He said, I went out at about dusk and I was looking around my property and at the edge of the woods I saw a mountain lion with a half dead groundhog in its mouth and it was tossing it into the air and catching it.. This was kind of cool to me so I was on the lookout for any other animals, also keeping in mind that they might run onto the road. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. We have for several years seen small ones around. But according to University of Minnesota research associate and wildlife expert Dr. Michelle LaRue, its a little more nuanced than that. Of course, he has never seen a documented one inthe wild, so I only trust his take so far. I bearly got a glimpse, thought at first it was a deer. I hope that maybe I can find a place I can place a trail camera nearby to search for it. A couple of sightings involved captive . With their tails, some individuals can be as much as 9 ft. long. She was never spotted, but that sound is something that you never can forget or confuse for anything else. fauquier county Virginia It didnt appear to be hunting, or have any kind of agenda, just comfortable in its surroundings. Others saw those cats too; so it was not my mistaking them for anything else! Were not taking any action to move them or kill them. On June 17, 2015, the U.S. When I told another fellow that lives near there, he said he had seen tracks. A lot of people dont know theyre around until they show up and start feeding on their bird feeders, and then all of a sudden its What are you gonna do about these bears?. My e-mail address is gardrserv@yahoo.com & would be more than willing to give anyone any info as to what & where I saw. The Mountain Lions compete as members of the Mountain East Conference in all fifteen sports. I think its all the same.. There is wide open space there, high cliffs, and an abundance of deer. It was last June that my husband and brother in law were traveling on rt 66 where it goes into rt 81 (somewhere between Front Royal and Strasburg) and saw a cougar dead on the side of the highway! A mountain lion photo has been circulating on social media for more than a year, claiming people have seenmountain lions in the state, and officials are calling shenanigans on the post. I thought it was a bear at first, until I saw its long thick tail. The total length of this species is 5-9 feet (cylindrical tail 2-3 feet) and it weighs from 100-200 pounds. Email me. I am sorry, but some of the comments are incredible, and border on the hilarious. Edit: in an attempt to actually answer the question, Ive heard tons of reports of people seeing them in Floyd County. The cougar has not been confirmed in Virginia since 1882, but there are increasing signs they have returned to the state. Unfortunately, these animals have been pushed to the brink by hunting and habitat loss, and they arent nearly as common as they used to be. He told me that he was having a problem with coyotes killing his sheep. We never saw it again. He said he had called the county animal control and they told him he must have seen a bob cat as no mountain lions were still in our area. Wolves once thrived in Virginia, but due to the harm they inflicted on farms and livestock, they were hunted by the settlers of Jamestown and eventually became extinct. Others, including the park ranger she met that day and wildlife experts shes reached out to since the sighting, are skeptical. While mountain lions are native to Virginia, they have been expatriated from the state since 1882. Not much evidence but plenty of stories. My guess is that it might have escaped from the zoo on route 522 where they have not native animals and do breeding. Places that will never see any kind of development. If any would like to see the pictures that was with this E-mail. A litter of bobcat kittens even started living in my friends open barn because they were obviously abandoned. A week later the farmer shot the mountain lion. It almost took the tail of the cat as long to pass from my view and did the body. Despite the widely-held belief in the scientific community that eastern mountain lions have been long gone and any cats seen roaming the region these days must have made the long trek from midwestern states like South Dakota, some Appalachian residents remain convinced that the cats never actually left the area. After passing the long horn pasture over the summit I thought I was clear, hadnt seen eyes at any distance in a while. They dont know that, theyre not genetically testing these animals.. He envisions calls from parents, too afraid to send their kids out to the bus stop knowing theres a mountain lion within miles of the area. He didnt rule out the possibility of an individual wandering into Virginia, as that has happened before. At which point we all said a cougar and he said how did you know. There haven't been any cougars in Tennessee since the early 1900s. It was standing next to a large hill in the median and looked at my car as I passed. A neighbors cat was outside and I could see that she was visibly frightened and crouching under a car. It was in the early evening but well before dark. Our daughters were in a 4H group across the park on Bull Run Post Office Road and each week theyd ride their horses across the battlefield to a farn where they practiced Vaulting (circus riding) with their 4H group. I, a CPA, saw one 15 years ago. Females need to show up. hunterb8s@yahoo.com. Bull sharks are one of the few species that can tolerate fresh water, which allows them to flow from ocean to river relatively easily. i recently moved to Martinsville from Ct. My folks have lived in Stuart for the past 11 years. Thursday, April 21, 2005. When I was a kid we lived on a mountain in the Shenandoah Valley (near Front Royal/ Linden) and there were several mountain Lion sightings and people who claimed to have heard them. They wondered if it was a kind of dog or even a cat. I have helped skin and mount wild cats before and definitely know the difference. I kept hiking and went all the way to HWY 19E where I slept in a shelter half a mile from the road. lions in the area for years. "I do believe that the vast majority of people who claim to have seen them honestly believe that they saw them, that they aren't purposefully making up stories. "At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, thus far and no further. If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour. Hey me and my friends go hunting in virginia and theres been some times where we have been hunting and we would here her but it sounds like a female screaming bloody murder and its one of those sounds that makes your hair stand up and if you are tired it will wake you up i personaly know i was hunting in a stand and i saw the hole body but the head it scared the living crap out of me While 4 wheeling in our Bronco on Buffalo Creek in Logan County, WV. The cougar hesitated and then left the path. No one has since today, reported seeing one. The mountain lion (Puma concolor) is sometimes called cougar, puma, catamount, and panther. By 2011, U.S. I made deep, loud noises and threw my hands up and used my flashlight to look large. I don't believe any mountain lions are here. Historically, these creatures had a range that extended well into Virginia, where they had a population, especially in . Despite their extinct status, there have been persistent mountain lion sightings . And yet there are numerous reports of hikers and residents spotting these creatures, especially in the mountains. It was a juvenile mountain lion. Sometimes relatively together and sometimes on opposite sides of the trail. Does it follow a path through the woods like a deer sometimes does?? This was on January 25 at around 5:30 pm. And my car lights revealed a 3-year-old or so male Mountain Lion. It took off as the car got closerI have never ever seen anything like that in my life! I saw more recently something very large and stocky going into the tall grass, only saw the back end of it and that was at least 3 feet long with a long tail. Ihad only one game warden to believe me. He was licking his coat. . I would like to add it to my collection if possible. There are an estimated 3,000 - 7,000 Mountain lions in Colorado. The ones I saw sure would have no problem taking down a deer, or person for that matter! There has been speculation of the cougars being in Rockingham county so I am very excited to hear from the commmunity on any other possible sightings. The question is how big is the population. It does not benefit the DNR, Fish and Game Dept, etc. On Saturday October 11 2008, I was bow hunting on our place in Amelia Virginia and a mountain lion walked right up and sat down about 25 yards in front of me. This animal is about 4-5 ft long not including about a 30 inch tail. It certainly is rare to get more than just a glimpse of them. ", Yellowstone bison are a globally unique animal. My wife, dog, and I were walking on a dead end street no houses in Stratford Habour this morning (11/8/07). If for some reason there were any cougars rediscovered in the east that werent migrants from the west, the protection status is up to the state in which it is found, LaRue said. I have neighbors that say they have seen them. THAT GOT HIT BY A CAR AND,THE LADY WAS FAILING MENTALLY WITH ALZHEIMERS AND WOULD PUT FOOD OUT ON HER SCREEND IN BACK PORCH LIKE THE DOG WAS STILL THERE. i have heard of several sightings in buckingham co. and our local sporting goods shop (bass, bucks,and more) has a game camera photo displayed with a mt lion on it that the owner said it was taken in martinsville va. From: Big J. Oftentimes, I camp and merely live in the outdoors. Sissy. Though they are pushing steadily eastward from the Rockies. Plenty of squirrel and turkey too. FYI: for those who dont know HOW A COUGAR CRY AND BOB CAT CRY DIFFER: Even thou the cougar is a much bigger ,more powerful fearsom cat than the bobcat , the cries differ this way: COUGAR: the scream is more of a stronger from the bottom pit of the stomach frantic yell(like a 14 yr old thats been tramatized) and it repeats itself over and over and moves rather quickly from one place to the next. soon after, a report appeared in the wash. post about a squirrel-hunting ranger/game warden who spotted 2 pumas. I would guess that the overbundance of whitetail deer could have contributed to the return? of the puma. Officials captured the escaped mountain lion and found a second one that had also escapedoutside of Harrisonburg, harassing turkeys on a farm. At least, that was the case until recently, when a moose was spotted near Lake Frederick in northern Virginia. Mountain Lions at the West Virginia Wildlife Center. According to Donald W. 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