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This morning I heard a guy interviewed on the radio that found a dead mountain lion in his back yard here in Illinois.There has been many reported sightings throughout the state but no lion.I believed all along that it was posible,they can travel up to 50 miles a day,the only problem is if they where native to the western states how did they get across the Mississippi river?I believe they used the rail system Here is a link to the story http://www.wqad.com/global/story.asp...ientType=Print and another link http://www.naturealmanac.com/archive/cougar/cougar.html

I hunt Southern Illinois all the time... How cool that'd be to actually see one of those? As long as I'm in my tree stand, holding my bow of course...

Deer swim the Mississippi when it gets low. I guess the mountain lions do too. I always hear about lions and panthers. Heard the testimonies but never believed.

I bait deer from illinois to missouri all the time

Nice read, thanks!!!!!

they cross the bridges

Mq1 have you heard of any sighting around the cape?I hunt the Shawnee,as well as Franklin co and know guys that have seen bobcats,but never cougars.Also where I hunt most of the time here in northern IL,I one time getting out of my stand at dark I could here something matching me step for step as I walked toward my truck,It would be a bit unnerving knowing that one of these critters where spotted in my area

I've had a couple friends swear they've seen black panthers, but I'd really have to see one to believe it.

Love having predators that can climb trees and kill me while I'm hunting for deer. I guess it's one of those situations that you better not miss, huh?

Thanks for the links...nice to know that this is less than 100 miles from where I hunt.

Here are some pics a friend sent me from another friend I guess who studied the cat

Overall Length- Tip of nose to tail-- 7'1"
Girth-- 28"
Top of front shoulder to paw-- 29"
Head Circumference-- 18 1/2"
Width of front paw-- 4"
Width of back paw-- 3"
Weight-- @ 95lbs