Mountain Lion in Southern Indiana

[007Sean]

Then we call them cougars

Prairie lions!

 

[amlee1234]

How far is this--it was a few months ago

https://www.theindychannel.com/news...ts-after-horse-attacked-killed-in-owen-county

Owen county is just a few counties over. I believe I saw that article when it came out. I do wonder why no ones trail cams have shown anything if there really was one afoot.

 

[mowin]

I live in upstate NY, where the DEC will tell you there are no MT lion in NY. Well,hogwash. I've seen one. Now I've hunted and trapped for 40 yrs. I know a coyote from a bobcat, ECT. This was a MT Lion. I have friends that have trail cam pic of them. DEC denies it's a MT Lion, but a bobcat with a long tail. Umm ya, okay...

 

[dashman1319]

I was just listening to the Meateater podcast from a few months back about mountain lions. Sightings have apparently been up all across the midwest. I for sure believe when game wardens say there aren't any stable or reproducing populations that far east, but there certainly do seem to be the occasional cats that wander much further than we would expect. I can't remember across what all states there have been confirmed reports but I'm pretty sure it includes yours.

 

[Rammy]

I had one on my security cameras in Tn. walking thru my pasture at 2 am couple years ago. No mistaking what it was. Body length, tail , definitly a cougar and Im not the only one in my neighborhood thats seen it.
But the local game warden denies they are here. I do believe the news reported sightings in other areas of the state and had game cam pics as proof.

 

[dashman1319]

I imagine that when you're a game warden, reports of Yetis and chupacabras and extinct species get tiring, and you don't want your local population getting in a fuss about mountain lions, especially if one is just wandering through. But, denying that one popped up on a trail cam just seems strange.

 

[aart]

I imagine that when you're a game warden, reports of Yetis and chupacabras and extinct species get tiring, and you don't want your local population getting in a fuss about mountain lions, especially if one is just wandering through. But, denying that one popped up on a trail cam just seems strange.

True Dat^^^
Would be hard to follow up on all sightings, takes resources many do not have.
..and who knows what those game cam pics look like.
Male 'walkabouters' don't make for a breeding population.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

One thing that gets misinterpreted too is “no known breeding population” gets repeated as “no breeding population”... there is a difference in those two statements...

If we look at the missouri timeline I posted post 5 of this thread we can see that it’s not always young males... but just having females present doesn’t confirm a breeding population either.... I’d think it would take the confirmed presesnce of kittens/cubs

Missouri now has a dedicated team for trying to understand this phenomenon, but before this we had the same thing other states that might be going through this now, have: state biologists and game wardens that would lean on past data to explain and dismiss current changes in mountain lion populations and numbers.

For instance when asked about it in the 80s after a relative saw one our local game warden would state there were no mountain lions in the state, by the 90s he’d say it’s possible... and he was kind of ahead of his peers in that regard

Missouri has also had the occasional moose, elk and wolf show up ... coming from far away to end up here... so you never know?

 

[Howard E]

I think what MDC and other agencies are working from is "plausible deniability".

Gets really hard to deny when a specimen is shot wearing a tracking collar.

Official line WAS these were young males......on walkabout from South Dakota.....it was always South Dakota. The Black Hills must really be infested with them to be producing so many young males walking about.....not to mention the hundreds of miles of open prairie they ALL had to set out across in hopes of finding something good to eat someday. The story stretches credulity to the limit.

Elk in MO? There are now courtesy of MDC's stocking program. As I recall, they held hearings......folks in the area objected to no end......and they did it anyway. Same with river otters.......which they thought would be nice to reintroduce to take out the bullheads, carp and other trash fish in the small creeks and streams.......and which people didn't object to until they started wiping out all the fish in farm ponds and lakes. Turns out they didn't stick to the creeks. My uncle looked out the window one day to see one doing backstrokes in his swimming pool......half mile from the nearest creek.

Perhaps it is the same with mountain lions? They hold some serious accountability and liability issues if it turns out they were secretly re-introduced (natural predator for deer control) and one of them branched out from killing deer and started started killing livestock, or were to attack a child waiting for a school bus.

Ergo "plausible deniability".

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I think what MDC and other agencies are working from is "plausible deniability".

Gets really hard to deny when a specimen is shot wearing a tracking collar.

Official line WAS these were young males......on walkabout from South Dakota.....it was always South Dakota. The Black Hills must really be infested with them to be producing so many young males walking about.....not to mention the hundreds of miles of open prairie they ALL had to set out across in hopes of finding something good to eat someday. The story stretches credulity to the limit.

I wasn't intending to turn this into a discussion of Missouri's lions and how they got here... I was just using Missouri as an example of how it unfolded here... and is likely to unfold elsewhere... but quickly I'll add this:

As for the ground between the black hills, there is plenty of food between here and there... i don't think the idea is that a young cat leaves SD with a destination set for MO... it disperses as young animals do, and then ... who knows.. but they often end up a long way from the established range... turns out critters don't read range maps... I don't recall the collared cat, at the moment, but I do recall a collared wolf that showed up in MO about a decade or so ago.... anyway I've had the "MDC is stocking them' conversation 100 times at coffee shops and on tailgates... I guess it could be true, but I tend to believe it is unlikely. just FYI... I have heard the same thing rumor about the MDC stocking rattlesnakes... and there's a whole railroad bent to the conspiracy.. lol

Elk in MO? There are now courtesy of MDC's stocking program. As I recall, they held hearings......folks in the area objected to no end......and they did it anyway.

The elk I was talking about was 15-20 years before the MDC stocked them, it was just a single male elk that showed up on the west side of the state.... the moose was from longer ago than that ... it hung around for a few years.

Same with river otters.......

The otter one never made sense to me... and I agree they don't stay put, and they can be a challenge to trap.... interestingly I was talking to a state biologist about otters a few years ago, and a guy came in to report a mountain lion hanging around his calving pasture...lol

If I can remember I'll come back to this thread an share my mountain lion story, and how I became interested in the subject 30 years ago...up until that moment I thought the sighting were nonsense... I've stayed interested in the subject ever since, and have been geeked out on it you might say...