Mountain lion sighting confirmed
Kansas
Anyone know for sure how true this is I know it made the news
It was on the KDWPT website. 21 confirmed lions in Kansas since 2007. And there are those that made fun of us country folks that saw them years ago.
21 “confirmed” sightings since 2007...doesn’t seem “rare” to me as article is titled?
There was a large lion found killed and a paw removed last year I believe in NW Kansas. Not a "sighting" but a confirmed lion nonetheless.
I just recently seen another trail cam pic on a family of mines of one but he doesn’t wanna report it. It’s no doubt a lion.
crested- five of those are probably the same lion, traveling north to south, also documented in NE and OK. It’s also thought the cat treed by the young coon hunters was the same cat that showed up in trail cam pics that winter.. Some years no credible reports.
I interviewed they guy who got the last trail cam pic of that cat in Kansas that was confirmed five times. He assured me we now have lions because we have armadillos, “You ever see them armadillo shells just laying there empty That’s where a mountain lion just scoopedthe part he could eat out with one swipe of his claws.”
Amazing how we had them reported for 100 years and never any proof...roadkills, treed by hounds, shot by ranchers or hunters. Cat biologists I interviewed in CO, NM, WY, NE and SD all said if there are cats, it’s easy to verify. In those states 10-percent of the population end up one of the above - trapped, treed, road-killed or shot.
The Black Hills population starts reaching carrying capacity in the mid to late 90s and confirmations out on the prairie begin.
A few years before the one in 2007 the one was found dead 50 or so miles south of Ark City. Had a SD collar and surely came through Kansas. But, since it wasn’t documented in Kansas...
MDC has a mountain lion response team that investigates reports. Even now, when they have confirmations about annually, 99 percent of the reports are proven false.
So, I'm curious Writer. How do they conclude "99 percent of the reports are proven false"? In 2014, I had one watch me at 46 yards for ten minutes near the Black Canyon in Colorado. My guide that I was supposed to meet in two days specializes in tracking lions with a pack of well trained hounds. He often takes care of problem cats for the state. I texted him within minutes of the encounter and he asked me to find a track so he could determine how big it was. There was no track due to the rocks and pine needles. He also told me he cannot track a lion without snow, and often has to cancel hunts when there is no snow. I literally had the best resource available that is a professional at hunting these things and he could not prove any more than what I told him. When multiple rancher in Greenwood County all saw a pair of big cats over several months, I would hate to be the one with enough arrogance to tell them they were wrong. Especially when they lived their whole lives in those hills and their favorite past time was predator calling.
They keep records, Jason.
I’m going off of what the lead biologist told me during several interviews, same as the head of the Eastern Cougar Network.
They keep records, Jason.
I’m going off of what the lead biologist told me during several interviews, same as the head of the Eastern Cougar Network.
I'd say the confirmations on the prairie might coincide with trail cameras that started to become popular in that time. Plenty of evidence to show they were here during low census of the state in the 1800's and before. Like any animal, human pressure can cause them to be more elusive until they become used to it as shown with all the human/cat interactions in states like California and Colorado. I find it interesting that the cat I and my dad saw in the early 90"s frequented an area had a wintering population of over 100 deer and 200 turkeys on one alfalfa field. As for biologists, I had a 'biologist' warden tell me once the deer on my place couldn't smell nearly as good as I was describing. I'd like to ask Rick Tush if he was told about the lion in Western Greenwood County back then. He was the area biologist and fished on the ranch where the cat was seen several times.
When I worked for a taxidermist in the mid 1990's in Kansas City, I believe we received a large Tom that was road killed or shot in Linn county. However, it had been de-clawed on the front end, so it was obviously a captive lion at some point.
First two confirmations in Kansas was an animal shot, and another photographed by a hunter.
Sure seems to me rifles and cameras have been around quite a while. Man, when I was in high school and college about every farm and small town kid trapped and/or ran coon hounds. But no trapped or treed cats.
Only 1 treed cat I'm aware of in the last 15 years Writer. And, I've heard a few old timers speak of big cats they treed that bailed out and outran the dogs. Professional guides in the mountains have to use GPS trackers because 5-10 miles is not uncommon when the hounds hit a hot trail. My late Grandfather Higbee was a hounds man near Neal and Reece Kansas in the Depression and I never remembered him saying they'd go anywhere near that far. I know for a fact the coonhunters I grew up around in Eureka would have called it quits and went home for a beer if they couldn't hear the dogs anymore. I'm just throwing those out there. I believe, and it's been proven, they have always passed through here, and it's no coincidence modern cameras are proving this to be the case.
Are they legal to shoot in Kansas? They are not designated as a game animal in Iowa, and, as such, are legal to shoot here in Iowa. Several have been killed here in the past few years, including one within a couple of blocks of an elementary school in a Des Moines suburb. DNR determined that it was not an escaped pet or pen raised.
Modern cameras Jason? Where are all the pictures?
Funny how you never hear about UFOs and Bigfoot sightings anymore since everyone has a camera on their phones now........
my dad has driven the roads of chase county for 50+ years. A couple years ago he was headed out chicken hunting and a mountain lion crossed in front of him. He pulled up and watched it for close to 5 mins at a very close range. When he pulled into the farmers house that lived about 2 miles up the road my dad says to him "you won't believe what i just saw".......before he could get it out the farmer goes, you seen the mountain lion down at the crossing didn't you?. I guess the farmer had seen it every couple of days for months and months. I personally have seen one in Chase county in the early 2000's as well and no one in the world will ever convivence me otherwise.
Navy pilots have captured pictures of UFOs.
Just saying...
...still amazed Kansas is the only state in the nation with a thriving mountain population but never a roadkill. Shoot, even the cat that wandered from the Black Hills to Connecticut got hit on a highway. Several have been hit in Missouri, one just across our state line and one was killed in the middle nowhere in Oklahoma.
And yet we get thousands of "I know what I seen...." reports of females with cubs. Ditto for black mountain lions where have never been documented, even historically.
We've had two lynx in Kansas, probably in history, and one of them was roadkill out near Grainfield in the middle of summer . (May have been a suicide...or not.) They'd been trapped in the Yukon and released in Colorado.
Houndsmen have killed at least two lions in Missouri. In fact, that was their first confirmation in modern times.
Missouri appears to have a female that's set up a territory. At least she's letf DNA or been photographed twice in the same general area. over a period of several years You'd think a male would wander through and they'd breed, but I'm not sure what time of year that would have to be.
“,,,,no-one in the world will ever convince me otherwise..” Are we talking mountain lions or Trump losing his election? ??
25 yrs ago my buddy and myself hunting my dads place had one come in at daylight and lay down and go to sleep thirty yards from the stand my bud was hunting. A buck came in and smelled the cat my friend shot the buck when the arrow hit the deer the cat jumped up ran down hill right under my stand freaked both of us out no one believed us but we saw it Cherokee co Okla
writer I know your stance and I know your friends with the KDWP folks and have worked with them. I understand all of that. I know me and my dad live to hunt and fish and are out and about as much as anyone, I was raised in the woods and fields as was he. We have seen exactly 2 in our combined 110 plus years on this earth. I'm not saying they are behind every tree, not saying there is even very many of them. But when I say we have seen 2 in 110 years I know what we saw and we saw them close. I've seen alot of bob cats and thousands of coyotes, we are fly by night city folk that thing every house cat and bob cat are a lion. Were they young males traveling between states? I don't know and I don't give a shit, they were mountain lions plain and simple. And again i'm not claiming there are very many nor have I seen very many, we've seen 2 in 110 years that is a pretty honest and reasonable assessment I believe. Both were in Chase county which I know your very familiar with and we both know there is habitat there that is suitable for one that is traveling and or staying either way. I admire the work you have done with the KDWP and their lion task force crew so I know why your skeptical and don't blame you. I believe you have been with them or know about tons and tons of calls they went on that was nothing more than a wild goose chase so I totally get that.
kscat...the quote was a shot at political humor, not a personal accusation. I apologize if that’s how it came across.
2007 was our first official. 2004, I think, was the OK RR track cat, Missouri had them before that.
It’s surely possible you saw one, and the more recent a sighting the higher the chances. Your family is also not known for anything but solid truth and fair dealing. You’re more believable than most because you’ve never been prone to fabrication or exaggeration.
A coyote on our farm a few weeks ago had me doing a triple-take. It’s fur was long, it was the right color and posture looked like a cat,,,then it lifted its head and it was a big male dog.
As per my relationship with Wildlife and Parks, please don’t assume I agree with everything they do simply because they do it. You can check articles on when the game warden shot a “pet” deer in front of the family, some changes in waterfowl season, mule deer management, and other issues.
Thanks for the kind words Mike. I always appreciate your writing and always look forward to reading it all. I always find your writing to be about as fair an honest as can be.
“Still amazed that Kansas is the only state in the nation with a thriving mountain lion population, but never a roadkill”
Writer.....I don’t see where guys are stating anything about a “thriving” population. Only that they, or someone they knew (and, in lots of cases, trusted their judgment about what they saw) indeed, did see one. There have been several documented sightings as well as confirmed killed lions, here in Iowa in the past 10+ years. I wouldn’t have problem believing that Kansas, with its proximity to Colorado/NM would indeed, harbor an occasional lion, even if it was just migrating/passing through.
We have a huntable population of bobcats here, and I’ve gotten trail cam pics of a few of them over the years, but I’ve yet to ever lay eyes on one here, myself, but know several non hunters who have seen and videod them in our area. I spend more time in the timber than most people I know. You would think I would have seen one by now.
I understand your skepticism. I lived in NW Oklahoma for 16 years, and know guys that would seem to see black panthers almost weekly, etc. Couldn’t convince them that what they saw was a mangy, hairless coyote. My 58 yr old buddy that has lived there his entire life, and whom I spent thousands of hours varmint hunting with. Neither one of us saw so much as a track of a lion, yet his wife and their neighbor saw one the same day, within 150 yds of them. I totally believe her, too. She knows what a mountain lion looks like.
Bodyman….by chance were you near Bunch, OK near east side of Cookson Hills WMA? I saw a few back in the early-mid 80's while on archery only controlled hunts there. That remote country holds'em.
I agree with your 2nd paragraph. Writer has a tendency to verify things only with what is recorded and accepted as "fact" or people that he knows and trusts. I work in medicine, and algorithms and treatments formally accepted as "fact" often change from year to year, just follow the American Heart Association. I too have encountered more rednecks than I can count that describe raccoon and owl screams as "big cats" or swear they saw a black panther. One guy I ran into deer hunting at Eldorado WA told me the dead deer he found was certainly a lion kill. When I asked why, he said "because there was hair everywhere! The lion just tore him apart!" He denied that the deer was buried in brush or the fact that coyotes and every form of varmint strings a deer everywhere. I think they they are incredibly elusive. Jerad Cotton, owner of West Elk Outfitters told me I was the only hunter he's ever to see a cat while hunting without the aid of hounds despite the big population of them in western Colorado. He went on to say, that without a doubt, they are watching you without you ever knowing it. On the contrary, I've spoken to multiple hunters that have killed or seen them in Idaho without dogs. In the latest article KDWPT wrote on this cat, there were several assumptions. They couldn't determine if there were multiple cats, or if the trail of photos from different cameras over 20 miles were the same cat.
Troy, if you heard the number of supposed sightings, listen to all the people that say they have seen one, or knew someone who had seen them here in the state, you would understand and think that Kansas is simply over ran with them. I doubt you could find a square mile section anywhere in the state where you could not find someone with a cougar story to tell. I often ask the people who tell me that they had seen a cougar when was the last time they saw a bobcat or a coyote in the daytime? Most if answering honestly will admit they have never seen a bobcat in the wild, rarely notice the yotes in daylight, yet they and thousands of others have a cougar sighting story to tell. I believe several folks that have told me they have seen one. Several of my friends, co-workers, and relatives included. I am not calling everyone a liar, am not denying there have been a few around, but the sheer volume of people claiming that they too have seen them, it's laughable yet sad at the same time. People simply have cougar on the brain, anything brown with a long tail that disappears into the brush or grass before they could get a picture is instantly declared a cougar. Walk into any small town coffee shop or farm and ranch related business, ask about the cougars in the area, you'll not wait long to hear a long string of testimonies of sightings and stories about people in the area who have seen them, lost livestock, horses and cattle being found torn to shreds on their backs, partially covered in sticks, grass and other debris, drug up into trees, etc. The most recent one in my area, was when one was supposedly seen stalking around within the city limits of a small nearby town in broad daylight, local residents were warned to keep their pets and children close to avoid them being hauled off by the dangerous cougar that was surely there hunting for easy prey.
74 year old Ranger from Spanish Peaks Scout ranch. His quote "They kill a ton of cats in this area every year. However i have never seen one without a dog used to send one up a tree" I have known Doug close to 30 years and he is the best mountaineer I have ever met. So when I hear about somebody seeing a big cat i just smile and think of the campfire stories from Doug when I use to work there as a high adventure guide. I wish to see one someday in the wild doing things they do, but I would also like to draw a Kansas Elk tag or win the lottery.
Trebarker- I was referring to trail cameras. These two are from Kansas
t-roy...what Randy said.
We had a game warden take a job in Wyoming and he said he got 10x the reports of cats in Kansas than where he could find a track about every day at his new location.
Thorton said he’s seen one in Kansas. I can’t prove one way or the other. But one. Trebarker. Sito, me...on and on have never seen one.
That makes one sighting for over 150 years of serious outdoorsmanship when you roll us all together.
Meanwhile, a guide in Sedan once told me he saw a couple every week. Cats with kittens, black ones, being stalked by one, horse killed by one....
Many think we have a “thriving” population.
Ok, I gotta stop and see my blood pressure meds....
I was 11 or 12 Writer. The cat(s) had been seen several times over several months by the rancher Kenneth Olsen and his brother in law, John Lackey. Vivian Olsen reported seeing 2 cats in the hay field east of their house. Kenneth loved calling and trapping bobcats and was born and died on the Ivanpah. The trap he welded for the cat had a basket in the top of it where he intended to put a pup for bait. He lost 2, bluetick hounds that year and found them both killed. He suspected the the lion was responsible judging by the wounds. They found large tracks near the creek and a bucket was placed over the most discernable one and a plaster of Paris mold was made. I think they had Rick Tush, the biologist look at it. John got in the habit of carrying a .22 Hornet and spotlighting at night after he saw it. He never made contact with it that I know of. The giant trap still sits on the north bank of the Ivanpah, about 600 yards west of where it joins the West branch of Fall River. Kenneth died of a sudden heart attack at 3 PM on December 19th of that year as he was putting calves up and never actually got to bait the trap. He and Vivian were headed to KC that evening to see their grandkids. When we saw the cat, it was about a month earlier. We were headed back to Eureka in early afternoon after eating lunch with the Olsen's after church. I was in the back seat and suddenly Dad became very animated yelling "There's that mountain lion"! I immediately lurched forward and plain as day, there running with incredible speed in front of the car, was a tan cat and a long tail rippling behind him. He looked about as big as my 110 lb lab. A second later, he darted into the north ditch that had sumac and tall bluestem mixed with young trees. Dad was pretty excited and we drove home. Before you discount my father's identification of the cat, keep in mind he was a rancher himself and had shot many coyotes out of the cab of his feed truck with his .243. To my knowledge he never shot a bobcat, but had seen plenty. He was also the foreman of the All American Canal in the 1950's and had seen several mountain lions drinking in the canal at night in his headlights. I have hunted this area since and never seen an animal like it, except for a huge bobcat that I took a shot at some years back with Kshusker. My encounter with the much larger lion in 2014 in Colorado at 46 yards confirmed what we saw when I was with my dad years earlier. The picture below is the exact spot the lion ran when we saw it in the 90's. I ranged it using Onx and came up with 210 feet that it ran in front of the car before darting into the north ditch.
Anyway, that's about all the details I remember. It's stuck in my head like it happened last week. If I'm alive in 25 years after hunting with a covid positive buddy tomorrow, my lion stories will be the same. Your responses remind me of the covid reports I was giving Writer. I'm actually on the front lines treating sick patients and you were telling me I was wrong about what I was seeing because your friends and family were experiencing different things. Now you're discounting our our experiences because you and your buddies haven't seen one. I suppose my 80% kill rate on public land bulls is nonsense as well because the average OTC kill rate in the same units is only 16% so it just can't be...
Here is my story.. Do deer climb trees? No they don't. So how did a 100 pound doe get into the crotch of a tree 10 feet plus off the ground, and had no visible marks on it. I seen it just over the fence ( which is a 100 foot right of way off of the roadway) on the southbound side of the turnpike, about a mile or so south of the Emporia service area. I called the fish and game, and a warden came out and took a few pictures. At first we surmised a high speed semi hit it and knocked it up into the tree, but no blood, no parts of vehicles, and the deer had no visible damage, and it would have had to been air born at least 150 feet, so we ruled that out. This was back in late 70's. Due to no way for us to get it down easily, it was left in the tree and never examined as far as I know. Critters, finally took care of it.
Hey, Jason, calm down and read what was written.
It clearly said I couldn’t prove one way or the other. I can’t.
I listed that sighting as only one amid four avid outdoorsmen. One seen amid 150 years of serious time outdoors - 40 each for Randy, Kyle and me (that’s short-changing me.) AND 30 for you. That was including you and including the cat you saw.
Then I compared that to what others claim to have seen.
As for Covid, go back and read the times you compared it to the flu, to a cold and how overblown it all is.
Friday-Sunday three people I know lost loved ones to Covid. A I was in a stand last night a buddy contacted me and his wife had been taken to the hospital. He was distraught for many reasons...it’s his wife, she was really struggling even when paramedics arrived. She’s the closest thing I have to a big sister. She changed my life when I was young. She’s been a rock for many of us through the years.
And he was left at home as she was taken away, unable to be with her. He can’t be surrounded by his kids and grandkids because he’s positive, too. We’re tight and I can’t go and just sit with him.
Nobody spit in the back of her throat, she’s been through the flu and colds many times.
This is nothing like either.
A friend was of the cold and flu believers recently lost her father to Covid. He was old, be had problems. The part that upset her was that he had to die with no family at his side.
That will bother her the rest of her life, thinking of her dad’s final hours.
I know lots of you would not believe me if I told you that I seen a mother and 2 cubs, in southeast Kansas back in the late 1990's, on may way to work one morning but it is true. I also know that probably even more of you would not believe me that I seen a roadrunner, the bird not the car, in Oronogo, Missouri just a couple of months ago as I was on my way to pick up my granddaughter but that is true also. I also see bobcats in the daytime multiple times per year.
Can I corroborate any of these sightings? Not the mountain lions or roadrunner and just a couple of the bobcat sightings, as I was with someone when they were seen but I don't have pictures of any. I do have a few pictures of bobcats in the daytime on my trail cameras.
Copperhead,
I believe you, but I bet I will not be believed. I have observed 17 bobcats from stand over my years of bow hunting. I harvested 4 and, sorry to say, wounded a 5th, that a friend can verify the blood trail.
I have never witnessed a cougar, but one bobcat was so huge I was thinking maybe as it walked towards me. At 30 yards he picked me out in the tree and turned and ran, and he was HUGE. But he was a bobcat.
Mike, I honestly thought this issue was settled. I thought most agreed that we have had cats traveling thru, mostly young males, for quite awhile now. I have heard a lot of people say they saw one, and most I don't believe. But guys here who have lived their lives in the country and spend a good portion of it hunting, I tend to believe them.
I have friends who have hunted as long as me and never saw a bobcat. OTH, I have only ever observed one red fox while hunting. Strange things happen out there for sure.
I do have a friend who hunts as much as I do, honest as the day is long. He claims to have had a cougar jump into a tree within 20 yards of him and stayed there for a long time, then climbed down and left without knowing he was there. Real church going man, I do believe him and it was in SE KS about 20 years ago.
FTR, I don't believe in Bigfoot;-)
I will tell this story on myself. Several years ago will deer hunting there was a doe with three fawns in the field 300 or so yards away. Suddenly they took off running. About that time a large cat appeared in the field. I looked at it through my binoculars and was convinced it was a cougar. It appeared too big to be a bobcat and it's tail appeared to be too long. Well it headed my direction and came by me at less than 20 yards. It was a very large bobcat with a longer than normal tail. If it had gone the other direction when it appeared, I would have been certain I had seen a cougar.
Then there is the lady that said she regularly a cougar in a certain area as she drove to work. This lady had lived in the country all her life, it was not as if she never saw wildlife. It just so happens that my cousin lived where this lady always saw the cougar. My cousin told stories and had pictures of the Bobcats that came into her yard on a regular basis. Is it possible that the lady did see a cougar, of course? My bet would be she was seeing one of the several bobcats that frequented the area.
X2 on the Bigfoot, Habitat.
Whether anybody believes you or not, why does it matter Mark? You know what you saw, you experienced it, get to remember it, cherish it. What anyone else believes is moot because they were not with you to prove or disprove your claim. It's not like you elevated yourself socially, got an award or recognition from the experience.
When mentioning bobcats, coyotes, UFOs and Bigfoot, my intent was not to imply that without photos it didn't happen.
Most people, let me rephrase that, the majority of people driving down the road do not pay much attention to what's going on around them other than what is happening directly in front of them or on their dash while driving. They are not looking for wildlife like many of us hunters do. A high percentage of the people that have told me they have seen cougars, saw them when driving down the road, not when they were out hunting. Most were not avid outdoorsmen or women, do not spend much time out in nature. Many admit they have never seen a bobcat in the wild, the ones that had admitted that it was only once or twice in their life time. Nearly all of them justified their claims by telling me that what they saw was long, brown, and ALWAYS finalize their description mentioning a long tail. Most say they only caught a glimpse of the animal disappearing into the brush, the sightings always seem to happen so quick that they didn't have time to take a picture or say they were driving so they couldn't mess with their phones.
Coyotes are thick, they are everywhere in the state. I've seen packs of 20+ while out hunting, see them almost daily where I live. The same people mentioned above admit they rarely if ever see them because they aren't looking for them. But they saw a cougar by gosh.
There are thousands of hunters out in the field this time of year. There are thousands of trail cameras operating 24/7/365 out there when hunters aren't afield. The hunters are walking out fields, timbered areas, draws, sitting on water, trapping across the state, sitting in trees, sitting in blinds, hunting with hounds, stalking animals out in the prairies. Thousands of farmers were out harvesting crops, working the fields, ranchers haying and tending to livestock. 99.9999% of all them will not claim to have seen a mountain lion this year. Some will flush out a bobcat, many will see coyotes and deer, pronghorns and a few elk, some will see fox and even bears are possible, most will see upland birds, some sort of wildlife, but not cougars. But average Joe and Jane citizens are seeing them all the time, in town even?
I have CD's, Memory Sticks, external hard drives, and albums full of printed trail camera pictures I have collected since buying my first trail camera. I have the same number or more of pictures I have taken manually with my camera. I know many people who operate 20+ trail cameras every year. I have captured people, farm equipment, dogs, domestic farm cats, coyotes, fox, bobcats, deer, turkey, opossums, skunks, armadillo, squirrels, mice, packrats, snakes, turtles, insects, raccoons, many species of song birds, crows, hawks, bald eagles, buzzards, owls, rain, snow and fog and floods on my cameras. BUT no bigfoot, no cougars, there have been an occasional UFO flying by that triggered them. I have set out meat scraps, deer carcasses, road kills, and even set one up on dead livestock animals a time or two. Cougars must be real finicky about what they eat, surely with cougars reported in every mile around me for the last 40 years, I would have captured one on my cameras by now if they were here. I always get a wide variety of meat eating animal pictures when I set up the predator cameras, but never mountain lions?
If I ever do see a cougar, get pictures of one with my camera or trail cameras, I will share the experience with my close family and friends. Most of all I will cherish the moment, add it to my memory bank of outdoor experiences, will have the rare uncommon event on file to look back on to enjoy again.
Copper- those would be the first cubs documented on the plains in around 80-90 years. Still none east and south of the Pine Ridge Country of NW NE.
Don’t know where that is in MO, but there’s a good roadrunner population in some places in the Ozarks, near the Arkansas border.
Kinda like mountain lions, sometimes they show up in weird places: They’ve been documented in Lawrence and our son got a great look at one in Chase County.
Really cool birds.
A friend has a pic of one on the rail around his deck, with a cigarette butt hanging from a corner of its beak.
I’ve mistaken deer for feral hogs, a big feral cat for an otter and recently the big male coyote for a mountain lion, in places where seeing the first would have been a big deal.
Copper- those would be the first cubs documented on the plains in around 80-90 years. Still none east and south of the Pine Ridge Country of NW NE.
Don’t know where that is in MO, but there’s a good roadrunner population in some places in the Ozarks, near the Arkansas border.
Kinda like mountain lions, sometimes they show up in weird places: They’ve been documented in Lawrence and our son got a great look at one in Chase County.
Really cool birds.
A friend has a pic of one on the rail around his deck, with a cigarette butt hanging from a corner of its beak.
I’ve mistaken deer for feral hogs, a big feral cat for an otter and recently the big male coyote for a mountain lion, in places where seeing the first would have been a big deal.
A friend sent this to me. Last year, Linn county. Many might think this was a cougar if they only saw it briefly.
Writer, those mountain lions wold have been about 6 miles west of the Missouri line and 13 miles North of the Oklahoma line. At that time there were a couple of people in this area that had permits for "pet mountain lions", it's possible that someone might have turned them loose or they escaped. The roadrunner was about 8 miles east of the Kansas line and 7 .5 miles north of I-44, so not too far from the Arkansas border.
Habitat, that's a fine looking bobcat. It's hard to judge it's size without anything of reference near it but it looks pretty good sized. When we first moved into our current home my family and I were out in the yard and a large female bobcat came hunting along our yard at about 11 in the morning. She was easily as big as our border collie who was 35 pounds or more.
Bobcats that size is exactly what many people have seen and believed to be MLs. Wow!
One of the best Kansas lion stories is told by Charlie Lee, KSU extension service biologist. Early one morning he answered the phone to something like, “You the (guy) who says we don’t have mountain lions in Kansas?”
Charlie tried to explain there had never been any proof in modern times.
The caller told him he’d be there in about two hours to show him one.
Sure enough, the guy arrived and took Charlie to his pickup, where Charlie saw a dead bobcat. He explained it was a bobcat and among other things, the short tail proved it.
The guy looked at Charlie like he was the dumbest toad to ever fall off a log and insisted it was just a young mountain lion and it’s tail wouldn’t be long until it was fully grown.
Did the guy by chance drive a jeep with a Ham radio sized antenna whipping around on the back end of it?
A guy that lives five miles North of me proudly told a couple tables full of us country bumpkins at the Cafe one morning that he had a family of six cougars at his place, a male, a momma, and her five cubs (yes I know the math is wrong, just repeating what his dumb ass said) could be seen from his dining room table every morning at the creek getting a drink. Of course many of the farmers chimed in with their own personal tales of the wildcats haunting their bottom lands. I asked the Roads Scholar(again spelling on purpose) if he would be willing to let me set some trail cameras up down by his creek to get some pictures of the cats. "Oh no, I don't want them disturbed", he enjoyed watching them every morning he told us. I said ok, how about I bring out my video camera that had a strong zoom lens on it, set it up by the house where they could be seen without being bothered? "Oh no, I don't like having folks around my house". Ok, I offered to show him how the video camera worked, would let him take it home with him, he could take me some film of it, film I promised I wouldn't share with anyone else, he could have it back after i viewed it, I just wanted to see the cougars. "Oh no, I don't want everyone knowing they were on his place, coming around trying to shoot them" he said. I asked why he was telling the story at the biggest gossip center of town then? He started squirming in his seat by now, making every excuse possible why he wasn't willing to share the experience with any of the coffee drinking crew. I then asked him how it was possible for him to watch the cougars drink from the creek from his coffee table every morning? "What on Earth do you mean?" he replied. Well considering how your house sets facing the North, with the creek running N-S along the West side of your house, your kitchen and dining room being in the SE corner of the house, just exactly how are you able to see the cats from the table? "Ummm, ugh" was all he could muster. Three of the old timers setting at my table about needed oxygen brought in, they got to laughing so hard at him being caught in his own lie. When I told him "BTW 2+5=7", one old man at the next table spit his dentures out when he started laughing so hard. Funny thing, that cougar guy never joined us for coffee anymore. I spoke to his wife about his story a few days later, she just shook her head and said "Randy if his lips are moving, he's lying, you can't even see the crick from our table, it's on the other side of the house!"
Only bob cat I ever shot weighed 43 pounds, furbuyer told me it was one of the biggest he had ever seen. Gave me $125 for it, I was tickled pink. Wish like hell now I would of kept it and got it mounted but I was younger and dumber back then I guess. I found one dead on the highway a few weeks later not near as big and got $100 for it. I decided I was going to stop and pick up dead coons on the highway and sell them, my wife was not amused in the least, after getting about $3 each for them I decided fur selling wasn't my thing :)
Saw this on the Colorado Parks and Wildlife page today. Lion travelled almost 600 miles since July
Record is over 1,000.
Trapped near Boulder, collared and released in RMNP. Headed east, entered Kansas near Bird City and exited near Elkhart...that’s north to south in three weeks.
Eventually killed in central NM.
Not sure the miles on the Black Hills cat road killed in Conn. wasn’t collared. They tested DNA after it died.
East edge of black hills to western stateline of Conn.....approx. 1,700 miles as the crow flies. That black hills cat would of logged a whole bunch more than 1,700 miles. He’s the winner!
From 2 days ago....looks like Dallas metro area has new resident cougar and not the over 40 kind? TPWD confirmed.
Be interesting to know the timeline on how long it took that cat...and what it would have done when it made it to the ocean.
Just turn around and run to the ocean like Forrest Gump!
Another one in Riley County.
Saw my first one early 2000’s , landowner saw it also and said “shoot it and we’ll throw it in the river .” He had lost all his guinea’s and a jack Russell . His son in law shot it and rolled it but never found the cat . I got to watch it for 2-3 minutes no doubt what it was but haters for to hate :)
Bragging about poaching is not cool. Bragging on a public Internet form is just not smart.
