Hawley: Wildlife biologists across the United States know where the current mountain lion range is. If you search vally news archives I believe its there-its clearly not a dog. Those are the two closest populations that we have here. Evidently it was authentic because a mountain lion pounced on him. Just adding my two cents to the discussion. Now I know what it was - a mountain lion. You wouldnt shake hands with a man like that, she said, and though she was smiling I could tell she was serious. Like Tate, he gets a lot of photos and . If its not, you just thank the person and say good-bye.. I never told anyone but family. In June 1991 and again in July 1993, my wife Linda and I, visited Prof. Harold & wife Martene at their Maine Cottage overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, where we had serious discussions on the WILD, NATIVE, FREE-ROAMING cougars-mountain lions and their ancestors who have inhabited the eastern U.S. for over the last 500 years. There were caribou antlers mounted above the front doors, and the interior walls were covered in row upon row of books; a long table was piled high with still more books in seemingly random arrangements. Photo courtesy National Wildlife Federation. The last catamount killed in Vermont stands under glass just inside the doors to the Vermont Historical Museum in Montpelier, a hop, skip, and a jump down the block from the statehouse. What color was it? And were one of the most densely populated states as far as humans. If theyre in one, theyre in the other.. No one is on the road at 430-5am. Just like cats do - it waited to the last moment and then ran across in front of me. John Lutz, Eastern Puma Research Network. The tail, I said. Vermont Fish and Wildlife say they get between 50 and 75 sightings here in Vermont, annually. Wed be seeing more carcasses of prey we would be seeing at least some carcasses of mountain lion prey. According to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, only four confirmed sightings occurred in the state from the late 1700s to the early 2000s. The U.S. Anyone can get fooled. We strolled across the tavern parking lot and ducked into the forest, where Ottmann maintains a portion of his $15,000 worth of wildlife recording equipment (hes had no luck capturing a cougar on camera, though, despite more than a decade of trying). The Grandfather of eastern Cougar Studies, began investigating big cat sightings in the 1940s. Felis concolor couguar. Mountain Lions: cougars, pumas, panthers and catamounts. I noticed that there were many great websites, blogs, and discussion boards devoted to mountain lion sightings in other states of New England, but not one just for Vermont. ), or someones coworkers mother had seen one from the back porch of a summer camp back in 07 or maybe 08, and shed tried to get a picture but this was before she got her first iPhone, and by the time shed retrieved her camera from the living room, the cat was long gone. We need our apex carnivores in a big way, Morse says. Amazing sight. He was big. This is a site for people to discuss mountain lion sightings in the Green Mountain State of Vermont. McEnroe: It is an uphill challenge. T here've been several reported mountain lion sightings around Marine on St. Croix, Minn. in the last month. It was a few miles south of the Hanover exit. Now the bears, they dont even care if people are home, theyll go right in the house. My partner and I walked much closer to it (about 50-60 ft away). State lawmakers have entertained bills to establish a bear hunting season for years, but so far, none of those proposals has passed. Thank you for reading. Welcome to the blog dedicated to discussing mountain lion sightings in Vermont. TPWD Confirmed Mountain Lions. So all the other states in the Northeast that have bear populations have a harvest on their bears. This was a large tan colored cat with a long tail. I gave grown up in the woods and this was no bobcat. Eastern bobcat. Though the infamous catamount has been declared extinct in Vermont since 2018, several people spotted big cats that they thought to be mountain lions on Ripley Road two weeks ago, according to posts on Front Porch Forum. The catamount is a creature of stealth and concealment; it stalks its prey, which on the EasternSeaboard would likely be deer, moose, porcupines, beavers, and domestic livestock. Still, this isnt a foolproof rule for big cat identification. See more at:Here, Phone & Fax: It has, in fact, more names than any animal in the world. Please contact me at epuma@frontier.com or 304-749-7778. The big cat on the ground before him, motionless, yet somehow still embodying that particular feline litheness, as if, with the flick of its tail, it might bound to its feet and disappear into the woods. . We are pretty sure there's a large actin our vicinity. He says that if mountain lions do . Sign up below to receive the weekly newsletter, which also includes top trending stories and what all the locals are talking about! Was getting ready to let the dog out but I thought it was a big dog that was loose. It is what wildlife biologists call an apex carnivore, which means it can overpower pretty much any other creature in its environmentwith the exception of an armed human. The animal, I learned, is called many things: mountain lion, panther, catamount, puma, cougar and more. The lion three feet away crouched down and screamed in my face, at that point i have never been so scared in my life i thought this is it i am a dead man. Its on the property that we own over there. I was proud to acknowledge the fact, of being a CLOSE friend to both the Professor & his wife Martene. Ive seen more field evidence in a couple of hours tracking out west than Ive seen in 100 years on the East Coast, he said. For example, a mountain lion native to North Dakota made it as far as Connecticut in 2011, according to Bernier. Since then, there have been a handful of confirmed mountain lion sightings in the Northeast, although most have been thought to be escaped captive animals. J.A. I contacted VT FISH and Game who say its a bobcat. And then he drove up into my yard to read the meter. My e-mail: epuma@frontier.com /// my mailing address 99 Beagle Boot Lane, Maysville, WV 26833 They were at least 4-5 inches at the widest part of the pad. Where once it was flatly dismissed as impossible in the so-called developed East, scientists have now documented cougar dispersals and reoccupation of a growing list of eastern states and provinces. Morse will present evidence on cougars returning to the East. Its closest living relative is the cheetah. Since 1890 in the U.S. and Canada, there have been 100 attacks on humans at all, according to the research organization The Cougar Network. We went back later and the road was hard but we did get some pictures of prints exactly where the cat went back into the woods and the toes were hard to see, but the pad was classic cougar and the print was the size of my hand. In the second camp, there are those issuing the denials, pointing to the lack of photographic evidence, or the absence of tracks, or the simple truth that many people dont seem to know the difference between a cougar and a bobcat and a lynx and even, in some cases, a golden retriever. Were arrogant if we think were the only species that makes decisions based on fear, he told me when I called him at his home in Oregon. We have a lot of bear traffic through here, and deer, Snow said. I want emails from Fodor's Travel with travel information and promotions. She favors plaid shirts, green Dickies work pants, and hiking boots, and she chided me for shaking her hand too gently. Well, theres no difference between Maine and New Brunswick, anyway, said Betty. I think the only reason the lion did not attack was because of the dogs. He waves me over and shows me an animal lying in our driveway. Mountain lion tails, however, are about three feet long, usually the length of the cats body. Betsy started as an intern at WNPR in 2011 after earning a Master's Degree in American and Museum Studies from Trinity College. We were both very startled and when it ran away it had a long tail with white and black at the tip.I lived in Colorado for several years, in the vicinity of mountain lions, never saw one and never thought for a moment that they could possibly be in Vermont. He can be reached by phone at 860-275-7297 or by email: pskahill@ctpublic.org. I was traveling west on Route 131 in Wethersfield just west of Downers 4 Corners on January 22 about 12:15 AM during a light sleet and snow storm when a big cat ran across the road in front of me. We walked to the other side of it to get a better view (its back was to us) and it suddenly realized we were there and jumped up and looked right at us. Morse, 70, comports herself in a friendly and no-nonsense manner. dr bondra fremont, ohio obituary; is francis leo marcos related to ferdinand marcos Growing up in northern Vermont, Id heard stories of sightings, though always a few steps removed from the tellersomebodys cousin had seen a cougar cross the road on their way home from deer camp up in Canaan (or was it Coventry? We watched it kill an animal (a woodchuck or something). The Mountain Times is, and has always been, a family-owned independent newspaper located on Route 4. Weve got a growing bear population. Mountain Lions Living Mountain Lion Sightings in Vermont in Vermont? Dan Moore::: IN reference to your big cat crossing Route 113, YES, mountain lions/cougars/pumas, 3 of the most popular names for North Americas largest unspotted, lion-cat, travelling free in almost every state, across the USA. And so we come to the great divide over cougars in New England. I have no doubt but that cougars have been spotted all over the East Coast. You were the first person I thought of after I calmed down enough to think straight! We see Bear every day, and Fishers it was none of those, nor a Bobcat as it was twice the size of our Belgian Shepherd dog. John A. Lutz After registering, I can manage my newsletter subscriptions by visiting my Profile Settings page. October 30, 2015 by Dana Kobilinsky. How to Report a Possible Mountain Lion Sighting. In that time frame, have collected over 9,500 excellent reports from responsible witnesses, which includes law enforcement & forestry personnel. 24 Hour Hotline: 304-749-7778 if interested in discussing our favorite subject. My husband was on a conference call and was staring out of our front window while on the call. To date, Keeping Track has helped conserve 40,000 acres in 12 states and inQuebec. I was aware, too, of how a certain mythology surrounding the animal had taken root in Vermonts culture and even its identity: The University of Vermonts athletic teams, for instance, are known as the Vermont Catamounts, and their logo features a snarling cat lunging through the cleft of a V.. The cat was out day light standing in hill that was near road only about 3 FT off ground, looking at me driving by. I was with Barnaby and my 4 year old daughter in a place we jokingly call Cougar Canyon. He also collects sighting reports on his blog, simply dubbed, "New Hampshire Mountain Lion." The blog still gets sightings, most recently on Aug. 3. He is a consummate storyteller, and he wears on his sleeve his affection for the region and the hard-working, commonsense people who inhabit it. Massachusetts, Virginia, Vermont, and Wyoming. Its important not to rule any possibilities out, including the chance of a mountain lion, according to Bernier. Whats happening in Waterbury? Curious if anyone has spotted any cougars in the area? Reported catamount sightings all over Vermont MyNBC5-WPTZ 16.6K subscribers Subscribe 15 Share 4.5K views 10 years ago Reported mountain lion sightings are popping up all over Vermont. I started this blog for people to discuss mountain lion sightings and reports in the Green Mountain State of Vermont. Its acceleration was amazing. 35 wild cougars, known as the Florida Panther, of which a few are totally BLACK, and known as panther, but are actually of the jaguar family In the last few days, 3 sightings have been reported to us, large brown cats in Tennessee and Indiana, a total black cat, in Virginia. Growing up in northern Vermont, Id heard stories of sightings, though always a few steps removed from the tellersomebodys cousin had seen a cougar cross the road on their way home from deer camp up in Canaan (or was it Coventry? Bobcat tails, though prominent when they walk, are only about six or seven inches long. Both the front (left) and rear paws of this animal . 99 Beagle Boot Lane It took a rest in the shade of our driveway for about ten minutes. One, Waterbury resident Jeff Kilgores sister-in-law, came across the cats while walking a dog on Ripley Road on a Monday morning. The second sighting in myakka preserve, hopping a fence. Tom Stearns, a Vermont Game Warden says they get reports all the time. Lynx sightings and Catamount sightings have been on the increase every year since 2003. Jul 9, 2021. Cougar truthers are certain that the big cat is living and breeding again in New England. I wouldnt let him outside to take a pic and we only had an iPhone. After an unfortunate past of over hunting, Montana's mountain lion population has made a comeback. He said there were two, he called them mountain lions.. Let us know the date, time of day, how long the sighting lasted for, where you saw the cat in Vermont, and describe what the cat looked likeand was doing. As a scientist, lack of evidence is very good evidence. Morally i mean Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. I wanted to see how close I could get walking closer and closer the eyes did not run in fact they started to come to us. Adult males may be more than 8 feet long (from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail), and can weigh between 130 and 150 pounds. Finally, in the third camp, there are the true believersthe cougar truthers, if you willthe men and women for whom the only logical conclusion (often reached after a significant investment of time, thought, and sometimes money) is that right here, right now, cougars live among us, feeding and breeding and rearing their young, and that suggesting otherwise is sheer ignorance, willful denial, or part of a mosaic of conspiracy. We all feel so blessed to have sighted them, and have no doubt we saw cougar. The presentation promises to be a magnificently illustrated introduction to cougar biology and ecology in the broad diversity of habitats where Morse has studied them, from Alberta to the Mexican border. Maysville, WV 26833 The Network's interactive map also shows confirmed sightings in Quebec, Maine, Connecticut and New York State. Anyway, I hope you see this message. Kimberly King. 26M views, 14K likes, 2K loves, 8.1K comments, 19K shares, Facebook Watch Videos from VT: This mountain lion is about to turn a vacation into a nightmare. Its distinctive featurethe one that sets it apart from other North American wild catsis its tail, which is thick and often as long as its body. It is also known as cougar, panther, mountain lion, and puma, though catamount is the preferred regional vernacular. We hadnt seen a cougar, nor any evidence to suggest a cougar had traveled these woods recently. What else could it be so big I thought it was a deer with a long cat tail? Director, Eastern Puma Research Network He honked his horn to scare them off, and the cats made their way into Snows yard. If theres a middle ground in the cougar debate, it belongs to John Harrigan, a veteran outdoorsman, newspaper reporter, and widely read syndicated columnist. I took pictures but now wished I had placed an object to get the scale of the prints. I couldnt tell you how happy I would be if mountain lions were actually recolonizing the state of Connecticut, Hawley says, but its just not happening., Hawley spoke about bobcats, mountain lions and bears on The Colin McEnroe Show: Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators.. Anyway, we are always aware that there could be mountain lions around and on this day I saw a huge beautiful mountain lion. If you have a cell phone telephone number I can send photos to, I will send you photos of the prints in the snow around my porchside door. Morse introduced me to her cat, Allister, whom she referred to as her portable puma. Then she fetched me a beer. I have seen a bobcat as I had one that hung around one of the places I lived-I believe he may have been hurt because he hung around for about a month which is uncharacteristic of them if I remember correctly, and I also believe he same one was hit by Harpoon Brewery in Windsor and boy do they clean up wild cats fast. I also had the vague notion that when it comes to cougars, people tend to sort themselves into one of three camps. Perhaps, then, the ultimate question isnt whether cougars are among us, but rather how we can encourage them to settle here. Its OK, he told me. At first I thought it was a deer because of the color and size but as we drew closer I saw the thick long tail and realized what it was. Its tail was gigantic and it was swishing it back and forth. Box, city, zip-code, so a copy can be sent in early April. Sill Editor. It crossed the road just below where the Jaquiths lived. They were huge. Local game officials are saying that this is another one of those sightings where people claim to have seen a mountain lion. Despite frequent claims, there has only been one confirmed mountain lion sighting since the late 1800s here. It was stalking in the bushes like a cat and moved like a cat. Harrigan nodded. In the 37 years Ive been working, things have changed in ways Id never have predicted. Bigger than my rottwieller/Lab cross. I told family and close friends as I was very excited about it .I have hunted deer my whole life and had seen bobcats and lynx but there was no mistaken this catamount! But perhaps an even larger portion is the product of his enduring faith in the men and womanloggers, hunters, trapperswhose vocations and avocations have instilled in them a deep familiarity with wild places and the creatures who inhabit them. By C.L. I know what they look like and this silhouette was very much the same as that cat last summer. It can run at speeds of up to 50 mph. I have been investigating big cat reports across the eastern U.S., since 1963, have collected over 11,000 sightingsThis message is NOT a joke!! A rare Missouri mountain lion sighting was reported recently after one of the big cats was hit by a vehicle in Franklin County. That, however, does NOT mean a breeding colony of these animals has returned there. Records suggest that cash bounties for cougar kills were relatively common in the late 1700s and early 1800s; in the Adirondacks, a trapper named Thomas Meacham was credited with 77 cougar kills. Wildlife experts say no. The truth is, I was by this point dubious. I was awakened by a wailing sound that I thought was a woman in great pain and fear in my front yard. I am pretty sure that I saw a mountain lion yesterday around 9:00am just on my way out of Glover, Vermont heading to East Hardwick. On another large animal that is most definitely here: bears. The cat was a goldish / tan color not real big but at least twice the size of a full grown fox,very long thick bushy tail.The tail was almost as long as its body. And Im assuming whatever were doing right now, its not working. Hed encouraged me to keep my eyes open for deer carcasses cached in the trees (according to Ottmann, cougars are fantastic climbers and are known to stash their kills high in trees), but I saw only leaf-bare branches. You could have 50. Stay clear and give 'em space. Now, lets start talking about our favorite big cat! The last catamount in Vermont is finally, officially, certainly dead. But a high-profile sighting in 2011 stirred up renewed interest in the animals here, when a mountain lion from South Dakota was hit and killed by a car on a Connecticut highway. The date was June 17 at about 1 pm. Mountain lions remain an enigmatic animal for residents of New Hampshire, with New Hampshire Fish and Game reporting three to five sightings per week. As a hobby gone astray, I have recorded more than 20,000 big cat sightings, from all states, east of Mississippi River since 1969. Canada lynx are breeding in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Lets learn to live alongside this very large animal is one of the schools of thought. The females are where its at, she said. Ottmann grew up and still lives just minutes from the tavern; his familiarity with the establishment was obvious (after we met in the parking lot, he led me into the building through the kitchen, greeting each of the staff by name). Im not an expert on human psychology, but if youre looking for something, you have a greater chance of actually seeing it. My husband hunts and tracks. My elderly mother lives with us so I got up to investigate and saw a large animal with a tail at least a foot long walking between the cars in our driveway. But other hard evidence of the big cats presence is elusive. Look out for our newsletters with travel tips and special offers. There were also people who spoke of seeing prints in a specific area in Hartland as well. [2] [3] The subspecies as described in 1946 was declared extinct by the U.S. : I am basically a pro whitetail hunter living in Roxbury vt. If we end up with a population, it will be the result of a colonizer female who gets here somehow, some way, and the rest will be history.. In their estimation, the presence of a breeding cougar population in New England would likely stem from our proximity to Canada, where, as they rightly point out, DNA analysis has resulted in 19 positive identifications across Quebec and New Brunswick since 2001 (although some of these were shown to be of South American lineage, suggesting escaped pets). 2 Last 5 Years. I dont care if it was the western or eastern blah blah I just know that it was a mountain lion!!! So theres fresh mud. She served as the Senior Producer for 'The Colin McEnroe Show' for several years before stepping down in 2021 and returning to her previous career as a registered nurse. He has also reported for the Marketplace Morning Report. Laura: Did you report the dead mountain lion to the state Highway Dept. I worked in wrj,VT. I am so happy that I did not hit it - there was absolutely no time to react. Sincerely, John Lutz, 99 Beagle boots Lane, Maysville, WV 26833 or epuma@frontier.com, Hellomy husband and I were at our Vermont vacation home taking a furniture delivery. It was his great coolness and daring (either that, or fear) that enabled Crowell to shoot the animal at a distance of one rod only (roughly 16 feet), first hitting it in the leg with his shotgun, then dispatching it with a bullet to the head from a borrowed rifle.