mountain lion vermont

And the clincher, What would you say was the most distinguishing feature? I live in Hopkinton, NH and saw one coming up from the Contoocook River one misty morning. Reported mountain lion sightings are popping up all over Vermont and convinced onlookers say the proof is in the pictures. On one side, there are those (as represented here by Sue Morse, Kim Royar, and Christopher Spatz, along with a number of others I spoke with) who contend that the lack of verifiable evidence is proof that the animals are not here. Spring Loaded to See Something Big kitty. The animal, I learned, is called many things: mountain lion, panther, catamount, puma, cougar and more. Its closest living relative is the cheetah. Kim Royar, a biologist at the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, told me she receives 40 to 50 reports annually, and although she believes that few, if any, are actual cougar sightings, she doesnt dismiss the possibility that someday someone will happen upon the real deal. Blodgett and I were returning from a day spent looking forand finding timber rattlesnakes, a species that is endangered in Vermont. Within six weeks, he continued, I was getting off the plane in Jackson Hole for a national mountain lion conference. [The catamounts] movements were so noiseless that Mr. Crowell found himself in this dangerous proximity before he was aware of it, and it was only by great coolness and daring that he severely wounded the animal and perhaps saved his own life, reads a placard attached to the display case. That it had, somehow, made a return and established residence. Mountain lions are around 4 feet long with a two-and-a-half foot tail and can stand 24-30 inches tall at the shoulder. The habitat is certainly right, with so many farms having gone by and so much formerly cleared land returning to second growth forest and with the populations of prey species suchas deer and porcupines having reached abundant proportions. Our wildlife biologists and enforcement agents are mostly political bureaucrats who dont often venture more than 100yards from the truck. Well, theres no difference between Maine and New Brunswick, anyway, said Betty. Perhaps, then, the ultimate question isnt whether cougars are among us, but rather how we can encourage them to settle here. Earlier in the year, Id attended one of these presentations, and even in the tiny village of Woodbury, Vermont, on a stiflingly hot summer evening, nearly 100 people showed up to hear her speak and see her photographs (Morse is a magnificent wildlife photographer). If there was an animal out there, killing stock, he would find it., This man, and others, taught Blodgett how to look for sign and, he says, You learn pretty quickly that if there is an animal in the area, it will leave sign. The cat is dead. Its distinctive featurethe one that sets it apart from other North American wild catsis its tail, which is thick and often as long as its body. So long as the tails there, that is. Stupid me grabbed my camera and a stick as to protect myself ( yes stupid idea as I could stop this thing from attacking me lol. The one thing that jumped out at her the tail. So if coyotes could return and establish robust populations, why not a few catamounts? For who but we humans can look across the landscape and not acknowledge our role in the diminishment of cougars and the myriad ways in which we have knocked the landscape out of balance? But it was also a male. This could, of course, be projection on my part. Probably are lions in western NC, too. Videos. There are also many unconfirmed sightings. But right now youre dealing with top-notch guys. Bennington, VT (05201) Today. We need [an apex] predator back on the land, Sue Morse told me. I had seen bear, deer, coyotes, foxes, that one bobcat all the usual suspects. Yes, of course they are here, transients. Please. In the states where there are robust mountain lion populations, they are a threat to livestock, pets and, occasionally, humans. I heard from Neighbors that they have been sighting from the mass pike which runs along this area but also very close to Quabbin! Ottmann nodded. Whatever it was, it was standing motionless and, I thought, looking back at me as intently as I was staring at it. When that last catamount was killed by a deer hunter, the state was paying a $20 bounty for pelts or carcasses. There was no tracking microchip implanted in the animals body, which is usually the case with captives. 8 Arlington (9-10) and No. Put bluntly, Morse does not believe that New England is home to cougars. Two mountain lion encounters in his driveway. My stepfather had been a hunter and was no stranger to seeing animals in the woods and countryside, so when they came up over a knoll in the road and saw a large cat looking at them, he saw the face and thought, bobcatuntil they then saw the rest of the animals body: huge, beautifully tawny colored, and in possession of what my mother described as a very long tail, that was as thick as my wrist. Email: info@grnvt.com. There is a lot of good habitat between here and the places where there are established populations of mountain lions, he said. It continues in Connecticut, where that South Dakota cat was killed in 2011, and in Massachusetts, despite two credible reports in the past quarter century (in one case, DNA-confirmed scat; in the other, verified tracks). They knew what they were doing, Blodgett says. As I turned a corner going north toward Waterbury, I saw the cat come up from the cornfield, saunter across the highway, turn and look in my direction and then amble off into the brush. Still, sightings are common. Success stories being more fun to talk about than the other kind. If you are a mountain lion, looking to relocate, there is good quality real estate and plenty to eat here in Vermont. Its closest living relative is the cheetah. In my mind, I went through all the nots. The Strafford & Area Lions conducted its Food From The Heart food drive February 11th through the 18th, collecting 981.6 pounds of food and receiving monetary donations of $1,262 which were used to purchase food and other items to be donated to the Sharon, Vershire and Thetford food shelves. One day I most certainly watched him/her being chased up and down our chain link fence by a neighbors large dog who was barking insanely and couldnt quite catch the cougar, who finally made it away from the fence to escape the determined dog whod had him trapped up against it. I saw an adult cougar/catamount twice within a two week period. Was INCREDIBLE! My own inclination, for the little it matters, is to side with the professionals like Blodgett. My neighbors have seen several over the last 15-20 years. And, then, some species didnt need any help from humans but managed to extend their range into now-recovered and suitable habitats. For instance, a favorite food for deer is the seedlings of forest tree species. I live in New Milford and I saw one crossing the road in front of me when I stopped to get my mail from my mailbox. It was his great coolness and daring (either that, or fear) that enabled Crowell to shoot the animal at a distance of one rod only (roughly 16 feet), first hitting it in the leg with his shotgun, then dispatching it with a bullet to the head from a borrowed rifle. But it is also true that there is something different and especially chilling about the threat of being attacked by something that is alive and wants to devour you. The animal was shot in the town of Barnard on Thanksgiving Day 1881 by a man named Alexander Crowell. Forty years of reporting on New Hampshire cougar sightings has convinced Harrigan that the state is home to at least a handful of breeding animals. When I came out, the cat appeared in front of me coming up a rise (incredibly close to some ski condos). At least once a year thered be a story from somewhere, but I only ran the absolute best, he told me. I was deer hunting with my father, it was in the fall about 7 years ago, in Barre Ma towards the Templeton Ma lines. Its range was once similarly vast; from the high north regions of the Yukon to the Straits of Magellan. I do this shit.. I go out into the woods on the opening day of deer season every year and a lot of other Vermonters are out there with me. Camel's Hump (alternatively Camels Hump) is a mountain in the Green Mountains in the U.S. state of Vermont.The north slope of the mountain borders the Winooski River, which has carved through the Green Mountains over eons.At 4,083 ft (1,244 m), it is tied (with Mount Ellen) for the third-highest mountain in Vermont.Surrounded by 10 acres (4 ha) of alpine tundra, the mountain is the most . I saw on three occasions in about the same location a beautiful mtn lion with the long bushytail that curves at the end. You need breeding pairs and theyd probably settle down long before they got here.. We hadnt seen a cougar, nor any evidence to suggest a cougar had traveled these woods recently. In the few seconds that this took, I had convinced myself that I was looking at a mountain lion. The glasses I carried were of good quality with exceptional light-gathering property. Phone: . The key to Morses assertion can be found in the term breeding population. Although the fact that cougars have traveled through New England is irrefutable (a DNA-confirmed roadkill is hard to deny), Morse believes its unlikely that they have settled here and created a self-sustaining population. Blodgett did on-site investigations of these, in what became a predictably futile search for the sign he had learned, out west, to look for. I also had a coworker report a similar experience around the same time. They are here & ..just a matter of time with photo or kill on a highway/road. This was, after all, a long, long way from the nearest known population of mountain lions and virtually the heart of the suburban East. Now, ocelots are critically endangered and jaguarundis might be completely gone. Reported mountain lion sightings are popping up all over Vermont and convinced onlookers say the proof is in the pictures. His mention of these encounters was so matter-of-fact that I found myself nodding along. Having retired from a career at General Dynamics, he devotes many of his waking hours to cougar research, a passion hes cultivated for nearly twodecades. Records suggest that cash bounties for cougar kills were relatively common in the late 1700s and early 1800s; in the Adirondacks, a trapper named Thomas Meacham was credited with 77 cougar kills. Ive seen more field evidence in a couple of hours tracking out west than Ive seen in 100 years on the East Coast, he said. Of course no dash cam or accessible phone camera at the time! I was tracking some deer tracks and I came to a promising deer run with a lot of deer scat on the ground when I noticed a cat track amongst the sign. Friends that go backcountry skiing in Vermont have reported seeing tracks to me many times and I have seen pictures of the pawprints myself that look overwheming like a mountain lion. My Neighbors have seen several over the last 15-20 years with photo or kill on highway/road... Tail and can stand 24-30 inches tall at the end, then, the was! Convinced myself that I found myself nodding along professionals like Blodgett the Contoocook River one misty.... And can stand 24-30 inches tall at the end $ 20 bounty for pelts carcasses. But I only ran the absolute best, he continued, I was getting off the plane in Hole... ] predator back on the land, Sue Morse told me for instance, a favorite for... Saw on three occasions in about the same time, deer, coyotes, foxes, that bobcat. 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