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 ...
A couple of years back, I was wandering the fields with a friend near Vernon, TX (Yeah, not DFW), looking for some feral hogs to shoot.
We only saw one, a boar, and it vanished before either of us could lift a rifle.
The other interesting thing we did see was some cat prints in the sand, about as big as the palm of my hand.
Whatever left those prints there was one big kitteh. We both agreed that we would prefer not to encounter it.
Sadly, we returned a day or two later, no piggies, and thankfully no kitteh either.
Yup, actually got a text from the sister-in-law about this! They’re across the lake in Rockwall, and I’m right up the road from this sighting. Luckily we’ve got two medium dogs to keep an eye onthe wife’s and mom-in-law’s two little dogs.
I was about to say that the last three house cats I’ve owned were all in the 18-22 lbs (the males) and 15 lb (for the female) range on weight. And the pelts that I have seen from TX bobcats tells me that 30-35 lbs +/- is probably about right.
They do..and have for many, many years.
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I was calling coyotes a while back here in Missouri. A big cat walked by at about 200 yards. I scoped him but didn’t know if it was legal to shoot one so let him go. A couple months later one was hit by a car about 5 miles from here.
You are correct-mountain lions like to live in the woods near water in rural areas like the one i live in-near a river and a lake, lots of trees and rocky bluffs with small caves, plenty of deer and small game to eat-I see their tracks all the time on the river bank when I go hiking at the edge of the woods, carrying my bear spray-lots of photos of them at night on trail cams of my neighbors, too-they are protected-not enough of them to have a season on yet...
As long as they have their natural prey, they only seem interested in trash/food scraps people leave out and the domestic animals they attack and eat are chickens not rounded up at night, and the dogs and cats left outside to roam around by owners who moved here from the city and don’t know how to live around wild animals-mountain lion takeout...
Now that black bears have been re-introduced, I guess those people will start putting out leftovers for the bears to eat, too, then bitch and complain when the bears rip through their trash, attack and eat their pets, etc...
The last recorded grizzly/black bear in Colorado was like 1956. For some reason, these bears migrated from Wyoming through Colorado to New Mexico. We found one, but the wildlife folks didn’t want tot recognize it because budget cuts would prevent investigation.
I really can’t imagine anyone mistaking a bobcat for a mountain lion-they are not even close-bobcats in this area can weigh up to 35-40 lbs, but that is still way smaller than a lion, and they have tabby coats, not solid color like a lion. Two of my indoor cats weigh more than 15 lbs-they are still smaller than any bobcat I’ve ever seen...
Black bears are all over the place in New Mexico-my 1st hubby worked there for months at a time, so I was there every weekend and vacation day-we lived in a cabin on his uncle’s ranch-had to keep trash in the closed can in the garage and only take it out on burn day to keep the bears away-and put the chickens in the henhouse behind the fence and the pets inside every night, too...
There have been bears in the Davis mtns, and other places on the New Mexico/Texas state line for years-they have moved in to W and central Texas in recent years, with some help from Fish and Game, Parks and Wildlife, etc-which is fine with me, but people need to learn how to live with wildlife if they are going to live in the country-if they can’t, then stay behind your fenced yard or in the condo in the city-the animals were here first...
There are supposed to be bears in E Texas, too-they came from Louisiana...
A doorbell camera caught one walking around in my kid’s Leander neighborhood last year.
Well after all they were here long before we were.
I see what you did there.
Yes, the TPWD website shows confirmed bear sightings in Cass, Marion, Bowie, and Smith counties.
When you see a Panther version please let it be in Ft Worth, after all that is one of the oldest nicknames for my hometown. Panther City.
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