Mountain Lion?

[TOAD]

This should be quite interesting in how this turns out?

If they are that far south in New England...than it's a good bet they are just about everywhere.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/06/1...m-mass-border/

[SteveA]

Interesting story. Several other links, similar to the one below, speculate it is the same animal spotted near Greenwich, CT.. They also are looking into the possibility that it is an escaped or released exotic pet.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/06/...in-milford-ct/

[Slickcraft]

I think that it was on its way from Greenwich up to Foxwoods.

Doubt that there are any mountain lion around here. However, with the cold and snow of recent winters here there can be no doubt that the Yeti are moving in. Wait for reports next winter.

[ripley]

Nearly once a year someone reports seeing a mountain lion in NH. Fish and game investigates and always declares that it was not a Mt.Lion [or cougar ]

They also say there are no wolves left in NH..,, They are wrong on both items. I have personally seen one in Pittsburg NH quite a few years ago ..They are here. Seem to be coming down from Canada

[Jonas Pilot]

Says Ripley, believe it or not.

[dpg]

To bad hate to see an animal like that get hit by a vehicle...

[Gearhead]

What really gets me is when F&G states that they probably are escaped pets. How many people do you know who have a pet mountain lion? Where did they get it? Does it have a collar? What do you feed it (Meow Mix?)? Surely if there are so many escaped cougars in the area, then there must be one or two forum members who have one that hasn't escaped.

I remember one time when my brother-in-law saw an eagle standing on the ice on Spinney Brook in Eliot, Me eating a fish. He mentioned it matter-of-factly to a game warden in the area and the game warden told him "There are no bald eagles in Eliot." With people like that determining the official existence of mountain lions in New England, it wouldn't matter if you filmed it in HD on the steps of the state house. There simply are no mountain lions in New Hampshire. Period.

[Lakesrider]

I know of a Cougar that lives just down the street from me.....Always on the loose. Not a bad looking one at that.

[AC2717]

Originally Posted by Lakesrider

I know of a Cougar that lives just down the street from me.....Always on the loose. Not a bad looking one at that.

that is wicked funny LOL

[Pepper]

Originally Posted by Lakesrider

I know of a Cougar that lives just down the street from me.....Always on the loose. Not a bad looking one at that.

BaaaaaHAHAHAHAHAHAaaaaaaaa! GREAT post!

[sa meredith]

Originally Posted by Lakesrider

I know of a Cougar that lives just down the street from me.....Always on the loose. Not a bad looking one at that.

...it is in fact now Cougar season at the lake. In fact, no limit this year...

[Gearhead]

I've seen with my own eyes a codger living in my neighborhood.

[TOAD]

Is there a limit to how many cougars you can score in a season?

[SAMIAM]

Really, with cougars, it's best to tag and release !

[sa meredith]

Originally Posted by SAMIAM

Really, with cougars, it's best to tag and release !

Of course...always release. One should never keep a cougar.
Also, avoid feeding. If you do that, they tend to hang around.

[hilltopper]

Just remember, technically it's not a cougar if it's the same age as you!

[Rattlesnake Gal]

Originally Posted by Lakesrider

I know of a Cougar that lives just down the street from me.....Always on the loose. Not a bad looking one at that.

Glad I swallowed that sip of water before reading your funny post!

[farechofisherman]

The latest local news down here is that the mountain lion killed on the CT highway last month was indeed a wild cat. Unbeleivable, but CT environmental authorities have determined that the wild mountain lion came from the Black Hills region of South Dakota!! They actually matched this cat with his dna from hair and dropping samples in South Dakota. Minnesota and Wisconsin as they tracked it back in 2009 and 2010. The 140 pound, very healthy male, traveled about 2000 miles on his journey, truly an amazing story! He was actually spotted by the Westchester County Airport, next to Greenwich CT, prior to his death. What I find amazing, is that he must have come down state from the Catskills or the Adirondacks, because I can't imagine him swimming the Delaware and Hudson Rivers to get to Westchester County. (Maybe he had EZ Pass and did the GW or Tappan Zee) So anyway, I find it to be an amazing story and it is sure to raise the debate once again; that seasoned outdoorsman have said they have seen them in northern New England and F&G departments are not accepting it, Sounds to me like they are back in our mountains and forests. Pretty cool

[Jonas Pilot]

Thanks for posting.

[pops]

I have seen a mountain lion at my camp in central Maine. Saw it three years ago while snowmobiling. Maine fish and game denied it's exsictance also. But in talking to some of the people that lived near the trail they confirmed it was a mountain lion.

[Jonas Pilot]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...he-black-hills

[Grant]

Originally Posted by farechofisherman

The latest local news down here is that the mountain lion killed on the CT highway last month was indeed a wild cat. Unbeleivable, but CT environmental authorities have determined that the wild mountain lion came from the Black Hills region of South Dakota!! They actually matched this cat with his dna from hair and dropping samples in South Dakota. Minnesota and Wisconsin as they tracked it back in 2009 and 2010. The 140 pound, very healthy male, traveled about 2000 miles on his journey, truly an amazing story! He was actually spotted by the Westchester County Airport, next to Greenwich CT, prior to his death. What I find amazing, is that he must have come down state from the Catskills or the Adirondacks, because I can't imagine him swimming the Delaware and Hudson Rivers to get to Westchester County. (Maybe he had EZ Pass and did the GW or Tappan Zee) So anyway, I find it to be an amazing story and it is sure to raise the debate once again; that seasoned outdoorsman have said they have seen them in northern New England and F&G departments are not accepting it, Sounds to me like they are back in our mountains and forests. Pretty cool

Saw that NPR article the other day, and was thinking about the potential number of interstates, rivers, etc., that the cougar had to cross. Depending on its route, (north over the Great Lakes, or south across the Mississippi, etc.), there are a number of obstacles, not to mention urban areas.

Since the article mentioned sightings in Minnesota, the route was probably north, so it would avoid the Mississippi, Susquehanna, Delaware rivers. Bbut that leaves the St. Lawrence on a trip through Canada. And then a straight shot down through New York or Vermont/Mass to CT? Fascinating, and very cool that they could trace its origin using DNA.

I'm more convinced than ever that there's merit to the numerous sightings in the northern parts of New England.

[Slickcraft]

Article below in today's LDS.

While I don't dispute the sighting, a very large bob cat was live trapped last winter near the Gilford transfer station.

Delivery man says he spotted cougar near Lily Pond early Tuesday morning
By Michael Kitch
Jul 28, 2011 12:00 am

GILFORD — A month after a cougar that was founded to have wandered all the way from its South Dakota birthplace was killed on a Connecticut highway, a Manchester man reported spotting a live one crossing Route 11 and plunging into the woods by Lily Pond early yesterday morning.

Jeff Cuddy delivers snack foods to retail outlets across the state for a distributorship, setting out before dawn and aiming to make his first stop by 5 a.m. On Wednesday he drove north on I-93 to Exit 20 then through Tilton and Belmont on Route 3 before turning east toward Gilford on the bypass. He said that he reached the end of the bypass and the traffic light at Route 11 around 4:10 a.m. and there he saw the mountain lion.

"It was 20 or 30 feet in front of me," Cuddy recalled. "It jumped a fence and went into the woods by the pond. It was pretty much a flash. Maybe three seconds."

"I drive a lot in the early morning and see a lot of creatures. I've hit moose and hit a deer and seen foxes, racoons and all sorts of creatures. I thought it's got to be deer because of the color," he continued. "Or maybe a coyote. But, it didn't have a deer face and it was bigger than a coyote. When I saw the tail it turned my mind to thinking it was a cat."

"I've seen bobcats before," Cuddy said, "but unless this one's been hanging around a nuclear power station, it was no bobcat." He said the animal was bigger than his 85-pound golden retriever and "weighed more than 100 pounds, definitely."

Cuddy said that after the sighting he called his wife, who told him about the cougar in Connecticut. She reported the sighting to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.

For years the department has received frequent reports of sightings of cougars, including one by an employee of the agency who claimed to have seen a lion on the lawn of her home in Barnstead in September 2009. However, officials have yet to collect any physical or photographic evidence to confirm the presence of cougars in New Hampshire.

The 140-pound male cougar killed by a sport utility vehicle after dark near New Haven, Connecticut last month was traced to the Black Hills of South Dakota through its DNA.

"It's a mystery," Cuddy remarked, "but I know what I saw."

[upthesaukee]

...I was on my way down to Farmington to play golf, and had a bobcat cross the road right by the Copper Woods wildlife area (about a half mile east of Johnson's if you aren't familiar with it.). There was a westbound pickup truck and it passed between us. Both the other driver and I slowed way down to see if we could spot it, but it had gone directly into the woods without stopping. It was about 7:20 to 7:30 in the morning.

[VitaBene]

Originally Posted by upthesaukee

...I was on my way down to Farmington to play golf, and had a bobcat cross the road right by the Copper Woods wildlife area (about a half mile east of Johnson's if you aren't familiar with it.). There was a westbound pickup truck and it passed between us. Both the other driver and I slowed way down to see if we could spot it, but it had gone directly into the woods without stopping. It was about 7:20 to 7:30 in the morning.

I had one in my backyard a few weeks ago too! Moultonborough/ Holland Hill area.

[SIKSUKR]

I've posted a while back in another thread on this same subject. I know what I saw and didn't see. Getting off the Cannon Mt exit in Franconia around dusk I spotted what was no doubt a large cat. The light was fading but provided me with a nice silouhette of what was in my opinion a cat about 2 1/2 to 3 feet at the shoulders. Classic looking cat tail. What I didn't see was markings or ears and the like. I was about 150 yards away and the light would not allow that detail so I could not begin to identify it further. But, no doubt in my mind that was a cat.

[VitaBene]

Originally Posted by SIKSUKR

I've posted a while back in another thread on this same subject. I know what I saw and didn't see. Getting off the Cannon Mt exit in Franconia around dusk I spotted what was no doubt a large cat. The light was fading but provided me with a nice silouhette of what was in my opinion a cat about 2 1/2 to 3 feet at the shoulders. Classic looking cat tail. What I didn't see was markings or ears and the like. I was about 150 yards away and the light would not allow that detail so I could not begin to identify it further. But, no doubt in my mind that was a cat.

Big cat- at that size it would have to be a mountain lion one would think. I don't worry about too many animals when I am in the woods walking my dog (135 pound German Shep) but a 140 pound Mountaln Lion would present a problem!!

[dayvsea]

I saw one hop over the rail on route 11 in CT years back.. Funny the cat makes it from S Dakota to get hit on the Merrit parkway.. Scariest driving in the east..Cat should have ran back..(of course lotsa deer/turkey kill to drag off the roadbed, no hunting there..)