Ya'll just keep 'em over there... I'm gonna petition for a BIIIIG fence to run along the Indiana/Illinois border... Man, if we get mtn. lions over here, I'll NEVER walk through the woods alone again. [:-]

Here in Missouri...the thing that sticks out seems to be the fact that no females have been discovered.....just males. The thinking being lone young males are pushed off the exisitng dominant males territory...left to travel and fend for themselves....these young cats are oftern forced to eat road kill..(maybe why many have been car struck). Seems they follow river basins and drainage areas..knowing game has to seek water. I saw one in South Texas a few years back...a fleeting image..but definitely a cat...too big to be an ocelot...(another scarce cat in S Texas)..and too long to be a bobcat....they are a majestic animal....

Three years ago, I was getting ready to duck hunt at Ft. Cobb lake in SW Oklahoma. My duck hunting partner backed out on me at the last second. I got to the lake around 4am and decided to try a new spot. From where I parked my car, it was about a 300 yard walk down to the lake. I decided to walk down and check it out before setting up. The first half of the walk was through some 8 foot tall weeds with a narrow path leading to the lake. The last half of the walk was through some huge dead trees all the way to the lake. It was about 20 degrees, overcast and dead calm. I figured it would be the perfect day to hunt ducks!

So, I grab my flashlight and leave my 12 guage in the car. I grabbed my .32 Colt pistol and stuck it in my jacket. I had a run in with some weirdo's the last time I hunted so I figured I would carry my pistol. So, I'm walking down to the lake and am walking through the weeds. I call them weeds, they're really like some sort of narrow tree and they're dense. I can see my breath and hear my feet crunching leaves. I start thinking I'm hearing an extra crunch or a snap every once in a while. I stopped several times and turned around shining my light around and didn't see anything. I got to the area where the big dead trees were and it was pitch black. I was walking along and I kept thinking I was hearing something. I figured my mind was starting to play tricks on me. I heard an owl off in the distance. Normally, I'm not afraid of the dark and being alone doesn't bother me, but I was really starting to freak out. I stopped walking suddenly and heard a light crunch behind me. I decided to get out of there and head back to the car. I did a 180 and started walking out. I made it about 10 feet and I heard what sounded like something big climbing a nearby tree and a low growl. Every hair on my body was standing straight up and I could feel my heart pounding. I shined my light around frantically and up in a tree no more than 15 feet away was a mountain lion sitting on a big branch. I could see the fur and the long tail. He was probably close to 100 pounds. As soon as my light hit his face, he let out this terrible sounding scream like roar. I'd never heard anything like it before. There was steam coming out of his mouth. Had I not gone to the bathroom that morning, I surely would have soiled myself. It startled me so bad that I dropped my flashlight. I fumbled around for my gun. I pulled it out and started blasting. I shot 5 rounds off and grabbed my light. I saw him running away towards my car. I only had three rounds left and was hoping that he wasn't waiting in the weeds for me. It seemed like an eternity walking back to the car. It was dead calm and I could hear my heart pounding. I had the gun out and the light shining everywhere. If a mouse had farted, I surely would have blown him away. I made it back to the car just fine and I never saw him again.

I called the wildlife department and was curious if somebody had a lion escape from a private zoo or something. They told me that there had been mtn. lions in Oklahoma for a long time and that we have panthers too. I had absolutely no idea. I thought they were all up in the rockies. I have never been more scared in my life.

Then this year for the 4th of July, my wife and I were going camping with our travel trailer at Thunderbird lake SE of OKC. My dad lives about 15 miles SE of town on 15 acres. I called to ask if I could get some firewood. He wasn't home, but told us where the wood was. I drove up over a hill on the back part of the property and my wife spotted it first. Definately a mountain lion and he was booking it into the woods. We only saw him for a few seconds, but I would say he was 70 or 80 pounds. I was nervous after my last encounter but had no troubles loading wood. I looked around for some tracks but it was all grass.

I really started looking into mountain lions after this. I've read that there are mountain lions in every single state except Hawaii. They are more numerous now than they were before mankind even arrived in N. America. They can travel up to 100 miles in one night! A year or two ago, there was a lion hit by a train in northern Oklahoma in a town called Red Rock. It had a tracking collar on it and the collar had been placed on the lion in S. Dakota 6 months earlier. From there, they tracked it into Wyoming and the collar stopped functioning. They it turned up dead in Oklahoma. Pretty crazy. Matt

There has been a lot of sightings in and around Omaha lately. They even caught one earlier this year and put it in our zoo. Another one was hit on the interstate between Omaha and Lincoln. That's two confirmed and many others "sighted." I am sure that they are here, although I have never seen one myself. I believe that they are all males also. From what I understand, the young males get chased out of their home territory when they are old enough and it seems as though they just keep running South.

Well, that would make sense (all males) since the population doesn't seem to be growing anywhere... I don't know whether we have had sigtings here in Indiana or not... it may be better if I never know.

"Ya'll just keep 'em over there... I'm gonna petition for a BIIIIG fence to run along the Indiana/Illinois border... Man, if we get mtn. lions over here, I'll NEVER walk through the woods alone again"


You do that, and I'll have one put up on the Indiana/Ohio border...just to keep some psycho ex's over there..

deleted by uncle matt

Okay, I was never really concerned about this until last weekend. I live about 45 min. north of Carbondale and hunt about 35 miles to the west of where I live. Last weekend I was talking with my uncle (I hunt on his ground) and apparently a guy that hunts about 1/8 of a mile from me claims he has seen a Cougar/Mountain Lion, whatever. I know there's a few bobcats in the area as I've heard of several sightings plus trail cam photos, so I was hoping "this guy" just didn't know his bean and mistakeningly thought a cougar was a bobcat. But then, talking to my dad tonight (he secured quail grounds a little further west of where I hunt), my dad said that the guy we can quail hunt with has trail cam photos of bob cats and has seen a mountain lion too! So now, I'm freaking out a little bit, to say the least! I hope to hell that I don't come in contact with one of these big MFer's while I'm bowhunting! Gonna be a loooooong walk into the stand tomorrow morning! [&o] Wish me luck! haha

There have been a few big cats seen in my area. Not a population explosion by any means, but they do exist. Word is they were panthers. It was much too large for a bobcat which is morte abundant around here.

They found the body of one over on the west side of Omaha, Nebraska last week. It was lying on the side of the road, they think it was hit by a vehicle. They're not sure if it's the same one that has been sighted at least 4 times over the last month. Here in western Iowa with all the deer we have it wouldn't surprise at all if they are here. Though I haven't heard of any females being found, only young males that the DNR and so called wildlife experts think have been run out of their home range by development or chased off by dominant males.