Before you venture into the woods and detect this spring BEWARE ....

[ray in ny]

I live up in the Finger Lakes area and used to work at the Tompkins County airport in Ithaca. One night I was leaving the airport and across the road from the security fence is a wooded area owned (I believe) by Cornell University. As I turned onto the road my headlights played across the grassy area between the road and woods - and I swear I was looking at a cougar. It looked just like any picture/video I've ever seen of a mountain lion type big cat. I saw its full profile and its head was turned towards the road and the eyes shined as the lights hit it. Really freaked me out. I've always got my Government Model .45 in a shoulder holster when I'm in the woods now. The coyotes are my bigger worry... Four of them surrounded my barbers tree stand when he was scouting for deer season!

A former co-worker told me that, a few years ago, she was driving up rte 96 and was just south of Turback's when what she swears was a cougar crossed the road in front of her. She stopped the car in disbelief, and another car also stopped because they had seen the same thing.

 

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[JOHUNT]

Been seeing some awfully large tracks in the snow since the end of Jan. Waaaay bigger than coyote tracks.

 

[doc-d]

There is no question that there are cougars/panthers here in upstate, western NY......too many credible sightings.........
And it is only a question of time before somebody is killed by those pests........our forefathers got rid of them for a reason............same for the eastern coyotes (wolf hybrids)........
It is more than troubling that our DEC is involved in the re-population of these animals.......more lies and deceit from an unaccountable gov that is out of control.......

 

[JOHUNT]

The cougars that once existed in NYS were hunted to extinction because of the bounties that were paid for killing them. Some folks bought their land and homes just from bounty money.
Coyotes are alive and well in NYS. That is unless they cross paths with me between October & March! lol
I do not believe they are "hybrids" but, I do believe that they get some % of their genes from the red wolf, as DNA testing has proven.
Here's me after a successful coyote hunt a few months ago. Pardon my facial expression, I hunt predators @ night and I was tired out.

 

[doc-d]

Hunting predators is a good thing...........as for the bounties.......they were paid out to eliminate pests. Any payments back then were for cause.
Wolf's were a great danger, perhaps more so than any other predator.
As for the hybrid.........certain is the easter coyote is different than the western.......as for DNA of wolfs in coyotes, something not natural there.......and I make no claim as to how.
I am from the southern tier also......have you any experience with fishers that are now here.....

 

[JOHUNT]

I had a fisher about 10' from me while deer hunting in Tioga Co. last year. A pretty cool encounter.
The NYSDEC has just passed a 5 year trial run to allow the southern tier counties a 22 day bobcat season(hunting&trapping) too. I hope to get one!
Genetic testing has concluded that eastern yotes have intermixed with the red wolves that were found in southeastern Canada & the southeastern U.S.
As the western coyotes migrated eastward in the early 1900's they were met with wolves and colder climates, they did intermix with the wolves and Bergmans Rule became evident in the eastern coyote population. Bergmans Rule has to do with mammals & birds evolving to grow to a larger size due to colder climates and higher latitudes.

 

[nuclearwhiskey]

Some guys will hunt for a decade an never see anything threatening. Others step out of their trucks and get mauled. Still, I carry a semi auto rifle when I'm in my old stopping ground. For things more "suburban" I just have my sidearm. Although, as previously stated, 2 legged critters are much more likely to be a problem. They stalk me all the time.

 

[nuclearwhiskey]

Something I did forget to mention. Calling them pests seems a bit harsh. They are living things and have a right to exist to. Not to say you should not protect what is yours though.

 

[spickate]

Outside Albany, can confirm big cats

 

[Bum Luck]

....North American lions do not cach food in tree's you been watching too many African shows...and as far as you calling BS on that feller you may want to look into coyote human attacks...I can provide you some reading on it if you like?

I was involved in a couple of these cases mentioned in this paper
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/v... human attacks by craig coolahan joe bennett"

They are smart and opportunistic predators, nuf said.

One of my clients hunts them a lot and occasionally they turn on him when cornered.

As far as big cats go, they are easy to get CHEETAH,TIGER, LION, COUGAR PANTHER CUBS FOR SALE PHOENIX For sale Pets Other Pets Free Classified Ads and it's hardly a strain of imagination for some knucklehead to turn them into the wild.

Some of these species are very successful predators; read dangerous.

What good can result from this? Florida already has a host of nasty exotics.

 

[Upstate Rich]

Keep this thread up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As of March 2014 Upstate NY has have had a small spike of large Cats,along with HORDES of Coy dogs...a friend near Cobolskill has bagged 12 Coy dogs in a month,....and thats a record for a kinda out the city place...
Carry if you can "sidearm",or a strong pepper spray deters most,...
Its the Cats that are a concern...., NYS DEC will have the Cat Count ,...

So watch out all fellow NYers,..
Be prepared,and always expect the unexpected...

 

[JOHUNT]

12 COYOTES in one month is far from a record. I know guys who take 4-5 in one night. Coy-dogs are a rarity nowadays, they were more prevalent when the coyotes range was expanding eastward from the 1950's- 70's. Now the coyotes are well established and will normally mate with other coyotes. Coy-dogs are less adapted for survival in our climate and will often whelp their pups in the winter when they will most likely die.

My brother was attacked by a coyote a few months ago while out hunting them. It was only after he had shot it and it was not dead, but merely stunned. When he walked up to it, it lunged for his face so he shoved it away. It lunged again and he was able to grab it by the throat and pin it with his knees and sink his knife blade into it's chest.

 

[metalmilitia]

coy dogs in central new york are a blast to hunt but as well they are a predator the biggest one i ever shot i got last yr in the outskirts of manlius a friend of mine bought a house there his 2 small dogs vanished the first week of him living there then he spotted 2 yotes in the brush line a few times while the kids were playing in the back yard between 4 and 5 in the evening went there twice with my electric caller with no luck he spotted one of them like a week later in the brushline but i left him my 22 mag and he shot it it was a female i went to see the beast and retrieve my gun when i spotted one just standing there in the brush i dumped it it was a 76 pound male and after that i gained a whole new form of respect for them they will eat when hungry and i dont think they care what it is as long as they feel they can take it ive shot hundreds of yotes over the last few yrs i hunt them at night as well i will find the pics eventually my old computer crapped out but i have copies somewhere i will post when i find it i also have a picture of what i believe to be a cougar or mountain lion track i seen it while hunting in inlet at the camp for bear i only seen it for a few seconds but i def seen something good size and had a long tail when i got down i walked over to the area where i had seen it and there were some tracks in the sand and they were almost as big as my hand not quite but close i have pics of that somewhere as well i also have pics of a pack of about 7 wolves that were about 30 yards from my treestand and the 284 pound black bear dressed out that i took a few yrs ago from up there it is my third and last one i dont like the meat so i dont hunt them anymore.

 

[JOHUNT]

Here's a few. The first one is from opening day of 2013 NYS gun season. I harvested the yote & deer before 7:00am


Here's a few assorted pics

 

[meMiner]

Hunting predators is a good thing...........as for the bounties.......they were paid out to eliminate pests. Any payments back then were for cause.
Wolf's were a great danger, perhaps more so than any other predator.
As for the hybrid.........certain is the easter coyote is different than the western.......as for DNA of wolfs in coyotes, something not natural there.......and I make no claim as to how.
I am from the southern tier also......have you any experience with fishers that are now here.....

I used to bow hunt in Tioga, PA. It was not uncommon to see black bear, fisher and bob cats. Never saw anything that I felt was going to harm me.

 

[meMiner]

I bumped into a trapper in southern Ontario and he was adamant that there are cougars here. Others have said the MNR released them to cull deer. If so, they are very shy. The MNR deny this and claim any found were ones that escaped from private or illegal exotic animal farms. The problem with these kind of critters is they have learned not to be afraid of humans. Most things around here will not attack an adult man but children and pets are somewhat at risk. The only coyote that I felt the need to shoot went after my Labrador retriever. I had another thrash a turkey decoy and wish I had a camera. It took off as soon as it knew I was there and the decoy was a fake.