Puma sighting

snafu · July 17, 2013, 08:12:28 PM

A friend called me a few days ago. To tell me an old farmer friend of his. Kicked one out of a hay field as he was cutting hay a few wks ago. This area is along a timbered creek, that neanders through quite a few miles of large rolling foothills. I called the old farmer & he went on to tell me. There has been 3 sightings in this area over the last 2 yrs.

For the time being. I believe there is a resident male in that area. Because I have heard of other sightings in the same focal area 3 yrs ago. I do not believe that lion is the same one up in my area. So I suspect there are 2 resident males with parrallel territories. No matter whether I'm right or wrong. It was good news to hear which focal area one lion frequents. This gives me another area to focus on next Fall/Winter.

Good part is I have no life, now that I'm retired. So I can focus all of my attention on hammering one of them. Given the chance. I hate Summer.

Okanagan · July 18, 2013, 12:25:56 AM

Keep after them!

With the network you have maybe you can ask people to phone you as soon as they see one.

A friend of mine got a phone call at 1:00 PM from a lady in the edge of a scattered residential area saying that she had just seen a cougar while walking on a path near her home. By 1:30 he was there and calling for it. It came in within minutes and he killed it.

Ask that farmer and others to let you know ASAP if they see another one or find a kill, etc. More eyes looking ups your odds, and the way the big cats travel, the sooner you can be there the better chance he will still be within hearing range of a call. If the cat is here today, tomorrow may be too late!

.

snafu · July 18, 2013, 05:48:49 AM

In a perfect World I would get recent sighting news. Down side is all of the people whom I've spoken with. Don't seem to care one way or the other about having a sighting. Unless I happen to see them & ask. I may never hear of their sighting. I figure old news is better than no news. Old guy couldn't believe how fast they can run. He said it cleared a barbed fence with ease.

JohnP · July 18, 2013, 09:51:00 AM

Stay after them, hunt the deep dark woods and the water ways. Also if you haven't already done so give the locals your name and phone number, don't wait for them to call you - call them.

Momma and cub.

snafu · July 18, 2013, 09:13:31 PM

I did talk to another local other than the old farmer. They asked for my name & number. That guy's wife wants to get one on trail cam. Before they let me hunt their land. His wife is suppose to send me some pics of possible tracks as well.

FinsnFur · July 18, 2013, 09:34:25 PM

Geeez! I'm getting excited just anticipating the pics.

snafu · July 19, 2013, 07:19:49 PM

Neat pic, John.

Well things are getting even better. I gained access on a farm on the large section. Where this puma roams. I checked my plat book & randomly called another land owner in the area. Farmer's wife answered & we visited a bit. Yeah she has had her own sighting 2yrs ago Spring time. Et she also mentioned her neighbors have had a sighting or two in the last couple of yrs. Good part is there is only one large section. All the adjacent sections are small & surrounded by gravel roads. So cutting a track shouldn't be to hard. I'm not one to get giddy about something. But I do detect giddy setting in, lol.

nailbender · July 19, 2013, 07:55:32 PM

Sounds like a good lead Snafu. Wish I could retire and come ride along.

snafu · July 19, 2013, 09:04:16 PM

Your invited Dave. You can stay in a nearby cheap roach motel. I'll pick ya up in the early am.

edit; Forgot to mention when I talked to the old farmer a few days ago. He told me 2yrs ago. A deer bow hunter had one walk right below his deer stand. Archer never pulled on that lion. I believe the large section is a hot spot. The wait is killing me.

coyote101 · July 20, 2013, 08:29:07 AM

Good luck on your quest and keep us updated.

Pat

snafu · July 21, 2013, 10:21:35 AM

Thanks. Slim chance, but I'll be in the area today looking for tracks along the creek sand bars.

snafu · July 22, 2013, 08:07:51 PM

A few pics of the section the puma was in. Reminded me of South Dakota. Roughly 98% rolling hill hay fields. Covered with patches of Oaks.

FinsnFur · July 23, 2013, 05:22:32 AM

I think I see it in that second pic

Okanagan · July 23, 2013, 11:13:46 AM

That's pretty country alright. A big cat could make a living there looks like and it has some excellent calling set ups.

I can't see the one in the second pic, Jim, but I can hear it when I turn up the sound, so it's a confirmed cougar sighting.

Could you put a trotline in that creek, Jim?

FinsnFur · July 23, 2013, 07:30:02 PM

She'd be a short one but it could be done Clyde

Okanagan · July 23, 2013, 09:59:25 PM

This is highjacking Snafu's thread but in all seriousness, my Dad used to run trotlines up or down a river instead of across. Maybe that is normal, I don't know. He would run from a springy limb on shore out into a river, anchor with a big rock and then turn downriver over a shoal etc., and eventually one way or the other to shore, etc. He'd anchor each major turn with a big rock, and he didn't put many hooks on, just put baits in certain high probability spots. Much of the time each bait targeted a specific species of fish. He liked live bluegills for bait, good sized ones he would catch with a fly rod.

The statutes of limitations are long past, and one time he set a trotline in a state where it was not legal. I was in high school, and a good ol boy from Alabama got to drinking with Dad and disbelieved his trotline fishing stories. So they headed out to a big river that had channel cats in it and Dad set a trotline not long after dark. They ran it about midnight and picked it up. It was a short line and they had six big channel cats. I remember that he was proud and embarrassed at the same time as we started cleaning fish about 1:00 in the morning. I sure miss him.

snafu · July 24, 2013, 02:10:27 PM

Called two local farmers in the area yesterday. Spoke with the lady of the houses. Both had a sighting last yr. One lady seen a young puma, the other seen a large puma. The older lady, had a colt killed a yr ago. She said it was killed in the corral then taken outside of the corral. They found a leg bone a few days later. Obtained permission on the one farm, waiting to hear on the other. So far I have land to hunt on all corners, except one.

Okanagan · July 24, 2013, 02:51:02 PM

Good work! One advantage of calling is to bring the critter to where he is legal to shoot. There is a certain satisfaction in calling something off of posted land to my side of the fence!

snafu · July 24, 2013, 03:30:30 PM

I want this hunt to be fare & square(legal) or I'm not interested. The old farmer who had the sighting awhile back. He is a coon hunter. He asked me, "Can I call you to come kill it, if I have it treed?" I told him, I'm not interested in that kill. But I suppose I'd kill one for you. He is afraid his lone coon hound will run into one. Where he can't get, to back up his hound. I hope he doesn't call me on that. I told him shooting a treed lion after a hound treed it. Doesn't interest me.

nailbender · July 24, 2013, 08:19:06 PM

This from an old hound hunter? Suppose it would be different if your own hound tracked it. Why wouldn't he just pull his dog off and leave?
Calling in the area could be productive. Not much chance of catching them out in the open sunning like a coyote.
Definitely need to get down that way this year. Time's a'wastin.