Author Topic: Cougars in Virginia (Read 7719 times)

jrfrmn · « **on:** October 15, 2009, 05:28:46 PM »

I was reading the Ky post about having cougars. I was just curious if anyone in Virginia have seen any or heard reports about any. I know of someone in the Southwest part near Ky that was paid by DNR about 15 yrs ago for goats killed by them. Some people say that DNR was stocking them in the area of High Knob, Scott county. Does anyone know anything about this?

torpedoman · « **Reply #1 on:** October 16, 2009, 04:22:37 PM »

they are there i had one bring down a deer in the backyard in dickenson co.Right on the Ky line

slim rem 7 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 22, 2010, 01:50:56 AM »

well i live in n.c. its close enough to virginia for me to post on the thread ,i guess...
they are rare here ,,but they are here.. people will na na you if you say they are.. but ive seen two here in stanley county ,in the last 30 yrs.. ive also been startled into awakeness by thier eerie scream once at night ,,out behind my country home..
slim

scratcherky · « **Reply #3 on:** February 08, 2010, 09:43:48 AM »

There are no cougars east of the mississippi river except in FL.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #4 on:** February 08, 2010, 09:56:41 AM »

BS , I have seen 3 in Va. on three different locations over a 40 year span . Also The game dept investigated a sighting on RT. 460 west of Petersburg a den with cubs was located , over 2 deer remains were found near the den . There was an article in one of the papers that said a trapper went west and brought them back . At first it was said they were paid for by insurance co's to curb deer car accidents then it was a project to control over population on Fort Pickett ( much land there can't be hunted due to unexploded ord. ) . Anyway the cats seen to have taken hold as breeding animals were turned loose . Also we can't get caught shooting them as of yet. The first one I saw was over 40 years ago .Two bear dogs were running it and as i was hunting over 700 + miles east of the Mississippi river i dare say it/they lived on this side .

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #5 on:** February 08, 2010, 09:57:56 AM »

That was 20 not 2 remains

243dave · « **Reply #6 on:** February 09, 2010, 04:22:00 AM »

I've personly without a doubt seen one in Nicholas county,WV and know several people who have seen them up there. Don't even get get me started on the black-ones, they don't exist either.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #7 on:** February 10, 2010, 03:02:02 AM »

One of those black ones that don't exist lives in Nottaway County Va. We were hunting deer with dogs , my stand was in thick pines . There was an old brush pile near . Anyway the dogs kept hitting and running like the do when they bust a gang of turkeys . This went on over an hour and never more than 150 yards from me . The dogs chased something into this brush pile on the far side . The acted like they treed something . All at once this black ball flys out my side of the pile about 20 yards away . Well under the pines it was dark . At first i thought it was a bear as we have those and they are black . But it streached out to run and it was a lion , a big one -way bigger than the redbones chasing it .

scratcherky · « **Reply #8 on:** February 11, 2010, 04:42:05 AM »

You sure that was not someone's Plott hound the redbones were chasing?

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #9 on:** February 11, 2010, 08:53:24 AM »

Yep !

Ruskin · « **Reply #10 on:** February 11, 2010, 09:39:36 AM »

Re: Cougars in Virginia
« Reply #3 on: February 08, 2010, 03:43:48 PM » Quote

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There are no cougars east of the mississippi river except in FL.

They are in Sun City Center, Florida.

243dave · « **Reply #11 on:** February 11, 2010, 09:52:41 AM »

As a kid growing up in a very rural part of WV we were not aware that there were no such thing as a black cougar. People spotted them on rare occasions. An old lady in my church had one that visited often. In the corner of her yard she fed in the deer and squirrels and had many of them named. In the beginning the deer disappeared first, after they were all gone the black cat started hunting her squirrels during the day. This was when she started seeing the big cat. She seen it several times that summer catching squirrels, even my dad and an uncle seen it in her yard one evening. I can't say I've ever seen one first hand but I know a few people that have, and those few people can be counted on for the truth. Dave

sphar · « **Reply #12 on:** February 12, 2010, 04:13:25 PM »

Count me in as an eye witness. Labor Day 1989, on a forest service road just off the Blue Ridge Parkway in Bedford County, between Peaks of Otter and Big Island (near Hunting Creek, for those who know where that is). Plain as day, broadside in the road, for about one or two seconds that I'll never forget. That one existed.

Dances with Geoducks · « **Reply #13 on:** February 12, 2010, 08:15:55 PM »

Quote from: scratcherky on February 08, 2010, 09:43:48 AM

There are no cougars east of the mississippi river except in FL.

You have never been downtown New York on a Saturday night!

sphar · « **Reply #14 on:** February 14, 2010, 05:45:48 AM »

By coincidence, I got an email just yesterday from my mother-in-law with four photos of mountain lions allegedly taken two weeks ago near Elkins WV. It's one of those emails that's being forwarded all round the net.

The pictures show as many as three cats apparently in someones driveway, as there are vehicles in a couple of the pictures. There's a pick up truck in one of the pictures with a COLORADO license plate on the front bumper! Also, the pine trees in the background look more like Ponderosa pines than anything that grows around here.

The last time I saw this kind of thing was a picture of a dead one that was supposedly hit by a car in WV. Some guy was posing with it in his garage. There was a pile of deer antlers on a workbench behind him - MULE DEER antlers. That photo was probably taken in Colorado too.

As I said before, I saw one in VA and don't doubt their existence in the Appalachians. It just bugs me to see bogus evidence in support of the idea. It takes away more credence than it lends.

jlwilliams · « **Reply #15 on:** February 14, 2010, 06:13:13 AM »

I have to wonder how many of the big cats seen in the east were bought as pets (legal if they are under 6 months old) then released or escaped into the wild when they become too much to care for. Cats seen by people do not nessesarily equal a breeding sustained population in a given area.

A number of years back, remains were found in Massachussets that started quite a stir, turned out that the cat had been de-clawed or some such. There was something like that about the remains that showed it to be a released animal.

Bear in mind, radio tracking of cougars (in CO I think) showed cats roaming 600 miles. I don't know how many cats were in the study or how typical that really is, but if one cat may travel 600 miles, another may go further. No real knowing. Cats seen in VA could conceavably be Florida cats. I know it's impossable to prove a negative, but at the same time there is no real proof that there are populations of cats in many, many places where the locals will swear up and down that "they're here! I SAW one!"

scratcherky · « **Reply #16 on:** February 14, 2010, 10:18:59 AM »

Other than the ones in FL, there is no credible evidence of a breeding populatiom East of the Miss. river.

sphar · « **Reply #17 on:** February 14, 2010, 12:29:09 PM »

I agree that a few sightings, however legit they may be, don't necessarily mean there's a reproducing population. Individually released captives can explain that. I don't know that such a population exists, but I do know the occasional stray cat does.

jlwilliams · « **Reply #18 on:** February 14, 2010, 04:30:15 PM »

Of course; if you climb up in your tree stand and find a big cat already in the same tree, then 'released captive' still counts

243dave · « **Reply #19 on:** February 14, 2010, 04:44:54 PM »

You really doubt that there is a breeding population of cougars in the appalachians? Even Eric Rudolph(the abortion clinic bomber) hid in the NC mountains while hundreds of feds looked for him for months. Millions of dollars and man hours were spent looking for him. I'm sure if he can hide out in the remote appalachians a cat can do a much better job at not being found. Back home in WV everyone knows they are around and always have been but only seen occasionally. Dave

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #20 on:** February 15, 2010, 01:12:47 AM »

Well Scratcherky at the coener of US route 460 and Baltimore Road in Va. there is a den of cougars . So unless you beileve it was a virgin birth they breeded here .

scratcherky · « **Reply #21 on:** February 15, 2010, 10:37:39 AM »

Shootall-- if indeed there is a den that you are aware of, why don't you bring it to the attention of your state fish and wildlife dept? I am sure they would want to investigate and prove or disprove it.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #22 on:** February 15, 2010, 10:47:55 AM »

Well A lady that passed there everyday going to work did and after several calls they did check it out . At least that is what one paper said . It was also said that a trapper brought them here from out west . One report said 2 males and 8 females or so . One article said an auto insurance salesman set it up and another said Fort Pickett did it . Two of the ones i saw were about 15 miles from there .
I guess you can say they told me.

slim rem 7 · « **Reply #23 on:** February 20, 2010, 05:10:01 AM »

scratch ..thats the kinda statement bets are made from..i ll wait until the one that comes around here occasionally,, leaves another set of tracks in the mud..you can judge for yourself as to whether theres a lynx that big anywhere..slim

ps. you might want to go by things other than whats written in books on the subject..
ive seen two personally.. one on the way to columbia s.c on 521 high way.. the other close to my house
on the way from taking the kids to school..don t believe everything you read,, bud..have a great day now

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #24 on:** February 22, 2010, 02:09:31 AM »

Slim rim 7 that's fer sure , I'm a member of RMEF and they sent a magazine last week that said all Elk were killed out in Va. in the 1860's . Funny thing when i started hunting we still had Elk tags on our big game lic. and the last one was killed in the 1960's and no more stamps showed up on the lic.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #25 on:** February 22, 2010, 02:10:26 AM »

People who believe in Big Foot can't believe a cat can't get by , go figure !

scratcherky · « **Reply #26 on:** February 22, 2010, 03:28:24 AM »

You fellows must be seeing a Big Foot and can not tell it from a Cougar! Most of the sightings must be late on a Saturday nite!

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #27 on:** February 22, 2010, 06:43:21 AM »

Naw during the day hunting .

slim rem 7 · « **Reply #28 on:** February 25, 2010, 02:45:09 PM »

i recon some people just know everything..slim
we need more ofem.. it shows us what d.c. is full of..
so you right scratchsky.. now be sure an tell other people just how smart you are..jmo

i don t think im making a new friend here..what yall think??may god bless you scratch

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #29 on:** February 26, 2010, 02:33:20 AM »

Lets see cugars were in Va. but most were killed out . That was true across most of America. Then they became protected . Would it not be responsible to conclude they may expand their range back into their old range ? What would stop them ? Where I live now 15 years ago bears were no where near here but they are now , last season was our first bear season in my life time and next mo. I will be 55 . Funny thing is i saw one yesterday in the back field . Cows were watching something when i went to feed them . Most of the time they come running , but they stood and watched so i looked around and sure enough it was on the side of the field watching . It was small 150 or less lbs .