vermont mountain lion sightings

What time of day was it? The cat was a goldish / tan color not real big but at least twice the size of a full grown fox,very long thick bushy tail.The tail was almost as long as its body. Using DNA and physical evidence, state environmental officials said they determined that the animal likely trekked more than 1,500 miles from South Dakota, a journey that was captured by trail camera (above). You could have 50. October 30, 2015 by Dana Kobilinsky. I was traveling west on Route 131 in Wethersfield just west of Downers 4 Corners on January 22 about 12:15 AM during a light sleet and snow storm when a big cat ran across the road in front of me. During Harolds tenture at Middlebury College, he spent many an evening with wife martene, conducting in field investigations across Vermont. Anyone can get fooled. After telling some other locals there has been some other sightings in the Black mountain vicinity around Dummerston both before and after I saw the one I saw. In many cases, what people may think is a mountain lion is actually an Eastern bobcat, a species with a breeding population in Vermont. I know the difference. This assessment is echoed by the aforementioned Christopher Spatz, who has been studying cougars for better than 20 years. It is also known as cougar, panther, mountain lion, and puma, though catamount is the preferred regional vernacular. And, a couple of biologists I talked to when I was putting this exhibit together, said that it's. We watched it for nearly 10mins trying to figure out what it was (not thinking for a second that it could possibly be a mountain lion). Hes also unafraid to take unpopular positions when he deems it necessary: Shortly before our meeting, hed signed a petition in favor of keeping ATVs off public roads. The catamount is a creature of stealth and concealment; it stalks its prey, which on the EasternSeaboard would likely be deer, moose, porcupines, beavers, and domestic livestock. Fish and Wildlife Service unofficially declared the Eastern cougar extinct. Hawley: I feel strongly that we need a harvest here in Connecticut. I gave grown up in the woods and this was no bobcat. I told family and close friends as I was very excited about it .I have hunted deer my whole life and had seen bobcats and lynx but there was no mistaken this catamount! It had rained previously. We see Bear every day, and Fishers it was none of those, nor a Bobcat as it was twice the size of our Belgian Shepherd dog. While on vacation last summer in the Sequoias we had a lion cross the road in front of us at about 11 at night one night. Glad to hear that they're not gone. Interesting history. Betty, for instance, has presented on Eastern cougars more than 300 times, gathering many hundreds of sighting reports in the process. The truth is, I was by this point dubious. The mountain lion is also known as cougar, panther, or puma. 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. 99 Beagle Boot Lane Please make your sighting as detailed as possible. There were also people who spoke of seeing prints in a specific area in Hartland as well. 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. Mountain Lions Not Just a Tall Tale in Adirondacks. The reasons for this conspiracy vary depending upon whom you talk to, but they coalesce around the idea that wildlife agencies would be inconvenienced by the cougars presence, as theyd be forced to respond in ways that would tax their resources. Your email address will not be published. The topic was discussed at the town's June 10 city council meeting after a potential sighting on June 1 in the Savanna area of William O'Brian State . He was also convinced, wild pumas were traveling South from the eastern Canadian Provinces of Ontario & Quebec, into northern Maines vast wilderness.I have an assortment of reports from across Vermont, if interested in copies. The cat traveled down through New York and was last sighted at Lake George in New York state before it was hit by a car and killed on the Wilbur Cross Parkway in Connecticut. What color was it? Massachusetts, Virginia, Vermont, and Wyoming. Much as I liked Ottmann and Betty, and much as I found some of their evidence compelling, I was struggling to reconcile their more provocative claims with the restraint expressed by the many other experts Id spoken with. I was within inches of hitting him, actually. At the head of the driveway is a flower sales table in front of a modest size greenhouse. It lowers the population in a way thats not going to affect the long-term population. The scientific name for the catamount is Puma concolor. I can send the pics I have. The tavern was quiet except for some hard-rock music playing on the radio, the murmur of a handful of men at the bar, and us. For mountain lions in Connecticut, a lack of evidence is very good evidence. Wed be seeing more carcasses of prey we would be seeing at least some carcasses of mountain lion prey. I started this blog for people to discuss mountain lion sightings and reports in the Green Mountain State of Vermont. It was pretty and calm, Saw one this morning lying in the road on our dead end street only about 100 yards from the main road. One time a found a perfect mt lion print in the soft silt by the bull run stream only 70 yards from my front door. Collection. But it also sort of instills that fear, a healthy fear of humans and bears. Now only feet from what I realized was a mountain lion I was in horror. FYI: I publish a tri-yearly newsletter, dealing with big cat sightings in states, east of the Mississippi River, as reported to us via various websites, as well as telephone calls or letters. The cougar appeared injured and stunned, but eventually ran away . The U.S. What a site. The last catamount killed in Vermont stands under glass just inside the doors to the Vermont Historical Museum in Montpelier, a hop, skip, and a jump down the block from the statehouse. My understanding is that they can roam a 50 mile radius as home, so seeing one there could mean it lives 50 miles away in the woods. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is alerting residents of Cache County, UT that there have been several mountain lion sightings recently in the area, including along the river trail in Logan Canyon. Very Very fast. Of course. Our county announced that they do not think they will be able to retain our county trapper due to our serious budget crisis. Now, lets start talking about our favorite big cat! Harrigan is 72 and lives just outside the northern New Hampshire town of Colebrook; he has a long, craggy face that seems almost to have molded itself after the mountainous landscape of his home state. In 2011, a cougar was hit by a car and killed on a Connecticut highway. Because while male cougars eventually strike out on their own and occasionally wander far from home, females are, as Morse puts it, hardwired to remain close to their mothers home range. I dont know what they are, bigger than my 50 pound dogs foot prints. Wildlife do really crazy things, and you just never know.. At least once a year thered be a story from somewhere, but I only ran the absolute best, he told me. It could simply mean someone who had an illegal pet or captive animal released the cougar into the wild. I started this blog for people to discuss mountain lion sightings and reports in the Green Mountain State of Vermont. Prior to the mid-1990s, the late Wildlife Professor Harold Hitchcock of Middlebury College, became Vermonts Official Big Cat hunter, who sought evidence of the Big Cats across the Maple State. In Vermont, the last known mountain lion was shot near Barnard in 1881, ending an era when the predators were such a nuisance that the state offered a $20 bounty per pelt. Please make your sighting as detailed as possible. We went back later and the road was hard but we did get some pictures of prints exactly where the cat went back into the woods and the toes were hard to see, but the pad was classic cougar and the print was the size of my hand. I was walking 3 dogs at night all with leashes only 75 to 100 yards from the house I was staying at when it happened. 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. We watched it kill an animal (a woodchuck or something). Because he lives among them, Harrigan understands that no one knows the woods better. After an unfortunate past of over hunting, Montana's mountain lion population has made a comeback. Body coloration can range from tan to gray and cubs are usually covered with blackish brown spots. Stay clear and give 'em space. We have people eating dinner in their kitchen, they hear a noise, all of a sudden a bear walks in, so they run into their bedroom to get away from the bear, while the bears out ransacking their refrigerator. We need them for the health of our forests.. I took pictures but now wished I had placed an object to get the scale of the prints. Part of this belief is rooted in his journalistic experience, which across the decades has cultivated his nose for sincerity. We hadnt seen a cougar, nor any evidence to suggest a cougar had traveled these woods recently. Mountain lion tails, however, are about three feet long, usually the length of the cats body. Cris Ericson 802-289-1000. We are pretty sure there's a large actin our vicinity. He wore red suspenders and a baseball cap. But other hard evidence of the big cats presence is elusive. I am so happy that I did not hit it - there was absolutely no time to react. During the Summer of 1991, my wife Linda and I, took 3 days on our vacation, to meet both Harold & Martene Hitchcock. Look out for our newsletters with travel tips and special offers. So all the other states in the Northeast that have bear populations have a harvest on their bears. Julia is a senior majoring in Environmental Studies with a concentration in climate and environmental justice with minors in Computer Science and Geography. At first I thought it was a deer because of the color and size but as we drew closer I saw the thick long tail and realized what it was. As a hobby gone astray, I have recorded more than 20,000 big cat sightings, from all states, east of Mississippi River since 1969. Responding to complaints about a predator eating a local farmers sheep, Crowell and a small group of fellow hunters had tracked the big cat through the snow. Growing up in northern Vermont, Id heard stories of sightings, though always a few steps removed from the tellersomebodys cousin had seen a cougar cross the road on their way home from deer camp up in Canaan (or was it Coventry? Welcome to the blog dedicated to discussing mountain lion sightings in Vermont. She served as the Senior Producer for 'The Colin McEnroe Show' for several years before stepping down in 2021 and returning to her previous career as a registered nurse. His mention of these encounters was so matter-of-fact that I found myself nodding along. So theres fresh mud. I am an analytical person and I would say regardless of what they think it is-it was clearly a large cat of some sort. She lives near the end of a gravel road in a modest, low-slung house tucked into the flanks of the Green Mountains. The Twitter user tweeted in surprise that they learned a bobcat and mountain lion are the same creature, which prompted several follow-up clarifications that the animals are, in fact, different . On Jan 22, 2015 while walking in North Fayston, VT I came across what I believe to be a Catamount paw prints. Telephone: (802) 422-2399 And it was this curiosity that led me to the Old Well Tavern in Simsbury, Connecticut, at a time of day (11:30 a.m.) that does not normally find me ensconced in the dim confines of a drinking establishment. There were pine cones on window sills, a well-used hatchet and a variety of animal figurines on display, and, near the television, a stack of videos including Life of a Predator and The African Lion. Growing up in northern Vermont, Id heard stories of sightings, though always a few steps removed from the tellersomebodys cousin had seen a cougar cross the road on their way home from deer camp up in Canaan (or was it Coventry? (Photo courtesy of Vermont Historical Society) Betty was quiet, and I wondered if even he, a man who does not doubt the presence of these cats in our midst and who himself claims multiple sightings, thought Ottmann was exaggerating. Vermont Fish and Wildlife say they get between 50 and 75 sightings here in Vermont, annually. Hi Cris, Killington, VT 05751, Hours: Sincerely, John Lutz, 99 Beagle boots Lane, Maysville, WV 26833 or epuma@frontier.com, Hellomy husband and I were at our Vermont vacation home taking a furniture delivery. Very distinguishable nails marks in the snow. And so when they come to him with a sighting, hes prepared to believe. Well when it turned its head and then got up and walked away I knew immediately what it was. The tail, I said. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); aint seen none yet, them wind turbines scarin em off, I have been following the eastern mountain lion mystery since the mid-1960s, in every state, east of the Mississippi River. Cougar truthers are certain that the big cat is living and breeding again in New England. Because they are.. He was very, very shook up. In June 1991 and again in July 1993, my wife Linda and I, visited Prof. Harold & wife Martene at their Maine Cottage overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, where we had serious discussions on the WILD, NATIVE, FREE-ROAMING cougars-mountain lions and their ancestors who have inhabited the eastern U.S. for over the last 500 years. People clearly arent lying when they say they saw a cougar; [the sighting] has a profound effect on them., Still, Spatz acknowledged that the word hope is very different from the word believe. I have no choice but to take this seriously, he told me. Its closest living relative is the cheetah. Evidently it was authentic because a mountain lion pounced on him. Or click the map itself. Mountain Lions: cougars, pumas, panthers and catamounts. Still, sightings are common. Indeed, one of her steadiest sources of funding for Keeping Track is a presentation on cougars that has been known to draw more than 500 audience members. Recent reports of big cat sightings have captured the imagination of local residents eager to know what species of wild felines might be living in Waterbury. Too loud, too close and too deep a voice to be a shy bobcat2 nights with a big fire blazing. Betsy started as an intern at WNPR in 2011 after earning a Master's Degree in American and Museum Studies from Trinity College. That, however, does NOT mean a breeding colony of these animals has returned there. Anyway, we are always aware that there could be mountain lions around and on this day I saw a huge beautiful mountain lion. The cat is dead. I know what they look like and this silhouette was very much the same as that cat last summer. In Massachusetts, three sightings between 1997 and 2016 have been confirmed by scat, DNA, or tracks, according to the Cougar Network, a nonprofit that studies the habitat and movements of the big cats. On our road in the last few years almost everyone has seen a Cougar, one neighbor has a fawn colored one on his game cam. They have not received any reports of large cats in Waterbury so far. 26M views, 14K likes, 2K loves, 8.1K comments, 19K shares, Facebook Watch Videos from VT: This mountain lion is about to turn a vacation into a nightmare. The Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife accepts reports of potential big cats using an online form here. I will try to take more photos with an object to show scale. Mountain Lions in the St. Croix River Valley. These experienced trackers unanimously confirmed that the tracks were made by a Mountain Lion. Upon discussion I have found that Hartland residents report seeing mountain lions frequently-there are people that swear they come on their porch (one who works at ascutney hospital in windsor) and other older residents who have reported seeing them around the North Hartland Dam on an early morning walk. It crossed the road and went into the woods. It used to be that a bear would go into a house when someone wasnt home. Here's a link to one of his columns. Dan Moore::: IN reference to your big cat crossing Route 113, YES, mountain lions/cougars/pumas, 3 of the most popular names for North Americas largest unspotted, lion-cat, travelling free in almost every state, across the USA. Sign up below to receive the weekly newsletter, which also includes top trending stories and what all the locals are talking about! A rare Missouri mountain lion sighting was reported recently after one of the big cats was hit by a vehicle in Franklin County. 1 Last 365 Days. Those are the two closest populations that we have here. does the highway department have a record of those? Hi Annie, I dont know if you still keep up with this blog but I thought Id give it a try. Perhaps, then, the ultimate question isnt whether cougars are among us, but rather how we can encourage them to settle here. 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