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Mountain Lion in NY????

Dennis119

By Dennis119,
in Deer Hunting

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Dennis119 Newbie

Dennis119

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I was recently reading an article on Facebook and a site posted a picture of a mountain lion killed in upstate NY. Has anyone heard of any mountain lion in NY? I hear rumblings over the years and you take them with a grain of salt sometimes; as people tend to start rumors but maybe these aren't rumors. 

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Curmudgeon Newbie

Curmudgeon

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I suggest finding the photo and doing a Google image search. The last time someone sent me a photo of a mountain lion supposedly taken in NY, it turned out to be from our west. I have wolf photos at a camera trap from an AEP site in the UP in MI. I could just as easily post them in the AEP thread under game cameras with my NYS photos. The habitat is even similar looking to here. Let the buyer beware.

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Mr VJP Newbie

Mr VJP

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A year or two ago, a mountain lion was killed by a car on a highway in Connecticut.  Biologists claimed it's DNA indicated it had come from North Dakota I think.  Anyway, the story they told was that it had traveled across the northern United States, through Minnesota, then part of Canada, then through upstate NY, and wound up on the highway in CT.  There have been other stories of mountain lions making similar treks.  

 

The main point here is, apparently mountain lion do travel, and some may have traveled through NY State, but there is no evidence of any breeding pairs or any permanent resident mountain lions in NY State as of this date.  But because they apparently can travel quite a ways, I wouldn't be surprised if eventually one is documented in NY State in the near future.

 

Edited by Mr VJP
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Doc Proficient

Doc

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Yeah, we have had some heated discussions on this site regarding this subject. I'm not sure what causes people to lose their minds over this, but must say there are a lot of good reasons and logic involved in doubting, since no one over all these decades has produced any tangible evidence (no remains, no provable documented photos, none having ever been killed on the highway or anywhere else, no documented scat, etc.,etc.). So there probably is no reason to believe rumors or doctored photos, or other claims. The only thing that has to be allowed is the possibility of a single wandering cat passing through, or some domesticated mountain lion that has escaped or purposely turned loose.

 

When you ask about mountain lions in NYS, you really have to ask only about a breeding population, since that really is what people are trying to get at. I have to say that logically, it is highly unlikely

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grampy Veteran

grampy

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About eight years ago in my area of Albany county, it seemed that just about everyone was seeing a couger or mt.lion. Some very credible people made the claim to have seen it. People like a local state park superintendent claimed to have seem it twice. Local farmers, even my buddies father and brother claimed to have seen it on their farm that they have lived on their entire lives. School teachers and even some local law enforcement claimed to have seen this mt. lion!

I too have lived here most of my life, and have roamed this same state park and surrounding woodlots and farms since I was a kid. I know every nook cranny and brook, swamp, hill and field for five square miles. I don't know anyone that spends or spent more time in these woods than my hunting partner, who also grew up on said farm and myself. Nether him or I ever saw any sign whatsoever of any mt. Lion.

We do have quite a few bobcats in the area maybe that is what they saw. Though some of the people I talked to swear that it was no bobcat, and that they know the difference between the two. It's hard to look someone in the eye that has known you since you were a pup and tell them they don't know what they saw. I do believe that they believe they saw something. But there is no way I believe it was a mt.lion. With my own eyes I never saw a scrap of proof. If there was one there we would have found evidence somewhere, somehow.

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blackradio Apprentice

blackradio

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So, here's the deal. Worked at a camp in my town for a long time. My partner and I heard my boss saying that they were having a problem with kids sneaking out at night through the back gate and that they were going to make sure security went back there more often. My buddy had a trail cam in his back seat and we decided to put it up facing the road that leads to the back gate to see if we could catch kids leaving the property (and to catch deer obviously)

 

We got some pics of bears and then we got the pic of the cat. Night pic is not great as it is a pic of a pic. Not sure if my buddy still has original. Hard to judge it's size. Based on the size of the bear, the cat is a decent size and has a very long tail. Def not a bobcat, looks bigger than house cat but much smaller than adult mtn lion.

 

 

post-568-0-04151000-1424227358_thumb.jpg

post-568-0-89913500-1424227430_thumb.jpe

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BizCT Grand Master

BizCT

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So, here's the deal. Worked at a camp in my town for a long time. My partner and I heard my boss saying that they were having a problem with kids sneaking out at night through the back gate and that they were going to make sure security went back there more often. My buddy had a trail cam in his back seat and we decided to put it up facing the road that leads to the back gate to see if we could catch kids leaving the property (and to catch deer obviously)

We got some pics of bears and then we got the pic of the cat. Night pic is not great as it is a pic of a pic. Not sure if my buddy still has original. Hard to judge it's size. Based on the size of the bear, the cat is a decent size and has a very long tail. Def not a bobcat, looks bigger than house cat but much smaller than adult mtn lion.

Looks clearly like a bobcat to me. I don't see a tail whatsoever. Looks like a 25-30lb cat

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BizCT Grand Master

BizCT

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there is a tail that swoops down and almost touches the ground.

Even when I zoom in, I don't see a long tail. Here's my average 120lb lion, look at how long the tail is, there would be no missing a tail like this.

post-871-14242285293052_thumb.jpg

post-871-14242285438797_thumb.jpg

Your pic looks a lot more like a smaller version of a bobcat like this

post-871-1424228578655_thumb.jpg

Even an average lion is over 6-7 feet from nose to tail....you think the cat in your pic is that big? Looks more like 3-4' to me

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Edited by Biz-R-OWorld
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BizCT Grand Master

BizCT

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By the way, how big were the tracks? Did you take a pic of something as reverence next to the track? That would have been the easiest answer. Even the biggest bobcat track is smaller than a young lion traxk

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growalot Newbie

growalot

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No that is back ground shadow but it had me going for a moment....now you do know that these guys will never believe until you have a picture ...during the day with you or a NYStrooper and a NYS highway sign all in the picture at once....EVEN though.... during one of these debates...NYS did indeed have at least 1 roaming through..... before getting killed in Conn.

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Dennis119 Newbie

Dennis119

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I certainly agree, you have to disect the picture, text etc. to really determine if it is a hoax or not or even taking from another part of the country, afterall, saying there's a mountain lion in any area will scare people but I also think that's why the DEC would never admit if there were mountain lion in NY, just my opinion. I personally haven't seen any nor any tracks. Coyote, bobcat, bear, fox - the usual suspects the roam the NY wilderness. 

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