Well there isn't any doubt in my mind, it's a bit big for a bobcat.
Well there isn't any doubt in my mind, it's a bit big for a bobcat.
Looks just about the same as our old Tomcat meowlling for supper! [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
And she was how far away? Yikes.
I'll add my only cougar story and try to keep it short. I was driving down the highway just outside of town, passing by my friend's farm, and I saw a cougar cross the road in front of me, early in the morning around sun-up. The long tail convinced me what it was, and I noticed it's stomach dragging.
I asked my friend if he had any livestock harmed or saw any cougar prints on his place. He said no, but then told me a few minutes later that one of his calves had its head ripped off. Don't know if he meant figuratively or literally.
I was fishing at his pond a couple of weeks later, and I heard some crying coming from the creek bed. I started walking over to investigate, got about half way there, and realized that cougar probably had kittens down there. Needless to say, I didn't walk down to the creek. I reported to the game commission, they asked for sightings to be reported, but as far as I know, no one investigated. I guess the cougar took her young and headed back to more wide open spaces away from town.
Our Old Tomcat also has a stomach that drags the ground and is forever empty. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Tim, Just a couple days ago another California transplant who moved to OK 3 years ago to run a few cattle and dabble in real estate part time was at the house and I mentioned the increase in close encounters of the puma variety and he started in treating me like a small child who believed in fairies. He was chuckling as he told me his disbelief of the veracity of stories he had heard of black panthers. I patiently explained to him that the black panther was just a dark varient of the puma and was the same animal. The black coat is not genetically dominant but shows up every once in a while, not really rare. I didn't have this picture till the next day and when I mentioned the current unavailablity of the front yard picture he just knowingly smiled like a UFO unbeliever just barely remaining civil with a true believer who was busy constructing a landing pad for UFOs.
I have several folks who will GET to see the front yard picture (It will be hard but I will try to not rub their noses in it.) and I'm thinking of buying one of those IR motion tripped cameras to move around to various locations to see what is wandering about, especially at night or when no one is interfering.
I would have needed a very fast shutter or image stabilization to take the front porch shot and not show evidence of my hands shaking. Even with the out of focus "dirt" on the glass, I can see the business end of the critter too well to only have thin glass between us, especially since kitty doesn't seem to be real happy.
Meanwhile some frineds about 3-4 miles SW of me saw a smaller cat cross the road in front of them on their section line. They described it and it sounded line an ocelot to me. We got out oiur books and showed them color plates of every cat, adult or juvenile, that was in the right size range. Best fit was an ocelot. Normal range (as published in our books) is south Texas but seeing is believing. There are a lot more exotic pets (cats are favorites) than you might realize and they sometimes "escape" or are set "free" when they get to be to much trouble or outgrow the cute kitten stage.
A very sober and reliable couple reported a sighting of a young African lion attacking a cow. What other cat is close to the right size and has the tuft on the tail. It had little or no mane hence the surmise of its youth. Females don't have as prominent a tuft on the tip of the tail.
Anyway, I will be much pleased to get a copy of the front yard cougar to show some doubting Thomases. The lady who snapped the shot had her grown daughter staning beside her for backup and the yard can be ID'd in the snap, she says.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
Egon, Too bad you weren't there to represent the hairy chested woodsman types and go out and pet it to make a more interesting picture and give better size reference.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
Cowboy, Smart move. Discretion IS the better part of valor. Messing with her kittens could get you a lot more excitement than you might want.
I don't know the exact distance but the front porch picture was taken pretty close to the window, hence the out of focus spots illuminated by the flash (most certainly dirt spots/debris on the window (if the spots had comet tails I'd vote for flying insects.) If the camera position were several feet back in the cabin then the spots would have been in better focus. Most flash cameras with automatic exposure control open the lense to a fairly open f-stop so depth of field suffers if there is anything in the shot very far from the central focus (cat's head.)
My wife reported to me the scariest most ferocious growling she had ever experienced in her life. It went on intermittently for several minutes. It seemed to come from behind the dam of one of the ponds in our back yard. I asked why she didn't ID the source and was informed that as great a curiosity as she has she didn't have enough curiosity and or death wish to want to go take a look. She said it made the hair on the back of her neck prickly when it started. She was in the back yard filling bird feeders at the time. For a few days thereafter she put her pistol in her pocket when going out in the back yard. That wore off in a few days but after the front yard sighting in the middle of the day that close to an occupied house all that changed. She is pretty religious NOW about packing heat when out in the back yard. Better a .357 mag in the pocket than being empty handed should the cat show an interest. Her little Lady Smith Airlight hardly weighs anything and is quite snub nosed. There is a lot of muzzle flash as lots of powder is still burning when the bullet exits the muzzle. If you don't hit the cat, the flame thrower action at close quarters would blind it.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
Truth be know Pat I'm of the rather timid type and prefer to look from afar allowing others to express testeronical side.
Egon [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Egon, Let there be no misunderstanding... I have done pretty foolish things, some involving beasts of various ilk but I would NOT have been comfortable taking that picture. That close to those jaws would require more than single glazed cabin windows to reduce my pucker factor.
[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]
"I'm not from your planet, monkey boy!"
Cougars n more cougars. Out here in north central washington, where the city people are moving to the country, building there multi million dollar homes on ridge tops or stacking them as close to each other as they can get, helped vote cougar hunting with dogs out, now we have a lot of the big cats that have no respect for us people. I have had courars kill deer with in 25 ft of the cabin, there have been several problems with cougars stalking people, and killing livestock. Preditors need to be controled same as deer and other wildlife, hence the only way to really hunt cougar is with hound dogs. In the winter time is where you will see just how close the cats get to you, without you knowing that they are there. There are alot of us that have to have the concealed weapons permits for the reason that we always have to be packing a caliber that will ruin dinner for the big cat. I guess my main point here is if you see a cat in your area, he's been there all along, and he just didn't care that day who seen him.
I like the 44 mag, I know it is a bit heavy but with a good fitting shoulder holster,you get to where you really don't notice it. MY wife likes her 357. Which you can get snake shot for either one of them, which of course we do. As no one has stop us from shooting the occasional snake that crawls across the porch,,yet. Also we do practice the three S's here. Blackfoot
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