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  1. #61
    LT '79; AT '73-'14 in sections; Donating Member Kerosene's Avatar
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    I've posted before that I saw something just south of Harpers Ferry in October 2002 that was definitely feline and certainly not a bobcat or a lynx (or an overgrown house cat!).

    I was about 5 miles south of town at the end of a 55-mile section hike from Front Royal on a warm, clear day around noon. I came around a corner and over a slight rise and saw this animal about 40 yards in front of my on the trail. Without thinking I clapped my hands to scare it off (I should have just stopped and observed for awhile). The cat looked at me and high-tailed it into the woods with a grace and a long tail that could only be feline. It was colored a light brown, darker on top, and was the height of a large dog but not as heavily built as dogs that large. Hard to believe that it was a cougar in that area at that time of day, but nothing to this day nothing else seems to fit the evidence. As I passed by I realized that I might now be being stalked and kept an eye out for the next few miles.
    GA←↕→ME: 1973 to 2014

  2. #62
    of Hatman and Happy Feet GAME '01 Happy Feet's Avatar
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    Hatman and I saw a mountain lion while driving VERY SLOWLY on the boundary of the Big Frog Wilderness Area along the TN/GA border (we were creeping along, looking for rocks). A large tan cougar lept from the upper side of the road all the way across to the other side, never touching the road on either side, right across the hood of our truck. His span was longer than our Ford Ranger's width. We both looked at each other, not believing what we saw. We believed it to be a once in a lifetime spectacle, feeling very blessed to have witnessed such a sight. We must have spooked him - but were suprised that he didn't run the other way. We mentioned it to a friend, an old timer from the area who grew up in these mountains. He said he knows there are big cats around here, but the "officials" won't ever admit it for some reason.

    It used to be unusual to have a bear sighting in the Big Frog, but now it is unusual to go out and NOT see a bear (or bears).

  3. #63
    Registered User halibut15's Avatar
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    Not to get entirely off the topic, Happy Feet, but I've heard several people say that the bear issue up around the Ocoee and Big Frog is getting pretty big. Is it really getting that crowded up there with bears?

  4. #64

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    Quote Originally Posted by halibut15
    Not to get entirely off the topic, Happy Feet, but I've heard several people say that the bear issue up around the Ocoee and Big Frog is getting pretty big. Is it really getting that crowded up there with bears?

    Don't worry. T-DOT has a plan to fix that. It's a 20-mile extension of US 64 through the Ocoee Gorge at a cost of $1.5 billion. It carves right through the middle of critical bear habitat. The road kill should take care of a good number of bears.

    To learn more;

    http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/informat...is/default.htm
    Last edited by MOWGLI; 09-06-2005 at 09:46.

  5. #65

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    Anybody else see this photo in the Gallery? It was just posted this week.

    http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/sh...t/last7/page/1

  6. #66
    Yellow Jacket
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    Quote Originally Posted by MOWGLI16
    Anybody else see this photo in the Gallery? It was just posted this week.
    http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/sh...t/last7/page/1
    Was that in a shelter? What is the wooden structure the cat is walking on, or in? I have a hard time believe a wild cat would walk into a shelter.
    Yellow Jacket -- Words of Wisdom (tm) go here.

  7. #67
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    Check out the photos on this website under wildlife/other by greymane. Don't know how he got these shots, he must be crazy but I am glad he did.
    not all who wander are lost - JRR Tolkein

  8. #68
    Registered User jimmyjob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MOWGLI16
    Anybody else see this photo in the Gallery? It was just posted this week.

    http://www.whiteblaze.net/gallery/sh...t/last7/page/1
    okay now i'm nervous....what do you do if you come across one...kiss your ass goodbye..???? do what you would with a bear.....????? any info would be nice.....though i'm sure my chances of seeing one are very slim...
    Where are you going, Where have you been...???

  9. #69
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    Quote Originally Posted by tlbj6142
    Was that in a shelter? What is the wooden structure the cat is walking on, or in? I have a hard time believe a wild cat would walk into a shelter.
    Caption on the pictures says, "Picture of a mountain lion at a cabin in Hornell, NY" Not a shelter.

  10. #70
    Registered User halibut15's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MOWGLI16
    Don't worry. T-DOT has a plan to fix that. It's a 20-mile extension of US 64 through the Ocoee Gorge at a cost of $1.5 billion. It carves right through the middle of critical bear habitat. The road kill should take care of a good number of bears.

    To learn more;

    http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/informat...is/default.htm
    Wow Mowgli, that sucks. It sounds a lot like the I-3 proposition that we're having a time with here in North GA. It'll do the same for AT hikers that the US 64 plan will do for bears...turn them into roadkill. I-3 will supposedly pass over Unicoi Gap...oh joy.

  11. #71

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    Quote Originally Posted by halibut15
    Wow Mowgli, that sucks. It sounds a lot like the I-3 proposition that we're having a time with here in North GA. It'll do the same for AT hikers that the US 64 plan will do for bears...turn them into roadkill. I-3 will supposedly pass over Unicoi Gap...oh joy.
    Here's info on the proposed I-3, which would be a new interstate from Savannah, GA to Knoxville, TN. ATC and GATC have both signed on to the Stop I-3 Coalition.

    http://www.stopi-3.org/
    'All my lies are always wishes" ~Jeff Tweedy~

  12. #72

    Default Interstate 3

    There's also a petition on the Chattooga Conservancy's website for veterans against Interstate 3. It calls for congress to spend the billions of dollars to properly equip our dying troops... not for an environmentally and economically destructive and unneccessary interstate. Please encourage any active or retired military personnel to sign.
    http://www.chattoogariver.org/index.php?req=veterans

    http://www.chattoogariver.org/index.php?req=i3

  13. #73
    Registered User Ratbert's Avatar
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    I definitely want Greymane to tell us the story behind those photos! They are awesome ... I can't get over those freakin' teeth!

  14. #74

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    Read this thread.

    http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=9159

    Scroll down to find the discussion of mt lions.

  15. #75

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    Those pictures have been circulating the internet for several months now--I received them a few months ago from some hiker friends, and at that time they were supposedly taken off someone's back porch in NC, I think.

  16. #76

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    Quote Originally Posted by gumball
    Those pictures have been circulating the internet for several months now--I received them a few months ago from some hiker friends, and at that time they were supposedly taken off someone's back porch in NC, I think.
    Not only were they claimed to have come from Hornell, NY - but also Maine. Here's an article from a Maine newspaper explaining the hoax;

    Experts say cougar photos a hoax

    By Marci Hait
    [email protected]


    YORK - According to Maine state biologists and an organization which tracks mountain lion spottings around the country, the "infamous deck photos" of a cougar prowling around a residential neighborhood are a hoax.
    They are real photographs, said Cougar Network Co-founder Mark Dowling, but they were taken no where near southern Maine.

    "The photos are authentic, but the incident occurred in Lander, Wyoming, not Maine," said Dowling. "Nothing happened during the visit and the cougar left on its own."

    Local Animal Control Officer Tom Porter said he learned the circulating pictures were fraudulent when he was contacted by Eliot/Kittery Animal Control Officer Bob Gagne late last week. When the photos began to travel via e-mail, at least one claim said they were taken on Beech Road in Eliot.

    "Apparently he talked to the state biologist ... There were a few chuckles about it but that’s about it," he said.

    State biologist Phil Bozenhard, who is stationed out of Gray, could not be reached for comment as of press time.

    However, Dowling said Bozenhard was probably aware the photographs were not taken in this area because a number of such hoaxes occur each year.

    "The Cougar Network has been sent these photos well over a dozen times, along with claims they were taken in various eastern states like New York and Maine," he said.

    Dowling said in addition to the three images of a mountain lion peeping through a glass door and creeping around someone’s deck, there are also other fictitious photos popping up around the country.

    "One is a trail photo of a California cougar stalking a black-tailed deer, the other is a photo of a man holding an enormous cougar shot in Washington state," said Dowling, adding that there are also three hoax videos circulating in Michigan. "Their stories have resulted in ‘cougar paranoia’ among citizens and resulted in the lock-down of several schools in the Detroit area."

    Dowling said his group, which is "a nonprofit research organization dedicated to relationships and the role of cougars in ecosystems," with a special focus on expanding populations, does not believe there is a "remnant population" of cougars in Maine.

    If there were cougars that were reproducing and thriving in the wild in this area, it is "inevitable and unavoidable" that residents would find their carcasses owing to incidental snaring, car and motorcycle accidents and starvation.

    "The cats documented there (in Maine) are almost certainly of captive origin, as thousands of these animals are in private hands throughout North America," said Dowling. "Anywhere these animals live in proximity to humans, cougar carcasses are recovered on a regular basis."

    To learn about the Cougar Network and view its research, visit www.cougarnet.org.
    'All my lies are always wishes" ~Jeff Tweedy~

  17. #77
    Registered User Ratbert's Avatar
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    Greymane, Gumball, Saimyoji, Mowgli16:
    Thanks for the 411 on the cougar photos. Wyoming or not, it seems like it would have to be an escaped "pet" for it to wander around on someone's porch like that. Looked wonderfully healthy, not emaciated or anything like that.

    I've been lucky enough to see two cougars in the wild. Once while driving south through Paradise Valley in Montana (around Pray, I think) I saw one whip across the road in front of me at night. My headlights just caught it and mostly I remember that long tail disappearing into the dark. It was one of those instances where you shake your head and say, "Did I just see what I thought I saw?"

    The second was alongside the Middle Fork of the Salmon in Idaho's Frank Church / River of No Return Wilderness. It was mid-day while on a commercial rafting trip and the lion was on the bank, maybe 15 or 20 yards away. He froze until we were past, as though he was shocked at finding himself caught out in the open like that. We camped at Sheep Creek that night and not too far from camp, found the haunch of a deer, or an elk, that was half covered up with leaves and dirt. Felt spooky camping close to a kill like that, but the guides just shrugged it off. Had I been backpacking alone, no way would I have stayed there!

    I'd always heard that if you see a cougar in the wild, rest assured that not only has he probably seen you as well, but has mentally added you to the menu!

  18. #78

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    I don't have any desire to see one. Sorry that is one animal I don't want to come across. After you see one don't believe he ran off. Probably waiting and sizing you up for dinner. Every try and get a mad house cat off you, can't imagine a mountain lion clinging to you.

  19. #79
    ...Or is it Hiker Trash? Almost There's Avatar
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    That is why most wilderness survival trainers will tell you hiking out west or in Alaska you should carry some sort of protection on you...a long knife, etc. I don't advocate it in the east, but when hiking out west it might be the difference between being wounded or being dinner!
    Walking Dead Bear
    Formerly the Hiker Known as Almost There

  20. #80

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    This past weekend I hiked Tray Mtn to Dicks Creek Gap for a little gear shakedown hike....at Tray Mtn. Shelter about 10 mintues after true 'dark' before the moon rose I was walking on the trail between the shelter and the signs where the blue blazes start and heard the strangest cat like sound I have ever heard in my life, best way to decsribe it was sound going from a low note on a sliding scale to a higher note about two octaves up - and very feline like. I never even considered there could be anything out there, I turned tail and decided to head back to the shelter at a steady pace, it did it again and was at the same distance/direction away as the first time ( I was about 75 feet or so down the trail from the first spot I heard it.)

    I asked my hiking companions if they heard it and they said no..... a few minutes later we all heard it again, not far from the shelter, in the same direction I heard it the first time. Any ideas of what this could have been? Wish I could make a similar sound and put an Mp3 on here, not sure how to do that but might find an answer from someone.

    I've hiked WV-PA and CT-MA as far as the AT goes and done some trails in in N. AZ where there are cats, and I've never heard anything like this.
    Last edited by Smile; 10-17-2005 at 10:29.
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