mountain lion in east TN?

FordTruckGuySTX

FordTruckGuySTX

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While scouting/riding today in an area near Royal Blue me and my buddy came accross some tracks following a trail that apparently hasnt had any human activity in a loooooong time, we had to make a new trail through this. area was mountainous, lots of thick timber, mostly pine, lots of low lying brush as well, great rabbit cover, we ran out some grouse from the area. well we come up on a mudhole and there are some tracks fairly deep into it, unfortunatly i didnt have a camera phone with me. these where noticable larger than a bobcat and also for sure not a dog track. now i've heard umpteen cougar stories from other hunters around here who say one walked up on their stand once back in the day and whatnot but i never take any to heart but this did get me wonderin'
 
Been hearing stories of lions here in PA for years.But nobody ever seems to get a picture or a roadkill never shows up.I honestly don't believe they exist here no matter what anyone says.I'd have to "see it to believe it". /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
heck beagler about 8-10 years ago we had a sighting on the front page of the wayne independant(like all others) except this one was on my familys land, where ive hunted my whole life, and it was deer season, and no one hunting with us saw any tracks in the snow.
 
Well Beagler,

I have seen three in New Hampshire and three in Vermont. I suppose if they are here, they might be there too /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I saw one sunning itself on a rock ledge over a walk in fishing pond in the Sandwich Mountain area of New Hampshire that got my attention right quick. We used to fish that pond till dark and then walk out by flashlight. Not that day. Another near a big deer yard in the eastern part of the state in January last year. We were set up on a hill side waiting to snipe coyotes coming and going, and this big cat walked right down the trail and disappeared into the hemlocks not 200 yards from us. The thrid one was just a fleeting glance but the tracks were there and they were not bobcat tracks. That one was up near a Wildlife Management Area right off a power line that runs for miles through the Mount Delight area.

In Vermont I have seen two (probably the same one as I saw it twice on the same morning) on Equinox Mountain while going fishing, and one in the Breadloaf Wilderness area also while fishing.

They have been confirmed in Vermont through DNA and scatt years ago. Not in New Hampshire though where our fish and game says there aren't any, just like we don't have wolves.

There was a report of one in the city of Rochester NH this winter also. There have been reports of them in the town of Litchfield which is a suburb of the biggest city in NH.

You can't shoot them here, and I can tell you, when you do see one, you don't have time to get out a camera and take a snap shot. The only one I would have ever had a chance to photograph was the one in Sandwich, but I had carried in my fishing gear and a float tube. No camera. Back then I never even used to carry a side arm when fishing.

I do now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Al
THO Game Calls
 
I know they are in West TN without a doubt! I have personally seen tracks in the Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge just south of Brownsville. I found them on a levy while bow hunting a couple years ago. This was backed up by one of the members of MSPCA telling me a story about seeing one in the same refuge before! We got the cats, it’s just funny our state will not talk about them. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
A friend of mine swears he saw one in Royal Blue while walking out by flashlight after getting his truck stuck last year
 
I live in SE KY and have heard reports over the past few years of guys seeing these cats....some of the guys are very reliable. I've never seen one or its tracks but I don't discount that they are here too.
 
A friend of mine came across one in the Big South Fork area last year. You may call him a liar if you wish, but I have never known him to do so. He doesn't even spin yarns around the campfire like the rest of us........strange for these parts. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
its hard in pa for deer season to come and go and no one sees one, shoots one, or even finds tracks in the snow to photo. 1 million hunters in pa turning over every inch. but then in febuary someone sees one on my hunting area. no tracks found other than deer. i know they are slick, and smart, but they will still leave tracks in 12 inches of snow.
 
Or sooner or later end up like roadkill like every other critter here in our great state. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif
 
That's a great question Beagler. I wonder how many end up as road kill in states like CA where they have a lot of them? It would be interesting to know. If an area with a high population of lions has few road kills, an area with very low numbers might corespondingly have few.

I know that everyone I have seen has been way back in the woods, far from any roads or people.

In 20 plus years of hanging out in the woods of NH, and with a good moose population I have only come across one dead moose and only a handfull of deer. I have seen lots of turkeys taken by coyotes or bobcats though.

But still it's a good question. Like I said earlier, back about 10 or 15 years ago they did some DNA on some scat and found it to be mountain lion scatt. Could have been someones released pet, who know.

Just now they are starting to recognize that wolves have moved into the state, but hunters have known they were around for years. I bet you in the next 10 years, we see something more concrete about the lions presance in the east.

Al
THO Game Calls
 
yeah beagler, but on the otherhand you know we have a very healthy blackbear population, but there isnt alot of road kill, some but not alot. i think predators know enough to stay away from humans. fox and bobcat and coyotes too. you dont see alot hit, some but not like the dead deer every 200' along the road, lol .

but as far as the sightings in pa, ill believe it when i see it.
 
I saw a photo back in 1988 of a mountain lion killed in Southwestern Virginia, I don't know about the law back in 1988 but now the Va dept of Game Says that there are not mountain lions in Va. but if you see one it is illeagal to shoot it.
 
Well, there may not be any in the east Now, but given a bit more time, they will come. The populations are getting larger out west and the young are traveling a long way looking for territory. One female went over 800 miles last fall/winter. So if one started east it could get to good habitat and maybe stick around. There are plenty of places where there are deer, beaver, raccoons etc to feed some cats. There Is food so there Could be cats.
 
Here in north Alabama every hunting club has at least one mountain lion on it. Some even have a black bear or two. They are very elusive though, trail cameras and people never can get a photo of one. I cant remember anyone even getting good pics of the tracks they leave behind. I cant say i have ever seen one, but with as many of them around here and obviously everywhere, my time will come. I can only wait patiently.

-Chris
 
I met a guy a couple nights ago that said he and his wife had one run infront of their car not to far from here. I guess it's just one of those things you tend to doubt until you see it for yourself or see credible proof. I did come across a set of cat tracks this winter that were close to three inches across which is much larger than any of the bob cats I have taken around here. My biggest was a 23 lb female which is supposedly near the top end for this area. I figured the tracks I saw were from an unusually large male bob cat.....but who knows?

I think the Carolina Panther is still listed on the endangered species list, but there has been no confirmed sighting of one in many decades. While there are areas of pretty good cover around here, it sure can't be considered 'the wilds'. Maybe the big cats are making a come back, maybe there are a few escaped/released captive ones roaming around, maybe it's just another fun but distorted/factless fish story.

Does anyone know the size of a typical mountain lion track?
 
I have seen a black panther myself. It was in Halls, TN while we were duck hunting. We (4 of us) knocked a green head down that sailed about 250 yards away. We did not immediately take off after it, as it seemed to drop dead on dry land. About 2 minutes later, I look over and see a huge black cat looking creature slinking across the field. I say to my buddies, ya'll look at that. The cat picked our duck up and went off with it. We watched it for about 30 seconds. Unfortunately we did not have a rifle with us. We found tons of tracks, but no scat.

We told an old-timer that lives down there about the sighting. He did not even bat an eye. He told us story after story about them, including one where his friend was pounced on in the morning walking to a deer stand. Cut him up pretty good, he claimed.

One last story...we were pumping our back field, which cannot be seen from the road a couple weeks after the first sighting. We had a friend driving a tractor down into the field. He got down to us and said, some body better go get their lab. We said no one had a dog down there. He went on to say he saw what looked like a large black creature sprint through the middle of the field, which is about a 1/4 mile from the road. We then told him our panther story.

Here is a website that may be interesting to you here in TN.
Cougar web page
 
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