View Full Version : Any recent sightings/news on Cougars in the Smokys?
Chris_Asheville
08-05-2008, 15:03
I'm interested in hearing about any updates or recent sightings of cougars (mountain lions) in the Smokys or the Blue Ridge Mountains. I noticed some past threads on this subject, however I wanted to start something new.
Fact or fiction?
Never seen one in lots of trips in the Smokies, but that doesn't mean there's not a few somewhere tucked away. These cats are pretty reclusive. The only time I've ever actually seen one was in the Absarokas on the WY/MT border when a group of 8 of us spooked one and it ran away out in the open.
sweetpeastu
08-05-2008, 18:01
Cant speak to the Smoky Mountains, but I've seen them on our property in the Blue Ridge Mountains of VA. It was stalking a group of wild turkeys during a drout year....
Sooo we know they're here regardless of what people try to say.
Hikerhead
08-05-2008, 19:06
Cant speak to the Smoky Mountains, but I've seen them on our property in the Blue Ridge Mountains of VA. It was stalking a group of wild turkeys during a drout year....
Sooo we know they're here regardless of what people try to say.
More specific please...what area?
More specific please...what area?
Same I live in the northern va area and am curious where this was?
Shenandoah mammals. (http://www.nps.gov/shen/naturescience/mammals.htm)
There's a brief statement about cougars in SNP on the NPS website, basically saying that there are reports, but no park staff has seen one.
Hikerhead
08-05-2008, 23:42
Same I live in the northern va area and am curious where this was?
It must be a secret place but.....I have a buddy that lives near Poor Mtn and he swears they're around there. This is sort of near Salem.
CaptChaos
08-06-2008, 00:23
The only cat that I have ever seen in the Smokies during my trips was a Wildcat several years ago.
I was on my way to Russell Fields Shelter and about a mile before I got there I came across the Wildcat on the trail. It was looking at the hillside next to the trail and as I got closer it got up and walked up the trail and then was gone.
I had the pleasure of running into a work crew that was camping at Russell Fields Shelter behind the shelter in the open field and they said that they had not seen the Wildcat but others had seen it while they had been working on the AT.
I had a friend who lived in Wears Valley and she reported to me that she looked in her front yard one morning and she saw a Couger or Mtn Lion in the front yard. She called the park service and they wanted her to collect the scant and bring it in since they were not coming out to look into it. She saw it along with several of her neighbors but that was the end of it. The Park Service never did did confirm or deny the existance of the Mtn Lion.
I am sure based on my past experience with the Park Service that they would not make it public if they did know about it just to keep from alarming the public in the area.
Capt Chaos
Jason of the Woods
08-06-2008, 09:17
I grew up around them. A family friend is a used to rescue them and other animals. This makes me pretty sure that I heard the low warning rumble of one on a day hike in eastern KY last year. Then it seemed to follow us from a distance in the laurel. Either that or it was Bigfoot.?;)
sweetpeastu
08-06-2008, 10:14
More specific please...what area?
At my house...whatdya want, directions? South of Richmond north of Marion.....is that helpful?
BookBurner
08-06-2008, 11:18
I was growled at by something one day in North Carolina as soon as I entered a landslide area. I'm certain it was a mountain lion (very deep, guttural tone - like my cat on steroids). I also stumbled across something in Virginia (a few days south of Harpers Ferry) using a dead pine tree as a scratching post (couldn't see the animal through the thicket but heard the unmistakable claw gouging and watched the tree fall). I looked down at that moment and also discovered a half-eaten deer carcas buried under a pile of brambles and limbs. Not scientific evidence, but enough to convince me mountain lions exist all over the trail!
GoldenBear
08-06-2008, 12:13
this URL should be of interest:
www.easterncougarnet.org/breakingnews.html
This organization would be delerious to learn that enough cougars are on the U.S. east coast to have a breeding colony. Problem is, there's no solid evidence (unambiguous sightings, hair, scat, etc) to support the claim of such a colony. That doesn't mean there ISN'T one (after all, how do you prove a negative? Can you prove I don't have a copy of _War and Peace_ in my house?), only that the evidence is flimsy AT THIS POINT. We know cougars are in North Dakota and the Gaspe, we just don't know if they're in the U.S. Appalachians.
Hikerhead
08-06-2008, 18:58
At my house...whatdya want, directions? South of Richmond north of Marion.....is that helpful?
:eek:
Calm yourself. The Blue Ridge Mtns run from one end of va to the other, 300 miles or so.
There has been talk of mountain lions in the mountains of North Carolina since I went to Brevard College in the mid 70s. So far there has been no definitive proof.
this URL should be of interest:
www.easterncougarnet.org/breakingnews.html
(after all, how do you prove a negative? Can you prove I don't have a copy of _War and Peace_ in my house?),
Yeh but are we allowed to come camp in your house and look? LOL.
I honestly doubt they are around.
troutseeker
08-28-2008, 14:13
There have been a couple studies that have placed cameras near the trail to photograph wildlife. I spend a lot of time in the woods of SNP and GWNF and despite being an experienced tracker, I have seen far less bobcat than all the other recognized predators in the region. No cougars, but cats in general are so stealth and I marvel at their ability to do this. That being said, I do not think there is a breeding pair out there and I am not sure if there is currently a single specimen in VA. I think every now and then someone has released their horrible choice for a pet into the wild to avoid justified prosecution for ownership. Also, individuals or groups may have launched failed attempts at reintroduction without the sound understanding of what is really needed for success (public support, finance and more than one breeding pair). I think cougars can venture from their current domain into bordering habitat. I think upstate NY or Vermont would be understandable, but the migration corridor to get this far south from there is not very wide, to go unseen, even for a cat. The same is true for the Florida panther. They have found jaguars in New Mexico that have come across the Mexico, but this has been confirmed by eyewitness sightings who actually had a cameras as well as the sensor triggered cameras as used in the studies currently on our trail. Maybe one day we will get a picture, but honestly by the way people behave regarding bear and coyote, true introduction does not stand a chance.
http://www.si.edu/opa/insideresearch/articles/V19_AppalTrail_Survey.html
turtle fast
08-28-2008, 19:37
On our thru we talked with a hiker who saw a cougar just before the Priest near Montebello, Virginia. He was hiking later into the day and when it was dark going NOBO and saw the cougar near the trail in his headlamp and it scared the (you know what) out of him. He was emphatic that this was no bobcat, that this thing had a large tail and he was shaken up.....in fact he was going to give up night hiking and coulden't wait to get out of Virginia.
turtle fast
08-28-2008, 19:45
We also ran into a local in the Fontana Dam area who repetedly sees cougars go to her pond in her yard to drink at dusk when "it gets dry in the mountains". She said that in the late afternoon to dusk that they are afraid to go onto the property. We also ran into a guy who lived a mile off the trail who said that the cougars eat the dogs in the area. He had a farmer friend whos dog died, put it into the farm field and they raked the area smooth around it. The next morning the dog carcas was gone and cougar tracks were around the spot....35 pound dog carried whole off into the woods.
john gault
08-28-2008, 19:54
There have been a couple studies that have placed cameras near the trail to photograph wildlife. I spend a lot of time in the woods of SNP and GWNF and despite being an experienced tracker, I have seen far less bobcat than all the other recognized predators in the region. No cougars, but cats in general are so stealth and I marvel at their ability to do this. That being said, I do not think there is a breeding pair out there and I am not sure if there is currently a single specimen in VA. I think every now and then someone has released their horrible choice for a pet into the wild to avoid justified prosecution for ownership. Also, individuals or groups may have launched failed attempts at reintroduction without the sound understanding of what is really needed for success (public support, finance and more than one breeding pair). I think cougars can venture from their current domain into bordering habitat. I think upstate NY or Vermont would be understandable, but the migration corridor to get this far south from there is not very wide, to go unseen, even for a cat. The same is true for the Florida panther. They have found jaguars in New Mexico that have come across the Mexico, but this has been confirmed by eyewitness sightings who actually had a cameras as well as the sensor triggered cameras as used in the studies currently on our trail. Maybe one day we will get a picture, but honestly by the way people behave regarding bear and coyote, true introduction does not stand a chance.
http://www.si.edu/opa/insideresearch/articles/V19_AppalTrail_Survey.html
I checked out your link, but where can I go to see the entire photo gallery from this project?
We definitely do have them in Florida but there is not much concern for our safety in what little wilderness we have left as there has been no record of one ever attacking a human.
It would be nice to imagine them extending their rage northward though.
We definitely do have them in Florida but there is not much concern for our safety in what little wilderness we have left as there has been no record of one ever attacking a human.
It would be nice to imagine them extending their rage northward though.
Right into south Georgia...where in June an acquaintence of mine who lives 'out in the county' observed a panther drinking from a kiddie pool in her yard at dusk.
troutseeker
08-28-2008, 23:29
I checked out your link, but where can I go to see the entire photo gallery from this project?
Here are some
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2007/11/12/GA2007111201621.html
troutseeker
08-28-2008, 23:30
It does seem a lot of locals have
troutseeker
08-28-2008, 23:50
It does seem many locals in regions thought not to have a cougar population have stories of sightings of the cats and tales of livestock and pets being killed by them. I hate to say it, but Bigfoot sightings do come to mind. A lot of eyewitnesses with no proof. Until I begin seeing tracks, scat and pictures, call me hopeful, but doubtful. I remember the first time I brought someone with me on an animal search where we found a male bobcat. They are not easy to go out and just find themselves. It had his winter coat and we were fortunate to get quite close. It is amazing how humans can become a poor judge of size and weight when surprised or excited. (Reference 20 difference eyewitness accounts to any crime.) If my companion was alone that day, there likely would have been another unconfirmed cougar sighting by someone who stated what they saw was just too big to be a bobcat.
Hey, I am not saying that there are none of them out here and I am one of the few who hopes that they are. But it is odd that in an area so populated that we have yet to possess proof. The jaguar has returned to regions far more scarce of human travel and hunters and researchers have pictures and proof of several that they have named, collared and numbered.
The cougars are getting closer however, probably following the deer meal back east. Twelve years or so ago, they were not often seen closer than the far western part of Nebraska very often. Now there have been confirmations in Minnesota, Missouri (locals say they never left here), Illinios and Iowa to name a few.
this URL should be of interest:
www.easterncougarnet.org/breakingnews.html
This organization would be delerious to learn that enough cougars are on the U.S. east coast .
Thank you for this link. I have often wondered who I would call if I did stumble across tracks/hair.
I don't think the local/state/federal types would be quite as enthusiastic.
Wise Old Owl
08-29-2008, 12:26
We also ran into a local in the Fontana Dam area who repetedly sees cougars go to her pond in her yard to drink at dusk when "it gets dry in the mountains". She said that in the late afternoon to dusk that they are afraid to go onto the property. We also ran into a guy who lived a mile off the trail who said that the cougars eat the dogs in the area. He had a farmer friend whos dog died, put it into the farm field and they raked the area smooth around it. The next morning the dog carcas was gone and cougar tracks were around the spot....35 pound dog carried whole off into the woods.
Well just like Africa you have to be vary wary around springs.....
When I was a kid in North Georgia there were tales of a couple of Mtn Lions in the Mt. Oglethorpe area (before it was painted over with houses)...never saw one myself and I lived in the woods in those days.
I will say that last year in the northern section of SNP I saw the biggest coyote I've ever seen in my life. It was huge.