A friend of mine was turkey hunting last week on the VA/WV state line and called in 2 adult and 2 cub mtn. lions. I've known the guy all my life, he's a good hunter and i believe what he told me. he was calling for a friend, a bird answered below, and his buddy noticed these 4 cats stalking the calls. it shook-up the guy pretty bad, he fired 2 warning shots and they took off. my buddy only got to see one cub running down the mtn. he said it was about the size of a big house-cat. the other guy said the 2 adults were as big as his Lab. Mtn. Lions are protected in WV, wonder where they came from? I've hunted the same woods for years, and have never tracked one, he was about 15 air miles west of Harrisonburg, VA. Not sure? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
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Mountain Cats/Turkeys
- Thread starter redsnow
- Start date
Don't know about your buddy's hunting buddy, but I do know that a). mountain lions are solitary creatures that simply do not form extended family prides like African lions, b). that a mother mountain lion is extremely unlikely to ever allow another adult cat to care for or even be in close proximity to her young kittens (as they'll will often kill and sometimes even eat them), and c). mountain lion kittens old enough to be allowed to join momma on her hunting rounds or to take instruction on turkey stalking are not going to be anywhere as small as a domestic cat.
Adding further to the improbability of this account is that is takes place in WV, where the total number of mountain lions (if indeed they can be proven to exist in WV as non-escaped-captives) has got to be extremely low yet, so low as to call into question whether there could be a viable breeding population, let alone a density high enough that a casual observer might witness such freak behavior. I mean, what are the odds?
LionHo
Adding further to the improbability of this account is that is takes place in WV, where the total number of mountain lions (if indeed they can be proven to exist in WV as non-escaped-captives) has got to be extremely low yet, so low as to call into question whether there could be a viable breeding population, let alone a density high enough that a casual observer might witness such freak behavior. I mean, what are the odds?
LionHo
Lionho, here's my theory. honestly, i don't think we have a wild population. people report seeing lion, cougars etc. from time to time. a few years the DNR caught one west of here, they cornered it in a yard fence, and shot it with a dart-gun. it was lip tattoed, (the biologist is a friend of mine) at first he thought another state had some kind of transplant program. so, he called the surrounding state's DNR, and none of them had anything going on. i forget it was TN or KY, maybe both?, it's LEGAL to own mt. lions. the state's dnr guy estimated the states "pet" lion population at 2000-3000, they had no record of cubs. they are/were not required to report births. like the man told me "when they outgrow the litter box and are eating 3 bags of Friskies per day, they bring em up to "wild & wonderful WV." cut em in the wind and hope for the best. he guessed that most starve after 3 or 4 weeks. i suspect these cats were all raised in a pen together. that is one of the most remote areas in the state. still don't know?
Rednow, the scenario you describe seems to me as likely as any.
Sadly, there are also more captive Siberian Tigers in private ownership in the USA (far more) than there are tigers remaining in the wild in Siberia. What's worse, with there being several new bills in the works outlawing private ownership of big cats since last summer's (Bengal?) tiger attack in NYC, there may soon be more (far more) Siberian Tigers "in the wild" in the USA than in Siberia.
LionHo
Sadly, there are also more captive Siberian Tigers in private ownership in the USA (far more) than there are tigers remaining in the wild in Siberia. What's worse, with there being several new bills in the works outlawing private ownership of big cats since last summer's (Bengal?) tiger attack in NYC, there may soon be more (far more) Siberian Tigers "in the wild" in the USA than in Siberia.
LionHo
I'm didn't know that lions were mostly "loaners". makes sense, i'm sure the adult mommy wouldn't have other adults around. i think bobcats are the same way? years ago my dad and i caught 3 bobs within 400 yards of each other,the same night, one adult, 2 cubs. trapping that is. the cougar i mentioned above was cornered in a "rail fence". it wasn't wild, the fence the DNR man described to me, heck, me and you both could crawl through the thing. a wild animal would have shot past the fence in a second and been gone. i'll see my buddy in a couple days again, i told him that they were probably tattoed? what you told me makes me believe someone just dumped em out. a lot of guys bear hunt that area each winter, if they make it that long i'll hear about them. one thing about snow on the ground, tracks don't lie. i doubt if any of them make it that long?