what is this on my game-cam?

[moondog425]

Big Ole couger, seen them here in TN. They are out there.

 

[madmantrapper]

The neck in the in the second picture definitly looks feline, also the head shape in the last.

 

[BarbG]

Illinois DNR claimed there were no cougars in Illinois until the cops shot one about a mile and a half from my house here in Chicago back in 2008 (yes, right here in the middle of the city). If we occasionally have them visit, I have no doubt 85% of the BYC folks have a possibility of them visiting their location, too. Cool pix!!!

 

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

Just a few weeks ago in CT there was a Mt Lion/Cougar hit by a car. First the dept of wildlife tried to convince everyone that it was one that had been being kept as a pet. Then they got the lab results back. It's DNA belonged to a known group in CO. AND it had been eating wild caught things etc etc.
Heck a few years back a wild boar , big one too.. was hit on Rte 2 out by me. Wildlife dept said it was a "pet that escaped" Ah ha. from what I gathered the thing was filthy, gross and definitely not an escaped "pet"

Now they have a supposed "pack of coyotes" taking down 400lb bison here. Most of us in the know are thinking bs. It's a small pack of wolves.

Years ago on the South Shore of MA. while out trail riding on the power lines my then boyfriend and I came across a BIG tan cat eating a deer. We high tailed it out of there and didnt go back to that section of trails again.
They are out there. Wildlife dept doesnt want to start a frenzy. Heck just a few years ago on my way home from my moms I saw a VERY big "dog" step out into the middle of the road and just stop and state at me. Was NOT a coyote or a coy. Looked like a wolf. State denies it though

 

[zhinka]

It looks like a young couger. We have shot 4 so far this year. Last year we lost 14 yearlings and 2 horses to cougers. The last straw was when one was perched on the shed roof looking into my sons bedroom window. We now kill all on sight, game and fish dept said its a good idea.

 

[redjess1984]

It looks like a lynx. Same tail as cougar but dark tipped pointer ears like in pic and smaller so the size matches.

 

[jojosdad]

Lynx are bob tailed, same as Bobcats or Manx house cats.

 

[naomipoc]

Sure looks like a cougar or bobcat to me.

 

[mstrrlm]

I have seen linx in the wild within 15 feet and that is not one

 

[Stumpfarmer]

I was going to say it was not a cougar- I've seen them live in the wild, dead on the hood of pickup trucks in hunting season, and used to visit the last of WSU's real cougar mascots frequently- but you're far enough south that you might be seeing a young Florida Panther (Pantherus concolor coryi) and they're different from the ones up here in the upper left hand corner which are bigger and more robust, with no coat marking as adults or subadults, so that objection vanishes.

Looks like you may have a subadult cougar near you. Which is wonderful, and terrifying.


ETA Upon further reading and inspection of the photos at 250, I retract that: much too small. It's also way too big for even a big (20lb plus) feral housecat, so an escaped exotic is more likely. I am unconvinced by arguments to historic range, especially based on something like the Peterson's Field Guide- that's fine for common modern range maps, but there are archaeological specimens of Pantheris concolor in all of the temperate and montane New World, and individual animals (especially subadult and young adult males looking for vacant territory) have been tracked travelling hundreds of miles. Neither would I be the least persuaded by any argument having to do with aversion to human settlement: I've found footprints in my suburban driveway and in the dust on top of a pickup canopy (in the Olympic NF) where I had slept the night before, and they've been trapped in parks in cities.