Cougars in Mississippi?

Another reason is that deer are creatures that do best in "margin" lands, the junctions of two dissimilar areas, like the edge of a forest and a field. Sound familiar? The emmergance of suburban areas (and agricultural practices that clear the forest to plant food sources like corn, grains, and soy beans, for example) has created the ideal habitat for whitetail deer. Small-well manicured- "fields" interspersed within a broken forest. It has been said that before europeans came, a squirrel could travel from Maine to Florida without ever setting foot on the ground. There is not much to eat in a mature forest for a large land dwelling mammal like a deer (the majority of eastern NA was mature forest before europeans settled), but there is a lot to eat where forests have been cleared. There is not much cover in a field, but there is plenty in a forest. Combine ideal habitat with good management practices and you have the recipe for polulation rebound (there were less than 100,000 WT deer in all of NA at the turn of the 20th centry due to market hunting- mostly for high end restuarants in urban centers like NYC) and explosion. Sportsmen (Not PETA, their predecessors, or the rest of their ilk) lobbied for, and got, the protections passed that allowed for the rebound of deer, elk, and trukeys, among others.

Don't forget irrational extermination of large predators (Forced upon the rest of the population by trigger-happy cattle, sheep, and goat ranchers) that keep prey species in check.
 
Southern Illinois has cougars as well, I will try to find some documentation about them.
 
reconranger said:
Many of the present day Florida cougars, are descendents of a Central American (as I recall) cats that escaped from an exhibit many years ago. Could be they got introduced some how on Miss.
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The above statement is a misconception, as the Florida Panther is a SUBspecies of the North American Mountain Lion; and not descended from 'escaped' animals. Pets and the rare zoo escape animal are present in Florida; but they are generally not panthers.
 
Wildone39 said:
Thanks 1tracker for the info. They must have moved up from Fla. because i have definatly seen one. So there is no such thing as a black panther? I didnt know that. The one i saw was light tan or brown. Thanks for the website driftdraft, ill check it out.
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Well, in a thread like this I want folks to have the proper basic info before they go discussing it.

Rather the Eastern Mountain lion is moving DOWN; this can be genetically verified if a Mtn lion is killed near you for some reason. The human encrouchment in Florida has caused the population of FL Panthers to collaspe within itself, and their main territory still remains the Everglades Region including Big Cyprus. There was a young male who travelled as far North as Gainesville in the late 1980's; as I was one of the folks called in to verify the siting near Silver Springs/Ocala National Forest. That lion moved Southward again probably due to encountering all the black bears in the Ocala area, of which it had'nt any experience.

There is such a thing as a 'black panther' it is a totally different animal species than a Mountain Lion. they reside South of the US Border.

I do not doubt you saw a young Mtn lion, the description is accurate; but I'll bet my knife collection on it that it is not Coryi, but, Eastern Mtn Lion. There are less than 50 known FL panthers to date in the Whole state of FL. If one left it would be noted by F&G due to it's endangered species status.
 
crom said:
jaguars have been photographed as far north as Arizona. If a cat that large can make it to the states and remain largely hidden, I am sure cougars are in many places they are not supposed to be.
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Actually cougars/Mtn lions DO belong where ever they find themselves in the Wilds. It is the human overpopulation that is causing the conflict, let Darwinism solve the issue;) I say, let'em eat sheeple!

As any large predator, when their prey population increases so do the litter sizes of the predators.

Sorry for the typos in my past few posts; trying to keep the keystroke noise down while the Missus' is sick in bed...and I was typing at 0130hrs this morning.
 
kvaughn said:
Bear in mind that the powers that be dont want to admit to having a M.L. population for several reasons. 1-Most people would crap down both pants legs at even a hint from big brother that their was something sneaking around in their backyard that was above them in the food chain. Population hysteria!!!--2-In a lot of these areas a resident M.L. population would represent proof of the re-emergence of an endangered species and land, money and resources would have to be alotted to the protection of said species. In other words,too much trouble. Here in N.W. Ct. the environmental people deny their existence on the grounds of one not being found as roadkill. Though Ive spoken to half a dozen people that have seen them, including one with half his tail missing seen by three separate people on three different occassions in the same WMA. Maybe theyre not so stupid or prevalent to be hit by a car. With their main food source--deer--at a historical population high, it certainly doesnt seem to much of a stretch for me to believe that theyre out there doing what they do well. Staying out of sight--Just my 2 centavos worth--KV
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KV, I know for a fact that there are cats in NW CT. Having grown up in SE CT, I hiked most of the state back in the '70's; and continued on up into MA and the rest of New England. I spent the past 30 years combing those woods with a backpack and reading sign every chance I had. I may not currently live up that way, but i am only 3 hours South, and in my mind I am there everyday:cool:

Another reason you will not see a big cat on roadkill, like you will coyotes; is the fact that cats only like fresh kills, and the traffic noise near most roads like the Merritt Pkwy keep them away. You may see one cross a less busy roadway, like the kind you find up North in say, Litchfield County..but not down in the SW corner area.
 
No one believes it but I have seen a "black" looking moutain lion here in tampa. I live near the Hillsborough and a huge piece of uninhabited swamp land. The lion came out on a golf course near the swamp. It was about 5:00 a.m. . Several of the old timers around here who know the swamp area claim to have seen several. I have seem several Mtn. Lions in south mississippi, way up the bayous were people seldom go.
 
This is in central TX, near Austin. A few years ago, Bob, an avid bowhunter and all around outdoors guy told me about a nearby rancher that claimed to have seen a mountain lion. Bob pooh poohed the rancher, said it was too close to Austin, he'd grown up running the hills and never seen one, it must have been a large bobcat, etc... A few weeks later the rancher called Bob and told him to come over. The rancher had been out looking for a couple of missing sheep and had found the remains of one of them. It was half eaten and had been pulled into some brush and covered with leaves and sticks. That convinced Bob, it was a large cat kill that had been hidden.

Fast forward a few weeks and Bob is out at dusk in the same area, crawling around in the brush with a pair of pruners opening some sight lines for bowhunting season. He's being extra quiet and stealthy so he won't spook the deer that frequent the area. He crawls right into the carcass of a partially eaten deer that had been covered. He freaked out a little and jumped up quickly making a lot of noise. When he did that, a mountain lion burst out of the brush 15 feet away and took off like lightning. Bob figured the cat had come back to eat the kill and had been watching him crawl around like an animal. He said he almost $hi7 himself when he realized how close he was to being half eaten and covered with leaves.

Bob told a fish and game warden he knows about the incident. The f&g guy pooh poohed Bob and said it's too close to Austin, he works the area and had never seen anything, it must have been a large Bobcat, etc....

So last year the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Research Center closed it's trails for a few days before reopening them with a warning about a mountain lion that had been spotted on the grounds a couple of times. Hmmm....
 
I have seen and have pictures of a big cat right out side of Birmingham, Alabama. I have also seen one in South Alabama close to the Alabama/Florida line. The police even saw the one in Birmingham and some officals in surrounding cities. Big cats have quite a large area of roaming from what I understand.

I watched a program on Discovery the other day that was talking about black panthers being seen in the United States. They had some Ph.D. at the end of the show that said they were probably more likely to be Lepards than black panthers. The Ph.D. also had many pictures of them and talked about 2 sheep farmers in Arizona that was currently battling Lepards.
 
If I had to guess, I would say that there are a few mountain lions in most of the remote portions of the eastern states up to NY. For years, there were no black bears in KY, now they have a problem with too many in some areas of Eastern KY. Same in TN except around the Smokies Mt NP. A friend saw a mountain lion at the foot of the Blue Ridge in eastern TN. I know him and he knows it was NO bobcat. Bobcats are fairly common in the rural areas these days. Pretty darn cool to see them. I saw more than a couple in the mountains of Eastern KY too. No reason there can not be cougars as they are steathy animals.
 
We have had cougar sightings in NW Ohio and SE Michigan. There are even pictures of the animals. The Wildlife Officers have told me that most probably they are escapes or releases from drug dealers who keep them as pets. We had a yoyo down the road from us who had mountain lions, tigers, lions, a black panther (four legged kind) and a grizzly bear. At one time he had the worlds record for the biggest tiger. I was always a bit paranoid that one would escape and terrorize the area. Always kept my slug gun loaded and ready.
 
1Tracker said:
I do not doubt you saw a young Mtn lion, the description is accurate; but I'll bet my knife collection on it that it is not Coryi, but, Eastern Mtn Lion. There are less than 50 known FL panthers to date in the Whole state of FL. If one left it would be noted by F&G due to it's endangered species status.
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I didn't know there so few left of the Florida Panthers. I remember watching a documentary on them once and a lot get killed by automobiles because off all those highways crisscrossing their territory. I guess my idea that one may have gone north and than west was sort of ridiculous come to think about it.
 
That same photo has been claimed for Nebraska and Illinois (through e-mail, that I know of). My guess is only the owner of the trail camera knows for sure. But, s/he's getting a good laugh each time it gets brought back up.
 
I'm in the SW corner of Va. Heard tales of cougars all my life. VDGIF officials deny their presence but also say it's illegal to shoot one.
Uplander
 
trailside22 said:
I have seen and have pictures of a big cat right out side of Birmingham, Alabama. I have also seen one in South Alabama close to the Alabama/Florida line. The police even saw the one in Birmingham and some officals in surrounding cities. Big cats have quite a large area of roaming from what I understand.

I watched a program on Discovery the other day that was talking about black panthers being seen in the United States. They had some Ph.D. at the end of the show that said they were probably more likely to be Lepards than black panthers. The Ph.D. also had many pictures of them and talked about 2 sheep farmers in Arizona that was currently battling Lepards.
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I live outside of B'ham. One night I was primitive camping in Oak Mt. State Part with an older gentleman. We were sharing some sippin' whiskey by the fire when we heard what I was sure was a woman scream. He casually noted that it was one of the few mt. lions that live in the park. (He hikes and camps there frequently) . Next day as we were heading down the trail, he showed me a track that was several days old. Definitely a larger cat. Can't be sure it wasn't a large Bobcat, but that scream was definitely unnerving.
 
Its very possible. I live in Louisiana and I've heard stories of people seeing "Panthers" in the Basin. While I've never seen one I certainly believe its a possibility. The cats are sneaky, and its a huge swamp.
 
Tasselhoff said:
No one believes it but I have seen a "black" looking moutain lion here in tampa. I live near the Hillsborough and a huge piece of uninhabited swamp land. The lion came out on a golf course near the swamp. It was about 5:00 a.m. . Several of the old timers around here who know the swamp area claim to have seen several. I have seem several Mtn. Lions in south mississippi, way up the bayous were people seldom go.
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Depending upon natural light conditions a mountain lion could appear darker in color than they really are. That said, some jagurundi's, a smaller cat that's black were known to be in florida wilds back in the 1980's. Not sure of their population status now. I will admit that after hurricane Andrew went through the state of Florida I was a bit unnerved as to what was'nt being reported as missing by F&G officials from various entities. I'll leave it at that, only to say that ANYTHING is possible to see in Florida's wilds today predator or prey wise. It's a subtropical land, with lots of swampy, marshy area that man has'nt been able to build upon; especially the Everglades Shield. it runs from central state all the way to the Keys; a fair amount of which I've airboated/backpacked.

All I can say to your bowhunter friend who almost met the cat is he's DAMNED LUCKY!:eek: Cats attack from behind, and had he been jumped ( especially stalking in, unbeknownst to him, upon a cat kill) he surely would've been killed. A cat attack is so fast and furious that you'd really have to get lucky to come out of it without mortal wounds. Just one bite from those canines on your neck and your mastercard is cancelled:eek:

Big cats are generally smart enough to not cross paths with man, as evidenced by how hard it is for researchers to do their work. If you hear one it's something you'll never forget; if you see one it's your lucky day...now go change yer' britches:D
 
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