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The Missouri Department of Conservation denied for many years that mountain lions existed in Missouri.  But two may people had seen them too often to make their story stick.  Old timers told stories of encounters.  Then one was hit and killed just a few miles north of us. A news reporter was there before the MDOC.  Pretty hard to say it wasn't so but they did say it was a young male from Montana looking for a new range and there was no breading population here in Missouri.   Still more sightings in Missouri.  The police chased one in a residential area of our home town just a few blocks from downtown! 

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12 minutes ago, Warden Callaway said:

they did say it was a young male from Montana looking for a new range and there was no breading population here in Missouri. 


Yeah, it’s like all our mountain lions have to sign a chastity pledge before they can enter Missouri.

 

B)

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3 hours ago, J-BAR #18287 said:


Yeah, it’s like all our mountain lions have to sign a chastity pledge before they can enter Missouri.

 

B)

 

Only the Cougar's make that pledge.....then they break it as soon as they get to a bar where college kids hang out.

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We have to turn our deer heads in for testing. While doing it we were making small talk about the mountain lions we saw on the last day. The state folks got stone faced. I told my buddy to stop, they work for the state and aren't allowed to believe in Mountain lions. That got some nervous laughs. 

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5 hours ago, Warden Callaway said:

The Missouri Department of Conservation denied for many years that mountain lions existed in Missouri.  But two may people had seen them too often to make their story stick.  Old timers told stories of encounters.  Then one was hit and killed just a few miles north of us. A news reporter was there before the MDOC.  Pretty hard to say it wasn't so but they did say it was a young male from Montana looking for a new range and there was no breading population here in Missouri.   Still more sightings in Missouri.  The police chased one in a residential area of our home town just a few blocks from downtown! 

 

Here in Benton County, Missouri was the same story. Problem was one day a neighbor finally got a photo of the one hanging around. Next problem was that her son was a MDC agent. He had no choice but to tell mom yes that's a mountain lion.

 

1 hour ago, Ramblin Gambler said:

We have to turn our deer heads in for testing. While doing it we were making small talk about the mountain lions we saw on the last day. The state folks got stone faced. I told my buddy to stop, they work for the state and aren't allowed to believe in Mountain lions. That got some nervous laughs. 

 

Several counties here in Missouri have to go through a station where they take sampling for testing of C.W.D. on the deer. My deer came back negative. That's some really bad stuff and MDC is trying to keep it under control.

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Poor li'l hill kitties are protected here 'bouts in california. 

 

Extremely rare.  Endangered.  Almost extinct. Misunderstood, mistreated, and really quite harmless, don'tcha know.  :mellow: 

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1 hour ago, Ramblin Gambler said:

We have to turn our deer heads in for testing. While doing it we were making small talk about the mountain lions we saw on the last day. The state folks got stone faced. I told my buddy to stop, they work for the state and aren't allowed to believe in Mountain lions. That got some nervous laughs. 

That’s kind of like the Wyoming game wardens that aren’t allowed to talk about the wolves that have moved into the Big Horn mountains and further reaches from Yellowstone. A couple of years ago I observed a few of them up above Buffalo and when I told a game warden about it down at a gas station he told me they were coyotes and it was impossible for wolves to have migrated to the Big Horns. I’d never seen a black coyote before and his gray companions.

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5 hours ago, Warden Callaway said:

The Missouri Department of Conservation denied for many years that mountain lions existed in Missouri.  But two may people had seen them too often to make their story stick.  Old timers told stories of encounters.  Then one was hit and killed just a few miles north of us. A news reporter was there before the MDOC.  Pretty hard to say it wasn't so but they did say it was a young male from Montana looking for a new range and there was no breading population here in Missouri.   Still more sightings in Missouri.  The police chased one in a residential area of our home town just a few blocks from downtown! 

 

MDoC has been repeating that mantra of denial since the mid 70s.  They'll also tell you there are no bears in the Ozarks but I saw the tracks back in the 70s.

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11 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

MDoC has been repeating that mantra of denial since the mid 70s.  They'll also tell you there are no bears in the Ozarks but I saw the tracks back in the 70s.

 

We have a growing black bear population.   I've seen scat, hair, tracks, and rotten logs they have ripped up on our farm.  Gravel truck drivers stopped and watched a bear feeding out of a deer feeder not a mile from our house. At about the same time, I saw "something big and black" moving through the woods.  At the time I took it for a big black angus calf but it wasn't in a pasture area. I have 4 trail cams out but yet to catch one.

 

They have regularly in town where they feed out of garbage cans.  Think of a 300 pound coon.

 

 

It's a coyote but this sucker could win best in show!

 

 

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55 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

Poor li'l hill kitties are protected here 'bouts in california. 

 

Extremely rare.  Endangered.  Almost extinct. Misunderstood, mistreated, and really quite harmless, don'tcha know.  :mellow: 

 

 

It's  been  well  established  and widely accepted  by  the  authorities  that  it's  all  in  how  you  raise  them . :P

 

 

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I lost 98 head of sheep to a wolf pack when they were reintroduced to Yellowstone.  Idaho, Montana and the Feds denied everything. "The Defenders of Wildlife" promised me a cheque. I am sure that it's lost in the mail over the decades.  :wub:

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Son Chris worked with a guide service out of Gardner Montana.   It was a standing joke to point out bear scat. Invariably someone would ask how he could tell black bear scat from grizzly.   He'd reply, Black bear scat will be full of berry seeds, twigs and acorn hulls. Grizzly scat will have buttons,  zippers,  belt buckles, and eyeglass rims.:(

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Pima is the county my wife and I live in.  Neighbors are reporting mountain lion sightings in the neighborhood.  Folks are afraid to walk their dogs after dark.  Wife is pretty certain she saw a lion behind our back fence.  She described seeing a large animal with a long curved thick tail (not a coyote, of which we see many). 

 

I think it's time to switch my 9mm S&W Shield for my 45 Colt S&W Model 625-9 revolver when out for a walk.  I generally prefer the more concealable Shield.

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I often carry a S&W airweight with +P loads.  When walking in the woods on our farm. I'm not as likely if I'm running the Mule or tractor. 

 

We see all kinds of strange animals. One day we were working and looked up to see an ostrich loping down the drive. It stopped about 50 yards short and turned and headed back the way it came.   We had an escaped bull buffalo around the area for a couple of years. 

 

The strangest animal we ever saw is still unidentified in my mind. We were driving out our drive and I said, "There is a deer!".  But it wasn't.  Only roughly the size of a big fawn.  It was definitely canine.  It shagy tawny color. The legs were like broomsticks.  Tail short and bushy.  It's neck was disproportionately long and thin.  But the most remarkable feature was its ears.  They were very tall and rounded on top.  Looked like the old fashioned long shank lightbulbs. 

 

We, Sawmill Mary and I,  had a good look at it as it wasn't over 20 yards away standing in a mowed field in broad daylight.  It wheeled and ran for cover.

 

The closest thing I can make it be is an African wild dowg. It's the only canine I can find with tall, rounded ears.

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I think I actually have this one on DVD.  Dunno why or where it came from, but... hey, it's a hoot!   :lol:

 

 

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3 hours ago, Cowboy Small said:

 

 

It's  been  well  established  and widely accepted  by  the  authorities  that  it's  all  in  how  you  raise  them . :P

 

 

Changed a lot since '73 when I was in Seal beach.  They walked about freely.  One mama bobcat tied up traffic on the freeway between LAX and the landing pad for the Goodyear blimp.  She was in the grass about 15 yards off the pavement at rush  her kittens to hunt and everyone from Barstow to the ocean was taking pictures.  had several at the weapons station, saw a few in Ontario and Pomona, and they were seen in Fontana and San Bernardino.  Also had black bear, cougar, raccoons, and coyote all over the place.  Some right in downtown LA.

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1 hour ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

I think I actually have this one on DVD.  Dunno why or where it came from, but... hey, it's a hoot!   :lol:

 

 

It was hilarious!

 

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14 hours ago, Warden Callaway said:

Son Chris worked with a guide service out of Gardner Montana.   It was a standing joke to point out bear scat. Invariably someone would ask how he could tell black bear scat from grizzly.   He'd reply, Black bear scat will be full of berry seeds, twigs and acorn hulls. Grizzly scat will have buttons,  zippers,  belt buckles, and eyeglass rims.:(

and pepper spray and bear bells

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On 1/2/2020 at 11:52 PM, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

Poor li'l hill kitties are protected here 'bouts in california. 

 

Extremely rare.  Endangered.  Almost extinct. Misunderstood, mistreated, and really quite harmless, don'tcha know.  :mellow: 

 

 

Aha that's it. Just more invaders from California. Gotta say, these are more likeable than some of the others I've seen. 

 

On 1/2/2020 at 11:50 PM, Smoken D said:

 

Several counties here in Missouri have to go through a station where they take sampling for testing of C.W.D. on the deer. My deer came back negative. That's some really bad stuff and MDC is trying to keep it under control.

 

All mine came back clean this year. 2 years ago they lost one of the samples. All the meat was in the same cooler. Wife made me get rid of it all. 3 deer. 

 

On 1/2/2020 at 11:55 PM, Yul Lose said:

That’s kind of like the Wyoming game wardens that aren’t allowed to talk about the wolves that have moved into the Big Horn mountains and further reaches from Yellowstone. A couple of years ago I observed a few of them up above Buffalo and when I told a game warden about it down at a gas station he told me they were coyotes and it was impossible for wolves to have migrated to the Big Horns. I’d never seen a black coyote before and his gray companions.

 

I was reading on red wolves. They are supposedly extinct now even though people claim to see them once in a while. The state says they're just coyotes who interbred with red wolves. Well way back a long time ago when they were trying to save them, they'd introduce them to an area and keep it secret so people wouldn't go out hunting them. They had to sterilize the coyotes in the area to give the wolves any chance but that didn't work. Daggum coyotes out competed and bred them out of existence. But hey now at least we have large red coyotes to show for it. 

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