Cougar Proof

[TreeFrog]

I know how we all love to see cougars in the Georgia woods. Opening morning of the regular firearm season (2007) I saw a cougar from the stand. It was less than 100 yards away but I only got a brief look. It was the regular tan/yellow colored kind. Since I was hunting in Heard County (near New River just north of West Point Lake) I tried to convince myself I hadn't seen what I knew I just saw. On the way out I had the opportunity to look for tracks. Found them! I actually found quite a few and I took a few shots with my disposable camera. Below are a couple of the better pictures. It's a little hard to tell from the photos but there were no claw marks. Very definitively large cat tracks. I think the best shot is the one that shows the length of the gate.

 

[dawg2]

Did you go back and make plaster casts?
Also, where were you?

 

[Nicodemus]

The most important measurement you can take is the stride length of the walkin` cat, hind foot to front foot, on the same side. That is the tell all. Could you tell in inches, about what the stride length was?

 

[Researcher31726]

Tree,
That is great! I have to admit when I first saw the $20 bill, I was thinking, that you were making a joke and the money was "bait."
That's a good idea to help with measurement.
Any more details you can share?
Sue

 

[TreeFrog]

I didn't measure the stride length exactly (using the $20 bill as 6") it was over 18" and less than 24". Sorry, I didn't make casts.

 

[TreeFrog]

Our club is boarders US Hwy 27 at GA Hwy 100. I was hunting a hardwood bottom with spring fed running water. Most of the property is planted pines (Plumb Creek land) that has been select cut.

 

[dawg2]

Our club is boarders US Hwy 27 at GA Hwy 100. I was hunting a hardwood bottom with spring fed running water. Most of the property is planted pines (Plumb Creek land) that has been select cut.

Near Hamilton?

 

[Nicodemus]

I didn't measure the stride length exactly (using the $20 bill as 6") it was over 18" and less than 24". Sorry, I didn't make casts.

That stride length is what a bobcat has. A cougar would have a stride length 40 inches or so.

 

[dawg2]

I didn't measure the stride length exactly (using the $20 bill as 6") it was over 18" and less than 24". Sorry, I didn't make casts.

"Trail width" for a walking bobcat will be about 3" to 5-1/2" wide (left to right). The stride will be in the range of 11" to 25" from one track to the next, but usually 14"-16".

"Trail width" for a walking cougar will be around 8" to 11" wide (left to right). The stride will be in the range of 20" to 32" (measured at an angle from a front track back to the previous one).

The heel pads of an adult bobcat range from 1-1/8" to 1-1/2" and a mountain lions are 1-9/16"-3". If you compare a young mountain lion pad to a bobcat, you will not be able to tell them apart from the size.

The trail width measurements and stride will be the sure method. Based on what you have said it could be a VERY large Bobcat, but it is close in stide to a walking cougar. Did you happen to measure the trail width?

Did you see a tail or just the body?

If you have a trail camera you ought to put it up in the area.

 

[groundhawg]

Only saw a few cougar tracks while we were living in CA but the measurements seen with the bill show a track over 3 inches from the back of the heel to the toe and most cougars tracks I have seen were 3 to 3 1/2 inches long.

Have seen many more bobcat tracks here in the southeast and most in soft dirt were closer to 1 1/2 inches long and I have never seen one over 2 inches long. These appear to be much larger than any bobcat tracts I have seen.

Thanks for the pictures.

 

[potsticker]

Its amazing to me more of these animal dont show up. Look at most animals from deer to coons to cyotes, dogs, cats the all have eyes that glow in the dark. Night animals, thats the secret. Animals that work at night, under cover of darkness, are invisible. Darkness is all just cover for nite animals. Just imagine what we are missing!

 

[Researcher31726]

...Just imagine what we are missing!

Yep.
Sue

 

[david224]

Guess I had better pay more attention walking in and out in the dark down in Heard county. My club is also at 27 and 100

 

[shawn mills]

cougars in Ga.- this allegation has never surprised me. like stated in another discussion earlier- if a monster buck can live out his life in a small woodlot undetected, why cant cougars roam hundreds of thousands of timberland with only brief sightings? I've hunted for more than thirty years and am more shocked to see a deer hunter with twenty dollars in his pocket by the time opening day rolls around than a cougar track! good job though. p.s. I'd start singing on my way to and from the stand in the dark.

 

[straitshooter]

cougars are everywhere, they are just incredibly elusive. i have a seen one in maine bout 10 years ago, and they claim they don't live there either!

 

[dgr416]

I have seen two large cats in Ga.I saw a cougar in putnam county back in 1997 .It was casing deer during a thunder storm on our hunting lease.Alot of other people saw it crossing 441.I saw a smaller cat that was very dark in color but only 3/4 size of a cougar chasing deer on our land in morgan county.My dad shot a black one so did his neigbor back in the late 50s in their barn.I think they are mostly nocturnal and hardly ever come out at night.

 

[hevishot]

I dont buy it......

 

[JWilson]

All the camras and all the people in the woods and all the cars why have more people not killed one gotten pictures or one being hit by a car.

Sorry I also dont believe it

 

[dawg2]

...I think they are mostly nocturnal and hardly ever come out at night.

You mean mostly nocturnal and hardly ever come out EXCEPT at night...Right?

 

[dgr416]

cougars

Cougars are kinda like bears.They can be right there but your not going to see them much.Where I live in Alaska bears go through the town at night mostly and hardly get seen.You hear dogs bark at them but mostly at night.I asked a F&G biologist in Ga about cougars he said they might travel through but there probally were not any resident cougars.I asked him if I shot one would I be in trouble he said yes.I saw one cross in front of the car at the White River in B.C.Canada it scooted across and didnt hang around.You dont see bears on the side of the road in North Ga but that does not mean they are not there.You go to canada where there are alot of bears you will see them in the daylight eating on the side of the road.Its kinda like the ivory billed woodpeckers that were supose to be extinct that finally showed up.They just discoved a new leopard that was not known to exist so they can really hide from us.Nevada where I lived for a while had a fair amout of cougars but unless you used dogs they were unseen pretty much.