Mountain Lion

[hunter06]

ive been hearing there are mountain lions in the catskill and adirondack mountains in upstate new york and the DEC is trying to keep it a secret. Anyone ever seen a cougar in upstate new york or heard any stories about it?

 

[dakotasin]

no, but i wouldn't be surprised if they were trying to keep it a secret. when the stupid cats were brought back into s.d. the gf&p kept saying there were less than a dozen. over time, more sightings were reported, and they kept adjusting the numbers up only as much as they absolutely had to to remain credible. now, the flippin' things are being run over by motorcycles during the sturgis rally, hit by cars on busy highways, being shot by ranchers routinely, etc etc etc, and gf&p just continued to increase their numbers a little. now they aren't exactly sure how many there are (or, we don't believe them), and have opened hunting seasons on them.

don't let your wildlife folks pull the same stunt: reintroduce cats or wolves - whole lotta nastiness ensues.

 

[Blackfork]

With proper food and cover...

Cats breed like.....cats. You can get a lot of them in a short time.

 

[alsaqr]

We have them in western and central OK too. The Wildlife Dep't. claims that they did not re-introduce them here but insisted that they be religiously protected even when they killed live stock.

After Okies were chased by mountain lions and a lot of live stock was killed or maimed, the legislature got involved. The cat can now be shot if it is a threat to humans or live stock.

Saw a couple of them on one of our places. The neighbor took care of both of them when they chased his cattle.

 

[igpoobah]

Arkansas says the same thing, no bigs cats here. I know that's BS; I've seen the track and heard the screams... Why must they lie?

 

[Art Eatman]

If it were acknowledged that there was a buildup of cougar populations, consider what would happen: Hunters want to hunt. Livestock folks want to protect their stock. PETA would get the newspaper space yapping against anything but "Endangered!" status. Soccer moms would not want hunting, but would want protection.

You really think the wildlife agency folks want to be in the middle of that fire drill? You think maybe they wouldn't? Smart you!

, Art

 

[islandphish]

Yep, same in Nebraska. For years we knew they were here but Game and Parks wouldn't admit it until trail cams. But what do you know...within a year or two of "confirmed" sightings they are catching them in downtown Omaha.

Most people who are outdoorsman here have seen at least one. And it is now common knowledge that we have cougar throughout the state.

Scientists tend to get caught up in little things like evidence. I guess eyewitness accounts aren't that...There is a difference in what I know to be true and what I can prove to be true.