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Paul's Link
Well fix link shortly sorry guys
Well...that confirms it, I'm a belieber now
Paul I hunted the town next to Petersham and found a track in the mud that looked exactly like a mountain lion track.
That's a good spot for a big cat lots of woods to hide in
I heard that if the states acknowledge their existence, that the states would be required to set aside extensive habitats to accommodate their existence. Costing millions. The source seemed credible.
That's just silly. You couldn't provide that kind of habitat in ct, without buying up properties and houses across the state or grabbing by eminent domain. That kind of space doesn't exist here. I have lost track of all the goofy things i've heard
There cant be any building or anything behind my house and that's all because of our rare box turtle. Can you imagine a mountain lion? I believe the theory
There cant be any building or anything behind my house and that's all because of our rare box turtle. Can you imagine a mountain lion? I believe the theory
Reposting my comments from the MA page... I grew up in Petersham and spend a lot of time out there...
Heard about this on a friends FB (Petersham is a small town, I dont know the lady who go the DNA, but we know lots of the same people so her post was shared by a few friends) feed several weeks ago. Texted a buddy at MDFW about it, and he basically said "haven't heard anything, thought that was settled". My gut says it's a random cat, like the one in CT a few years ago. That said, one person I know very well, and trust - he's basically family - saw one when he was a teen with his dad near Soapstone Hill in town on the New Salem line in Quabbin - not real far from where MDFW got scat which tested genetically positive as a mountain lion scat around the time the one in CT got run over. Another guy from town who's highly involved in the local Naturalist "scene" (teaches classes on plants and biology of various local areas) is convinced he saw one in quabbin and has seen tracks. If one can appear in CT randomly from SD, why not here?
It does make me want to watch my 6 while mountain biking or trail running though... I've probably done both, or XC skied or gone snowshoeing in the area this happened thousands of times - it's about 1.5-2 miles through the woods (no maintained roads between - how awesome is Petersham :)) from my folks. Then again, in all those trips - and many days afield in those same woods hunting deer and turkeys, I've never seen a cat - outside a bunch of bobcats. Lots of trail cam pics of those from that area.
Hey, if a timber wolf can go off on a bunch of sheep in Gill a few years ago (happened, farmer shot it, MDFW confirmed it and found it's genes suggested it was from a known pack in Quebec), like the CT lion, it was on a hell of a walkabout.
Will, their is more evidence in Quabbin back in the 90's so I wouldn't be surprised if their maybe a small reproducing family in the area. Maybe that's why zone 6 has lower numbers of deer?
Pat - how is that different than what already happens with the Helicopter parents out there today. Oddly, black bears would be way the heck scarier given they love to come around human habitat - hell, in Petersham and the adjacent towns, many people have bear's on their decks, pealing bird feeders off home window's etc. More than I can count for sure. If there are Lions, it's less worrisome than bears... But people love booboo and fozzy so...
I always go back to it when it comes to lions. I know a lot of people in MA running trail cam's most of the year. They are looking for deer - the lions favorite food. They get deer, bobcats, foxes, coyotes, bears, moose, turkey, and other critters like fishers, beavers, ducks etc... But no one has a lion? Not even one lion? Dang things are almost as good at hiding as big foot :)
I'm fully a believer that a transient cat could pass through now and then. People could see them. I'm not sure that means a breeding population is there.
Then again, maybe you are right Spike on the Z6 pop... But then again, it (Z6) was almost like hunting FFLD Cty pre quabbin hunt. Then the Quabbin deer eradication program started and now we have a legit 6-8/sq mi in Z6. Kill that hunt, and give it 3 years and boom - deer. Or kill doe tags. That's a side track though.
End point, I'm all in for occasional cats wandering through... Just not enough evidence to me to suggest a viable population... But, that does have to start somewhere right. So, maybe it's the leading edge of that repopulation process...
Will, I agree, there just isn't enough evidence to suggest a breeding population. can one show up occasionally?...sure, you have to believe that. It's been proven. But with all the trail cams out there that are capturing everything known to man on it, never a lion. Lions wouldn't be hard to pick up on a trail cam their ranges are huge. The other thing is, when you consider how big their range is, and the fact that they are solitary and don't spend time with each other except for a female with cubs. even a small population will cover a huge geographic area. There would definitly be no speculation as to whether they are living in this area. With the range they have and the volume of roads in the Northeast, if there is a population, they will get hit by cars. there is just too many factors that don't add up to support the idea that there is any population taking up residence.
With all the wildlife cameras out there I think it would only be a matter of time to catch one if they are out there.
One of my neighbors claims to have seen one in a nearby field. However we live right next to a huge cow farm so wouldn't there have been so calf depredation ?
That's the problem Rich, Lions are like any other predator in that they are opportunistic, they won't pass up an easy meal. Deer are one thing but they are not easy for them to catch compared to livestock. The difference between coyotes and bears is they have stamina, they can run them down eventually if they want. I lion is quick for a short burst and I mean very short. If they don't catch their prey in that quick pounce they aren't going to run it down.
Oh no,you ain't pinning that one on me I don't even know where Kansas is..i was gonna post that the other day but for the life of me I couldn't remember where I saw it,thanx for posting it bb..
