BigGameHunt.net Hunting Forums

[PurcellSportingGoods]

folks, I am a member of a forum that is dedicated to the big cats.....http://www.trackincats.com I posted a link to biggamehunt.net on there site and I'm posting a link to trackin cats here. If you have any big cat stories etc.....then stop over and say hi.....

[HoTm00n]

I have many stories and pictures of previous big cat hunt , I will stop by and post few pics of my many cougar hunting trips ! :thumbsup1:

[John A. Lutz]

PurcellSportingGoods wrote: folks, I am a member of a forum that is dedicated to the big cats.....http://www.trackincats.com I posted a link to biggamehunt.net on there site and I'm posting a link to trackin cats here. If you have any big cat stories etc.....then stop over and say hi.....


:) Native big cats of the eastern U.S. and Canada continue to roam the eastern wilderness and forests at their leisure, despite contrary claims by scientists.
Since 1965, when gathering information on 7,500+ sightings from concerned citizens, law enforcement, forestry and wildlife officers reporting a big cat, we have been fortunate in finding a fair amount of evidence showing they are definitely in those areas. Also used are "clusters" as a means of identifying a big cat's presence over multiple periods of time. We continue to gather evidence of tracks, scat, hair samples, pictures, videotapes & deer kill sites.

[redrider]

We've heard of sightings here in NE KS. Have you ever done any studies around here?

[John A. Lutz]

redrider wrote: We've heard of sightings here in NE KS. Have you ever done any studies around here?


NO. We continue to limit all our studies to the east coast, where very challenging conditions exist in finding evidence of their presence.

In an average year, we receive about 300 credible reports of large cats with Tan, Brown, Grey & Black coats. We continue to get over 500 sightings a year, but do to placement catagories, only credible incidents in "cluster" regions receive field studies.

Manpower resources is the most challenging problem now. Only a few years ago, we had experienced field researchers in 14 eastern states. But due to increasing health conditions and deaths in last 5 years, we have lost 7 of our most experienced associates....and the younger generations do not want to become involved, since the scientific establishment tends to harrass and ridicule the big cat subject in the eastern U.S.

The eastern puma, cougar, mountain lion, panther are more capable of avoiding humans than their western counterparts, since their ancestors were hunted to near extinction. That has made our native big cats extremely leery of people.

[hunter777]

Do you think Pennsylvanaia has them? What part of the state?

[John A. Lutz]

Yes.......Pennsylvania has NATIVE cougars roaming freely, as well as probably a few released or escaped pet cougars.

We have several active field researchers in Pa. Unfortunately we lost our most active researcher, Roger Cowburn in Feb, due to his death at age 77.

Over last 20+ years that Roger conducted numerous field studies, he investigated & documented multiple deer kill sites and found tracks at some northern Pensylvania locations. Most were later identified by professional wildlife biologists as 100% cougar tracks or related material.

Roger also located and documented the presence of wolves, probably straying southward out of eastern Canada. Timber wolves have been reported in several areas of New York State, especially after wolf tracks were found in the Adirondacks and just recently in the Catskills.

As for Pa, a new group under the Direction of (retired) Professor Dennis Wydra has collected an impressionable amount of cougar evidence, including pictures, videotapes, tracks and scat that has been verified as COUGAR.

Dennis has taken his evidence to the Pa. Game Commision with hopes they will change their policy of denying the presence of cougars in the state.
We do not believe that will occur, as similar efforts are underway in Michigan where the Michigan Wildlife Conservancy has proven multiple times, thru both visual proof and DNA, that Michigan has a documented population of big cats.

The MWC has run into a stone wall with the MDNR, who refuses to acknowledge any of the huge amount of documenetd proof that cougars are in the state.

Due to the number of credible reports from law enforcement, forestry & game offiicials in northern Pa, no doubt whatsoever remains that area native cougars are continuing to breed in a few specific areas.

John A. Lutz

[hunter777]

I have heard 2 or 3 people that say they have seen them in Pa.

[John A. Lutz]

hunter777 wrote: I have heard 2 or 3 people that say they have seen them in Pa.

"On average 2 out of every 25 Pennsylvania residents living within 10 miles on either side of the Appalachian Mountains will tell you they have seen a large cat resembling a mountain lion or black panther within the last 15 years".

What does that data tell veteran researchers...."that big cats known as cougar, mountain lion, puma or panther(black) have used the Appalachians as a travel means between the eastern Canadian Wilderness & the forests in the eastern United States". The Appalachians have been the hereitary travel route for all American species of wildlife for centuries.

A few years back, a bull moose was observed by hunters who never took a shot at it, as far south as Centre Co, PA. According to a PGC source, the moose apparently had wandered down the mountain range from the New England States, where they have become prolific.

Neither WILD nor escaped/released pet Cougars are plentiful in any eastern state. Based on 40 years of data on the most credible reports by trained observers in the eastern U. S., its estimated between 1,500 & 1,900 exist, with some breeding occuring. This total would average about 65 big cats per state.

States with the most probable resident breeding populations based on gathered evidence including principle (researcher) are New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont(Prof. Harold Hitchcock), Rhode Island(Bill Betty), New York, Pennsylvania(Roger Cowburn, Col. Henry Shoemaker, Prof. Dennis Wydra, Dr. Rosetta Chatfield), Delaware(Nanticoke Native Americans), Maryland, Virginia & West Virginia(Miss A. V. Shaver, John & Linda Lutz), New Jersey(Bill Hamilton), New York, North Carolina(Dr. Charles Humphreys, Cherokee-Americans & NPS), Ohio(R&R Trackers), Indiana, Illinois(Dr. Alan Woolfe), Kentucky(Dr. Steven Thomas) and Michigan(Dr. Patrick Rusz, Ed Klima).
Others playing major roles in documenting resident puma and panther populations include Dr. Bruce S. Wright, Herbert R. Sass & James Breath.

Incidents of big cats being struck and killed on roadways & railroad tracks across the eastern U.S. have been & are being documented with carcasses.

We are the only independent eastern big cat researcher to mantain such records.

John A. Lutz

[hunter777]

This is a very interesting thread, thanks for posting it. I didn't want to mention NJ because I didn't think anyone would believe me. Someone told me a few weeks ago that 2 cougar sightings occured here. I see you have us listed too! We have some beutiful forests in the northern part and some pretty remote areas in the southern (pine barrens) part of the state.

[John A. Lutz]

hunter777 wrote: This is a very interesting thread, thanks for posting it. I didn't want to mention NJ because I didn't think anyone would believe me. Someone told me a few weeks ago that 2 cougar sightings occured here. I see you have us listed too! We have some beutiful forests in the northern part and some pretty remote areas in the southern (pine barrens) part of the state.

"The New Jersey Pine Barrens have cougars for residents"!!!

If that statement sounds harsh, so will be the fact of cougars residing and breeding in the forests along the Delaware River from the DWG north. to Port Jervis then continuing to follow the river across New York & Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania has had more sightings of big cats and cubs, some with documentation, than any other eastern North American State since the early 1900s.

Yes.....WILD native cougars continue to breed & are thriving in all the state and national forests of the eastern United States. Contrary to popular belief, much evidence has been collected to prove native big cats do exist!!!

John A. Lutz

[hunter777]

Theres plenty for them to eat.

[John A. Lutz]

hunter777 wrote: Theres plenty for them to eat.

All across the eastern U.S., there are an abundance of prey for dinner and snacks for big cats. Except for the large cities, where derilics are plentiful, the cats would not have too many people challenging them for food.

[John A. Lutz]

Is there a lack of interest in cougar, puma, mountain lion or black panther reports or sightings??

There appears to be a diminishing number of people wanting to discuss the subject??

Or has the recent and increasing amount of skeptical responses by critical scientists NOT wanting the native cougar issue to be front and center in the media, doing everything in their power to downplay the big cats presence??

New evidence is being discovered on a semi-regular basis now.

Scientists are scrambling to destroy much of the evidence already collected & have even resorted to ridiculing famous early cougar scientists like Bruce S. Wright, James Breathe, Herbert Ravenal Sass, Ivan T. Sanderson, Charles Humphreys and others.

[WAcoyotehunter]

I'm a little concerned about the "Black Panther" talk. To date there has NEVER been a black cougar (felis concolor) shot, photographed, sucessfully bred, or proved to exist. The black cats we see on TV are generally Leopards or Jaguars, which are not native to the US. (except the Jaguar to extreme south regions)
I expect the North American Black Panther is more cryptozoology than real science and study.
The black pigment of the jaguars and leopards is caused by a mutation in the genes similar to albinism, however, unlike an albino the black cats can survive and reproduce because the mutation is not a detriment.
If there was a sighting of a big black cat i would bet it was a release of something other than a cougar. BG