This same discussion came up at our camp last week during bear season. My cousin told me that while he was on his lion hunt in Idaho and talking to the outfitter, the outfitter claimed that cougars have a huge home range. When they cut a track, if it is too old to follow, they keep checking the area. It usually takes about 5 days for a male lion to complete its circle of its home range. And this is in an area where lions exist in a huntable population. I don't discount the possibility of cougars in PA or NY or any other of the north eastern states. With the snow over the 3 day bear season, 3 of us in camp did cut several coyote tracks and a pair of bobcat tracks. The bobcat tracks were from 2 cats - probably a mated pair. (I don't know when their mating season is). But they were traveling together. And the tracks were no where near the size of the ones in this post but very similar in appearance.
I know it would be a real pi**ing contest in court if someone shot one here. The PGC claims that if an animal is not listed as a game animal nor on the unprotected list, it is protected. So a cougar in PA could not be legally shot. On the other hand, if the PGC claims they do not exist in PA how could someone shoot something that doesn't exist?? A Pandora's box it seems.