I have found alot of deer kills but its hard to say what did the killing. They coyotes usually make short work of any kills in my area. They are usually pretty chewed up by time I find them.

Unfortunately I have alot of "hunters" in my area that will shoot a deer then see what it is and leave it lay if it is not big enough. I found one of these opening day of shot gun season this year and I went back to the same spot a few days later with the intention of setting up for coyotes. The whole deer was gone. There was nothing but hair and a leg left.

I have seen black bear in Delevan, Machias, and Humphrey NY - none of these locations have an open bear season though. I know black bear are fully capable of killing a deer but I don't think it is all that common. I have alot of Black Bear around my hunting cabin in St.Marys PA and they cause more irritation than anything. They break into my shed to get at dog food and they steal all my bird feeders for the sunflower seeds. I ran out and fired a shotgun in the air one night to chase a good sized black bear off and then next morning there were muddy bear prints all over my deck and screen door.

Bears don't make me that nervous when I see them because more often than not when they notice you they get outa there in a hurry. Coyote's on the other hand can be pretty bold. I called in three of them one evning but they would not come out of the wood line to get a shot off. I started getting dark so I packed up and strated walking out. Evertime I turned around I could see a couple pairs of eyes with my flash light following me back to the car. That make you wonder if they are just currious or if they were set on getting dinner no matter what.

You have got to figure that when you call in a coyote they think they are getting a free meal and they can't be that happy when they don't find one.

To answer your question CharlieP - I don't know if I ever saw a cougar kill. I have a neighbor that claims to have found very large cat tracks in the creek bed behind his home and then I have the info that other people have told me some of them credible and others Not so much.

What gets me is the people that mistake a golden retriever for a cougar. My uncle killed a cougar with a bow in ID and got a full body mount done. I will post a picture of that as soon as possible. The size of these animals make it a bit hard to mistake one for a dog.

Talk to ya later.