Trail Cam Shocker

[billy_56081]

The size of this animal not only looks small in relation to the deer but also to the background. I still say ground hog or maybe a coon. The "spots" you see are due to pixilation of the blown up picture. I hunting feline would not attack in the manner of coming out in the open to the right and then spinning 180 degrees to pursue. They are an ambush predator. 

[saddlebum]

It's a young Mtn. Lion. You can see he hasn't lost all of his baby spots off of his tail yet.
He ain't too good at hunting yet.
Cool pics Hawk!

[myronman3]

maine coons

[saddlebum]

it is not that far from the deer in that picture...
  any of you who think it is a mountain lion, i want some of what you are smoking.   i can understand spirit thinking "what is that???" and posting it here for opinions and comments.  i might have done the same...but no way is that thing a mountain lion.   MAYBE a young bobcat?  but it even looks too small for that to even be possible.   i am thinking it is a feral cat.

I'm not smoking anything. But I am ticked off over people like you because I have to wear hunter orange to keep from getting shot because some people will think I'm a bear.   
 
Look at my enlargements. There is a reason they call them BOBcats..............
(and it ain't because their first name is Robert)
 
This thread is hilarious!

[myronman3]

  first off, you dont know squat about me.    second off, that aint no cougar, and it aint no bobcat.   it is either a housecat or a feral cat.  the tail is too long for a bobcat, and too short for a cougar.  and, it is entirely to small to be either.   i understand the whole distance from the camera thing, so that doesnt wash either.  at the most that animal is 20 ft from the deer; and it doesnt make that much of a difference at that distance.   look at the vegatation around the cat and compare the height of that to the cat.  yes, the cat.  cause that is what it is. 

[saddlebum]

Your right, I don't know a thing about you.
So just to get to know you better, let me ask you a question.
 
Do you think that baby Mtn. Lions are born full grown?
Or do they start out small and grow to be adults?   
 
I really needed a good laugh today. Sorry it had to be you.
Maybe you shouldn't have been condecending to those who recognize a young lion when they see one. Then I wouldn't have even noticed you.
Have a nice day!   
 
 

[Spirithawk]

Guys, no need to squable over a couple pics. I at first thought it might be a large feral tomcat too but didn't rule out a realy young mountain lion either. I'll admit that trailcam pics are often misleading but I only changed my opinion more towards the mountain lion  because three profesional wildlife photographers all stated in their opinions it is a young mountain lion, still with spots and rings around it's tail that are just starting to fade. These guys looked at the pics cleaned up and with professional equipment so pardon me if I lean towards their opinions, versus an amature's, and I don't mean the word amature in any disparaging way. I include myself in that qualification. Oh, and Bobcats can get quite large but they are called Bobcats because they have "Bobbed" tails. We are putting out more trail cams, plus starting to bow hunt the spot, so why not wait and see if we get more pics or an eyeball sighting?

[bigswede]

  first off, you dont know squat about me.    second off, that aint no cougar, and it aint no bobcat.   it is either a housecat or a feral cat.  the tail is too long for a bobcat, and too short for a cougar.  and, it is entirely to small to be either.   i understand the whole distance from the camera thing, so that doesnt wash either.  at the most that animal is 20 ft from the deer; and it doesnt make that much of a difference at that distance.   look at the vegatation around the cat and compare the height of that to the cat.  yes, the cat.  cause that is what it is.

How long should a cougar's tail be?  Maybe 5 or 6 feet, have you ever seen a cougar in the wild?  Actually, i don't even care.  I'm with saddlebum, at least I got a good laugh out of this.

[myronman3]

spirit....as always, you are a great guy.  in no way was/is any of this directed at you.  a guy gets some interesting photos and wants to share, that is good.   pictures are always interesting.   
   in response to the tail length, i mean in regard to the rest of the animal's body....proportion wise; not actual length.   doesnt matter what the age of the animal is...the proportion is going to be there.   but none of that matters to some of you, ya got your minds made up that this tomcat is a cougar.    either way ya slice it, it doesnt affect me.   you can run around and profess things all you want, it isnt my credibility that is taking the hit.   
  thanks for sharing the pictures, spirit.   i have no doubt you found the tracks you said you did, but this aint that animal.   

[Spirithawk]

I know you all mean well and I've taken no offense at anything said thus far. Hey, if bullets, bombs, knives and Charlie didn't kill me, nor the toxic chemicals that have sure tried, I doubt words will ever hurt me much. I simply don't sweat the small stuff. One of the reasons I posted the pics was, as you said, to get opinions. Heck, that's half the fun of discovering such pics on your trail cam. On a diferant note, that same cam shows some pics of a very very nice Buck that has a date with one of my arrows. He just don't know it yet.

[BUGEYE]

I just googled mountain lion proportion and got some side by side drawings and measurements and everything points to house cat.

[saddlebum]

  first off, you dont know squat about me.    second off, that aint no cougar, and it aint no bobcat.   it is either a housecat or a feral cat.  the tail is too long for a bobcat, and too short for a cougar.  and, it is entirely to small to be either.   i understand the whole distance from the camera thing, so that doesnt wash either.  at the most that animal is 20 ft from the deer; and it doesnt make that much of a difference at that distance.   look at the vegatation around the cat and compare the height of that to the cat.  yes, the cat.  cause that is what it is.

How long should a cougar's tail be?  Maybe 5 or 6 feet, have you ever seen a cougar in the wild? Actually, i don't even care.  I'm with saddlebum, at least I got a good laugh out of this.

Sesame Street 'Name That Animal' game.
And some here lossed the game. Some woodsmen.
Who would have thought that a simple show and tell thread like this would bring me so many laughs today. And it just keeps going!   
Hillarious!!............................

[Old Syko]

Looks to me like, if SH has a pic of a house cat this one must be the same.  So much is being made of the length of the tail.  Would appear the tail doesn't get really long until later in life.
http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1_____enUS440US440&aq=0&oq=young+mountain+lion+&gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=young+mountain+lion+pictures






Spirithawk, I do know one thing for sure.  If this is where you're going to hunt you need to pay special attention and ya might want to pack something a bit bigger than that Kel Tec.  Be careful out there.  You're not alone.

[Spirithawk]

Looks to me like, if SH has a pic of a house cat this one must be the same.  So much is being made of the length of the tail.  Would appear the tail doesn't get really long until later in life.
http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1_____enUS440US440&aq=0&oq=young+mountain+lion+&gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=young+mountain+lion+pictures






Spirithawk, I do know one thing for sure.  If this is where you're going to hunt you need to pay special attention and ya might want to pack something a bit bigger than that Kel Tec.  Be careful out there.  You're not alone.

I apreciate the concern and gotta admit, to me that sure looks a lot like the critter in the trail cam pic. Only differance is the lighting. Regardless, we do know there are big cats here. Besides the pics of tracks my son and I took, a neighbor caught a pair of full grown Mountain Lions on video. The Conservation Dept. laughed at her first reports so she proved them wrong and made the eat crow. I will start carrying my .44 with me, along with a rifle or shotgun when checking trail cams and stands.  When hunting I'll either have my .270 or my Mossberg 835 3 1/2" mag 12 ga.

[saddlebum]

I taut I saw ah puttytat!!   

[saddlebum]

@Spirithawk
 
In my last close incounter with a Mtn. Lion, I never saw them at all.
I was filling a water truck up at the river with a big noisy diesel pump. As I drew near the bridge where the pump was at, I crossed paths with the first truck of the day that had just filled. He had overflowed his truck and made fresh mud everywhere. I positioned the truck and started filling it. As I stood there waiting, I looked down and there in the fresh mud was an adult size lion track right next to some small ones. I started looking around and found tracks that were still filling with water seapage. There was no cover around except the bridge and a little bunch of willows and tall grass a stones throw away from where I was standing. I just kept a watchful eye until I was ready to leave and warned the others filling up there.
We never saw hide nor hair of the momma and her cub/cubs. As a matter of fact, of the few "close incounters", (if I can call them that), I've had, I have never seen the cat. Only the fresh tracks. That is, as far as I no of. They are really sneeky critters.
Be safe!

[myronman3]

 
here ya go saddlebum.   

[saddlebum]

@Spirithawk
 
While looking at lion pics, I came accross this one I thought you might enjoy. No story came with it except a line that said that the mule did wind up killing the cat.
I'm thinking you might want to consider getting a mule!........

[Graybeard]

I've never seen a lion in the wild. I haven't really spent much time in the places they inhabit really. BUT once a lot of years ago I was hunting in south GA and on my way back to my truck on a sandy road I found the tracks of one that had stepped in my boot tracks I made walking in that morning.

I was close enough to FL for it to have been a Florida panther and it was for sure the biggest cat track I've ever seen. Since I didn't see the actual maker of the tracks I can't be 100% certain it was what I feel it was but that doesn't change my belief in what it was.