Mountain Lions/ Cougars back in Kentucky!

[Dtozier]

Not much argument any more. Cop shot one in Bourbon County yesterday or today. Had prints in the garden last year, near big Spring.

[Beatarmy1]

Here in eastern ky and in West Virginia they are refered to as painters. Pronounced just the way it is spelled.

[EricOldTime]

my grandfather saw one in western Kentucky back in the 70's while coon hunting. He was featured in a hunting magazine with a full articlle......I think it was "Kentucky Afield"

interesting the creek bottoms where he saw it were called "Panther Creek" says so on the map, even to this day.

[fredfreddie1]

My dad was driving from Pine Knot to Williamsburg years ago and saw a Bobcat. It crossed the road and jumped up the side of a steep dirt cliff.

While I was living in Paintsville in 2013, I heard something attack and eat a dog in the woods. The poor things yelped and screamed for what seemed like ages, then it got quiet and all I heard was munching and tearing. Grabbed a shotgun and a camera and tried to find it, but it moved around. It was dark as hell and I never did see it. Spent a few hours looking for clues the next day but couldn't see a thing. No blood, no doggy body, no tracks, nothing.

A few months earlier my sister had heard kittens being eaten.

[earlcat]

I was driving this into work this morning and saw a large tan cat prowling along side a cedar thick it near Wilson rd. It looked to weigh about 75-90 lbs with a long tail. Iv'e hunted all my life and have seen Bobcats in the wild but never nothing this size. It looked like a lion and my first thouht was Mountain lion but it did freak me out.

[jackmichigan]

Originally Posted by fredfreddie1

While I was living in Paintsville in 2013, I heard something attack and eat a dog in the woods. The poor things yelped and screamed for what seemed like ages, then it got quiet and all I heard was munching and tearing. Grabbed a shotgun and a camera and tried to find it, but it moved around. It was dark as hell and I never did see it. Spent a few hours looking for clues the next day but couldn't see a thing. No blood, no doggy body, no tracks, nothing.

Ahh...the elusive Chupacabra!

[marino760]

I live CA and it's just a fact of life here that they live among us even in the Los Angeles area. In general, they avoid people and encounters are fairly rare.
A couple of weeks ago, a public school had to go on lockdown because one strolled onto campus. It was tranquilized and moved back into the mountains. Turns out it was a very healthy younger male, making it's rounds and checking out it's territory. They are always tagged for identification purposes.
Here, they are accepted and seen as part of the natural environment. Hunting them at this point is prohibited.