The cougar just walked by the crabapple tree and kept going. So that's the only video I got. We've got two more cameras up in the direction he was headed, but no evidence of him on either one.
Now that I've figured out post videos, here are the two bucks we got on video in mid-August.
A cougar that size would have a huge head compared to the body, plus all the spots and markings I mentioned. The spots remain well into the juvenile stage.
His likelihood of surviving depends on whether he's domesticated or wild. We have wild barn cats that survive in coyote country for years. The neighbors house cat, Fluffy, not so much.
I sent the cougar/cat video to NDOW's biologist for the Reno area.
He thinks it's a cougar and later asked me how high those solar lights are. I told him 10" above the rocks and he still thinks it's a baby cougar following it's mother and she missed being filmed.
Body proportionment of a housecat and couger is exactly the same./ Feet are way larger on couger and that is really the only way to tell with studying the animal up close. That could be a couger or a very large housecat.
I have the largest breed of Housecat a Mainecoon and his tail is not that long. Mainecoons can weigh 30lbs . The only short haired cat I know of that gets big is the Savanah cat but they have shorter tails . If the lights are that tall that would be one big pussycat.
Just look at the first frame of the video. The lights are 10", and the cat is no taller than the lights. That's a fairly average sized house cat. I'm sticking with kitty cat.
My first reaction when I saw that video was, "Too big to be a housecat and too small to be a cougar."
The more I look at the length of the tail, the more inclined I am to believe it's a little cougar.
There are plenty of cougars in the area. It seems one was spotted a few blocks down the street just a few days ago. Heck, a few years ago I opened the back door to let my old dog out at 6:30 AM in February. When I turned on the lights to the backyard, there was an mature cougar standing broadside and looking at me less than 15 yards away.
I saw one about that size near Wheatland, Wyoming a couple of years ago, trying to get a prairie dog. And that one was clearly a mountain lion. I'm saying cougar as well.
Back in the late nineties, while on a deer hunt in UT in late August, I saw a fawn that surely was born the night before. I saw her again the next day and she was far more mobile and agile.
Looks like a cougar to me. I have never seen one but take care of a friend's 20+ cats when he goes on vacation. NvaGvUp's video isn't like any puddy tat I have seen and I have seen plenty. BTW, I live on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Every expert will tell you there are no cougars near here. My neighbor killed a cougar back in the 50's and the news paper took pictures and put it on the front page. It was absolutely positively a cougar that was killing his calves.
Note that measuring the height of the cougar/kitty by comparing the critter to the solar lights is a bit problematic due to the angle of the camera to the cougar/kitty and those lights.
Okay.... Yes, that is the closest thing to a cougar tail as they get. The young coug's I've encountered were a bit more pudgy than what this one 'appears' to be. I'm pretty sure I see some spots on his front legs, like cubs have. I don't know for sure. I really wanna say it's a cougar, but.... Tough call.
Bottom line though.... What a great place you have, Kyle!!! Y'all must be having a blast with this backyard wildlife adventure...
The trail camera thing started when my wife gave me one for Christmas. We hung in a place we thought would work well, yet got nothing. So in August, my wife moved it and focused it on that crab apple tree. Then we bought two more and I put up a post so they could cover the rest of the backyard.
In August, we got the Muley Buck videos, but then nothing until earlier this month when the big bruin showed up.
The last three days, however, have been amazing; a three-legged bear, the little cougar, then the bear hugging the camera last night.
I'm off to IL on a hunt early tomorrow AM with Mike in CT, so won't be able to post any more videos of whatever else shows up until I return
Oh crap, having gone back and watched it a couple more times, I have to eat crow. I think my initial assessment was wrong - just based on the tail coloration and that distinctive "curl" it does, I'd have to agree it looks more like a cougar.
