Big Cats

[dennishoddy]

Yeah, firemedic. I remember reading something that a lion that was found dead in OK that had a Collar or tag from Nebraska. Trying to find it agin. But have you actually seen a mountain lion in the wild?

The lion came from South Dakota. It had a tracking collar on it.
The lion was hit by one of our coal trains when I worked at OG&E Sooner Power plant near Marland.
It was a young male likely driven south by territorial males according to the ODW.
I elk hunted for about 12 years on a ranch in New Mexico where there was a hunting season on mountain lions. The ranch had outfitters hunting them for a couple of years with tracking dogs.
I talked to the Owner that was in his 90’s about how many times he had seen mountain lions.
His reply was never. He had seen the tracks in the snow, but never an actual lion.
Also asked his grandson that lived on the ranch as well as the hired hand that had been around for years. Neither had ever put an eyeball on a live mountain lion.
This is why I’m so skeptical when folks in Oklahoma claim to see them weekly.
There are a lot of things that may resemble a mountain lion in the darkness or backlit by the sun, but if you have ever seen the track of a mountain lion and compared it to your hand, your hand would look very small.
Like the owner of that ranch, I’ve seen the tracks one time.

 

[retrieverman]

I’ve seen two cougars in TX but never in OK, but the cowboy that runs the feedlot across from my house claims to have seen one 4 times while deer hunting in Alfalfa county. I don’t really know the guy, so I have no idea if he’s full of crap or not.

I’ve run cameras on my place year around for many years, and being on the river, I figure that should be a travel corridor for a cougar/mountain lion. Yet, I’ve never had one on camera.

 

[LittleLoggie]

The lion came from South Dakota. It had a tracking collar on it.
The lion was hit by one of our coal trains when I worked at OG&E Sooner Power plant near Marland.
It was a young male likely driven south by territorial males according to the ODW.
I elk hunted for about 12 years on a ranch in New Mexico where there was a hunting season on mountain lions. The ranch had outfitters hunting them for a couple of years with tracking dogs.
I talked to the Owner that was in his 90’s about how many times he had seen mountain lions.
His reply was never. He had seen the tracks in the snow, but never an actual lion.
Also asked his grandson that lived on the ranch as well as the hired hand that had been around for years. Neither had ever put an eyeball on a live mountain lion.
This is why I’m so skeptical when folks in Oklahoma claim to see them weekly.
There are a lot of things that may resemble a mountain lion in the darkness or backlit by the sun, but if you have ever seen the track of a mountain lion and compared it to your hand, your hand would look very small.
Like the owner of that ranch, I’ve seen the tracks one time.

I’m sure the lions that have been in Oklahoma are not in a home range. But reading about cats found in OK and been tagged over 500 miles away and never being seen is just wild to me. Definitely don’t wanna be on the wrong side of a hungry animal.

 

[LittleLoggie]

Mountain Lion from OKC Zoo, Took pic a year or two back. Cat was locked onto my son as he ran up the trail and would not come off looking at him.

 

[SoonerP226]

I caught a bobcat on a security camera a few weeks back, but that's as close as I've gotten to seeing one in the wild.

 

[LittleLoggie]

I caught a bobcat on a security camera a few weeks back, but that's as close as I've gotten to seeing one in the wild.

Post screen shot or video if you can

 

[SoonerP226]

Post screen shot or video if you can

Sadly, I didn't think to save a copy at the time, and there are too many events (damn raccoons) to find it now.

 

[OkieJoe72]

Oklahoma definitely has mountain lions. I’ve never seen one, and I have no desire to see one.

https://www.oklahoman.com/story/spo...y-about-mountain-lions-in-oklahoma/321906007/

 

[retrieverman]

Bobcats are common on my cameras.

 

[PanhandleGlocker]

I have a few sightings actually.

I’ve personally seen a Mountain Lion south of the Schultz Lake hunting area up here in the Panhandle south of Hardesty.

I caught a picture of the butt and tail of a mountain lion going into a creek bottom on my trail camera, this would have been West of Hardesty.

During Archery Season one year we actually got snow and on the way to my stand I saw the prints of a mountain lion in the snow and you could see where the tail drug behind it leaving marks in the snow. This was on the Optima Widlife Refuge West of Hardesty.

I saw a lion over north of Shamrock, TX by Twitty, TX on a place I was hunting, I was bow hunting and ranged him at 90 yards, only had a bow.. if I had a rifle it would have been a dead kitty. that was a scary walk back to the house though..… this property wasn’t very many miles from Oklahoma.