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NYS DEC did release several lynx with tracking collars into the high peaks area in the 1980"s. One of the few things they admitted to. Don't think any of the lynx made it more than a year.
They need lots of room. One was tracked from northern Utah, through Wyoming, then through Idaho, into Canada before they lost it because the GPS collar came off. They did get a trail cam of it and some hair samples this last spring in Utah again.

Seems that is her normal route and migration!
 
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I was chased out of the saranac river near Lake Placid NY, by a black bear. Don't know what he had in mind, but I didn't stick around to find out, and he didn't pursue me very far.

On the cougar subject, I saw a juvenile cross the road in front of my car 2 years ago. Rural upstate NY. The state says they're not here, but I beg to differ. I'm. Not prone to exaggeration and nothing else looks like a cougar. Too big for a bobcat, with a tail that would have touched the ground had the animal not had the tip curled up in a J shape

My friends and co workers didn't really believe me, but that fine.

Fortunately, I've never been stalk by a cougar.
1965 and I'm going to forestry college 13 miles north of Saranac Lake, NY. Many village people saw a Cougar or as they called it a Mountain Lion, going through the town. These folks knew what they were seeing and the DEC denied it was possible. I trapped Mink back then and only got $8 a pelt, old memories.
 
Hey Colonial just ask the Game Commission there are no cougars, mountain lions, or pumas in Pennsyltucky!

I had been finding roadkilled Forida Panthers as far north as Starke, in NE FL, and hearing from from other experienced outdoorspeople about ther live encounters in the Big Bend area within 50 miles of Tallahassee, for 30+ years before a friend finally pinned down a FL FWC official in the early 2000's who admitted that there were populations of cats in FL north of the publicized ones in the Everglades and Big Cyress, and that big mature toms occasionally roamed north through the St. John's River drainage possibly as far north as Jacksonville.
I have also heard from friends in Pittsburgh who hunt in the mountains north of there stories that let me know the famed "Nittany Lion" (the actual cat, NOT the football team!) Is NOT extinct...
 
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One time I was deer hunting up in the mountains outside of Burney, Kalifornistan when a pickup comes up the road in the opposite direction waving frantically. "There's a big cat coming up the road!" I pulled out the. 45 I had with me and set it on the front seat and he gave me an odd look. "A Caterpillar tractor" he then said. I felt a little stupid but relieved.
 
Growing up on the sheep ranch, we had Basque, Mexican, Spanish and Peruvians working as contract herders. While they all spoke Spanish, if was a real chore understanding and speaking to everyone as there is quite a bit of difference in mannerisms and language.

One day we were getting ready to turn some sheep out on the USFS range...a certain number had to have bells on them. Bell in Castellan Spanish is cascabel...that has a WHOLE different meaning in Mexican. I had a Basque and Mexican fellow working with me and I needed to have a couple more bells as I was short. The Mexican fellow was in the back of the pickup truck getting something when I told the Basque fellow "Hay un cascabel en el pickup" There is a bell in the pickup....unfortunately cascabel to a Mexican is rattlesnake. He was out of the back of that truck in a flash.

Never saw that guy move so fast the whole time he worked for us!
 
Back in the early 1990's , or there about , The Pa. Blame comm. was holding public meetings about how they were going to kill off our deer herd in Pa. Since my world was , that of an on the road , emergency service engineer covering half the state of Pa. , I went to several of these public meetings , just because I had to be out of town overnight , in the various high school auditoriums , where they would be held. There would be about 200 folks at each gathering ,hunters that spent more than a little time in the woods. Eventually , the discussions would turn to mtn. lion sightings. Well....that subject was enough to threaten ending the deer discussions , meeting over. The mtn. lion discussions moved to the high school foyer. Since I had seen three of the big cats traveling roads in the Pa. back country , I inquired of a Blame Comm. employee , how I had seen so many lions . He as much called me a liar , as his superiors had instructed him to do.. He was one of the local blame wardens , and I knew where he lived . I didn't care to be insulted , as such , and told him , If I found one road killed , I would deposit it on his front porch , after I called the news media. He told me , curtly , he would arrest me for that. Two days later , I was traveling to one of my northern accounts , and bingo , a big dun colored mtn. lion crossed the road in a line of three cars going up a hill with four lanes to accommodate truck traffic. My brain flashed back to my discussion with the blame warden. Unfortunately , the big cat leaped between the two cars ahead of me with such velocity , he bounced off the elevated road bank and piled up , taking maybe 20 seconds to right himself. At least I got a good close up view of him , but was disappointed , I couldn't put his carcass on the blame wardens porch. (He sounded pretty cranky during the discussion we had ,outside the high school auditorium. )
Seems , if govt. doesn't want to draw attention to a situation (stocking Mtn. lions in the Pa. woods to facilitate killing off the deer herd ) , they will go to great lengths to black out news. They think the general population is stupid . Since I made it my business to be an unofficial "clearing house" , of lion sightings . In my daily travels on business , folks would share what thy knew of the lion sightings in a relaxed atmosphere. I'de have to use a 1000 word essay to cover them all. The folks interviewed , were professional educated people ,Dr's , technologists, state policemen, university employees (not connected with the animal experimentation --relocation , I stumbled onto.) ...........Oh well
 
Your right,the public is stupid.Cause their are people believin this hogwash.You all are the same yahoo,s who have your mugs pressed against the boob tube watching these Sasquatch shows.Especially the ones that these nimrods have filmed here in Pa.
 
Back in the early 1990's , or there about , The Pa. Blame comm. was holding public meetings about how they were going to kill off our deer herd in Pa. Since my world was , that of an on the road , emergency service engineer covering half the state of Pa. , I went to several of these public meetings , just because I had to be out of town overnight , in the various high school auditoriums , where they would be held. There would be about 200 folks at each gathering ,hunters that spent more than a little time in the woods. Eventually , the discussions would turn to mtn. lion sightings. Well....that subject was enough to threaten ending the deer discussions , meeting over. The mtn. lion discussions moved to the high school foyer. Since I had seen three of the big cats traveling roads in the Pa. back country , I inquired of a Blame Comm. employee , how I had seen so many lions . He as much called me a liar , as his superiors had instructed him to do.. He was one of the local blame wardens , and I knew where he lived . I didn't care to be insulted , as such , and told him , If I found one road killed , I would deposit it on his front porch , after I called the news media. He told me , curtly , he would arrest me for that. Two days later , I was traveling to one of my northern accounts , and bingo , a big dun colored mtn. lion crossed the road in a line of three cars going up a hill with four lanes to accommodate truck traffic. My brain flashed back to my discussion with the blame warden. Unfortunately , the big cat leaped between the two cars ahead of me with such velocity , he bounced off the elevated road bank and piled up , taking maybe 20 seconds to right himself. At least I got a good close up view of him , but was disappointed , I couldn't put his carcass on the blame wardens porch. (He sounded pretty cranky during the discussion we had ,outside the high school auditorium. )
Seems , if govt. doesn't want to draw attention to a situation (stocking Mtn. lions in the Pa. woods to facilitate killing off the deer herd ) , they will go to great lengths to black out news. They think the general population is stupid . Since I made it my business to be an unofficial "clearing house" , of lion sightings . In my daily travels on business , folks would share what thy knew of the lion sightings in a relaxed atmosphere. I'de have to use a 1000 word essay to cover them all. The folks interviewed , were professional educated people ,Dr's , technologists, state policemen, university employees (not connected with the animal experimentation --relocation , I stumbled onto.) ...........Oh well
I believe that you, as well as my hunting friends in PA, are seeing an increase in your cat population... Do you have any evidence of it being an intentional stocking program by the state?
I ask this because the first sighting among my acquaintances was ca. 20+ years ago. If a remnant population was already starting to increase back then, and you have, for whatever reason, an increase in their #1 prey animal, and they have no natural enemies, I am wondering if the population has simply naturally increased to the point where it is now "visible" to people other than just those who hunt/hike in the more remote areas where either a small population survived, or migrating cats managed to reintroduce the species on their own, and "Nature took its course?" Even when our Florida population was down in the 30-50 range, sightings occurred, as did road kills. Agreed, these are more likely to happen in our flat terrain, with high-speed traffic corridors, than in the mountainous areas of your state, but my point is that it would take a large and highly noticeable population of cats to have any significant statewide impact on a deer herd like the one up there, and I would think that cat-human encounters would be so commonplace that your game commission would have a whole 'nother set of problems to address if they took that route..
.
 
I think we all have some healthy skepticism on the veracity of our respective Fish/Game/Natural Resources departments. They, as institutions go, are an insular lot, many thinking they "know what's best" while discounting the public and they all play "I've got a secret" at the championship levels.

I will provide another anecdotal story...in the late 70's in Eastern Idaho, "before" the grey wolf was officially recognized as introduced, one of our sheep herders killed three very large, very black and very hungry skinny wolves over a dead sheep wolf kill. My Dad dutifully called the Idaho F&G when he got to town and reported the 3 killed wolves and the repeated by several official's response was "those are coyotes or dogs. There are no wolves in Idaho" My Dad, frustrated, said wisely, "OK, well I have them in the back of my truck and I am heading over to the local newspaper and TV station. You can find me there." That they did and snatched up the three carcasses quickly, but not before the newspaper snapped a few pictures. Quite the stink for a while, with F&G finally admitting they were collaborating with the Feds on reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone, that had yet to be publicly announced.

It appears that these three were roaming juvenile wolves, not introduced. Yet if they hadn't been trying to play "I've got a secret" there would not have been the stink that came of it that there was.
 
Cvkotvkse.......Sir...Hope I got your name spelled correctly. If not my condolences.
The surge of Mtn. Lion sightings in Central Pa. , began about 1993 , 96. It continued in volume of sightings until nearly 2008. After 08 or so, the sightings expanded outward from central Pa.. Some lions are still observed , but not in the numbers originally seen..
I wish I could share with you , very reliable information from a a friend that stumbled on to evidence that govt. , was involved in the Central Pa, lion situation . I cannot divulge the name and situation from where the info originated , because he would loose his employment,
I'm old and retired from my 41 years on the road , and have let this , and another little known situation , where govt. agencies have been far less than candid with the public. At my age , it doesn't matter any more. I wish you well , Cvkotvkse.
 
Years ago before there were coyotes around here I remember some people complaining that they had seen coyotes killing their sheep, DEC said no way, there are no coyotes in NY. They denied reports of coyotes being seen till they started getting actual road kills, then they said, "coyotes have always been in NY". Not far from where the original sheep killing report came from, someone claimed to have seen the DEC releasing coyotes a week before the incident.
There are many claims and denials from the DEC that prove out to be contradictory, Why lie about this manure, they ruin their credibility, not that any government entity cares a whit about veracity.
Robby
 
Cvkotvkse.......Sir...Hope I got your name spelled correctly. If not my condolences.
The surge of Mtn. Lion sightings in Central Pa. , began about 1993 , 96. It continued in volume of sightings until nearly 2008. After 08 or so, the sightings expanded outward from central Pa.. Some lions are still observed , but not in the numbers originally seen..
I wish I could share with you , very reliable information from a a friend that stumbled on to evidence that govt. , was involved in the Central Pa, lion situation . I cannot divulge the name and situation from where the info originated , because he would loose his employment,
I'm old and retired from my 41 years on the road , and have let this , and another little known situation , where govt. agencies have been far less than candid with the public. At my age , it doesn't matter any more. I wish you well , Cvkotvkse.
 
To the op, excellent story! Well, we aren't supposed to have Cougar's in Ohio either, but 6 years ago I saw one that was about to cross the highway in front of me. Now I have spent my whole life in the woods of Ohio, am an avid hunter and wildlife photographer and have seen my share of Coyote's and Bobcat's. This was definitely not a misidentification. I even spun the car around and made it back in time to see it disappear into the woods and there was no mistaking that tail. I can still see it in my head, like it just happened yesterday.

Even though I am confident in what I saw, my thoughts are it was likely a captive one that had escaped. Our laws on keeping big cats have changed, but for many years people had them. In conversations with law enforcement officers, I was told that I would be in complete shock to know the actual number of permits to keep big cats, and this was just in one county. And of course, our neighboring county was in the national news several years back for a guy releasing all of his animals, including several Tigers, which most were shot. So, on other forums and social media platforms, when someone makes a post about a sighting and other people laugh and think that its just not possible, those same people are in for a huge surprise when one day they could possibly be face to face with one. At least I am aware, and am definitely prepared whenever I set foot in the woods!
 
I don’t know about cougars in PA, however there are absolutely bob cats which can range in size of a Labrador to a larger cat.

I’d venture to say most likely was not a mountain line, are there times when one or two may migrate over the next 100 or so years, Yeap possibly but not probable.

But I’d say more the likely if you saw a cougar its very possible some wack job with an exotic cat fetish likely was keeping it as a pet.

Here in NJ we had a wack job who kept bengal tigers, had over 20 of them, well one got out and made a trip to a local Wawa.
 
I think we all have some healthy skepticism on the veracity of our respective Fish/Game/Natural Resources departments. They, as institutions go, are an insular lot, many thinking they "know what's best" while discounting the public and they all play "I've got a secret" at the championship levels.

I will provide another anecdotal story...in the late 70's in Eastern Idaho, "before" the grey wolf was officially recognized as introduced, one of our sheep herders killed three very large, very black and very hungry skinny wolves over a dead sheep wolf kill. My Dad dutifully called the Idaho F&G when he got to town and reported the 3 killed wolves and the repeated by several official's response was "those are coyotes or dogs. There are no wolves in Idaho" My Dad, frustrated, said wisely, "OK, well I have them in the back of my truck and I am heading over to the local newspaper and TV station. You can find me there." That they did and snatched up the three carcasses quickly, but not before the newspaper snapped a few pictures. Quite the stink for a while, with F&G finally admitting they were collaborating with the Feds on reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone, that had yet to be publicly announced.

It appears that these three were roaming juvenile wolves, not introduced. Yet if they hadn't been trying to play "I've got a secret" there would not have been the stink that came of it that there was.
Sounds just like Oregon. Having had personal friends which worked for the Oregon Department of Failure and Waste (fish and wildlife), what they are allowed to say is highly controlled by the politicians in their headquarters. Their stories completely removed any trust I had in that agency.
 
Every summer we have dozens of cougar reports. Not the two legged ones. The four legged ones. What amazes me is soon as winter comes. The tourists go home. There's no more sightings....zip nada....Very Interesting....!
 
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