Big kitty

[TreeGuy]

So, word on the street is that there's a big kitty cat running around in Orchard park. I was told that a woman saw this "cat" and heard the screams of what sounded like a... Well, I'd rather not say yet but supposedly the DEC is coming to set cam's and investigate the area. I really wonder how many times this has come up, and I'd sure like to see the proof of these "big cats". Stayed tuned for the typical ending, but I am hopeful some proof shows up. I kinda want to put on a squatch outfit and run through the woods.

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[turkeyfeathers]

Reports of mountain lion that way about 3 weeks ago.


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[philoshop]

I saw a manatee in Lake Michigan a couple years ago. Turned out to be Michael Moore taking a swim.

[TreeGuy]

I saw a manatee in Lake Michigan a couple years ago. Turned out to be Michael Moore taking a swim.

I didn't think you could swim if you were full of shhhhh

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[grampy]

It seems like state wide, including our area in the hilltowns of Albany county, there are periodically claims of sightings of big puddie tats. In our area some of these "claims" have been made by respectable people with no reason at all to "make up" a story. So I wonder, is there something to it? Or is it just misidentification or imagination working overtime? Perhaps there is something to it all in a very small percentage of statewide claims. Perhaps not. But in our area where "claims" have been made in the past, we've spent countless hours in the woods. Along with trail cams spread over two good sized properties, and over a combined 100 years between my buddy and I, in these woods, to have never seen a shred of solid proof. So in my mind, I guess I'll believe it when I see it. But hey, ya never know!

[mowin]

3 hours ago, grampy said:

It seems like state wide, including our area in the hilltowns of Albany county, there are periodically claims of sightings of big puddie tats. In our area some of these "claims" have been made by respectable people with no reason at all to "make up" a story. So I wonder, is there something to it? Or is it just misidentification or imagination working overtime? Perhaps there is something to it all in a very small percentage of statewide claims. Perhaps not. But in our area where "claims" have been made in the past, we've spent countless hours in the woods. Along with trail cams spread over two good sized properties, and over a combined 100 years between my buddy and I, in these woods, to have never seen a shred of solid proof. So in my mind, I guess I'll believe it when I see it. But hey, ya never know!

I was in the same thought process as you. Hundreds of acres hunted by several guys for yrs. Never a sighting of a Mt lion.  Many so call sighting around the region. 

Last June I pulled into a clients drive to mow the lawn. What was standing in the driveway? Yep a Mt lion. Couldn't believe my eyes. I fumbled for my phone, but he/she calmly walked into the brush before I could snap a pic. 

I've hunted this property for several years, and had a trail cam only 75 yrds from where I spotted the cat, but no pic. 

If I didn't see it with my own eyes, I'd be sceptical. 

[grampy]

What area was this in mowin? Just curious. I do not doubt your word. As I don't doubt a couple of the local people who have claimed to have seen them. One gentleman I've known most of my life. And he is a very down to earth straight forwad farmer, who's lived on his land, his entire life. He looked me in the eye, and said "I know what I saw, dammit, and it weren't no damned bobcat or anything else"! Hard to argue with that. But for myself, I'll believe it when I see it. But I'll also keep an open mind.

[growalot]

Ya know I've lived here since our daughter was in 6th grade and now she is 35. I have ran several cams for years. I'm on the property 24 /7. I know we have bears..the neighbors have seen bears a lot, yet I have just one sighting in person on our place..several not far away ,and one trail cam pic. This after all these years and tracking one through the place in the snow..past 6 cams,all behind them..

Same with bob cats, and porcupine, fisher. Just one sighting in person in all these years and no pics.

[philoshop]

I always reserve opinion until the facts come out. 40 years ago we didn't have bears, bobcats, coyotes, or even turkeys in my area. I've watched the slow influx over the decades, and they are all here now regardless of what people said back then.

In the mid 1970's I was surrounded before dawn one morning by a pack of 'dogs' while running a trapline before school in Wayne county. House pets don't act like that, and they don't all have similar coloring like those 'dogs' did. I reported it to local law enforcement who told me they would look into the 'stray dog' problem. Homeowners now have a coyote problem in their own back yards in that area. I don't know what, if anything, might have been done to prevent it, but public awareness wouldn't have hurt.

The point is: it's absolutely possible that a few big cats will find their way into suburban and exurban parts of NYS because of food availability. Fluffy-the-poodle left alone in someone's back yard or, God forbid, a small child left for a moment, are easy pickings for a 200# cat. Will the authorities even tell us if this happens?

[mowin]

1 hour ago, grampy said:

What area was this in mowin? Just curious. I do not doubt your word. As I don't doubt a couple of the local people who have claimed to have seen them. One gentleman I've known most of my life. And he is a very down to earth straight forwad farmer, who's lived on his land, his entire life. He looked me in the eye, and said "I know what I saw, dammit, and it weren't no damned bobcat or anything else"! Hard to argue with that. But for myself, I'll believe it when I see it. But I'll also keep an open mind.

This was in Old Chatham in Columbia county.  I don't blame you for doubting any sighting. I did, probably still will depending on who it is.  Some people I like so much, that I wouldn't believe them if they can inside and said the sky is blue. Then I got friends that I'd believe them if they said they seen a woolly mammoth.  Unfortunately, the only people I know of that claimed to see a lion I don't believe them for a second. 

[Rattler]

A couple of years ago a Mountain Lion was struck by a car and killed on a highway in Connecticut.   I was determined it had traveled through NY state to get there.  I think they said it had DNA from lions in the Dakotas.  There may not be a breeding population in NY yet, but they are passing through.

If they confirmed one was in CT, why would anyone doubt they are in NY?

 

[Pygmy]

Certainly it is possible...Just very unlikely....

 

[philoshop]

It was also considered unlikely that coyotes would ever be in Central Park in Manhattan, Pygmy. Just sayin'.

I don't buy into the conspiracy stuff on any level, but I don't close the door on the possibility that a few big cats might find a comfortable home in central or western NY some day.

[Merlot]

could have been Turkeyfeathers wandering around in his bunny suit.....

[mowin]

I've asked my local game warden if there's any Mt lion in NY. His response. Rob, there's no mt lions in NY.  Lol. He said I seen a bobcat or a coyote.  Ok, right. 

[TreeGuy]

I offered to donate my cell cam, as I'd love to be the one flooding the web with pics the moment it's captured. We shall see the outcome.

On a side note, it's absurd to me that a cat would make it from Dakota's to CT. That is nuts !!

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[Doc]

I understand that the big cats are extremely secretive and certainly would not be around in big numbers, but you would think that with all the interest that people and the DEC has in mountain lions here that somebody would have come up with some kind of absolute proof over the years. I am no way ready to say that all these reports are lies and imaginations or cases of mistaken identity, but I will have to see better proof than just eye witness accounts. In this day of everyone carrying cameras and cameras strapped to trees all over the place, perhaps it is just a matter of time before real proof comes to light. We'll just have to wait and see and be skeptical.

One thing I really don't want is for the attitude of ridicule becoming so commonplace that people will stop reporting what they see or think they have seen.  

[mowin]

I'm reluctant to relay this story, because it may be just that, a story.  

W yrs my brother was at a property he caretakes, and the propane truck pulls in for a delivery. Guy said your not going to believe this, but I just seen 2 Mt lions. And One had a tracking collar.  

He claims he was filling a tank just down the road, when he seen the cats.

Said not a min later, two vehicles, one encon and another with no markings pulled over, and jumped out and went into the woods.  Couple min later the officer walk by and the driver asked if they were looking for the lions? Response, sir there's no MT lions in NY. 

Now, I don't know this guy. No clue if it's true. But I will say it was only 6 mi away from where I seen a Mt lion. 

[johnplav]

What is the penalty for killing a mountain lion in NY? 

 

[Pygmy]

They strap you on a gurney and make you listen to Wayne Newton albums non-stop for a week...

[grampy]

Pretty stiff penalty, don't ya think?

[Nomad]

Idk , I usually have to pay extra to be tied down .....

[mowin]

How can there be a penalty if it's the states position that there's none here??

[Culvercreek hunt club]

52 minutes ago, mowin said:

How can there be a penalty if it's the states position that there's none here??

There are states that have laws protecting bigfoot too. 

[stubby68]

54 minutes ago, mowin said:

How can there be a penalty if it's the states position that there's none here??

Why not in I believe it is Washington maybe oragon there is a law on the books that it is I'll age to shoot big foot. Everyone says they do not exist so why is there a law against killing them.

       I'm sure they would file it under some law that loosely makes it illegal.