Mountain Lion info

[Shifty]

Can any of you that live in Mountain Lion country answer this-Have you ever know of mountain lions carring there kill up into a tree? :hmm:

 

[BrownBear]

Yeah. Once a fawn and another time a dog. We have lots of coyotes around, so it just seemed natural to me.

 

[Brokennock]

Officially, we don't have them here. But, I have heard of this many times from friends out west.

 

[kituwa]

I am in south Alabama, right on the florida line. We have what i assume is Florida panthers here, a sub species of the mountain lion. The fish and game people claim they are only a very small number of them in a small area of south florida. But they are seen around my area all the time. There are many here that have seen them,including me, many times and on game cameras. Someone just recently had a very good photo of one sitting on the side of a highway here in broad daylight with no mistaking what it is. And yes, a large part of them are black or a dark charcol color including the nice close up photo taken on the roadside. Still the game Dept says it cant be. Has to be an awful lot of them for as much as they are seen. We found a calf, over 100 pounds, a few years ago that was partly eatten up in a tree in our pastue. A panther is the only animal in our area that is able to do that as coyotes do not climb trees. We have also seen several cats that appear to be a cross between a bobcat and a panther. The one we see close to our house is about the size of a coyote and has a tail longer than a bobcat but not nearly as long as a panther. This one is a dark grey with no spots.We have seen this one 3 or 4 times both at night and durring the day.I often wonder, if the game dept says we do not have large cats here, is it leagle to shoot these non existing cats?lol

 

[Sean Gadhar]

:hmm: not saying it can't happen, but I have seen oh 20 or so kills all were Mule deer or calf elk, all were cashed in ground debris. Next to a fallen log covered with 2-5 inches of dirt & leaf or pine needles would be the norm.

Walking up on a nice fresh one SURE sets the hairs on your neck at attention! Must be what it is like to walk in to a house that has been robbed & finding the jewels & TV next to the door like the guy is still around :shocked2:

 

[Idaho Ron]

I will second that. All the lion kills I have seen were on the ground covered up. Also not saying it can't happen but I have never seen it.
In this picture this is a friend of mine. He found a kill and heard the cat. He went back with his call and killed the cat. A big male.

 

[pab1]

We have lots of coyotes around, so it just seemed natural to me.

I think competition from other predators is the main reason lions occasionally haul their prey up a tree. All the kills I've found were on the ground but I know a couple people who have found deer in a tree.

 

[BrownBear]

Probably depends on the tree, but it was pinon/juniper both times I saw it. I'm frankly surprised coyotes didn't climb the trees because our dogs sure did.

 

[pab1]

Both the people I know who found them trees said they were in pines.

 

[Shifty]

I didn't know if they would take there kill up a tree or not,i have only saw one of these big cats in my life,a friend of mine was telling me that he had been having somrthing kill some of his new born calfs and had found two of them up in trees, so he out out some trail cams and got one good pic of a mountain lion,i haven't seen the pic yet.

I did read on the net that some times in the eastern part of the states that this had been reported where there was several Coyotes in the area.

 

[Shifty]

That looks like a big cat there Ron a lot bigger than the one i saw.When i lived in Colorado the hunters there told me that you could probly hunt a life time and not see one unless you had hounds,i don't think people where using prediter calls much back then.I have saw lots of sign in the snow though and did find a fresh deer kill in Idaho it was covered with leaves and sticks right beside a tree that had fallen across a fence, i slowly walked out of there didn't have a weapon.

 

[robinsroost]

I am in south Alabama, right on the florida line. We have what i assume is Florida panthers here, a sub species of the mountain lion. The fish and game people claim they are only a very small number of them in a small area of south florida. But they are seen around my area all the time. There are many here that have seen them,including me, many times and on game cameras. Someone just recently had a very good photo of one sitting on the side of a highway here in broad daylight with no mistaking what it is. And yes, a large part of them are black or a dark charcol color including the nice close up photo taken on the roadside. Still the game Dept says it cant be. Has to be an awful lot of them for as much as they are seen. We found a calf, over 100 pounds, a few years ago that was partly eatten up in a tree in our pastue. A panther is the only animal in our area that is able to do that as coyotes do not climb trees. We have also seen several cats that appear to be a cross between a bobcat and a panther. The one we see close to our house is about the size of a coyote and has a tail longer than a bobcat but not nearly as long as a panther. This one is a dark grey with no spots.We have seen this one 3 or 4 times both at night and durring the day.I often wonder, if the game dept says we do not have large cats here, is it leagle to shoot these non existing cats?lol

At one time, pet stores in Florida sold South American cats called a Jacaranda. They resembled cougars but were some smaller and came in different colors. When they got too big to keep in the house, several were turned loose. Wildlife biologists from Florida claim that it is not genetically possible for cougars to be any other color than the common tan or golden color. It is possible, maybe even probable that the cats described as black or gray are actually Jacarandas.......robin :wink:

 

[Shifty]

How about Jaguarundi?

 

[Patocazador]

How about Jaguarundi?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yeah, this is what it is.

Here is an article about jacarandas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacaranda

 

[pab1]

When i lived in Colorado the hunters there told me that you could probly hunt a life time and not see one unless you had hounds...

That's one of the spooky things with lions. I've spent a lot of time in remote areas/designated wilderness and I've only seen two lions. I've found a lot of tracks/sign and several of their kills but only seen two cats. The spooky part is that I'm sure a lot of lions have seen me.

 

[kituwa]

I looked at the pictures of the Jaguarundi. The smaller one we see by our house may be something like that. But the photo that was took on the side of the highway here for sure was not. We used to be in a hunting club on a river bottom here that had lots of wild hogs.Most of the club members had seen a big cat there at least once. My younger son and my father in law was in an elevated stand on a green patch and it came into the green patch in front of them and rolled around in the grass for about 10 mins. It was dark grey and he said it looked to be 6ft long with a tail nearly as long as its body. DIL says its head was as big as a basket ball. Also, one of those Jaguarundi's would not be big enough to carry a calf up into a tree i dont think. We hear it making a noise fairly often at night back around our pasture. It sounds almost like a large bird chirping. My son says he has hear it make a sound that was like a woman screaming before. I have never heard it do that yet but some people down the road say they have heard it do that several times too. The picture that was took of the almost black one was on hwy 225 in Baldwin CO.Several friends we know had seen it cross the road several times but the picture if i remember right was taken by a woman who stopped her car and got the pic. It is a good sized one and no mistaking what it is.It was in broad daylight too. I will see if i can do a search on facebook and find the picture.

 

[satx78247]

Speaking of BIG CATS, when I worked the TX/MEX border area as the SSO for the ARNG, one of our Installation Security Officers kept telling me about a "ghost lion" that he had seen several times on the deep night shift at one of the border-area armories.

I wrote those reports off as "wishful thinking", "seeing spooks", "Bravo Sierra" or "seeing things" (Some things look "downright odd" in the darkness.) until a guy in town's "trip-set camera" took his picture.
(Anyone for a REALLY PALE/nearly white male cougar?? = GREAT BIG TOM!!)

yours, satx

 

[pab1]

Could that have been a jaguar? They are big (up to 250#) and occasionally there are white jaguars. They are becoming more common in that area.

 

[satx78247]

I suppose so, though cougars & jaguars are differently shaped.
(Mountain lions are slimmer in silhouette for their size for one thing & a cougar's tail is much longer than that of El Tigre.)

YEP, you are 100% correct that we are getting a significant number of jaguars coming across the river.
Btw, jaguar come in several colors including dark gray, normal spotted, "self-colored" (that is to say: they are the solid color of the usual spots all over) & black.

This Tom just looked BIG & REALLY pale in color.

yours, satx

 

[sidelock]

I have tramped the Montana wilds since 1968 and have only seen two. The first one was very interesting. I had been grouse hunting and was driving my pickup "VERRY" slowly down an old logging road headed for home when I looked out the window and saw what I thought was a coyote---- "no, it's a mountain lion" sneaking along only about 50 yards to my left. It saw me at the same time and it dropped behind a log with only it's eyes and ears visible. I switched off the truck and thought "wonder how close can I get to him before he leaves the country" I opened the door slowly and took one step toward him and he was off like a shot and out of sight in about a second. The second sighting was not so exciting since it was crossing the road in front of me as I was driving about 60. Funny thing is that both sightings were in the same week.