Mountain Lions

[LonnieP]

My younger brother saw a big cat riding the 3 wheeler when we were kids. We didn’t believe him until my dad saw the cat a few months later.

[Scott F]

1 hour ago, LonnieP said:

My younger brother saw a big cat riding the 3 wheeler when we were kids. We didn’t believe him until my dad saw the cat a few months later.

Was the cat still riding the 3 wheeler? 🤣

[LonnieP]

15 minutes ago, Scott F said:

Was the cat still riding the 3 wheeler? 🤣

That would have been a sight to see 🤣. Guess I should have worded it differently. Brother was riding the 3 wheeler and saw a cat lol

[gim]

14 hours ago, Bird said:

They changed their verbage and said " there is no known sustained population of these big cats ".

Confusing because if one or two has been seen, who's to say it's not a mating pair.

 

That's exactly what they communicate here too.  Until there is evidence of a reproducing population, they state it's just "roaming males" looking for new territory.  My understanding is that they need evidence of a den or a litter to prove a reproducing population.

[F14A-B]

On 2/26/2025 at 4:54 PM, Swamp Girl said:

I've never seen one. Wish I had. I've only seen two bobcats and I've spent a LOT of time in the woods.

There was a murder scene on top of my Toyota, a bobcat snagged a chicken off the top, drug it down the hood with a 3 foot scratch on my hood. It was a mess.. my neighbor ask me about 10 days later if I’d seen a white chicken. So I told him what I think happened to it. They’re thick in my region. Very much so..(Bobcats) 

[Swamp Girl]

3 hours ago, LonnieP said:

My younger brother saw a big cat riding the 3 wheeler when we were kids.

 

Wisconsin's DNR denied the presence of cougars for years before backyard cameras started photographing them.

 

YIKES, @F14A-B!

[LonnieP]

4 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

Wisconsin's DNR denied the presence of cougars for years before backyard cameras started photographing them.

 

YIKES, @F14A-B!

Virginia still denies it

[VolFan]

Lived in Colorado for years and hiked and fished the mountains heavy and never saw one. Got transferred and was coming back from a home finding trip and saw one chasing a rabbit about 15 feet off the airport access road around dusk. He was running alongside me long enough and fast enough that I looked away and back and he was still there. Really was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. 

[Bluebasser86]

I've never seen one here, but people claim to see them all the time. I did see a large cat track in the loose soil next to a tree line that a buddy and I had just walked for quail once, they weren't there when we walked it the first time. I laid a 3" shotgun shell next to the track and it was wider than the shell, so I assume it wasn't a bobcat. My friends uncle owned the land and said he'd seen a lion a few times. 

 

We have lots of bobcats, use to get them on my trail camera occasionally at our old house.

[TOXIC]

All I know is that I wouldn’t want to tangle with one.  When it’s time to give this terror any medicine or clip needle mittens, I’m lucky to emerge without stitches.  

[Functional]

On 2/26/2025 at 9:25 AM, Jar11591 said:

No mountain lions in New York State for over a century. The DEC gets lots of reports of sightings each year but they are always a case of mistaken identity of a bobcat or Canadian lynx. Mountain lions are the most fearsome predator in the US in my opinion. Silent, stealthy, and deadly. They could sink their fangs into your neck before you even knew it was there. I love the idea of them living in NYS, but I may feel differently during a camping trip or a hike. The only thing we have to worry about in NY is the many black bears. But they want nothing to do with humans and I can’t recall ever hearing about an incident involving humans and black bears. 
 

 

Took a shooting class with a DEP/C guy. I was told they planned to release some in the hudson valley because of an over population of deer. Also followed up with a story of how they loaded up a dumpster full of deer one night around one of the small cities due to all the car accidents and property destruction. 

 

Maybe a year later I was hearing about sightings for mountain lions in my area in Dutchess County. If you google it there is no sustainable population, but its not denied they are there. Kind of further backs up what I'd been told/hearing.

 

Around that same time I was hearing the Canadian wolfs were making their way down south into far upstate NY. No idea what its like now or if it was just their territory and not expanding. 

[Jar11591]

9 minutes ago, Functional said:

Around that same time I was hearing the Canadian wolfs were making their way down south into far upstate NY

This is always rumored to be possible, I don’t know of any wolves that were actually tracked from Canada into northern NY. Between the northern Adirondacks and southern Canada, the land is actually very flat. Not great wolf habitat. They would have to travel more south until they reached the northern Adirondacks to find refuge. My own personal rule, unless I see pictures, mountain lion sightings are always bobcats and wolf sightings are always coyotes. Had a friend send me a picture of a “mountain lion” running across her front lawn. It was clearly a bobcat (tufts on ears and a stubby tail). Does a cougar pass through occasionally? Probably. But I don’t believe there are resident cougar populations in the state. Everybody and their mother has a trail cam or video door bell these days. One would show up eventually. But they haven’t. 

[Functional]

5 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

My own personal rule, unless I see pictures, mountain lion sightings are always bobcats and wolf sightings are always coyotes. Had a friend send me a picture of a “mountain lion” running across her front lawn. It was clearly a bobcat (tufts on ears and a stubby tail). 

For that state (and most people) its not a bad rule at all lol. The DEP guys info I believe, was no decision on the mountain lions when I last talked to him so they very well might not have. The wolf thing I was hearing from people living up there. I've heard a coyote called a wolf a few times though and after having seen wolves up close before there would be no mistaking the difference. 

[gim]

4 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

wolf sightings are always coyotes.

 

We get that a lot here in MN.  People claim they've seen a wolf, they show a photo of it, and they are corrected because it's a yote.

 

The difference between the two is pretty astonishing.  The giveaway is usually the length of the legs.  Wolves stand much higher than a yote does.  Minnesota has the highest gray wolf population in the lower 48.

 

If ever in doubt, it's a coyote until proven otherwise.

[N Florida Mike]

I saw one panther when I was around 10 years old, about halfway between Jacksonville and St Augustine.

It jumped out of the brush and jumped right back in when it saw our car coming. This would have been around 1970, when they had nearly been hunted out. Around that time an older friend was hunting and someones dogs ran a big panther right by him. Most of the sightings then were in and around durbin swamp. A 600+ pound black bear run over by a semi in the same general area. 

Now Florida has millions more people , but more panthers than then. 16 got run over last year in Florida!
 

[Dwight Hottle]

On 3/1/2025 at 12:51 PM, Swamp Girl said:

 

Wisconsin's DNR denied the presence of cougars for years before backyard cameras started photographing them.

 

YIKES, @F14A-B!

 

So did Michigans. 

[TnRiver46]

So did Tennessee’s 

[Darth-Baiter]

i've seen plenty.  trail jogging i saw a shredded turkey.   i asked a park ranger coming up the hill about it and he said that was what he was looking for, and could i lead him.  YUP.  

 

he then said, "this is a mountain lion kill"...

me:  wait..wuut?

 

i am an avid outdoor person.  spent a lot of time bowhunting.  i've had them come to my turkey calls.  (i stand up and try to look badass ASAP)  i play it smart and move on.  i do know most of the time i see one, it is running for its life from me.   my bowhunting friend had to arrow one that was crouched and stalking him.  he said, "okay cat, one more step and i am shooting you"  cat took one more step.  ZIP!.  he said the cat did a summersault 20 feet in the air.  wardens showed up with dog but lost the wounded cat in the rough mountains.