Kitty in Our Elk Hunt Area

Bjorn · July 01, 2015, 10:18:00 PM

Craig sent me this pic today

I have never seen one in the wild.......maybe this year?

elkken · July 01, 2015, 10:35:00 PM

I have never seen one in the flesh either, but I have seen their sign and actually felt their presence on a hunt in New Mexico. That same morning a young hunter I was showing an area to saw a big cat in the area I had " felt one " ... I have a few trail cam photos of them but really would like to see one in the wild.

I have seen several bobcats in the wild and a few big ones up in Washington and a whopper in AZ while playing golf. And a few skinny ones in Texas, they are soooo cool.

Pine · July 01, 2015, 10:36:00 PM

:eek:

Homebru · July 01, 2015, 10:41:00 PM

There are lots of them out there, whether you admit it or not.

This one is just a young lad.
homebru

Soonerlongbow · July 01, 2015, 11:45:00 PM

Never seen one in the wild either but I've had a close call. Was out turkey hunting and followed a pair of bobcat tracks alongside the road. After stopping to talk to a guy driving down the hill for no more than 5 minutes. We turned around and went back the way we came and found a new set of bobcat tracks on top of mine...along with a nearly two palm sized kitty print with them. They were just around a slight bend down the hill.

Creepy!!!!

JimB · July 02, 2015, 01:26:00 AM

We have some here too.

July 02, 2015, 02:28:00 AM

My family members have seen three, three different years and three different places. I have seen one mountain lion and two bobcats. The last thing one would expect in a sleepy Iowa river bottom. I thought the circling moose was scary, a mountain lion at sunset when I am a mile from my car, made me very nervous. I did everything I could to not look like a California jogger. My neck was stiff when I got to my car from walking and looking backwards.

shreffler · July 02, 2015, 08:19:00 AM

Well there's no proof Mountain Lions have made their way to PA, but gather a room with 100 people and I'd bet anything at least 10 of them will tell you they've seen one here. I've heard some stories.

Sorta like bigfoot, I'll believe it when I see it...and when I see it I'll probably wish I hadn't...LOL!

acolobowhunter · July 02, 2015, 09:31:00 AM

They are a killing machine. I hunted them for 3 years - until I got one big enough. Got up on a lot of lions. Any place you have a good deer herd you will have lions.

bowtough · July 02, 2015, 09:37:00 AM

Yea we even hear tales of them being here in south eastern Il. I have yet to cut a track and until I do will be very skeptical! Another one of Gods beautiful creations, wish they were around here!

centaur · July 02, 2015, 10:21:00 AM

We have a bunch of them, but I have only seen one in the wild. Several years ago during elk season, a buddy and I took an afternoon fishing trip into a big canyon. On the way out, on the same trail that we went in on, we found this;

Tracks of a mama and babies were all around, and we had only been down the trail a couple of hours, so they did this in a very short amount of time. Makes you wonder how many cats have seen you that you never knew were there.

Whitetail Addict · July 02, 2015, 10:56:00 AM

We had a documented case of one passing through up by my camp in the Adirondacks a couple years ago. I forget now where they figured it came from, but it had traveled a long ways.

Bob

wingnut · July 02, 2015, 12:06:00 PM

I've seen a bunch over the years while elk hunting in Washington and Idaho. Called a young female into 8 yds one time working a herd of elk with a calf call. I don't know who was startled the most, me, the cat or the herd of elk when the cat busted out in front of them.

Mike

shreffler · July 02, 2015, 12:10:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by JimB:
We have some here too.

Now THAT'S a BIG kitty

Sam McMichael · July 02, 2015, 01:06:00 PM

To be honest, I don't think I would want to walk up on one of these kitties in the wild. It seems that looking into the face of a cougar is looking in the face of death. They just have a very sinister look about them. Beautiful but sinister.

Tree Killer · July 02, 2015, 02:29:00 PM

We can't use hounds here in Oregon for lions and bears, but they do respond to distress calls. Called this 170# tom in a couple years ago. I used a rifle. I'm 6'3" for comparison.

I jump lions every winter off fresh kills while shed hunting for buck antlers.

ranger 3 · July 02, 2015, 02:30:00 PM

Careful there Centaur, they might have been watching you as you took the picture.

Tree Killer · July 02, 2015, 02:41:00 PM

Jumped this big tom off a fresh kill and it climbed a tree 150 ft away.

Here's the buck he was feeding on...

Whitetail Addict · July 02, 2015, 04:00:00 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by Tree Killer:
We can't use hounds here in Oregon for lions and bears, but they do respond to distress calls. Called this 170# tom in a couple years ago. I used a rifle. I'm 6'3" for comparison.

I jump lions every winter off fresh kills while shed hunting for buck antlers.

Look at the paws on that cat. :eek: I wouldn't want to get slapped with one, especially with the claws they must have.

Bob

July 02, 2015, 06:50:00 PM

That last one we had around here was almost that big. It seemed to have no fear of humans, but it was very good at killing deer. It ended up being shot by game warden John Sells after a deer hunter walked up on it near some people's home and it would not leave its kill. One a few years earlier was seen by local farmers, they were all told that there were no lions in Iowa. When they were shown the tracks one game warden said, "Man it looks like a big one." A few days later a farmer 30 miles away shot one that was getting close his calves. A young tom, I think it was the same one. They seem to cover a lot of territory when they get here.