Mountain loins in PA?

[scott]

While hunting last night my son said we called in a mountain loin.  He said it came in to about 75 yards and sat down on a road and watched us.  He uses a shotgun with a 2x8 Nikon on it.  Said he could see the ears clear and the forearm.  The animal sat next to a post with a reflector and he said when it sat down the eyes were higher than the post which is waist high.  Also he said the eyes were further apart than a deer.   I have called in bobcats there and he has seen a few bobs at night and said what he saw last night was a lot bigger.  I can't say what he saw because as usual I was playing guide and was 100 yards from him.   

[foxhound]

What part of PA are you in? I know the "mountain lion" is a hot debate among many. I personally know of one being shot and killed around Rockton last month. I know I may take some flack for that statement, but an 85 pound mountain lion is an 85 pound mountain lion. I cannot say if it was wild or an escaped "pet". I can only say that it was real!!! There was also quite a show of force when the authorities came looking for it.

[scott]

NEPA around shickshinny.

[scott]

We just got bak from looking around for tracks.  Didn't find any sign but I measured things.  He was just over 100 paces and the reflector on the post is 36 inches off the ground.   

[foxhound]

That's the opposite end of the state from me. I can't say what your son saw either. I believe that it is a possibility though.

[dreamcatcher]

Sccott
   2 weeks ago, someone I know pretty well showed me trail cam photos taken off Rt 11,  near Salem township. Couldn't be anything else.

[QUATTRO]

Few years back, I was doing some work on a guys farm house..can't quite remember the town but it was pretty well north of Harrisburg. As usual with me, as I chatted with the owner the conversation turned to foxes, coyotes and bobcats etc..any potential for a new hunting spot and I'm on it. Anyhow, he goes on to tell me that several weeks earlier his neighbor and him stood on his porch and watched a mountain lion come from the farmland across the road, down the steep embankment, onto his property and into the woods. He was absolutely positive of what he saw. I would never call the guy crazy and I was intrigued but also a tiny bit skeptical. Fast forward a month or so later, I'm reading the paper and come across an article about a male mountain lion hit on a Connecticut freeway. The lion happened to come from the Black Hills of South Dakota. A study was done by the forest service of Montana. Data showed a basic route of travel with some parts of its trip missing. With the info they had from DNA/tracking/sightings it was in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and ultimately Connecticut. I immediately thought what the possibility was that this could be the same lion spotted slinking its way through that farmers property. Time wise I believe it is quite possible. I realize it would be an almost unreal coincidence, but the facts are that it indeed made it from SD to Conn. It passing through PA en route to there, in my eyes, isn't that crazy. I also never under estimate nature and there could be multiple reasons for sightings in PA and other places they "no longer exsist"..including that they still live there!

Also wanted to add that the farmer did notify the PGC to which he was firmly told that mountain lions had last been in the east in the 40's...



 

[Lifes2fun]

So thousands of sightings in Pa and not one single shred of had evidence such as a track, scat, fur, or anything else except "eye witness accounts"?
 
Florida has less than 200 cougars and the have them killed on the road, tons of the above evidence and even poaching incidents

We are to believe that none have been mistakenly killed during any type of season, yet people shoot goats, horses, elk, dogs, and other wildlife in mistake during deer season.
I see many large rack buck turned in during archery season which are shot in mistake of being a doe, yet again, no mt lion has ever been turned in?

These magical trail cam photos always seem to have flora that is not present in Pa or have been passed around for years on the internet (but yet they claim to be brand new photos)

The Mt Lion killed in Conn. was tracked by the above mentioned evidence, it didn't just magically appear without tracks.

Is there the possibility of Mt Lions movement through Pa...of course, but they don't fly so they will leave some type of evidence that they were there.

I deal with numerous "sightings" and not once has credible evidence been found.
The videos and photos are always so blurry that it looks more like a BMW than anything resembling a Mt Lion
In one such instance the caller (several employees at a company) KNEW they saw a Mt Lion. After reviewing the evidence present, I explained that it was a bobcat.
Nope, I had no clue what I was talking about, this thing was wayyyyy bigger than a bobcat. It HAD to be a Mt. Lion
Well about a week later a bobcat was hit by a car right up the road from the business.
Nothing I said or showed them could convince them that they saw a bobcat and not a mt. lion

Peoples minds will convince them, they saw what they want to believe they saw.
As I stated above, when a mt. lion is present, there will be physical evidence of such, and it will not just "appear/disappear"

And I am not calling anyone a liar. They believe they saw what they think was a Mt. Lion. But again...please show me the evidence

[scott]

comes after me at night and you will have your evidence, that is my story and I am sticking to it.  so if they Game Commision says there are none in the state and I shoot one, who will file the charges against me for shooting a non game animal? 

[scott]

In all seriousness, i always felt that i would beleive it when i see it.  as many hunters as we put in the woods i figured one would end up dead during the deer or bear season.   

I am just telling what he told me, he is not the type to make things up.  if he sees nothing he tells you.  he has seen many, bobcats, fox, coyotes, deer, and other things at night.   The thing that gets me is that he had a post with a reflective marker to judge the height of the eyes and they were at least 36 inches off the ground.  Also he said the eyes were further apart than a deer.  I am not sure what he saw only he knows but he is convinced it was a mountain lion.  It is a fact that our coyotes traveled from out west, through canada, bred with wolves and then down through the states.  If a coyote can do that then it is only a matter of time before a cat does the same. 

[Huntin 4 yotes]

Last week someone posted a picture on facebook of a mountain lion they got a picture of in there back yard near me.  I seen the picture and it looks to me like a zoomed in trail cam picture that could of come from anywhere.  The pgc was investigating the picture and the person who posted it. 

[foxhound]

State Senator Roger Madigan had seen one on his farm during a family cookout. Many relatives saw it as well. He didn't like the "there are no mountain lions in Pennsylvania"  routine the game commission gave him. He called a meeting in his office with the game commission and the usfws. They changed their tune to, "there may be mountain lions in Pennsylvania".  Feel free to google it and read the Senators story.

[Lifes2fun]

State Senator Roger Madigan had seen one on his farm during a family cookout. Many relatives saw it as well. He didn't like the "there are no mountain lions in Pennsylvania"  routine the game commission gave him. He called a meeting in his office with the game commission and the usfws. They changed their tune to, "there may be mountain lions in Pennsylvania".  Feel free to google it and read the Senators story.

No one has changed their tune....there is no evidence to be provided that there is ANY wild breeding populations of Mt Lions in Pa.
There was a picture in 2013 of a Mt Lion in Wellsboro..it was someone's housecat.
Our minds will believe what it wants us to believe, but in reality...there needs to be physical evidence for facts
http://www.tiogapublishing.com/news/the_wellsboro_mansfield_gazette/a-mountain-lion-in-wellsboro/article_e4bffd58-9c70-11e2-ac9e-001a4bcf887a.html

http://www.tiogapublishing.com/news/the_wellsboro_mansfield_gazette/pet-cat-masquerades-as-mountain-lion/article_c8fc9498-a1e1-11e2-8d5b-0019bb2963f4.html
Again...hundreds of people state they see or have seen mt lions in PA and not one time has there been any credible/ physical evidence of such.
I refer you to the Fla Panther population where there are less than 200 yet they are killed on the roadways.
If you feel you have seen (even better have physical proof) a Mt. Lion, please contact the PGC