Just curious...just got a call from one of our coal plants in East Texas (Tatum) claiming to have spotted a mountain lion near the coal pile. I'm extremely skeptical...no pics

Probably a meth head

they also found a freshly killed deer carcass near by...

I would be skeptical, but stranger things have happened. There are lots of deer carcasses around East Texas right now. Would need to know a lot more about the carcass.

Yep. A Black one in Brownsboro 10 years ago.

It was an Auodad

Make sure you got a crossbow handy. Silenced, preferably.

I would believe it. I live on the east side of Lake Houston on the water. There is still cover for them to make passage. There is a old boat launch on the property next to me and dead fish wash up.This a country residential area.This lion was huge and would eat there during the day. It had everyone scared ....less. Warden said I could shoot if we saw it again. 4years ago

Not East Texas but a Mountain lion was taken off our lease in Concho County last week, taken not far from my deer blind. Wish he had walked in front of my stand.

About a year ago west of Lufkin, between Pennington and Apple Springs. No doubt, good visual.

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Yep. A Black one in Brownsboro 10 years ago.

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Insert obligatory Heath Ledger = Joker poster, "And.Here.We.Go"!!!!!!!!!!!

Interesting subject---we have seen a mountain lion about once every 10-15 years from a distance crossing a FM road in front of us. But 6 weeks ago several friends saw one at 150-200 yds on my place in the Westhoff/Cheapside area that is between Cuero and Gonzales. Said color was dark--like chocolate. Happened to visit with ranch neighbor this past Friday and she was aware of dark brown one seen a year or so ago in the general area. I also saw bald eagle on my place a month ago flying low circle above tank. First one ever. Love the wildlife.

Ursus or other expert:

What about Travis or Williamson County? Any large cats recorded in this area in the recent past?

Well, about a month ago, there was one reported on this board in Comal county.

Yes, about ten feet from me in the bushes of red river county. About ten minutes after I missed a shot at him. This was about five years ago. Glad I'm here today!

Raider--Yes, I'd have to dig a bit to come up with a specific date for a verified one.

For east of I-35, there have only been 2 verified mountain lions in Wildlife District 5 in the last 20 years. Meaning it was officially reported, and subsequently verified.

Coworker here in Cedar Park along Brushy Creek, just west of Parmer told me last week he believed a Mountain Lion killed a young WT on his 3 acres. I was very skeptical. Said he was told several pilots out of Breakaway have reported seeing a mountain lion.

As a kid, my grandfather had a place just outside of Tatum, on the Panola County side of Martin Creek Lake, which he had to sell to the strip miners.

Several different family members reported seeing a mountain lion during the last few years we were able to hunt it (which would have been right around 1990'ish).

I never saw one myself, so I can't say for sure, and wouldn't be surprised if it was bogus, fwiw.

Are they kosher to shoot? Is it illegal or frowned upon?

There are at least 2 in the western Travis County area.

I've found scat before.

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Coworker here in Cedar Park along Brushy Creek, just west of Parmer told me last week he believed a Mountain Lion killed a young WT on his 3 acres. I was very skeptical. Said he was told several pilots out of Breakaway have reported seeing a mountain lion.

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With all the houses and pedestrian traffic in that area along Brushy Creek I'd be highly skeptical of anyone claiming to have seen a mountain lion there.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/nuisance/mountain_lion/

My understanding is it's legal. We have a cousin who claims to have seen a juvenile across a creek behind his house in Uvalde county. We hunt that area, and I'm personally conflicted on whether I'd shoot one. On one hand, it's a hell of a trophy, and despite knowing the facts, I still don't want to run into one on a cloudy night; on the other, I'm not sure I'd eat it, and if everybody shot them, there wouldn't be any left.

It's legal.

Texas is the only major mountain lion state that it isn't a game species, and frankly we know nothing of consequence about the population. We do know there are genetically two different populations, that don't mix all that often. Other than that, we know very little.

Not east Texas but close, there was one killed by the police in a residential back yard in bossier, LA a couple years back

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We do know there are genetically two different populations, that don't mix all that often.

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Trans-Pecos and South Texas? Of the stragglers that are shot/trapped/roadkilled around the rest of the state, from which population do they originate?

Ursus, explain the genetically different population comment you made if you don't mind. I'd like to know more about that.

There are two populations roughly divided by the Pecos river. Oddly enough, they don't seem to mix a whole lot. The Trans Pecos (West Texas) population is different from New Mexico and Northern Mexico lions, but do mix enough to show a pretty good genetic mix. The South Texas population seems to have been "isolated" for a while now. For years, it was assumed that most cats were coming out of the Trans Pecos population, but with the increased genetic work, it appears it's the South Texas cats.---At least that is what was explained to me back when we had a mammologist.

Here is the general mountain lion presence map based on ecological niche assessment (with some genetic modeling thrown in).


Oh, there was pretty strong speculation that the Bossier cat was captive at some point. Physical evidence said, probably wild, genetic evidence said lots of genetics not found in North American mountain lions.

[This message has been edited by ursusguy (edited 12/11/2012 12:01a).]

That's interesting on the two separate populations

If I'm not mistaken, A La. Dept. of Wildlife Biologist or employee confirmed one (that he had actually spotted with his own eyes but would not believe until he had proof...scientist...lol!) on a piece of property the state or feds owned in La. I believe (stretching my memory of the article) he saw the cat a couple of times before finding a scat pile and examining it (lab analysis maybe? ). The analysis confirmed it was a cougar and possibly from one of the two Texas gene pools...not Florida as they had initially suspected. Like I said, It has been a few years and I am stretching my memory of the article.....

URS....do you remember reading anything on the La. Lion?

found this on La.:
LDWF has documented several occurrences since 2002. The first cougar sighting was in 2002 by an employee at Lake Fausse Point State Park. That sighting was later confirmed with DNA analysis from scat found at the site. Three trail camera photos were taken of a cougar in Winn, Vernon and Allen parishes in 2008. Subsequently on Nov. 30, 2008, a cougar was shot and killed in a neighborhood by Bossier City Police Department.

The mountain lion, cougar, panther or puma are names that all refer to the same animal. Their color ranges from lighter tan to brownish grey. The only species of big cats that occur as black are the jaguar and leopard. Jaguars are native to South America and leopards are native to Africa. Both species can occur as spotted or black, although in both cases the spotted variety is much more common. Although LDWF receives numerous calls about black panthers, there has never been a documented case of a black cougar anywhere in North America.

Yep, in about 2004 if I remember correctly down in the coastal area. I want to say it was a South Texas cat that dispersed along the coastal. Then they had the Bossier lion in 08.

02 04, I was close.

You're not cool unless you have a pair of jaguar skin pants.




[This message has been edited by Bird Dog (edited 12/11/2012 8:13a).]