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Urban Mountain Lion

Maqua

Maqua

Joined
Jan 21, 2005
Messages
2,396
There have been stories around my neighborhood (north Fort Worth area) about a mountain lion on the loose. These stories come from golfers so I immediately dismissed them as drunken lies. Then I ran across these tracks on a bike ride last Sunday. I went back yesterday and took some pics before the rains. There is no doubt these are large cat tracks; just wanted more opinions before I set up the game camera. I have a size 13 dress shoe, btw, and that is a U.S. quarter dollar for scale.

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There is a dense 2300+ acre Corps of Engineers forest with lots of deer and hogs and other critters for this kitty to feast on, as well as miles and miles of rural farms and ranches to the west.
 
Awesome. Good luck on the camera. We'd love to see pics if you get 'em.

I Read an interesting thing last night in the book "Heart and Blood" by Richard Nelson (about deer in America). He said that less than a dozen humans have been killed by mountain lions in this country in the past two hundred years. He points out that pet dogs are significantly more dangerous to humans than mountain lions. Another great quote was from a biologist talking about hikers in places with mountain lions who say "my dog will protect me": he says "Your dog is lunch. It's no contest. For a mountain lion, it's like opening a can of tuna"
 
I have heard plenty of stories in the last 3 months here in Idaho about unsuspecting hikers, farmers, fishermen etc being warned by dogs of the presence of a cat that was stalking them and very well simple awareness is what saved their lives. The Beast in the Garden is a book you should read if you're interested about urban cougars, it's a huge issue here in Idaho. They have so much competition for game from wolves bears and hunters that it is easier for them to come out of the hills at night, kill domestic cats and dogs, and drag them back into the hills than it is to stalk elk and deer. I know the amount of deaths and even injuries in the last two centuries have been slim, but that doesn't mean it won't get much, much worse in the near future.
 
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Would you say those tracks are close to 3 inches long? If so you could easily have a 100+ lb. cat on your hands.
 
There were a few up by Lake Texoma a few years back. Probably still up there. Some friends had a lake house and every week for a couple months a neighbor would "lose" a dog or a cat.

One of the neighbors had 2 Great Danes they kept in a chain link dog run at night. One night they were really freaking out. Their neighbor turned on all the lights in the back yard and couldn't figure out what was going on.

The following morning he found what was left of his 2 dogs. The cats sat outside of the chain link fence and taunted the dogs till they were tired.

The cat was probably watching him when he went to check on the dogs and realized that attacking a human wasn't too smart, and the dogs were easier.

These things live in suburbia, have large roaming areas, and are extremely intelligent. People rarely see them. It will be extremely impressive if you can get a photo of one.
 
It's like that one epidosde of weeds.

Very cool though, I mean I hope know one gets hurt, but the tracks are cool.
 
Just curious are those Nail marks in the second pic down? they appear to be but it just might be the vegetation.. I can;t make it out.. Large cats usually don;t leave nail marks, that's why I ask. Great pics though and very interesting story also...
 
There were some tracks that had claw marks, but cats extend their claws when running.

I've got the game camera ready, just need to find a good spot to set it up where enters/leaves the woods and then have some patience.
 
It sure looks like a lion track. A hunter in Troup County, GA killed a decent sized (140 pounds) mountain lion last November. DNA linked it to the Florida panther population, so it was wild (well fed and in great shape according to the biologists).
 
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We used to get them up north every once in a while, but Fish and Game said that without a body, a photo, or a video, they weren't around. Never ran into any, thank God. Weird thing about cougars, they're more likely to attack a fast moving animal (a running deer, a person on a bicycle) than a slow one.
 
Maqua said:
There have been stories around my neighborhood (north Fort Worth area) about a mountain lion on the loose. These stories come from golfers so I immediately dismissed them as drunken lies. Then I ran across these tracks on a bike ride last Sunday. I went back yesterday and took some pics before the rains. There is no doubt these are large cat tracks; just wanted more opinions before I set up the game camera. I have a size 13 dress shoe, btw, and that is a U.S. quarter dollar for scale.



There is a dense 2300+ acre Corps of Engineers forest with lots of deer and hogs and other critters for this kitty to feast on, as well as miles and miles of rural farms and ranches to the west.
Click to expand...

That just made my morning better :D:D:D
 
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