Mountain Lions in PA?

I posted earlier in this post and am amazed at the responses I have read. I didn't see it so it doesn't exist? A bull moose wondered through sussex ,NJ in the early 90s . It then swam the delaware river into pa and wondered around for weeks before heading back up to ny state. How many of you pa guys saw his tracks while you were in the woods? As Tier hog mentioned a lion is a very elusive animal that will travel great distances in its normal range. In nj the state police as well as the nj fish and game have positivly ided lion tracks in the last 5 years as well as multple police officers being eye witnesses to some of the sightings is proof enough for me. As far as there being a large amount it is doubtful.Fish and game in most states on the east coast have chalked up the sightings as escaped pets .Sorry I dont buy it because there just arent that many people with pet lions around. One of the sightings in jersey last year by the pa boarder was a police officer who saw a female with cubs in his driveway. A went on to explain that he did not beleive the calls that he had previosly gone out on from people claiming to see mountain lions And that after actually seeing one himself would take the calls more serious.To say they dont exist because you didnt happen to cross tracks with it is absurd .
 
I spent my first forty years on a ranch along the NE UT/NW CO border. I've seen and or killed: deer, elk, moose, black bear, bobcats, bighorn, badger, and even saw a wolverine once but I've never seen a mountain lion. A lot of people tell me they are everywhere in these parts of Utah/Colorado but I doubt it, I think it's all BS. I was in PA once for a few hours, never saw one there either so I'm sure you guys are correct, there aren't any.
 
Here in Extreme Northern Kentucky our local newspaper had a front page story about a former teacher seeing Mt. lions around his farm. The first sighting was 7 years ago and then in May of this year his wife was tending her garden when she heard yelping and saw a Mt. lion chasing their dog across a pasture. Only stopping when she yelled repeatedly. I talked the teacher and he was very sure of what he'd seen, saying it was way bigger than his 75 pound yellow lab. When the lady watched the cat return to the woods she also saw another one standing in the tree line and they watched the dog retreating towards her before slipping away. This location is only about 3 miles from where I live as the crow flies. So yes I'm going try to call them and slip about looking as I can access the area from a friends neighboring farm. Probably won't get to see anything but you never know.
There's been a few reports of of Mt.lions in this area for years. One was sighted in Indiana along a cliff bluff a few years ago by a maintenance man in a State park. An old lady told me once of seeing a "lion" when she walked out a gravel lane one morning to get her mail and her beagles where baying at something over the lane bank. She looked closer and it sprang into the road spat at the dogs and ran away. She didn't even know what to call it besides a big long brownish gray lion. This sighting was in the 70's. And very close to where the man reporting the last ones lives. At least I can have hopes of running into one and maybe at the least get a coyote called up, if nothing else.
 
13. KY kitten. In June, 1997, a man driving a pickup truck hit and killed an eight pound spotted female cougar kitten on Highway 850 in western Floyd County, KY. He said he also noticed a larger and a smaller shape, most likely the kitten's mother and sibling, because the kitten was still too young to be out on her own. The driver took the body to the Kentucky Department of Game & Fish, which froze it. When the kitten was analyzed, she was found to have all her claws intact, with no tattoos, tags, collars or other indication of captivity. DNA analysis indicated that the kitten's maternal ancestry included genes from South America, pointing to the pet trade (South American cougars are popular in the cougar pet trade), but paternal ancestry was shown to be North American.


This kitten is important for several reasons: she was a highway fatality, and biologists claim that if cougars were present in any numbers some would get hit by cars; she indicates that reproduction is going on in the wild; and she exemplifies the mixing of cougars from various origins that is probably occurring in the eastern woods. An April 20, 2001 letter from Steve Thomas, Wildlife biologist, KY Dept. of Fish and Wildlife Resources to Chris Bolgiano, ECF vp, confirms the above information.
http://www.easterncougar.org/pages/beyondsightings.htm
This at least shows there are Mt. lions in Kentucky no matter how they got here.
 
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I have heard about mountain lion sightings all over PA and really wanted to see one, so, I started calling for them with electronic callers and mouth callers. Still have not seen one. I have been predator hunting for quite a few years now and have not even seen tracks from a mountain lion. Bobcat tracks cat be deceiving, especially in the snow. I'm not doubting anyone but if there is pictures out there, let's see them.
 
theres been claims to one being in camden NY(upper cny), been sighted by several people. DEC claims it must have been a bobcat. one ol'hunter said he's never seen a bobcat with a 3 foot long tail. slightly off topic, but this sounds like the black bear debate in central ny. they claim there are none, well untill a lady blasted one in her car a couple of day's ago in waterloo
 
You know I have lived in Oregon my whole life. I have never seen a live cougar in the wild. However, I know that the population is getting out of hand when I see tracks at a local state park 2 miles from town and tracks at my work which is 1/2 mile from the state park. Now before anyone says that is probably the same cat because they normally have large territories. the tracks are different size. So just because you dont see them, doesnt mean they are not there.
 
Fact is Mt. lions are becoming much more numerous. Another fact is they can and do travel hundreds of miles when seeking new territory. The link I provided shows a dead kitten confirmed in eastern Kentucky as well as confirmed tracks in West Virgina. So yes there is without a doubt a few Mt. Lions living in the eastern USA. The proof is there.
 
I beleive any mnt lion or even bobcat is a much stealthier & smarter predator then a coyote. Now I could be wrong about that but it's just a theory. Because even in the correct habitat in the N/E the list of people & hunters who's actually seen one where there isn't a season for them, or the DEC/DNR says they don't exist etc., is well a short list. I'm 45, you think I'm going to go climbing all over the Adarondacks, Catskills or Allegeny range looking for one of these elusive critters? Not right now anyway. Plenty of coyotes on lower ground.
I've seen a bobcat in Wayne county. According to the DEC that's not possible, ok.
Got a spot just right near Tioga Co. where some have gone hyper over a reported bear sighting. I don't see what the big deal is. Maybe it's slightly out of it's normal range is all. And I've seen the tracks.
Do I want to see this bear? How about No.
Bow for deer is still open, so is Turkey for that area.
Priorities /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
I can't speak for mountain lions, but bobcats are flat out dumb compared to coyotes. Bobcats are definately on the "short bus" when compared to coyotes. Bobcats have an entirely different nature, they use their natural camo and stealthy nature to sneak to a call, however, when shot at often they'll attempt to use that same thing to hide from the hunter and will sometimes allow multiple shots to be fired at them as they hunker down in a little piece of cover. My dad shot at one three times with a .308 at forty yards as it came sneaking into my calls. He hit low and kicked hard crusted snow all over the cat and it simply stretched out flat until the third shot nailed it. He did the very same thing with a .12 gauge and No. 4BK, shooting at another cat that I called several times while it sat watching him. Bobcat's will approach from dead downwind and ignore a snoot full of human scent. Especially so if there is a motion decoy of some sort to lock their eyes on. Different natures, but coyotes won't give you those same opportunities as the cat will. Coyotes are just higher strung and make full use of all thier senses. Coyotes will burn you on a stand and be gone in a flash while a cat sits and tries to figure it all out. No comparision between the two in the IQ department...
 
well i beleave that there are mountain lions in pa, i live in a town in western new york that is probally 55 minutes north of erie,, pa.. 2 hunting seasons ago i got live proof of mountain lions in new york with the video camera segement that lasted about 5 minutes long. and to make things better it wasnt 1 cat there were 2.
 
When you think cats, you think stealth partcularly when they hunt. I saw three mountain lions at different times while camping in the Sitgreaves National Forest along the Mogollon Rim. My girlfriend got the best look because I was driving the truck, but once one had stalked up to just a few feet from me and was able to run off so fast by the time I got to the ridge area he'd been looking at me from, he was long gone and silently out of sight.

I am real glad they are not an endangered species.

I think it sounds like to me that in Oklahoma they may have developed a presence where local people are not longer wiling to just write off their kills of livestock to a 'cost of doing business". Will be interesting to find more out about it.
 
I think you are right, in part because mountain lions hunt mostly alone and coyotes pretty much like to hunt in packs. Not the the "herd instinct" instinct is a completely bad thing, but it does tend to indicate that the indivual members of the pack are relying more in the skill and sense of their leader, while when you hunt alone, you are the leader.

I bet somebody out there in the realm of science probably may have seen some independent research on IQ in animals, of which Man is only one.

Sam III
 
Hey Hawkeye...is there any way you can post that video?? I'd love to see it. Just had a friend hunting in NW pennsylvania last week...saw two mt. lions feeding on a deer carcass, but didn't have a camera.
 
I can say mountain lions are here in Maine.Saw the film myself of a group of bear hunters in northern Maine that saw one cross the road and turned their bear dogs loose on the track treeing it.
 
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