Hey guys. I know this is probably ALL over the MidwestThreads, but I just thought that you might like to know that cougars are coming back to central/southern Illinois. I wish I could get a picture up for ya but my computer is stupid. =P

Thats not good at all! you will start noticing your deer population going down if nothing is done about it!

here we go again

Not really news here. I saw one a couple years back during hunting season. It ran off before I could get a picture. [:@]I'm in west central Illinois.

stop waistin your time with the camera you can get plenty of pics after the shot

I was in my car and it was on property I couldn't hunt. I stopped got out with the camera and it took off just as I was getting ready to snap the picture.

Well dont forget, for those of us in Illinois,,, I am sure they are never in season, but I could be wrong. I saw one out by the mississippi river in august of 06. It had a der hind quarter in its mouth running down the bank. I would of loved to get a shot at him, but had a fishin rod in my hand.

Its open season on cougars in the state of Illinois as far as the DNR is concerned they are not native and can be killed. Got that word straight from the state capital DNR office cause we had one we watched catch a fawn in 06

Rumors of a cougar in Macoupin Co. IL near Gillespie Lake have been around since the early 80's. I myself have never seen one, but I know personally a few different guys that have in fact that do hunt this area. My Uncle for example lives near the lake and one evening heard sounds of what sounded like a woman screaming. He got on the phone to our local taxidermist that frequently does big game hunts and held the phone out the door so he could hear the sounds. Surprisingly it was so loud that the taxidermist confirmed that it wasn't a woman and in fact a big cat of some sort. Not a bobcat either. So who knows. If one were to come into range while hunting, Im not sure if I would take a shot or not.

I think that there have been two officially confirmed cougar sightings (including a dead one) in western Illinois. Since there are plenty of cougar sightings in Iowa and Missouri, it would make sense that they will eventually end up in Illinois, since they seem to be moving eastward.