seeknulfind
New member
Strange but true. My wife and her mother spotted the cat a couple of weeks ago. A week after that my 14 year-old son saw him within a few feet of him as he went to wait for the school bus.
I live in Lunenburg County in VA. Our "front yard" was all field - about 2 acres of it. Now it is mostly goat pasture. When we moved here last year my neighbor behind us claimed there was a mountain lion but we thought nothing of it except for noticing a lack of rabbits and squirrels in the area. Both are starting to come back for the moment.
In any case, from our front window we have pretty clear view of the road a couple of hundred feet away. There is still some tall grass between the other side of the goat fence and the road but that's about it.
My wife saw the cat going across our property between the end of the fence and the road. She called her mother over to the window to witness it. A few days later my youngest son saw the cat by our mailbox across from the driveway. It watched him for a few moments and then moved across our fence line. The road is on the north side of the property.The driveway is on the far east side so the cat moved from east side to the west side.
A small patch of woods runs along our western border. Speculation has it, the cat may be cutting through those woods. Our neighbor is behind us to the east. Besides their field directly behind us there is nothing but woods back there.
My wife talked to the VGIF after the first time. I called after the second. I ended up speaking with a biologist. They tell us there have been reports of a mountain lion in the county below us. So far no reports of livestock being killed. They suspect the source to be an exotic pet released to the wild. Then again, he told me about one in Massachusetts that was traced by DNA to the Idaho or some other western state.
He suggested we try to confirm the sightings with game cams but these are not in our budget at this time. He also suggested looking for tracks and scat. I looked around our property but didn't find anything. Since we've had some rain here lately, I'd like to go out again. I'll try to secure permission from my neighbors to see if I can get permission to look on their property.
As for any official word from the Commonwealth, I'm told they don't officially exist here but I'd face severe penalties if I shot it. Go figure.
Any ideas or advice on how to deal with this would be helpful. From what I can gather, this cat is not just "passing though".
Andy
I live in Lunenburg County in VA. Our "front yard" was all field - about 2 acres of it. Now it is mostly goat pasture. When we moved here last year my neighbor behind us claimed there was a mountain lion but we thought nothing of it except for noticing a lack of rabbits and squirrels in the area. Both are starting to come back for the moment.
In any case, from our front window we have pretty clear view of the road a couple of hundred feet away. There is still some tall grass between the other side of the goat fence and the road but that's about it.
My wife saw the cat going across our property between the end of the fence and the road. She called her mother over to the window to witness it. A few days later my youngest son saw the cat by our mailbox across from the driveway. It watched him for a few moments and then moved across our fence line. The road is on the north side of the property.The driveway is on the far east side so the cat moved from east side to the west side.
A small patch of woods runs along our western border. Speculation has it, the cat may be cutting through those woods. Our neighbor is behind us to the east. Besides their field directly behind us there is nothing but woods back there.
My wife talked to the VGIF after the first time. I called after the second. I ended up speaking with a biologist. They tell us there have been reports of a mountain lion in the county below us. So far no reports of livestock being killed. They suspect the source to be an exotic pet released to the wild. Then again, he told me about one in Massachusetts that was traced by DNA to the Idaho or some other western state.
He suggested we try to confirm the sightings with game cams but these are not in our budget at this time. He also suggested looking for tracks and scat. I looked around our property but didn't find anything. Since we've had some rain here lately, I'd like to go out again. I'll try to secure permission from my neighbors to see if I can get permission to look on their property.
As for any official word from the Commonwealth, I'm told they don't officially exist here but I'd face severe penalties if I shot it. Go figure.
Any ideas or advice on how to deal with this would be helpful. From what I can gather, this cat is not just "passing though".
Andy
