Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

homestead - [Homestead] was Homestead] Hatching Round 3, now mountain lions

homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Homestead mailing list

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: sjc <indexer AT fairpoint.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Homestead] was Homestead] Hatching Round 3, now mountain lions
  • Date: Thu, 01 Jan 2009 23:09:28 -0500

EarthNSky wrote:
There is an owl that sounds like a woman screaming, too. I have heard
it myself on occasion. There is also a fox cry that sounds freaky like
that.
I firmly believe that the Appalachians are sufficiently remote enough to
support a carnivorous species like a panther. It did once. If even a
small population survived in an enclave somewhere, with the reduction in
hunting and the urbanization of modern American life, I think it is
highly possible that there are indeed species like mountain lions making
a comeback, and that they are glimpsed every so often.
For sure they are in the Appalachians. I saw one in 1978 on Loft Mountain (about halfway up VA) when we were hiking the AT. It was no fleeting glance, we stared at each other, equally surprised, for probably 30 seconds and it was for sure a big male mountain lion. We reported it when we came off the AT, and everyone in Forest Service, park rangers, etc, all stated no lions in the region, but finally, a few years later, someone got a good shot (camera) of one only about 10 miles south of there, and after that there were several sightings in that region. Plus which there have at least since 1967 that I'm aware of, occasional reports all up and down the range of big cats.

I also saw one here, and boy, did people laugh at me, tried to convince me it was a Golden Retriever (???), a deer, whatever, but I got a good look at it, as did the adult, knowledgeable passenger in my car. Three years ago a guy that lives over that way apologized for laughing at me: something had been getting his lambs and the game warden told him it couldn't have been anything but a big cat, but he wasn't "allowed" to admit they exist here for fear of them being put on the endangered species list....I didn't follow that up, but his kid did get really nice casts of the footprints. Big cat.

So I think they're around a lot more than folks realize.

Certainly we have our share of bobcats. They get something once in a while but aren't a real problem, a dog is enough to deter them. I hear them several times a year, so know there are plenty here. Just last spring I saw a pair of bobcat cubs wrestling in the dusty roadway, quite the sight--one of the best rewards of living as a homesteader. When I first moved into their territory, some of the bobcat here thought chicken would be good on their menu, but at the time I had a mean old tomcat who was as territorial as they come, and gave up easy. Fisher is a bigger problem in the small predator category, and those things aren't afraid of anything, plus hard to trap.

There are a few lynx left here too, and those are strictly hands-off; if folks lose chickens or whatever to lynx, they are reimbursed rather than allowed to shoot them.

SJ




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page