Posted on 12/07/2020 7:42:02 AM PST by Theoria
There are very few sightings these days of mountain lions, which once roamed all over the state, but evidence has convinced experts this is the first ever in Dallas County in modern history.
For those who have long pooh-poohed the idea of a mountain lion roaming around North Texas, chew on this.
A Rowlett woman recently posted on her Facebook page a trail camera video of a mountain lion walking down a dirt road at night. The spooky image showed a big cat with a long tail that touched the ground, a feature that distinguishes it from a bobcat for which the mountain lion is commonly mistaken.
Stephanie Higgins and her boyfriend, Logan Aduddell, had set up the trail camera on the edge of his property near Lake Ray Hubbard, where they typically saw bobcats and coyotes. But at about 4 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 22, a mountain lion strolled past the camera.
A few hours later that morning they looked at the video. “We reviewed it a couple of times and came to the conclusion it was a mountain lion based on the size and how long the tail was,” Higgins said.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
They are all over the place in central Colorado. It would seem likely they would be in Texas too.
Not rare. I had a property in Forestburg, NW of Dallas. Over a decade ago I walked up on a mountain lion who was leaving our pond after drinking (limited water sources in the area, woods right up to the pond). Just not normally seen in immediate DFW area.
Fifty years ago I saw a puma crossing the railroad tracks near Fort Smith, Arkansas. It was late at night and I was coming home from work. Never have seen another one in this area but game cameras say they are here.
Seems like it would be very hard for a big cat like that to remain unseen in a place like Dallas.
Must have come down from Mount Plano.
/s
Who ever put that chart together needs to learn something about cats in Texas. The skinny feral cat currently asleep on the bed weighs in at 15 pounds, not 5-11. And the local bobcats are likely in the 25- 40 pound range.
There have been reports of cougars for years in Plano. The "experts" always say that the sight really was just a bobcat.
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Sad story. Poor kitty. I wonder if its mate was captured and sent to a zoo in the northeast.
CLM!
MLLM!
A couple of years ago, I saw one new Columbia, Mississippi. The Pearl River basin in that area consists of the Honey Island Swamp, a huge wilderness area, plenty of habitat.
Everything is bigger in Texas! :-)
We also see these large cats in Ellis County.
My friend saw one at White Rock lake about 10 years ago.
In 1985-86 we hunting deer in Hood Co. just out of Tolar.
I came off my night stand and was walking toward where my husband was.
As I came up to where he was on the ground, something jumped up and ran.
It was just behind the bush where he was setting in a blind.
It was not a deer. Low to the ground, fast and dark.
50-50 chance it is someone’s escaped pet
Thanks for the size chart...I was wondering why people don’t fight back...now I know, they’re BIG, and no doubt strong as hell.
I was pheasant hunting in N.W. Kansas one year and following a night time snow fall, I came across the tracks of a bobcat that was walking on the rail of a railroad track for about a tenth of a mile.......It didn’t fall off once....LOL!
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