Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

Last year there was several of you guy's getting pics and some info on Mt.Lions that where taken in Arkansas. I am wondering if there is any here? I know they where ruled out years ago,but seems they might be coming back?

If you have any info or tree cam pics post your info.

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

Hello Troy R.

I have allways heard about them being in Arkansas. But growing up in the woods all of my life I have never seen any proof of it. I am not saying that they are not there. Just that I have not ever seen one of them back home. I have killed plenty of Bobcat and Coon , and Deer and Turkey , and bear, and a WHOLE LOT OF BEER. But never even seen a Mtn. Lion.

hunter 338

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

i live in the northern part of la. just about 30 miles from ark. line, and i could have sworn that i saw one while i was riding the leavy road on the ouachita river. i would make a wager. that i saw a cat but it happened so fast

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

Last year someone else started a topic like this and posted a pic. It was a good topic, I guess those guys are not on here this year?

I will try to search for it again.

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

Troy R,
I hunt in East Texas, and a couple of years ago I saw my first Mt. Lion! I saw it while bow hunting, it was only 25 yards away, so I'm positive as to what I saw! Unfortunately, it saw me before I could draw my bow!
As I said, that was East Texas, but I have some good friends in Greenwood, so I'm familiar with your area! With all the game you have there, I would not doubt that you have Mountain Lions there! Many people call them "panthers," but they are Mt. Lions or cougars!

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

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

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

Impressive photos. Nice kitty!

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

Troy R ~

This cougar was photographed by a camera triggered by heat sensor by Don Scott fairly near Little Rock:

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article about Cougar Photographed in Arkansas 08/2003



KlueLass <>*~_~*<>
cougarinfo.com

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

A guy that was hunting with us this past weekend swears he saw one. This guy does not deer hunt, only hunts turkeys with his bow so he is a very serious woodsman. I have known him for several years now and have never once had a reason to doubt him. I believe he saw one.

He turkey hunts from a pop-up blind and had it cross a fresh logging road in front of him at 35 yds. When I asked him why he didn't shoot it he said that he froze up and was scared to let the cat know he was there. He said he watched it for about 5 seconds.

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

I hunt just outside of Texarkana in East Ogden were the Red and Little River come together. The farmer that leases the land told us last year he saw one a couple of times. Just 2 days ago myself and my hunting buddy saw it crossing a 4 wheeler trail about 200 yards in front of us. It appeared to be limping. We gased the 4 wheeler to try and get up to it but by the time we got there it a disapeared into some thick stuff.

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

I am in North Central AR. We just talked about this very subject last night. I have no proof of it but we have heard that AR Game and Fish are populating the Slymore WMA with some lions. Actually for whatever reason they are also re-populating the rattlesnake also.

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

I live in the Ouchita Mts in Arkansas on the way to Shady. I started a food plot a month and a half ago after a rain---and then it didn't rain for a month and I only watered a certain amount of it during that period. One side of it was bone dry and real dusty and I was noticing large paw prints imbedded. I knew they weren't bear and they were too large to be coyote, so I just didn't know what they were. In the last 2 1/2 weeks the deer and the turkeys have just dissapeared. And we have deer and turkeys in the yard everyday and evening. This morning I took a walk down our dirt road that eventually connects into Dallas (Ark). It's a forest service road that gets mostly 4 wheelers on it cause it's real rough and deserted. I went a mile or so and decided to turn around cause I hadn't seen a single deer or turkey track(which never happens, usually there's tons of tracks). As I was walking back I came to a wide turn in the road and looked 50 yds down the road and a mountain lion jumped out of one ditch and ran across the road in front of me. I saw it clear as day, with it's curly tail that looked like it was made out of spring steel. I now know why the deer and turkey are out of the area!!! Thank god I had my .357 Mag with me. It was pretty hairy walking past that spot where it had crossed, all the while staring into the dense woods and having the .357 in my hand ready to rock and roll. I never saw it again, thank god. I have no desire to kill a mountain lion but with the wife here and her only being 105 lbs I'll be keeping a very close eye on what goes on around here till I start seeing the deer and turkeys again. So for all the non-believers out there that say there's no mountain lions in Arkansas---I say there most assuredly are!!!!! Keep a close eye on your young ones when you have them out there with you in the woods!!

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

When I was in high school we kept seeing sign and sightings of lions on my folks farm. The local conservation agent was a family friend and he said we were seeing things.

Finally a neighbor farmer got a picture of one of the cats and gave it to the newspaper. When the article came out the Dept. of Conservation made a public announcement about the lions they had been monitoring in the area for the last 7 years. They didnt want to panic the cattle farmers or encourage people to hunt them.

The area Im talking about is between Mt Vernon and Springfield MO. If they are in MO they are in Arkansas!

Go Hogs!!!

Web

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

I personally have never encountered one in the wild. But I know of many people, like others here have posted, that would swear that they are here.

I don't see why not, with all the game and mountainous areas that make up Arkansas, it seems like it'd be prime habitat for the cougar.

I think they AGFC still claims that we don't have them...I know a whole bunch of "eyewitness accounts" that say we do...

I believe the people who are actually out there...over some biologist sitting in an office.

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

If you know where Demascus is, they have proof hanging on there wall. The picture was taken last year.

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

The wildlife biologist I talked with after we got our Mt. Lion pic on our trailcam (in Conway County) told me AGFC knows we have at least a few Mt. Lions in Arkansas...what they don't know is if we have any NATIVE Mt. Lions. The ones we do have (they think) are escaped "pets"...believe it or not, some people import captive Mt. Lions and every now and then some escape. These escaped lions can breed and reproduce, meaning there can be more generations of these imported lions in the woods. I understood him to be saying that AGFC does not dispute that there are Mt. Lions out there..what they say is that it is thier belief that the native species of Mt. Lion that used to live in Arkansas are gone. What we do have are probably a Florida species. The AGFC guy I talked to is Donny Harris. If you're really interested in the true AGFC opinion, I suggest you give him a call at AGFC in LR.

SC in LR

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

Anyone have any idea what the G&F would do if'n you shot one?? Would it be considered ferel or killing an endangered species? I would like an answer before I shot one, or maybe i would ask after hehe. By the way on the AGFC website it says that the Florida panther was the panther,cougar, mountain lion that was in AR.

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

I'm not sure of the penalty, but it is against the law to shoot one. This is under the closed seasons part of Wildlife regulations.HH CG

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

Here is a picture of a cat just about to pounce on a deer, not a real good photo, but you can see what was/is fixin to happen before the game cam took photo. photo taken few miles north arkansas missouri line, close to westplains.

http://www.angelfire.com/ky3/sparkthrower/bigcat_and_deer1.jpg

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[Deleted by Admins]

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

chdeerbio good site. yeah arkansas had lots of dots!:D

RE: Any MT.Lion's in Arkansas?
 

This story was on the news last night....

The father of a Channel 5 employee put out a motion-sensitive camera to capture photos of wildlife near his home just north of Van Buren. When the family developed the film, they found a picture of what they think is a mountain lion.

"We expected to see a few deer, a few dogs and some squirrels," said Stacy Gustafson. "But we didn't expect a big cat."

The question is, what kind of big cat is the animal that's seen in the picture taken near Van Buren.

"We do not believe we have a breeding population of wild mountain lions in the state," said Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Regional Wildlife Supervisor Randall Bullington. "In relation to the size of the rock and the leaves and the trees in the background, it just doesn't appear to be that big of an animal. It's more probably the size of a bobcat."

But retired game warden Bryce Parker-- who owns both a mountain lion and a bobcat-- disagrees.

"A bobcat only weighs 35 pounds, and this one [in the picture] looks like it weighs at lease 75 to 80 pounds," Parker said. "As long and lanky as it is, and it looks like a long tail, it really looks like a mountain lion."

While the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission says there are no wild mountain lions in the state, since 1997 there have been at lease eight cases of pet mountain lions escaping or being intentionally released. All eight of those mountain lions were either shot or recaptured.

"Well I think they should acknowledge the fact that this might not be a pet that has just gotten loose from the owner or someone has released it," Stacy said. "They need to know that there might actually be a danger."

The Arkansas Game and Fish commission estimates that there are about 100 to 150 pet mountain lions in the state. As for wild mountain lions here, Bullington says there really is no concern.


Notice the G&F official saying it was a bobcat....WHAT A CROCK!

I saw the picture, there was absolutely NO DOUBT that was a mountain lion.