unless you really know what to look for most average guy will walk right past the clues. heck even near the killings of the three they were hard press to find any tracks or other evidence of day to day sign.

well according to JimHnSTL's post Missouri has moved to New England. My post makes no reference about states 1000 miles away from New England not having cougar. If Missouri has 3 confirmed deer kills by cougar then I guess you have them, but that still doesn't mean we do, we being the states in and around Connecticut. We have no physical evidence, only eyewitness accounts. Lots and lots and lots of eyewitness accounts.

"Seeing" the actual animal is usually the hard part. I lived in areas that had them, tracked them, accidentally caught them in traps, treed them, but yet I have never been lucky enough to actually see one in the wild outside of traps or dogs. Usually few people in a lifetime ever get to see one naturally in the wild, even when the population is strong.

In "New England" it always seems to be backwards of this. The animal is commonly seen but never any physical evidence. Exact opposite of what happens where they are positively known to exist.

I haven't had any problem catching them unintentially in bobcat/coyote traps in California, having dogs tree them, easily finding tracks along with scat and high numbers of kills in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Mexico. If they are there they are big enough animals to leave plenty of sign. They travel long distances without regard to their tracks being left behind. Again it is extremely hard for me to imagine how they can move around in the snow secretively.

If cats are in the area and people are out and about, someone will find the conclusive sign. Doubt there are many western hunters that haven't found sign that would be considered conclusive. A lost animal making a single pass through an area, maybe, living there, no way that hunters will not find the sign.

Here's a very neat video I took:

http://sports.webshots.com/video/3032859700039751215ClYDRB

you missed my point, they told us we had no cougers in the state even though there were lots of sightings. then they finaly got the bodies and then admitted well a couple might have been passing through. my fellow assitant scout master who grew up in th ecountry and is no B.S.'r saw one on his property twice as i stated. but MDC will say they are not near st. louis, only in the real backwoods. i don't think that one was staying around, i beleive it was passing through but i'm saying if enough folks are reporting them you might want to give one of them the benifit of the doubt.

SSS