Lions in Ohio?

I live in Bradford county PA, and 5 years ago at 2am, me and a friend were driving around on back roads. we rounded a bend to see a large dog in the road only to get closer and realize it was no dog and its tail was like 4 feet long. It then lept off the road in one bound approx 15 ft. I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt what we saw was a Panther. Bradford county has been swamped with sighting the last 5 years or so of large cats. pictures of them in a school yard actualy made the local papers, but still the game commish denies any truth to the fact of pennsylvania Mt Lions! Why wouldn't they lie about them? they lied about coyotes being reintroduced in the 80's!!
 
I have been in the mentioned area, hunted less than 2 miles from there.. I would say that do to the farming land and open area, if there is a bobcat there it is either a transplant, a tabby or figment of someone's imagination, just not enough cover to support a breeding population.

Dave
 
I grew up in green county and live in montgomery county. I agree that the woods are smaller plots in this area and would be hard to hold a Mt. Lion but you just never know. We have a healthy population of deer and stray domestic animals for them to feed on. Now down in Jackso where I hunt, there is plenty of free roaming areas for them. As a matter of fact, I would NOT go into the woods of south eastern ohio without some type of firearm.
 
I agree shooter, I have hunted Meigs, Vinton, and many other counties over there, mostly for grouse though. I have given some thought lately to trying my hand a coyotes over there... tons of public hunting land, but don't know much about the coyote population

Dave
 
Let me get this straight: you're not going to go into the woods unarmed in Ohio because of the one-in-about-fifty-million-or-less chance of encountering a mountain lion?

Considering the extremely small percentage of actual encounters of mountain lions which turn into conflicts in places where they are in fact common, this in itself is neither a good nor rational argument for carrying a weapon.

LionHo
 
i agree... i hunt meigs/vinton/gallia/lawrence counties every weekend.. i know for a fact there are bobcats in our area.. ive seen three dead from road kill and actually held one of them in my hands last fall that was killed less then 2 miles from my house..
i was told from our local game warden that within the next few years to expect a season on bobcat, that there numbers are growing in the state.. he mentioned that when the numbers get closer to 8-10k in the state they might open a season on them..

the mountain lion.. i dont believe it.. yes there are thousands of acres of public land in ohio but there are way too many hunters out there roaming them to not see it or them more often.. we have had supposed sightings of mountain lions in lawrence county the past 2 years but nothing substantial... i say some people need to lay off the booze after hours and these cats wouldnt appear out of nowhere..jk..
 
We also hunt Jackson county, just outside of Jackson. 2 years ago my wife saw a bobcat from her tree stand. We have also seen bear tracks twice in the last ten years. Muzzle loader season of 2006 was the last bear track sighting.
 
i heard of a sighting in coshocton county about a month ago..the same guy that said he saw it went back to the area after we had some snow and took some pictures of tracks that matched a mountain lions perfectly...there was another sighting in licking county about 5 years ago which boarders coshocton county this one was spotted 3 different times by a local bow hunter that i know personally so i believe what he saw
 


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