what is this on my game-cam?

[ChicKat]

Quote:
Those who think it is a cougar--young, miniature or otherwise--should probably look at the GA location of the OP. This is not anyplace that would be in cougar or Florida Panther territory for starters. Apparently there is an abundance of wildlife but cougars aren't going to be part of it. I'd be surprised if dinahmoe were to even capture a bear on the game cam.

BTW, my comment inre to the dog looking like a mt. lion. If that animal were seen at a glance, running through the underbrush--especially with a chicken in its mouth--it could very well be misidentified as a mt. lion by someone not used to seeing them and with a bit of suggestion. It has the right coloring and size. IMHO that kind of thing accounts for most of the mt. lion sightings where they don't exist.

http://www.cougarnet.org/bigpicture.html

Just FYI, if you look at the western boarder of GA on the above map there is an established population of cougar. In the OP one picture does look like a fox, however, the tail in the final picture is quite un fox-like.

Folks thinking about -- Chupacabras -- no they have a tail like a rat or a lizard. :O) LOL

Thanks dinahmoe for all your efforts to keep us updated on your Game Cam!

 

[drumstick diva]

ekemily - not quite a mountain lion maybe a Rhodesian Ridgeback, they hunt lions. Why would he be there unless he KNEW lions were in the area? Okay maybe he was hungry and had a few chickens but, he was looking for the mt.lions.

 

[LaBaze]

I think it looks like a very large bird possibly a falcon or hawk.

 

[drumstick diva]

I think it's a bald eagle since the head is much lighter than the body.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

Cool thread!!!

 

[aprophet]

Quote:
Wow, were the fox and the 'possum in the same frame? Were they ignoring one another or was one hungry? It must be a pretty heavily traveled game trail where you have the camera set up. Very cool!

If you look behind the critters the woods area is kina funneling down tighter it is just like a funnel out in the woods , that and there is probably a waterway nearby the chickens are much like a bait staion to "fence" down the area just a little more and a coupla snares would work really well behind the cage that is set

 

[kimf]

If you were a tad closer to FL I would say it's a FL panther! Sure looks like one!!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Quote:
I've hunted and fished in the wilds of NYS for 60 of my 72 years and have also " heard numerous reports of mountain lions here" and they've all proved to be false--somebody saw something and it turned out not to be a mt lion. I even was led to "Mt lion tracks" in the snow by a neighbor but on close inspection you could see toe nails--coyote. Other reports are always by someone who knows someone whose brother's uncle's cousin saw one. It is always so far back that it is impossible to chase down. I know a couple of DEC wildlife people that are getting tired of denying they are here or that the DEC stocked some to keep the deer herd under control. Trust me, the area where I live is wild enough to provide cover and food for a few mt. lions if they are out there but there are no confirmed sightings or kills that would prove it.

As I've said before, I'd love confirmed reports that mt lions are breeding in the northeastern and Atlantic states but it just isn't happening. In this day and age, with everyone and his brother having game cams out someone at some point should have captured a series of photos of them if they are actually there. Thus far it hasn't happened. BTW, I watched a Nation Geographic piece on the Appalachian Trail and they have game cams on the trail all through VA, NC, SC, NJ, NY and GA--they have animal photos of cows, pigs, deer, wild horses, coyotes, foxes, bears, even feral dogs and cats--no Mt Lions. You'd think they'd get at least one. To my knowledge even organizations like CougarQuest that are actively looking for them haven't anything but hearsay proof either. It would seem that eastern Mt lions are the Sasquatch or UFO of the animal world--people are sure they're there and claim to have seen them but there is no hard evidence. Or, like the one in CT, they prove to be a transient. Or a freed pet--NYS had one a couple of years ago that DNA showed to be of South America in origin. And, like Sasquatch and UFO sightings those that are convinced they're here are paranoid about not being believed and figure it is some big government cover-up.

"(Vermont Fish and Game Biologist) Blodgett, however, keeps an open mind. “On occasion, some of the sightings are very credible,” he says. “These sightings could be explained by the exotic pet trade, which is ubiquitous in the United States. It’s not beyond belief that some of these animals could have been purchased and escaped.”

Still, a mature mountain lion and two cubs apparently were sighted in Craftsbury, Vt., during the winter of 1993-‘94. Their scat contained fur that Fish & Wildlife officials determined, through microscopic analysis, to be that of a catamount."

This is the only tangible proof of Vermont mountain lions. Though there are numerous sightings in the hill regions between Woodbury and Craftsbury each year the Fish & Game is leaning toward exotic animals release opposed to a viable reproducing population.

And again in Maine:

"Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife reports tracks, droppings and fur from catamounts in that state and neighboring New Brunswick. In 1997, Massachusetts biologists found scat near the Quabbin Reservoir. DNA analysis proved it was from a mountain lion, but some officials suspect it was a domesticated animal that had escaped."

Sited from: http://northernwoodlands.org/outside_story/article/some_suspects_in_on-going_catamount_investigation

 

[dretd]

Quote:
Those who think it is a cougar--young, miniature or otherwise--should probably look at the GA location of the OP. This is not anyplace that would be in cougar or Florida Panther territory for starters. Apparently there is an abundance of wildlife but cougars aren't going to be part of it. I'd be surprised if dinahmoe were to even capture a bear on the game cam.

BTW, my comment inre to the dog looking like a mt. lion. If that animal were seen at a glance, running through the underbrush--especially with a chicken in its mouth--it could very well be misidentified as a mt. lion by someone not used to seeing them and with a bit of suggestion. It has the right coloring and size. IMHO that kind of thing accounts for most of the mt. lion sightings where they don't exist.

http://www.cougarnet.org/bigpicture.html

Just FYI, if you look at the western boarder of GA on the above map there is an established population of cougar. In the OP one picture does look like a fox, however, the tail in the final picture is quite un fox-like.

Folks thinking about -- Chupacabras -- no they have a tail like a rat or a lizard. :O) LOL

Thanks dinahmoe for all your efforts to keep us updated on your Game Cam!

ChiKat, thanks for the link-very interesting read. Point of clarification, the way I read the map the dot in Georgia is blue which is labeled as a Class I confirmationhoto inlcuding video, dead or captured body or DNA evidence from scat, hair etc... So this Class I confrimation could easily have been from a feral/escaped animal or transient going walkabout.

My Hubby wants it to be a Chupacabra

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
I don't know about the one in GA but the one they have listed in NYS turned out to be of South American in origin--a released exotic pet. Plus from the information on the page it would seem that those blue and red dots don't indicate an "established population of cougar" just sightings or evidence. Apparently too, they need an update since they don't list the one that was killed in CT this spring. However, that one wasn't a resident cat but one that wandered in from Dakota and had been sighted in Minn and NY along it's 2 year trek. Also OP is on the other side of the state from that spot which is, I assume, in the Appalachians--a more cat friendly area.
The point is the area of OP is not a place were one would expect to find cougars--there is neither the habitat nor the prey for them (note there have been no deer in the pictures). This is GA not Utah, Montana or the Dakotas. The odds of it being one is so small as to make it extremely improbable. Actually that area is not even in their historic range.