I thought I saw a cougar near Baxley, GA several years ago. This was near the Altamaha River.
I had taken a hunter safety instructors course which included a presentation from a wildlife biologist. I talked to him later and he said there were no cougars in Mississippi. He also said they had around 50 alleged sightings every year.
When I phoned the local Georgia wildlife biologist, I told him I knew there were not supposed to be any left in that area and I was sure I was mistaken but I still wanted to report it.
He asked a bunch of questions and after we were through he said he would go out and check the place where I saw it. He said he too doubted it was a cougar but he said it was possible. My description of what it was doing and what it looked like were spot on according to him. He also said the place where I saw it was one of the few areas he could believe one lived if it had moved up from Florida.
We saw a cougar in our yard, and recorded it’s call. It scared the bejeebers out of me, and I have never been scared here in 25 years! Called the TWRA to tell them, and they blew us off. “There aren’t cougars in Tennessee.”
Near Sonora Texas a rancher called the Wildlife biologist and said cougars were killing his sheep. The biologists said no cougars existed there. The rancher said, ok I’ll kill one and then show you. The biologist then said fine, show me an endangered species on your ranch and see what happens next.
The rancher killed 7 cougars but decided not to call the biologist back.
What people in Georgia and other states are seeing are Western Cougars, just like they are seeing Western Coyotes. It is the Eastern subspecies they are discussing, not the Florida subspecies or others, just the Eastern. Let me repeat that - people are seeing cougars, just not the Eastern Variant. Why is that good? because if you shoot a cougar on your land you will NOT have shot an endangered species. So this is great news!!!