My elderly mother lives with us so I got up to investigate and saw a large animal with a tail at least a foot long walking between the cars in our driveway. Its closest living relative is the cheetah. The worker was in his truck when the cats crossed the road in front of the dog-walker, Snow said. The Mountain Times is, and has always been, a family-owned independent newspaper located on Route 4. This is Christina, I used to work with you at the YMCA in Burlington. So I walked out of the driveway turned right when I saw a pair of yellow greenish eyes under an apple tree I asumed it was a deer because I had seen many deer their earlier in the day. with muscles like a pit bull (very muscular!). One cat will leave more than 10,000 tracks per day. Morse, 70, comports herself in a friendly and no-nonsense manner. Our county announced that they do not think they will be able to retain our county trapper due to our serious budget crisis. Vermont Fish and Wildlife say they get between 50 and 75 sightings here in Vermont, annually. T here've been several reported mountain lion sightings around Marine on St. Croix, Minn. in the last month. Im not an expert on human psychology, but if youre looking for something, you have a greater chance of actually seeing it. This is a natural wildlife corridor coming down off of the Worcester Range headed over towards the Green Mountain Range. Mountain Lion. Much as I liked Ottmann and Betty, and much as I found some of their evidence compelling, I was struggling to reconcile their more provocative claims with the restraint expressed by the many other experts Id spoken with. There were pine cones on window sills, a well-used hatchet and a variety of animal figurines on display, and, near the television, a stack of videos including Life of a Predator and The African Lion. my friend has agreat hunting camp in sandgate vt. he just sent me a photo from a trailcam on his property,and without a doubt he got a picture of a mountain lion I dont know how to transfer photos to here,but I can do it to an e-mail. At first my husband thoughtwow huge dog and it turned its head and it was a cat. Forty years of reporting on New Hampshire cougar sightings has convinced Harrigan that the state is home to at least a handful of breeding animals. PO Box 183 (Postal address) During the Summer of 1991, my wife Linda and I, took 3 days on our vacation, to meet both Harold & Martene Hitchcock. The females are where its at, she said. He set down his cigarette and looked me in the eye. Canada Lynx. It was a few miles south of the Hanover exit. Bernier gets more than 50 reports of mountain lions a year. You could have 50. It can run at speeds of up to 50 mph. In 2011, genetic testing confirmed that a mountain lion originated in South Dakota and traveled more than 1,500 miles before being struck by a car on the Merritt Parkway, according to Reuters. And thats a surprisingly complex question, because it hinges on numerous factors: policy and politics, culture and conditioning, habitat and, frankly, hubris. It lowers the population in a way thats not going to affect the long-term population. It wailed just one time but it woke me from a sound sleep. Growing up in northern Vermont, Id heard stories of sightings, though always a few steps removed from the tellersomebodys cousin had seen a cougar cross the road on their way home from deer camp up in Canaan (or was it Coventry? Morse is a Vermont-based naturalist and the founder of Keeping Track, a nonprofit that trains people in the scientific protocols needed to detect, interpret, record, and monitor wildlife tracks and signs. Besides, Ottmann had revealed that hed been charged by a bear in this same piece of woods, and I felt conflicted about diverting my gaze from the underbrush. The way that people see [bobcats] in the woods, when they're running through, [their tails] can even seem longer than they are, Bernier said. Look out for our newsletters with travel tips and special offers. You wouldnt shake hands with a man like that, she said, and though she was smiling I could tell she was serious. But right now youre dealing with top-notch guys. We went back later and the road was hard but we did get some pictures of prints exactly where the cat went back into the woods and the toes were hard to see, but the pad was classic cougar and the print was the size of my hand. When a cats around, its not hard to find evidence. I was awakened by a wailing sound that I thought was a woman in great pain and fear in my front yard. I am so happy that I did not hit it - there was absolutely no time to react. It crossed the road and went into the woods. John Lutz, 99 Beagle Boot Lane, Maysville, WV 26833, John Lutz (Eastern Puma Research Network, Maysville, WV). I was aware, too, of how a certain mythology surrounding the animal had taken root in Vermonts culture and even its identity: The University of Vermonts athletic teams, for instance, are known as the Vermont Catamounts, and their logo features a snarling cat lunging through the cleft of a V.. Now I know what it was - a mountain lion. I met with Morse at her home in Jericho. : I am basically a pro whitetail hunter living in Roxbury vt. The cougar was so close I could smell it. Would like to discuss, this event with you. The last catamount killed in Vermont stands under glass just inside the doors to the Vermont Historical Museum in Montpelier, a hop, skip, and a jump down the block from the statehouse. Where once it was flatly dismissed as impossible in the so-called developed East, scientists have now documented cougar dispersals and reoccupation of a growing list of eastern states and provinces. I couldnt tell you how happy I would be if mountain lions were actually recolonizing the state of Connecticut, Hawley says, but its just not happening., Hawley spoke about bobcats, mountain lions and bears on The Colin McEnroe Show: Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators.. I appreciated Ottmann and Bettys confidence and commitment, but here I was, poking through thorny thickets behind a bar, trailing a bleeding man whose devotion to proving the presence of cougars was beginning to seem like a quixotic quest with no end. Happy hunting Mike Copeland. 1 talking about this. In Vermont, it was 1881. Get up to speed on the news Vermont is talking about, delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. The Spatz and Sue Ottmann referred to are Christopher Spatz and Sue Morse, two of the better-known and arguably most experienced cougar skeptics in the Northeast. My understanding is that they can roam a 50 mile radius as home, so seeing one there could mean it lives 50 miles away in the woods. Mountain lions remain an enigmatic animal for residents of New Hampshire, with New Hampshire Fish and Game reporting three to five sightings per week. The cat traveled down through New York and was last sighted at Lake George in New York state before it was hit by a car and killed on the Wilbur Cross Parkway in Connecticut. In 2011, the U.S. Please contact me at epuma@frontier.com or 304-749-7778. Earlier in the year, Id attended one of these presentations, and even in the tiny village of Woodbury, Vermont, on a stiflingly hot summer evening, nearly 100 people showed up to hear her speak and see her photographs (Morse is a magnificent wildlife photographer). Sign up below to receive the weekly newsletter, which also includes top trending stories and what all the locals are talking about! Ive seen bobcats before, this wasnt a bobcat. And its a lose-lose situation, because theres really not a whole lot you can tell them in most cases thats going to change their mind.. Patrick's reporting has appeared on NPR's Morning Edition, Here & Now, and All Things Considered. And somebody hollering. Or click the map itself. Ive seen more field evidence in a couple of hours tracking out west than Ive seen in 100 years on the East Coast, he said. There was a tin of American Spirit tobacco on the table (Ottmanns), a laptop (Bettys), a notebook (mine), and a tumbler of Bacardi and Coke (Ottmanns again). Fish and Wildlife Service declared the eastern mountain lion extinct in 2011, sparking many calls to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife office about potential sightings. ), or someones coworkers mother had seen one from the back porch of a summer camp back in 07 or maybe 08, and shed tried to get a picture but this was before she got her first iPhone, and by the time shed retrieved her camera from the living room, the cat was long gone. Now, lets start talking about our favorite big cat! Jul 9, 2021. Spatz and Sue dont want to go where were going.. Harrigan nodded. Another big cat look-alike in the area is the Canada Lynx, distinguishable from Eastern bobcats by their large feet. Finally, in the third camp, there are the true believersthe cougar truthers, if you willthe men and women for whom the only logical conclusion (often reached after a significant investment of time, thought, and sometimes money) is that right here, right now, cougars live among us, feeding and breeding and rearing their young, and that suggesting otherwise is sheer ignorance, willful denial, or part of a mosaic of conspiracy. Having been doing this since 1994, I have yet to have had a definitive, documented, indisputable, verifiable sighting of a mountain lion, Bernier said. Anyway, last week, May 2020, I was hiking in Eastern WA, Oroville WA to be exact. Morse introduced me to her cat, Allister, whom she referred to as her portable puma. Then she fetched me a beer. Your email address will not be published. Subsequent DNA testing found that the animal was from South Dakota. First about the animal, itself, and then about the lore and the possibility that the catamount was not, in fact, extinct in Vermont. In Vermont, it was 1881. And consider, for a moment, the concern and outright fear an official acknowledgment of such a carnivorous and predatory creature might evoke. Many, many times, in many different ways along its travel up through Minnesota, Michigan and to Canada, down through New York, through hair samples, blood samples, trail camera photos. In 1994, scat collected after a sighting in Craftsbury, Vermont, was found to contain cougar hair (the animals are prone to ingesting their hair while grooming), and the commissioner of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department circulated a memo with the following line: Harrigans interest in cougars was sparked in the late 70s, after he took ownership of, Perhaps, then, the ultimate question isnt whether cougars are among us, but rather how we can encourage them to settle here, After 20 minutes or so, we turned and stumbled our way back to the parking lot. It had a round, pudgy wild cat face with black accents. Because he lives among them, Harrigan understands that no one knows the woods better. ..If still interested or wanting a news-letter Eastern Puma Net-News copy, send your street or P.O. Because they are.. Latter that night we were all woken up by the most awful sounds I have ever heard the mt lion was in the back yard chasing the house cat back and fourth. We met for lunch on a Sunday morning in early March, and it didnt take long for me to understand why Harrigan is such a popular columnist. Julia is a senior majoring in Environmental Studies with a concentration in climate and environmental justice with minors in Computer Science and Geography. I reported it to Fish and Wildlife but I bet they are laughing- I am in shock! The cat is dead. Yet I also remembered something Sue Morse had told me months before, as we sat in her living room drinking beer and chatting cats. Or that a stray has gotten EXTREMELY lost. My e-mail: epuma@frontier.com /// my mailing address 99 Beagle Boot Lane, Maysville, WV 26833 We have people eating dinner in their kitchen, they hear a noise, all of a sudden a bear walks in, so they run into their bedroom to get away from the bear, while the bears out ransacking their refrigerator. I started this blog for people to discuss mountain lion sightings and reports in the Green Mountain State of Vermont. I wanted to see how close I could get walking closer and closer the eyes did not run in fact they started to come to us. Let us know the date, time of day, how long the sighting lasted for, where you saw the cat in Vermont, and describe what the cat looked likeand was doing. I am quite sure that I saw a mountain lion (a juvenile) yesterday afternoon north of the Dummerston Covered bridge along the West River. I heard what sounded like a loud mountain lion roar, 2 nights in a row, camping in Bennington, Vt, upper pasture of Senator Sanford's farm bordering the mountain forest. On Friday July 8, 2022 there was a few reported Mountain Lion sightings the last few days one actually involving an encounter with one's family in their lawn. 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