[Winnisquamguy]

Two days after a photograph and my story on an apparent mountain lion in Alstead hit the front page of the New Hampshire Union Leader, reaction to it has been swift and varied. Some people have dismissed the photo as an obvious fake, while others have welcomed it as verification of what hundreds of outdoor people — farmers, loggers, hunters, hikers — have been saying for the past three decades and more, that wild cougars are indeed roaming New Hampshire's hills and valleys.

As a guy who's been keeping track of the better cougar reports ever since I started newspapering with the Nashua Telegraph in 1968, I've become something of a lightning rod on the subject, and believe me, my telephone and email box have overloaded since the story came out.

Radio got into the act too. In between writing this column, I had a good time with host Jack Heath on the “New Hampshire Today” show on WTPL, sharing observations with Mike of the Upper Valley, Alan of Dunbarton, and Dan of Weare. We delved into accounts of road-killed cougars mysteriously disappearing, and conspiracy theories such as Officialdom covering up proof of cougars out of fear of management duties and expense, or loss of government grants — this last part being a complete mystery to me.

Twenty-five or so years ago, when Charlie Barry, a longtime friend, was serving as Fish and Game director, he kiddingly — and publicly — vowed to eat my hat if solid proof of a cougar in the New Hampshire wild ever surfaced. I called him the day after Wednesday's story came out to tell him that I'd found my hat, well-saturated with bug-dope, bloodstains and bear grease, and to have his salt and pepper at the ready.

“I figured I'd be safe and dead by the time I might have to eat that hat,” Charlie said from his home in North Haverhill. “I'd have done it maybe at the Lancaster Fair, but it so happens that I have to be in Saskatchewan.”

To which I said that the hat and I could wait.

Several longtime readers of my stuff, in both the Sunday News and in the dozen or so weekly papers in the Salmon Press group, said the photo was an obvious fake. “It is the most common pose taxidermists use for mountain lions,” one longtime hunter wrote, “and his camera conveniently ran out of film so only one pose is shown. I have hunted mountain lions and never had one stand and pose for me at 50 yards. But I still believe mountain lions are in New Hampshire.”

Said another reader, “The Alstead pic looks like a moth-eaten mount. We've seen those before.”

And yet another: “Read your column about the mountain lion sighting this past spring. About five years ago I was at a Fisher Plow dealer in Gilsum called Snowplow Sales Inc. The photo that accompanied your column was on a bulletin board at the front counter. Exact same photo. I inquired about it and was told that it was taken by a “shed hunter” in Alstead and that he ran out of film. Same story, same photo, five years difference.”

In my conversations with the hunter who took the photo, he never mentioned that the May search for shed antlers was five years ago, and I've tried to call him to clear this up, to no avail. But I don't think it really waters the story down.

Longtime Pittsburg hunter, public official and guide Bing Judd, who's hunted all over the continent, said the photograph looks right to him. “No way do I believe that's a mount,” he said. “It looks like he was walking along and just stopped on the log. His feet, head and tail are just right. I'd bet my life on it, this is no mount.”

Fish and Game, meanwhile, remains cautious. Many such images, particularly ones that have traveled far and wide over the Internet, have turned out to be fakes or out-of-state images, said Game Division Chief Mark Ellingwood.

“There's no disrespect intended at all for people reporting sightings,” he said, adding that “it would be interesting and exciting” if solid proof surfaced to prove that the big cats are here. He said the message the department wants to send to people reporting sightings is first, one of respect, and second, that while people are certainly reporting what they believe are mountain lions, the state so far has no solid evidence, and if such evidence surfaces, the ongoing question would be where the animals are coming from.

Ted Walski, a longtime friend who's known all over the state as “Mister Turkey” for his stewardship of the nationally renowned restoration of the state's wild turkey population, said he's not surprised at all by the photo and story, and in fact knows the Alstead hunter. “He's my old dentist, so I guess I have to believe it.” Walski, who's been with the department for 40 years, added, “It would make sense, because there's been quite a rash of sightings around the towns and counties I serve during the past five years.”

For many years, I've interviewed the people I believe are the best in the field, namely farmers, loggers, hunters and hikers, who have made excellent reports on sightings of what they were dead-certain were cougars. Over all those years, I've written and printed only the best of the best — perhaps four or five incidents among the literally hundreds of reports I get each year, from all over New Hampshire, far and wide. To a one, they've described an animal as big or bigger than a German shepherd, tawny in color, with cat-like features and body, with — and this is the telling point — an extremely long, rope-like tail.

There is no other animal out there that could conceivably fit that description — not a raccoon, not a fisher (cat), not a fox or a coyote. Indeed, people reporting the very best of such detailed sightings resent even the implication.

All through the years, I've said that the Doubting Thomases out there, particularly the people in the world of Officialdom, won't be satisfied until a mountain lion is killed in the road, or shot by someone defending livestock or children, or caught on a camera in a photograph that, without doubt, shows a wild cougar in New Hampshire.

With the publication of the photo and story this past Wednesday, I've put 44 years of newspapering and 37 years of outdoor writing on the line, based on my instinct and belief in the people I talked with. If the story proves true, it's great news for the legions of people who hope to see another of the Northeast's great wildlife wrongs — the persecution of a predator who has ancestral rights to the territory — made right. If it's not a true story, so be it — you stick your neck out at your own risk.


http://www.unionleader.com/article/2...0301/708249984