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Cougers????

spanny

spanny

Member
Jun 17, 2006
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This is off topic and I know that there is alot going on tonight, but I have heard tons about mountain lions being seen in Iowa, can anyone verify these claims? I have seen some big tracks, but have never seen one in person or on those game cameras, but I have seen some bobcats, I am just wondering, thanks


We have haq 4 or 6 in the Omaha area, mostly in the ravines, runnong axross the highway, eating racooons. I saw one about 100 feet in front of my car last fall. Tghey are BACK.
 
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There was some sightings at a Fort Dodge household earlier this week I believe. My sister sent me some pictures, but I think I deleted the email.
 
There have been several confirmed sightings, and other tracks, etc.

There have been 2-3 shot by people in the past 2 3 years.

Tracks have also been reported on the trails in Des Moines
 
klones said:
There was some sightings at a Fort Dodge household earlier this week I believe. My sister sent me some pictures, but I think I deleted the email.
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I'm from Fort Dodge and was at home from college a couple nights ago. My parent's home is in the country about 3 or 4 miles west of Fort Dodge and we saw some massive cat tracks around the woods. They were the biggest cat tracks I have ever seen in person, and I often hear some big cat noises when I'm home. It may not be cougars, but it's some kind of really big cat.
 
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I think this is the one that was hit by a car. Many sightings are cougars (aka mountain lions) that have been released or escape from captivity HOWEVER they do follow their favorite food supply which happens to the White Tailed Deer. It's just a matter of time.....

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I thought there was an article in the Rag this week about the DNR switching it's stance from denying that big cats inhabit the state to protecting the big cats. I could be wrong, I only half read that litter box POS.
 
spanny said:
This is off topic and I know that there is alot going on tonight, but I have heard tons about mountain lions being seen in Iowa, can anyone verify these claims? I have seen some big tracks, but have never seen one in person or on those game cameras, but I have seen some bobcats, I am just wondering, thanks
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Spanny you drunk a$$...everybody knows they are cougars, not cougers! What you're probably thinking about is the Sasquatch and the Rick that they've spotted down in the crazy bottoms of SE Iowa. (By me saying Sasquatch AND the Rick I am in no way saying that they might not potentially be one and the same :wink0st: )
 
HOTDON said:
I thought there was an article in the Rag this week about the DNR switching it's stance from denying that big cats inhabit the state to protecting the big cats. I could be wrong, I only half read that litter box POS.
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I think they want to protect them with a hunting season (they are open season now). For what reason I don't know, they don't eat that many deer.
 
One mountain lion hit by a car near Gretna NE was 150 pounds. They appear to run 30-40 miles per hour when crossing the highway.
 
Mountain lions eat a lot of deer, but also eat raccoons, possum, house cats, ferrel cats, etc. A trail cam got a picture of one near Marshalltown last summer. The pictures going around with a cougar at a screen door in Ft. Dodge is a hoax. They are from Wyoming. It was watching the children through sliding glass door during a snow storm several years ago. The pictures are pretty scarey. I have seen tracks when I was quail huting in Kansas last year. There is one that roams an area where I hunt. The tracks were near a pond and were about the size of the palm of my hand with no claw marks (how you can distinguish them from a dog print). The farmer I was hunting with took a picture of the prints. His wife has seen it once. There are some around but most reports are bogus. There are confirmed tracks in the Ft. Dodge area. I know a guy that has a B.S. in Zoology and saw one near Goldfield, IA late at night while driving on the shoulder of the road. He got a good look at it. They can travel around 60 miles in one night. They are very dangerous animals but will almost always avoid you. They will go after small children, however. The DNR estimates there are about a dozen or more roaming the state. Most are displaced males from South Dakota (males are very territorial).
 
if you're wondering why mountain lions should be hunted...

it's because they're like any wild animal.

If they are protected "absolutely", eventually they lose their fear of humans.

This is exactly what -has- happened in many places already with cougars. A few years ago a family from our church moved to a foothill area out west, and their little boy was killed while they were out hiking. I'm pretty we've all heard stories like this but when it happens to friends or family suddenly it all becomes "real".

What was sick was that there was a bigger response by the tree huggers and so on for the "poor wild animal" than there was for the family that had lost their child.

Mind you, I'm completely for "protecting" animals, it's just that there has to be a balance in everything, and if it takes filling a few tags to instill a healthy fear in big cats, well, I'm all for it.

peace.

moo.
 
With my job I travel rural Iowa quite a bit and have heard stories about cougars for a few years now. The theory I have heard the most is that the DNR may be responsible for releasing some into Iowa without any public knowing. The reason is some may be tagged with electronic devices. Talked to one farmer who said a neighbor shot one behind his house. He didn't know at the time is was legal and buried it out back. A few days later the DNR came and asked if they could dig the body up.
In order for the cougars to be regulated or protected they have to first admit that they are here.
I have not personally seen one or any tracks. This info is all second hand and take it for what it is worth.
 
Mountain lions have a roaming range of around 200 miles, so tracking them is very difficult. With that said there are many more being seen.

Their tracks look very similar to a bobcat or smaller cat too.
 
I agree MOO-U. They should be hunted. That is why I believe there are so many attacks in California. They have a very large cougar population and you cannot shoot them there. They would rather have people mauled before they would allow hunting the big are hunted. People say that attacks are rare, which they are historically. They are, however, on the rise. You do have a better chance of getting attacked by a dog, however. There are packs of wild (once domestic) dogs in Iowa and they are more dangerous.
 
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