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View Full Version : Cougars In SNP?



REKER
09-30-2005, 08:15
First off, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Rob, im 23 years old and I hike/backpack much of VA. My backpacking experience is limited to about 3 years and I hope to do the AT in the next 2 years.
Secondly, During my recent trip this past weekend (9/23-25), I beleive I had an encounter with not one, but two Cougars. Hope you enjoy my story.

Our hike back down Rockytop in SNP was a breezy, wet and lightly foggy one. About half way back down to the parking area, we heard a loud "double-growl" type noise. We stopped in our tracks b/c we werent exactly sure if we heard the growl of cats or if it was other people on the trail further ahead that were being loud.
As we stood there, looking around and trying to listen up, there we spotted in the thicket of some trees off the trail what appeared to be two light brown Cats roughly 15 yards away from us. The smaller of the two was perched on a log, the other was much bigger in size and was standing in front of the smaller one, both were staring at us. (Comparing to a dog, im going to assume the big one weighed somewhere close to 90 or so lbs.)
We observed for about a minute or two longer before we started to slowly back ourselves away from them and back down the mountain; The bigger cat even "hissed" at us as we started back down.

To my knowledge, I know that SNP has a decent amount of Bobcats, and that sightings of these cats are not to rare. Ive also heard that Coyotes live here as did Cougars many many years ago.
Though Ive only seen pictures, In my mind, I knew for sure they werent bobcats b/c bobcats have black spots on their body and have short tails with a black knot of hair on the end as well as having little sticks of black hair pointing off the tips of their ears.
The cats we saw defnitely were solid brown and had long brown tails and short ears.
I also threw out the idea of them being coyotes b/c everyone knows coyotes share some of the same facial features as dogs.
Anyways, The last animal we narrowed it down to was that they were in fact, Cougars.

When we returned to Loft Mountain, we asked the camp store keeper what kind of cats were in the park. He assured me that we saw bobcats.

After arriving home from the trip, I immediately got on to the computer and looked up info/pictures of both bobcats and cougars. I even found some growl/snarl sound clips of both cats. After reading a few things about both cats, I later found that bobcats are around 25-30 lbs and cougars are 100-125 lbs. The bigger of the two cats was defnitely up there around 100 lbs... not 30!
Finally, I listened to the sound clips... The growl we heard was 100% the growl of a cougar.

Sorry for the long story, but I couldnt wait to share this information with anyone who is interested. I never ever thought I would get to see a cougar in SNP, but im 100% convinced that is what we saw.
Has anyone else seen a Cougar in any of the VA mountains? I heard they are extremely rare to see one, let alone two, in SNP.

REKER
09-30-2005, 08:17
Not that it really matters, but im 24.. not 23. I guess im not allowed to edit my posts yet.

Gray Blazer
09-30-2005, 08:46
Good story. I believe you. I saw a black panther in North Florida 13 years ago and when I told Park Rangers about it they told me I was lying. I teach elementary school music in north FL and a lot of my kids tell me they have seen black panthers in their backyards or the surrounding woods.

Magnet
09-30-2005, 08:50
About two years ago i saw what i believe to have been a cougar in the Big Run Watershed area of SNP. As i hoisted my bear bag into a tree, the cat lept out of some bushes about 15 ft from me. In one leap it was to the creek and in the second, across the creek and gone. I remember clearly the solid brown coloration and long tail. It was also around 90 lbs.

the goat
09-30-2005, 08:57
that's cool as hell, i run trails in northern snp every other day or so....i'll keep my eyes peeled. i've heard people in the area speak of cougars, always thought it was an urban...er, rural legend. good story.

FFTorched
09-30-2005, 08:58
If these accounts are true, I'm not questioning your validity, just saying that this is good news meaning the big cats are returning to the mountains. Something that I am very happy to know, and something that I am willing to bear the burden, it's much more exciting when you know you are the top dog out there.

frieden
09-30-2005, 09:29
This is great .... and bad ... news. The park rangers are out there all the time, and enough people have seen the cougars to know they exist there. I don't think the park people are telling you that you are wrong about what you saw, because they don't believe they exist. I think they say that so it won't be common knowledge with humans. Humans have guns, cougars don't. I am a firm believer in the right to arm bears, etc.

Hopefully, the cats won't mind having a dog out there! ;) It isn't good that they didn't try to run away from you. They'll be found and killed a lot faster that way, and then the others will be in danger. I hope they stay "hidden" for a long time.

Lone Wolf
09-30-2005, 09:31
I've heard lion steak is very tasty. Fire up the barby!

Alligator
09-30-2005, 09:38
Not that it really matters, but im 24.. not 23. I guess im not allowed to edit my posts yet.Nope, still not old enough, try again next year;) .

IMO coyotes look a bit like german shepherds. While someone with a decent look at one might mistake it for a dog, they aren't too catlike. For me, it's usually, "Hmm, what kind of dog is that? Oh, it's a coyote."

What is the "official" word for VA. Are cougars just considered extremely rare or locally extinct (perhaps re-introduced unofficially?)

Kerosene
09-30-2005, 09:51
I'm quite confident that I spooked a mid-sized cougar/catamount/puma/mountain lion just south of Harpers Ferry in October 2001. Like REKER, I went on the Internet the next day (it was the last day of my section hike from Front Royal) and researched what I found. Very feline movements, fawn brown, bigger than your typical dog...I kept glancing behind me to make sure nothing was stalking me. Definitely a unique experience.

So do I have twice the credibility of REKER since I'm twice as old? :rolleyes:

Two Speed
09-30-2005, 10:09
. . . So do I have twice the credibility of REKER since I'm twice as old? :rolleyes:
Nah, I'm voting for giving Reker half your credibility. :jump Of course that would have nothing to do with my age.

All kidding around aside, I wouldn't be surprised that there may be a cougar or two in the SNP. Nature has a way of doing whatever it wants and then letting the rangers, game wardens and other wildlife authorities figure out what's changed while they were doing something else.

Alligator
09-30-2005, 10:21
...

So do I have twice the credibility of REKER since I'm twice as old? :rolleyes:That might make you INCREDIBLE:banana , but not old enough to edit either.

Actually, I was just wondering what the cougars/etc. were being listed at by say Fish and Wildlife. I'm not doubting anyone's account.

BigE
09-30-2005, 12:38
Reker - Thanks for sharing that info with us. I believe you did see a mountain lion. Consider yourself extremely lucky. I have a place on Flattop mountain, which backs up to the SNP and I have seen tracks around our cabin that I know were those of a big cat and not a bobcat. (I saw a bobcat earlier this summer on Flattop Rd.) I've been hiking and camping around the SNP since 1973, and I've never seen as much wildlife as I have this summer. Glad you had a non-confrontational meeting with these animals!

=e=

Newb
09-30-2005, 12:54
This is great .... and bad ... news. The park rangers are out there all the time, and enough people have seen the cougars to know they exist there. I don't think the park people are telling you that you are wrong about what you saw, because they don't believe they exist. I think they say that so it won't be common knowledge with humans. Humans have guns, cougars don't. I am a firm believer in the right to arm bears, etc.

Hopefully, the cats won't mind having a dog out there! ;) It isn't good that they didn't try to run away from you. They'll be found and killed a lot faster that way, and then the others will be in danger. I hope they stay "hidden" for a long time.
As a gun owner I'm really jazzed all of a sudden! I can't wait to get out there and shoot those kitty cats dead. That's what gun ownership is all about!

Alligator
09-30-2005, 13:01
...sunshine, happiness, and cold beer:rolleyes: .

REKER
09-30-2005, 13:36
Magnet, Rockytop is in the same Big Run area which is also designated wilderness. I posted this on the Backpacker forums as well, and a few people said they have seen possible cougars. However, none have reported having an experience like ours.

FFTorched, these accounts are 100% true and like you, I beleive it is great news. Like I said, I never in my life thought Id see a Cougar, let alone two.

The Goat, good luck bro. Im pretty sure the rain, fog and wind had a factor in how close we actually got to them. If they wouldnt have growled, we would have never seen them.

Oh yeah, I also failed to mention that on this same trip/day... we saw a "family" of deer on the way up and at about the same distance away from us. I never thought deer stayed together like this but there were two young deer, a female deer and a nice Velvet 6point buck. The buck was being very territorial.

REKER
09-30-2005, 13:51
Ahh, sorry about the late reply.. I started the response above before I had to head out of the office and I just left the screen up. But anyways, good stories everyone. Please keep them coming. Im actually hoping someone will chime in who has an actual personal picture of one of these cats.
And just so everyone knows, I do consider my friend and I extremely lucky to have witnessed them, especially at such a close range; Though it was a little to close for comfort!


...I kept glancing behind me to make sure nothing was stalking me. Definitely a unique experience.

This is EXACTLY what I did the ENTIRE way down. Every little movement I heard in the distance, the hair raised on the back of my neck. hahaha, so to make myself and my friend feel better, I grabbed a decent sized stick. I kept saying this to myself "Ok, I played baseball all my life and I have one hell of a swing.. If I dont kill it, atleast I will die fighting!!".. hahaha :datz

Kerosene
09-30-2005, 14:24
After my encounter I was cursing myself for not getting a picture before scaring it off. My initial reaction was actually pretty interesting in retrospect. I was walking along on a nice sunny afternoon at a reasonable clip when I crested a tiny hump/turn in the Trail. The cougar was about 40 yards in front of my, straddling the trail. For some reason I instinctively clapped my hands together (this was the year before I switched to hiking sticks), causing the cat to briefly glance my way before bounding across a short stretch of open ground into thicker woods. I would've probably scared it off trying to get the camera out of my hipbelt pocket anyway, but at least I would have had more time to observe.