In another leap, the cat was up the bank on the right hand side of the road and off into the woods. They are dark reddish-or yellowish-brown dorsally, lighter ventrally, the tail tip is dark, and the fur is short, soft and unspotted. We got a clear enough look at it to even distinguish what appeared to be some some kind of scarring, or maybe it was just dirt streaks, on its upper right hind leg. Mountain lions and yes black cats. As the summer progressed she got a couple glances at the animal but still no proof. I work with someone who says that on his familys farm in Virginia (not sure exactly where, but can find out) he said there are wolves. My husband and I got a real good look at it though and there was no doubt a mountain lion in Page County Virginia! Cougars used to roam the entirety of North America, making the mountain ranges, woodland forests, and river corridors from coast to coast their homes. This evening my husband and I were driving up our country lane in western Amherst county when a large, dark brown (black?) I, on more than one occassion heard the screams of what sounded like a woman who needed help. Abbie Smith, a native of Little Hocking, Ohio, led the Mountain Lions in scoring during the regular season as she posted 13.1 points per game. This video footage of a confirmed female lion was captured in November 2015 in Obion County, Tennessee. 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If theyre still around here, during deer season, Im assuming well get more pictures from trail cameras, he said. Does anyone realy know??? Good luck, I think and hope theyre here, its interesting to consider. We have no intentions, but if they show up, they show up.. The AT Camera survey did not get a photo of a cougar during 2007. I was about 100 yards away from the cat and watched it jump up a bank and into a patch of woods that had been logged. They had their minds set and there was nothing that was going to change their minds. Thankfully we were vindicated by a clear trail cam sighting a couple years later. They were all shiny black with long tails. The animal has been determined extinct, and thats just a shame, she said. As for what a new population of mountain lions would mean for nearby residents, education is crucial. No claw marks. I am not 100% certain but I would like it if someone could identify the cats for me. This animal was a good thirty inches at the shoulder and must have weighted 150 pounds. But before all this happened I heard them calling its almost like they were planning the hunt to come. any sightings in Roanoke Co.? So the tail of the catamount continues. In 1994 a friend and I were driving up the Blue Ridge Parkway on our way to Panther Hollow. Near the paw print I found tracks of a small deer moving very fast (tracks far apart and just the point of the hoof.) Or try to cover it up.Afraid it will cause panic. I also had the luck to hear them multiple times and catch glimpses of what I thought to be mountain lions scurrying into the woods. The only confirmed mountain . "I do believe that the vast majority of people who claim to have seen them honestly believe that they saw them, that they aren't purposefully making up stories. My first thought was it was a panther that escaped from a nearby zoo. I do not know of any dogs in the area with feet that big. He said, I went out at about dusk and I was looking around my property and at the edge of the woods I saw a mountain lion with a half dead groundhog in its mouth and it was tossing it into the air and catching it.. Probably 10s of thousands across the Appalachian regions of the state. In many states, the season dates are often further broken down depending on the hunt area you plan to visit. Seems in these parts every snake they see is a copperhead (even the black with white belly ones). I told everyone the next day what I had seen and I was told there no big cats here any more. Though, they grew large quickly, and set themselves apart from the domesticated cat with ease They eventually returned back to the woods. He said he had called the county animal control and they told him he must have seen a bob cat as no mountain lions were still in our area. But I got into the woods, kept my arms high in the air, and kept making loud noises until I came upon a group of kids hiking with two adults at about 2 am. It stoped for a moment and watched us and then moved on through the woods. I made deep, loud noises and threw my hands up and used my flashlight to look large. My mother lives in Orange, and has seen a mountain lion in the past couple of weeks, as well as several years ago. Last November a bow hunter reported to the TWRA that he had shot a cougar in Carroll County. I'll take any sighting you got, just make a note of location, size and color of the animal, some context on what you where doing when you saw them (hiking a trail, hunting, chilling in your yard, ect), and any behaviors you noticed from the animal. She has really bad gashes on her front leg, shes lame. However, wildlife experts in the area have disagreed with the sightings and think people are confusing bobcats with mountain lions. Then well try to figure out what kind they are and get more evidence.. of Wildlife. For the first time in years, these cats are on the rebound and extending their range further into their historic regions. Additionally, the likelihood of mountain lions reclaiming their former territories in the mountains of Virginia is a distinct possibility. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. I nearly mastered replicating their calls. We have a pool int he yard and are outside all the time. Well, then we know theres a cougar there, Peterson said simply. Additionally, those unaccustomed to living near apex predators will need to adjust their way of thinking! I was almost back to sleep when it happened again and this time it was no house cat! I thought it was a bear at first, until I saw its long thick tail. The question is how big is the population. It does not benefit the DNR, Fish and Game Dept, etc. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. I have been compiling reported cougar sightings around the Bedford, Virginia area and will be manning a booth for them on March 8, 2008 Outdoors Show at the Bedford Armory. They like rugged terrain with forest cover. Secondly, the sightings of mountain lions are likely the result of escaped or released animals that were once captive. Use bear spray or pepper spray on mountain lions. For information call SML State Park, 540-297-6066. You'll receive your first newsletter soon! Fish and Wildlife Service removed the eastern puma from their endangered species list, declaring that the species is now extinct. A large, darkish animal approximately the height of a retriever/setter, long tail that curved at the very end, large cat-like head, and very close, prominent shoulders, that I still can see moving up and down when I think about it crossing Meetze Road. We disturbed something that ran off into the woods. We know what we saw. Whats exciting is the fact that it came up from the deep in the valley, and obviously followed my scent and sounds. In the 1940s and 1950s, people were paid bounties for mountain lions, according to Jim Williams, regional director for the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and author of "Path of the Puma." Im not sure if they really believed us but a few years ago the lady and her friend rode their horses off into the battlefield trails which begin in a field directly across from our front door. I would think by the time you get your phone/camera on, & ready, the cougars gone. Look how long it took scientists to find the okapi. But I never CLEARLY & TRULY actually encountered one until a few weeks ago! Wonder why so many big black cats ae spotted all over the country then?? An elderly man there once told me a story about a black Mountain Lion living in the area back in his younger days. When it turned around thats when I saw its long tail almost to the ground. 21 years ago Nancy Hugo published an article in Virginia Wildlife Feb 1987. No one has since today, reported seeing one. There is no reported melanistic phase of cougars or pumas in the literature. Its paw was as big as a mans face, & its head with the ears was as wide as his body. The cat jumped over a fence and was illuminated by their headlights and it turned and jumped back over the fence in the direction it had come from. He circled and hissed right up against the tent. The U.S. at the shoulder, that's nearly 3 ft. tall! The deer seemed to jump into some brush to the side of the path and the paw print seemed to be following. At first I thought it was human screams. They are very ellusive cats. After all, a three-year-old male lion was struck and killed by car in Connecticut in 2011. On Saturday, Sept 28, 2008, at 7:20am, I was on my way to Warrenton from Midland (7 miles southeast of Warrenton). Soon the large cat disappeared from sight, leaping up an 85 degree, 12-14, road-side ridge in two bounds, and with the very same physical pattern that is so common among all cats. So these sightings have been confirmed, and there is in fact at least one mountain lion roaming around in Tennessee. Lets explore what that looks like some more. Cant say what it was and hope to never see again. We made eye contact. Remember this post from February 28, 2005. Oftentimes, I camp and merely live in the outdoors. It was about the size of a friends dog, which is about 15 tall and 2 1/2 feet long. More than 300 cougar sightings have been reported in West Virginia since 1975, according to the Eastern Puma Research Network. But anyways, I just completely got off of the Mountain Lion subject. Although these wild cats are smaller than mountain lions, they are extremely good hunters. The cat was totally black with a long tail. There have been 121 mountain lion sightings in Virginia since 1970. In reply to D. Racey we would like to review your photo of the track. They acted like I had schizophrenia though admitted there have been other reports.even though they do not officially exist here. The puma can kill and drag prey up to seven times its own weight, the National Zoo said. I went back to the area for my job maybe 3 weeks later and saw nothing. I know for a fact that Mountain Lions inhabit my area! Further north, you can find mountain lions in . The good news is that because it was right beside the road, others undoubtedly saw it, too, leaving no doubt that it was indeed a mountain lion because it was much too good a view for there to be any doubt of its species. Speculating that they were mountain lions, we drove to a distance of about 250 yards away to take a second glace. As we rounded a curve in the road, we saw the cat jump out of a overhanging tree on the left hand side of the road and landed in the middle of the road. I have seen fully grown Bobcats up close, and those animals are way bigger than I had previously expected. The Tennessee Wildlife Resource Association (TWRA) confirmed that the cat, which sniffed around on the ground and in a low-hanging tree branch before looking square into the camera with its mouth wide open, was in fact a mountain lion. Unfortunately, these animals have been pushed to the brink by hunting and habitat loss, and they arent nearly as common as they used to be. "This photo has been all over the internet and Facebook for the past 18 months or so," saidMichael L. Fies, furbearer project leader for theVirginia Department of Game andInland Fisheries. Many ridges, creeks, swamps and mountains were long ago named for panthers or the colloquial term "painters," both common names in this part of the country for the cougar. What about the fact no roadkill is ever claimed to be found of a cougar? It was headed north. Lystrosaurus was one of the few terrestial species that survived the permian extinction. I think the eating is good around here for a mountain lion. 12. Thanks for any help, as plenty claim they are here also. I called the game warden, but they told me they didnt exist in this area. ", Yellowstone bison are a globally unique animal. 211 just north of Warrenton VA. I expect they will confirm puma presence. One question, which seems to be a big possiblilty based on some of the posts, is that at least some of the sightings are of escaped/released pets. A mountain lion is a wild cat ranging from two to three feet tall, with females weighing up to 120lbs and males up to 200lbs, making it the fourth largest cat in the world. A few came out decent, but I still wasnt convinced. Bobcats, yellow labs, and feral house cats are all common culprits for mountain lion mis . They have been absent from this state since the late 1800s; however, there have been a few isolated sightings. Scientists once classified over 30 subspecies of cougars based on morphological differences. It certainly is rare to get more than just a glimpse of them. My wife and I have seen two cougars in Patrick County, VA. At which point we all said a cougar and he said how did you know. John, This is interesting as authorities keep saying the big black cats dont exist unless they are transplants or escaped pets, etc??? Comments have now closed permanently, however. A mountain lion photo has been circulating on social media for more than a year, claiming people have seenmountain lions in the state, and officials are calling shenanigans on the post. Cat scratching (claw marks) in a 60 deg arc, drawing back to a point about 2.5 3 feet from the edge of the 4 foot arc. These unique creatures aren't known to be aggressive towards humans, but they will certainly startle you to see. Others have confused the Eastern mountain lion with coyotes, bobcats, or even deer. We know they were two different animals because the tail-tips were different. But even when a new population does begin to grow, LaRue said the likelihood of crossing paths with them will still be miniscule. The cat was black with a tail nearly as long as its body. These are believable people, she said. D. Racey I dont think you have to worry about your horse at all. Mountain Lions at the West Virginia Wildlife Center. Pretty much the same thing as we read here. Today is Sept. 29, 2008. Historically, these creatures had a range that extended well into Virginia, where they had a population, especially in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Theyre around. 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