Mountain Lion South of Madison, WI!

ScottM

ScottM

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iBazinga!
I read last month that a mountain lion aka cougar had been sighted south of Madison, WI in the town of Milton. That is just north of the KJVL airport BTW. I am very excited to hear that these wonderful big cats are thriving once again, and a little afraid to go bike riding on the trail up there.

Genetic testing was done of some blood that was found near some of the tracks and it has confirmed that this is not someone's pet that got out of the yard it is a real wild mountain lion!!

Genetic testing shows a large cat seen in the Milton area is likely the first wild cougar confirmed in Wisconsin in a century, and it probably migrated from South Dakota, state officials say.

The wildlife experts from the Department of Natural Resources said Wednesday that genetic analysis from a blood and urine sample gave evidence the cougar apparently came from the Black Hills population of the big cats, migrating some 700 miles to southern Wisconsin.
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-ap-wi-cougarsightings,1,1316979.story
 
smigaldi said:
Genetic testing was done of some blood that was found near some of the tracks and it has confirmed that this is not someone's pet that got out of the yard it is a real wild mountain lion!!
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You WI boys must be real bad***es if you keep mountain lions in your yard!
 
A few years ago I saw one crossing the road at twilight on the other side of our tracks. Couldn't believe it. I've seen bobcats here, but this was no bobcat. :no: It was bigger and had a long tail. About a week later a hunter who was up in a deer stand on the other side of our tracks saw one walk directly below him. He was so scared to move that he wouldn't leave the stand and his friend finally came looking for him later. This is why I don't go walking in our woods alone. :no:
 
We have quite a few of them in So Cal. One of the best mountain lion stories I've heard was in the papers a few years back.

This woman was sleeping in her bedroom, the house abutting the Angeles National Forest, when she was awoken by a crash. A big cat had jumped through her bedroom window, jumped at the mirror over the dresser broke it then jumped back out the window.

The best guess is that it was a male cat during mating season, who saw his reflection in the moonlight on the window and attacked, then saw it in the mirror.

I still wonder how long it took for her to get back to sleep.

Joe
 
Not that it's the same...when we drove in to the Grand Canyon late at night 20 some years ago the car lights picked up the pack of dogs crossing the road, only I realized they were wolves.

That was sumthin' different to a city kid.
 
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mikea said:
Not that it's the same...when we drove in to the Grand Canyon late at night 20 some years ago the car lights picked up the pack of dogs crossing the road, only I realized they were wolves.

That was sumthn' different to a city kid.
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Where you and I live we have coyotes, they can be vicious as well!
 
Diana said:
A few years ago I saw one crossing the road at twilight on the other side of our tracks. Couldn't believe it. I've seen bobcats here, but this was no bobcat. :no: It was bigger and had a long tail. About a week later a hunter who was up in a deer stand on the other side of our tracks saw one walk directly below him. He was so scared to move that he wouldn't leave the stand and his friend finally came looking for him later. This is why I don't go walking in our woods alone. :no:
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They generally want as much to do with you as you want to do with them. About the only people they confront regularly around here are kids running around like idiots that look like an easy meal and joggers that bend over to tie their shoes. I know of a few pets that got turned into snacks because the owners were being dumb. Be aware of your surroundings, make noise. If you encounter one, face them, don't turn your back, stay upright, make noise, make yourself look big, don't panic and back away slowly. Carrying a big stick probably isn't a bad idea either.

In addition to a 6ft hiking stick, I personally leave a few carabiners loose on my pack that make noise as I'm hiking. I haven't seen a bear, mountain lion and very few deer close by since I started that even though I've seen indications of them being there very recently including seeing the occasional derrier as they head for the horizon. It always makes me wonder how many are there that I don't see.

I've seen 2 mountain lions in the back country and heard another one on a ridge paralleling my path of travel one evening. They'll scare the stuffing out of you even if all they do is sit calmly in a tree watching you as you back out of the area. An encounter can make for a creepy night when solo backpacking no matter how far you've gone since seeing the thing. Oveactive imaginations run wild at the slightest noise.

Coyote's are a daily thing around here on the local hiking trail. No biggie. They keep their distance.
Bear tracks inches outside your tent door in the morning just reinforce the food in two separate trees far away from your campsite as well as not cooking too close by.

I'll take wildlife over people anyday. Animals are mostly predictable and honest.
 
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fgcason said:
In addition to a 6ft hiking stick, I personally leave a few carabiners loose on my pack that make noise as I'm hiking.
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That reminds of that joke.

Grizzly and black bears:

Black bears are smaller and eat berries. You can tell when they are in the area by looking at poop on the ground and seeing the berry seed in it. Hikers hsould wear little bells that will help you to scare off the black bears.

Grizzly bears are much bigger and can be identified as being in the area by looking at the poop on the ground and seeing little bells in it.
 
And if you should be so unlucky as to be actually ATTACKED by a mountain lion...


FIGHT BACK.

While that isn't good advice for a number of other critters, it IS good advice for mountain lion attacks. You can, and should, fight them off. You put up a good fight, they might well break off the attack.
 
mikea said:
Not that it's the same...when we drove in to the Grand Canyon late at night 20 some years ago the car lights picked up the pack of dogs crossing the road, only I realized they were wolves.

That was sumthin' different to a city kid.
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That reminds me of a story a little off topic. We were in Rocky Mountain National Park, and planned to take a moonlight drive up Old Fall River Road (RMNP has two roads to get up to the summit - Trail Ridge Road, which is a two lane paved road, and Old Fall River Road, which is a one way (up) dirt and gravel road.)

The goal was to see the moonlight shine off the permanent snow fields above the tree line. Unfortunately it was overcast, so there was very little natural light. Still, we went up to see what we could see.

Above the treeline we made a turn and stopped in front of a large herd of elk standing on the road. I turned off the headlights so as to not startle the elk, and just tried to watch them. I then pulled out my newly-purchased night vision binoculars from Cabellas. Of course, you can't use NVGs through windshield glass, so I opened the door and got out to take a good look. As I was trying to focus, I heard a snort and shuffling close to me at about my 7:00 position. :hairraise:

I don't know exactly what that was (though I suspect it was another elk), but I never scrambled faster to get in the car in my life. I made a great impression on my wife and daughter though. :no:
 
A friend of mine used to have a pet Leopard. I forget how many pounds of beef the thing ate per day. This was along time ago when they were legal to own.
 
smigaldi said:
That reminds of that joke.

Grizzly and black bears:

Black bears are smaller and eat berries. You can tell when they are in the area by looking at poop on the ground and seeing the berry seed in it. Hikers hsould wear little bells that will help you to scare off the black bears.

Grizzly bears are much bigger and can be identified as being in the area by looking at the poop on the ground and seeing little bells in it.
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Or, kick the bear in the rear end and climb a tree. If it climbs up after you it's a Black Bear. If t shakes you out of the tree it's a Grizzly.
 
Anthony said:
A friend of mine used to have a pet Leopard. I forget how many pounds of beef the thing ate per day. This was along time ago when they were legal to own.
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I had a high school chum who had a pet ocelot.

One day while I was visiting, looking at the nearby cat he quietly said, "Mom. It's stalking." :hairraise:

Was dat a bad ting?
 
Coyotes are all over. They are on the grounds at Millville (MIV). They occasionally get into New York City (from someplace else in NJ). I really don't know how they get across the river. Maybe take the PATH?:dunno:
 
nddons said:
As I was trying to focus, I heard a snort and shuffling close to me at about my 7:00 position. :hairraise:
I don't know exactly what that was (though I suspect it was another elk), but I never scrambled faster to get in the car in my life.
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Just wait until that kind of thing happens to you on a moonless night..while on foot...alone...deep in the dense forest...well off the beaten paths...three days hike from the trailhead..with an overactive imagination. :hairraise: :hairraise: :hairraise: There's nowhere to run or hide. (Hint: After a few minutes of silence with your back against a tree, turn your flashlight off because it just casts shadows that you are convinced are unidentifiable monsters waiting to get you) :yes:
 
This is what guards our farm during the week. :eek:
 

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smigaldi said:
That reminds of that joke.

Grizzly and black bears:

Black bears are smaller and eat berries. You can tell when they are in the area by looking at poop on the ground and seeing the berry seed in it. Hikers hsould wear little bells that will help you to scare off the black bears.

Grizzly bears are much bigger and can be identified as being in the area by looking at the poop on the ground and seeing little bells in it.
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Kaye said:
This is what guards our farm during the week. :eek:
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CJones said:
That's one funny looking dog! ;)
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Would you like it in white?

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2008/03/31/polar-bears.html?ref=rss
 
Years ago, when I was a rookie, dispatch decided to mess with me and sent me on a call looking for a cat lost in the city park at 1am. They described it as a "calico" colored large cat named "Kitty" and the owner was worried about it getting out of the house because it wasn't an outside cat.

I was a little put out about being sent to look for a cat for crying out loud, but I went. As I turned a corner in the middle of the park, my headlights swept across something on one of the picnic tables. I backed up for a better look. Found the cat...it was a full grown tiger...stretched out on the table looking like he owned the place. Which at the moment, he did, because there was no way I was getting out of the car to retrieve the "kitty"!:hairraise:

What I didn't know was that there was a wildlife rescue center outside of town where Kitty lived, and this wasn't the first time he'd gotten out. He liked playing in the park. :)
 
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Asked a ranger in the southern colorado rockies if carrying a pistol or pepper spray would be a good idea with mountain lions around and he said no. When asked why he said that because of the way they like to hunt "YOU'LL NEVER SEE THE ONE THAT GETS YOU".

That put an end to my twilight strolls and even now in Iowa where lions have been sighted I check my 6 every quarter mile during my runs on the priairie trail unless I have my dogs with me in which case I count my dogs every quarter mile.

MM
 
wby0nder said:
Asked a ranger in the southern colorado rockies if carrying a pistol or pepper spray would be a good idea with mountain lions around and he said no. When asked why he said that because of the way they like to hunt "YOU'LL NEVER SEE THE ONE THAT GETS YOU".

That put an end to my twilight strolls and even now in Iowa where lions have been sighted I check my 6 every quarter mile during my runs on the priairie trail unless I have my dogs with me in which case I count my dogs every quarter mile.

MM
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I kept my eyes open extra wide while deer hunting near Marshalltown this past January after I saw this:

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The footprint to the right is mine from the day before - Size 13 hunting boot. I also noticed that the numerous turkeys I had been seeing in the area all week were pretty scarce after I found these tracks one morning.
 
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CJones said:
I kept my eyes open extra wide while deer hunting near Marshalltown this past January after I saw this:

main.php


The footprint to the right is mine from the day before - Size 13 hunting boot. I also noticed that the numerous turkeys I had been seeing in the area all week were pretty scarce after I found these tracks one morning.
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Chris, You are giving me the creeps and I'm safe IN my house reading this!

I'm not likeing this NOT being on the top of the food chain any more.

"Honey, did you get the mail today? Thats OK, I'll grab the flashlight and run out and get it"

WAM! Fangs in the neck!

MM
 
Don't worry, da Chicago cops got him!
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Yeah, and he'll be voting in the next Mayoral election too.
 
mikea said:
041408cougar_cst_feed_20080414_20_49_33_277-282-400.imageContent

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/894202,cougar041408.article

Sounds like it followed the L tracks from up in the North burbs.
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smigaldi said:
How sad! what a cute kitty!

:(:(:(:(:(:(

I want one!!
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I thought of this in the first place but didn't mention it.

Can you guess?

There is an outcry that they shouldn't have shot the poor kitty. I'm sure this really disrupted the latte drinking in that upscale neighborhood.


They're checking to see if it was someone's pet!
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/894573,CST-NWS-cougar15.article
 
Mike, there's nothing wrong with wanting them to have tried to knock it down, first - unfortunately the circumstances didn't allow for it (the article said it was becoming aggressive to the officers), but still that's a reasonable thing to want to happen. There's nothing shameful about wanting that.

I have to say, quite to the contrary, I'd have a problem with "shoot to kill" being the first and only option, officer safety standards excepting. Got no problem with responding lethally if the officers or others are at risk.

If I've misunderstood the tone of your post, I apologize.
 
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