O/T Now that"s A Couger

Maritimer · Post by **Maritimer** » Fri May 04, 2007 12:48 pm

What a brute.

Grizzly Adam · Post by **Grizzly Adam** » Fri May 04, 2007 1:44 pm

Man! Wherever that thing came from, they can have all of 'em!

Used to be there was a rumor going around here that Fish and Wildlife was going to reintroduce cougar into the Pocosin and Alligator refuges like they did with the Red Wolf. Evidently it was false.

I'm glad. I don't care if there used to be cougars here. I don't want any big cats around here. We've got enough predators.

I don't like cougars. They just look like TROUBLE.

saxman · Post by **saxman** » Fri May 04, 2007 3:11 pm

HERE KITTY KITTY.
OH S%#&
BYE KITTY KITTY

kitty kat · Post by **kitty kat** » Fri May 04, 2007 4:27 pm

Congratulations. Where did you get the cougar? What weapon did you use? Did you use a rifle or bow? Nothing but questions,and no I don't think I would like to go cougar hunting. I will leave that for the men that know how. Something like that touring around the bush almost would make you give up howling at the moon. That sure would look nice in your den, after it came back from the taxidermist.

Pydpiper · Post by **Pydpiper** » Fri May 04, 2007 6:20 pm

This cat came from Ontario, didn't belong here, but it was harvested none the less. Brought down north of Walkerton.
The guy who killed it faced the music, no season, and a fur bearing animal.. Ouch..
Some tried to say it was released by the ministry to control predators, never verified..
Should have kept it to himself..

kitty kat · Post by **kitty kat** » Fri May 04, 2007 8:04 pm

Wouldn't that rot your socks off just below the armpits. It was a beautiful cat but that poor hunter will be hung up by the short hairs. The ministry also got the blame[right or wrong] for that bull moose that was roaming around here last fall and finally got hit on the highway north of London. The ministry also got the "credit" for the black bear at our old smelt fishing spot north of Goderich on Lake Huron. That was over 40 years ago. I think it is more of the wild animals just being displaced for what ever reasons and they just start roaming and finally find themselves blocked in by humans. All hunters have to be more careful, laws change, "big brother" is watching, you can't spit without someone else knowing.

R.J. · Post by **R.J.** » Fri May 04, 2007 8:18 pm

I'm not saying they are not out there ... but I spend tons of time in the field = Southern and Northern Ontario ... I've seen Lynx , Bobcat , Bear , Wolf , Coyote , Fox ... but never seen a Cougar or any sign of Cougars ( well maybe in that bar near Sudbury !

)

Here are some quotes from the net re: the Walkerton area Cougar.

greg from Horseshoe Valley
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submitted:
Wednesday, April 04, 2007 The email making the rounds about the cougar shot at Greenock Swamp,near Walkerton appears to be a hoax(google it....owensoundradio reports it as false)The cougar was reportedly shot in AlbertaJust the same, it's quite a cat

Not a fish story, but a cat story
Written by Mark Douglas

Don't believe everything you see on the internet, especially pictures of massive cougars shot in Walkerton.

Owen Sound-based MNR Enforcement Officer, Jody Scheifley says an e-mail going around, entitled, "Cougar shot, in Greenock Swamp" is just a hoax.

Scheifley says he first saw this email and its photos of a dead cougar several weeks ago, adding the photos come from the Alberta foothills.

Scheifley says the photos were originally passed around for biological research purposes, to show how big cougars can get.

Scheifley confirms no cougar has been shot in Walkerton.

Scheifley also hopes to put the end to some rumours that the MNR intentionally released cougars into this region to help control the deer population this season.

Scheifley says the MNR has done no such thing -- it's just another rumour going around, like the one about how the MNR has been releasing rattlesnakes.

Pydpiper · Post by **Pydpiper** » Sat May 05, 2007 3:51 am

If anyone were to see one out there it would be R.J.
The pictures would be a lot better too.

R.J. · Post by **R.J.** » Sat May 05, 2007 7:40 am

I would definateley like to get a picture of one .... hopefully when I am a long way up a tree in my climber !

Those big cats are " super predators " !!

There have been so many reports from credible sources ... there is bound to be one turn up somewhere ! .... Time will tell !

As for the MNR releasing cougars .... I can't get my head around that one ! ... Just read up on what was involved in re-introducing wolves in the USA = not something you can do in secret ! ...

Our Ontario MNR can't even budget enough gas money to keep the CO's on the road ! .... let alone fund a release program like that ...

Now Turkeys are a different story ... from a small group released in the 80's to an estimated 30000 birds today !

Bow Life · Post by **Bow Life** » Sat May 05, 2007 8:51 pm

There was talk about this on the forum a while back and i mentioned one that my mother had seen accross the road from my house (Hamilton Area) and it was believed to have escaped out of a zoo in the area, but i do remember (it was about 5 or 6 years ago) walking in the bush with my dad and finding half a deer about 20ft in a tree. The only explanation we could find was it was the same time there were many cougar sitings in the same area... So yes i believe there have been a few to travel the area but as far as many i dont think so.

Pydpiper · Post by **Pydpiper** » Sun May 06, 2007 6:32 am

Every now and then the local farmers start talking about these things, most of these old boys have no reason to try to deceive anyone.
Part of me wants to believe it all, but the other part of me wonders why there is never any solid proof.

Maritimer · Post by **Maritimer** » Sun May 06, 2007 8:59 am

We have allot of cougars here on Vancouver Island but you don't see them that often. I have lived here 15 years now and I have only seen 5. I seen a mother with 2 kittens and 2 other ones on different occasions. My buddy and I were scouting a new area when we spotted a cougar going from the clear cut into a small patch of woods we just passed. We decided to head back and see if we could see it when it exited the tress, all we saw were deer they were exiting that patch of woods at break neck speeds and they were not stopping to look back. Never did see that cougar again. Since I lived here on Vancouver Island I know of four cougar attacks with one fatality.

R.J. · Post by **R.J.** » Sun May 06, 2007 9:29 am

Yep ... my dad lives in BC as well ... have read lots on Cougar encounters there ! ... I've just never seen sign of them in my travels in Northern and Southern Ontario ...

There have been lots of credible sightings though ... I hope to get a picture of one someday ...

But it will take some evidence to convince me that the MNR is releasing them !

sumner4991 · Post by **sumner4991** » Tue May 08, 2007 8:32 am

Only reason I believe it to be a hoax is because the cougar seems to get larger in the second photo. The photo of him carring the cougar, it looks like the cougar's size is about the same as the hunter. In the picture of the hunter sitting, the cougar looks so large, I don't think the hunter could carry it. The cougar is probably for real . . .however, the pictures are a hoax.

ninepointer · Post by **ninepointer** » Wed May 09, 2007 8:34 am

Pydpiper wrote:This cat came from Ontario, didn't belong here, but it was harvested none the less. Brought down north of Walkerton.
The guy who killed it faced the music, no season, and a fur bearing animal.. Ouch..
Some tried to say it was released by the ministry to control predators, never verified..
Should have kept it to himself..

No disrespect intended, but those photos have been floating around the internet for a while, alleged to have come from a variety of places. The Walkerton/Greenock Swamp story is the locally popular version.

I can't say whether there are wild cougars in Ontario or not (I believe that most are escaped exotic pets), but I can say there are cougars roaming free. There's been one around Niagara and my direct friend (not a friend of a friend of my 3rd cousin

) spotted it during a controlled deer hunt a few years ago. He was so stunned that he didn't even think to shoot it. Upon reporting the sighting to a Conservation Officer, he was advised that he should have shot it because it is an escaped pet, it is a public hazard and it does not belong here.

Ninepointer