Mountain Lion - believers or no?
Massachusetts
I spend a lot of time on the Ct forum page given I hunt there too. It's also a good batch of guys. There is a thread rolling there now which is about mountain lions. Got me curious your opinions.
I know BB had a post about it a while back, maybe last summer? That was focused on a pic of a critter...
At the risk of becoming the guy that makes bowsite MA forum a danger zone... The CT thread made me curious...
Do you think you have seen a lion in MA? Do you believe they wander through now and then? Or, do you think there is some sort of residual, tiny population?
Believe or not, if they did repopulate the north east, how would you feel about it?
Personally, I'm convinced that they wander through now and then - like the cat from SD that got run over in CT in 2011. But I'm not, yet, a believer in some residual or otherwise population of cats sustaining itself in the north east.
Having said that, 2 years ago a lady's horse was attacked very near several areas I hunt in Petersham (Z6), MDFW said "gate injury or bear"... but when she paid to have samples from her fence/gate tested at two labs it came back as mountain lion DNA. Thus, I make a little more noise walking into the woods now, and tend to look behind me a bit more while riding my mountain bike or trail running... :) So I guess that suggests my beliefs may be fading :)
What say the crew?
They are here, repeated DNA tests have proven that but I suspect like you say passing through or on a walk about.
I think you have a better chance of being struck by lightning Will,.. so change the your looking/view to upward for a storm coming! Safer bet.
:)
they're here. there's plenty of food, so no attacks on people ...yet. :)
Yup I believe and I also don’t believe the one killed in CT traveled all the way from SD!
Yes passing through. Wife had a sighting here in Swansea last spring.
I saw one in RI (on WMA near CT line) the same year one was killed in CT by a car. I only told one person, b cause I thought people would think I was crazy.
Tough to argue their existence when one was killed in CT a few years ago.
One was hit by a car back in 1999 I think it was on Rt 202 in Pelham. My brother, who also hunts had one walk thru his field near his home in Warren 2 years ago. Grass was about 8 inches high and he said it was about 60 yds from him, though it was about 70/80 lbs. Tail was about 2-3inches in diameter and about 2.5 feet long...He hunts and knows critters....He called me right after it happened..... My neighbor, here in Belchertown, about 300 ft from me, had one on his deck sniffing his grill at about 10pm one night about 3 years ago. He also called me asap to tell me it had a tail 2.5 feet long and probably double the size of his Lab. It was about 6 feet from him on the other side of the slider when he turned the outside light on. He also has critter experience.....They are here for sure....
GED you are crazy, you fish the canal!!!! Good luck this year buddy. I will be fishing the beaches and going for browns at night on the south side. Unless then it's is hot again. Lol. I can't take another year of the crap I saw last year. I got a little sour on the etiquette I witnessed
Not a chance there's a Mountain lion here for any amount of time. 1st- 500,000+ cars on the road in MA in a day, no road kills. 2nd- 50,000+ deer hunters in MA, 1% have cameras out 500 cams. No proven pics. 3rd- 1,000,000 domestic dogs in MA, not a 1 put a lion up a tree. This includes 500 beagles that are hunted for rabbits, 50 hounds hunted for coons, 25 hounds hunted for coyotes. Hounds will chase and bay up their own tail if they can. Why would you want them here, we already have an out of control bear population.
No doubt there's a couple lions roaming around.
Back in 95 I was turkey hunting in Hawley Mass, trudging up a steep hill I came across what I thought was a coyote kill. Deer fur all over the ground, started looking around and realized that the fur tree I was under had deer fur in the lower dried up branches. I looked up into the tree and about 14 feet up I saw what was left of a deer carcass. I was amazed and couldn't wait to get one of my hunting partners to see it.
After begging one of my buddies to trudge up that hill he couldn't believe his eyes, no doubt in our minds it was a lion that dragged that deer carcass up that tree.
Fast forward to 2005 I was bear hunting the same section of woods, there was heavy logging going on and it had been really dry that fall, I was walking the skidder trails looking for tracks. The dirt was like flour dry. I finally saw some tracks about 25 yards away and thought bear track, I got up to the track and no doubt in my mind they were lion tracks. Not bobcat, lion!!
I had pics of the tracks for a couple years but lost them when the phone shit the bed.
So maybe I never saw a lion in person but I know I've seen sign, and truly believe that lions do roam around Mass.
Big Country - USFW and MDFW have never had a report, notification or anything close to a dead body in MA - since the 1930's. Did the Pelham or B-Town PD notify anyone?
Closest to a dead one, was a scat in quabbin DNA verified almost 20 years ago (going on memory) and a set of tracks a few months prior to the one got run over in CT - which is believed to be the CT via SD (DNA verified and photos of that one in several states/provinces on the way here) one... Certainly at least a few have wondered through, but actual road kill? Outside the CT cat, weird that state or local PD and DPW would just take one off the road, go bury it and not notify MDFW, or put a pic out to the press or anything... (I'm not saying this to be a jerk - just surprised)
Xi, you raise good points.
Cool experiences Muzzy!
Will, without a doubt it was the coolest thing I've ever experienced in the woods.
Like many others have said, no one really talks about what the see and experience when it comes to something like that. Too many non believers and close minded people.
I know what I saw, nothing will change my mind.
My wife saw one in Hadley MA once, she knows her stuff. Heard 2nd hand of a guy in Princeton having one on a game camera and guys at the local gun club seeing tracks in leominster state forest. I agree that the lack of roadkill, etc is a good point but there's an awful lot of anecdotal evidence and sightings. As for the roadkill, I commute 2+hours a day and have never seen a bobcat dead on the road in my life. Never called one in or seen one hunting either, but they're around.
Never saw one but I don't doubt it for a second.
By the way the day before the last snow fell 5 days ago or so , a fisher followed/ stalked my wife and her two dogs for several hundred feet on and off the road , around houses , screaming and such . What is with that. ? Hungry for dog or just whacked ?
Sorry , back to topic.
Pi, Most likely mating time for fishers as it is for coyotes this time of year. I have a big coyote out during the day here and howling all hours of the day. In Marshfield. Let's Go
My beagle was face to face with one back in 2010. They were separated by a chain link fence in the back yard.
-Go , It wants to pork my Puggles ? I wonder if the dogs are on the menu and if I should take the Fisher out of the game .
If it's just mating then I will let them have their kinky experience ... Poor dogs are gonna need therapy.
I live with one!! Kidding aside, my dads buddy saw one deer hunting in Nh a few years back. 3ish miles from my camp. The following year I found tracks crossing a frozen pond up there. Huge tracks, no claws, and a perfect line dragging behind from its tail. Unless it was a bobcat on steroids that had a 3 foot tail pinned to its ass, it was mt lion tracks. I don't think there is many, but definitely a few.
A friend of mine swore he saw one in Belchertown several years back. He's pretty intelligent and a good observer, so I believe him.
I believe any mtn lion here is just passing through. The odds of two breeding? Slimmer chance than an Eagles SB win ;-)
I saw one once. The cat was being petted by Sassquach.
I had a few buddies on the Btown PD and they verified it back when the cat was killed on rt 202. MDC or EP took the animal. That was the last anyone ever hear of it....was a mountain lion with no tags on it.....
I had a few buddies on the Btown PD and they verified it back when the cat was killed on rt 202. MDC or EP took the animal. That was the last anyone ever hear of it....was a mountain lion with no tags on it.....
If the state agencies acknowledge big cats in this state they will by nature, all things being political, have to have a management plan to control and nurture the "native population". By covering up the existence of mountain lions they can not deal with them. Let's Go
Heard something like that in Maine, I think. Paper companies really don't want mountain lions to be there, perhaps understandably.
Let's Go nailed it. They dont want crap from the bunny-huggers - or lion huggers. And yes, there are 'Friends of the Mountain Lion' or some such out there. Google it.
Lets go got it right, you dont have to deal with something you dont admit exists. And yes i have seen one, with my own two eyes clear as day ten feet away.
I see one, I'll make the news !
About 5 years ago while driving on rt 202 in Granby one ran across the road In Front of me... no question a mountain lion... weighed about 80 lbs... Had neighbor with me who agreed that it was a mountain lion. No question...
I saw one while bow hunting Mt. Greylock in Lanesboro, MA back in 04.
I have seen tracks on 2 different occasions in the snow in Z2 about 10 years ago during muzzleloader.
Non Believer. You would have a better chance of seeing an UFO being piloted by Elvis and Bigfoot than you would seeing a Moutain Lion.
The EOP's were investigating a bobcat kill site ( the bobcat being on the dead end) across the street from my home ...where moutian lion feces were tested positive... and plenty of local sightings around here...but i have never seen one ..i wouldn't mind them around...but the deer herd would take a beating
