My cousin and I got a pic of a mountian lion (much to our surprise!) with our trail camera last April. The pic was taken in Conway county (central Arkansas) near the Center Ridge area. I showed it to a friend who used to be with the Game and Fish commission, who told a wildlife biologist about it. The biologist invited me to lunch along with a professor from UALR. They looked at the whole roll of pictures and confirmed immediately that it was a mt. lion. What they could not tell was whether or not it was a native lion or an escapee from a private owner (there are people out there who keep mt. lions as pets, believe it or not). Apparently, a couple of years ago, a "pet" lion was reported as escaped about 20 miles from the general area where this photo was taken. The AGFC and UALR professor wanted to visit our land and look for additional sign, but we said no. We have enough trouble with poachers on our place without the local boys hearing rumors about a mt. lion in the area. When they realized we were not going to tell them exactly where the property is, we stopped hearing from them. Fine with us. We're satisfied knowing we have (or had) a mt. lion. We have hunted this same land for 10 seasons and we have never seen or heard any sign of a mt. lion before or since. But I dont check my film alone and unarmed anymore! You can see the original pic, plus a couple of enlargements I made from it, at this link:

http://photos.yahoo.com/scrider1