http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/mountainlion2007.asp

 

Found it

On another board after google search.

 

Ohhhhh, gonna start taking my ar15 with me now!!!

on another board after google search.

 

Physical Characteristics - Adult mountain lions usually measure between 2' and 2.5' at the shoulders, weigh between 75 to 120 pounds, and are between five to nine feet long from head to tail.

250????
i have lions in my backyard but if i saw one that big im pretty sure i would loose my $h1zle!

 

well, now thats the first time I've seen shizzle used on at...lol

 

I call BS. Here in Utah most adult males killed are 140-160lbs with 180lbs being huge.

 

It's Illinois! Everythings bigger in illinois! lmao

 

I was on my way out to hunt a week ago and saw the cat. I don't know if it was 250 lbs or not but it was a big cat. It was on I-64 in the East bound lane just on the St. Louis side of Mt. Vernon. I started to turn around and get a picture but I didn't. Really couldn't believe what I saw....didn't know there where mountain lions in Illinois.

 

Yes I firmly believe that there are now mountain Lions in Illinois. There been alot of sightings in central Illinois this year. Just south of Springfield theres a gas line being put in that runs from East to West coast. Several workers saw a large cat on a couple of different occasions this past year. Several sightings from different familys has been seen around Petersburg Illinois. Even the Adams County and Brown County Sheriff told our neighbor that several cat sightings has been seen around were we hunt. I beleive that our state is releasing these cats for deer maangement. The one just south of Springfield according to the workers had a collar around its neck.

 

:lalala: Dude, you can't actually believe that can you?? First of all, the state isn't releasing mountain lions to reduce deer numbers, thats just assinite. Secondly, why haven't all these supposed Cat sightings been in the papers or on the news??? Don't believe ever thing you hear.:doh:

 

Theodore Roosevelt set the state record for the largest mountain lion killed in Colorado more than 100 years ago, but that record was surpassed in January 2002 after the kill of possibly an even larger mountain lion.

The 2001 mountain lion was killed in December just northwest of Pagosa Springs. The lion weighed 220 pounds before being field dressed or gorged and was 8 feet from nose to tail. The final Boone and Crockett score was 16 0/16, which beat the previous record of 15 12/16 set by Roosevelt in 1901.

The mountain lion that Roosevelt killed in February 1901 northwest of Meeker was said to weigh 227 pounds. “This is a reputed weight because it’s not known whether it was gorged or field dressed when it was weighed,” said Dick Ray, the outfitter who was on the hunt for the 2001 mountain lion.

interesting stuff...i would definatly loose my shizzle if i saw something like that around here!

 

on the one link looks like a female african lion.holy $#!^ i would love to arrow the cat.

 

If I remember correctly the mountain lion Posted of was thought to be someone's "pet" that escaped. It's heavy weight was a deciding factor. BUT, mountains lions have been spotted in Illinois for at least the last 50 years that I know of.
I live in Fulton County, home of vast strip mine grounds, big timber and lots of deer. Why couldn't a mountain lion survive here?

 

Maybe it was feeding on all of those NWR whitetails that are behind every tree in IL

 

It very well could've been an escaped pet cat. Ya never know. We've had sightings, tracks, etc. here in west central Missouri in the past. We've also had sightings of black panthers here but that was back in the mid 90's.

 

Sightings and tracks are found in Southern Illinois on occassion. A few years back there was a video that showed I-64/I-57 interchange in the background with a Mt. Lion walking in a field. Officially the state claims we do not have them and when one is killed they test and ultimately say either escape or nothing. I am not positive but the ones I know of killed were all males, which makes perfect sense. Young males have to leave thier mothers and search for thier own territory at a certain point. We have enough woods down here to hold a population and I wish they were a breeding population. I have never personally seen one here and the pics people come up with at work are all Bobcats. We do have them however the population is low and more of them are passing through I think.

 

250 lbs????? i seriously doubt it.

 

I'll try to find the post the pic

As I said it was sent to me at work and I can't confirm or deny where the cat was hit just repeating what I was told. I will say this, it was huge and very fat so the post about it being someone's pet actually makes sense to me.

 

does this look like it?
http://www.texashuntworks.com/index...s.com/index.php/Media/Pictures/260-Pound-Mountain-Lion-in-Stonewall-County.html

 

Wow That cat is huge. Well I have a outfitter friend iN southern Illinios that has seen one on one of his farms . IF you see one can you kill it or is it Illegal ? I will be hunting one of those farms in about 4 days and I would love to harvest a cougar.

 

I feel like contributing some more opinion to this thread since I live in western Kentucky where we too have mountain lion "sightings".

I have a hard time delieving it was a 220 pound cat, like someone posted, that is a world record size cat in an area that doesn't really have any. If it was a pet, that may be a good reason for it to be oversized though. As we all know from having lazy housecats, when they stop hunting and such, they get fat and lazy, heh. But I know of no one who really has a pet mountain lion.

I do not doubt that a mountain lion can sustain itself in southern Illinois or western Kentucky, but how in the hell did it get here? It would have had to have wandered hundreds of miles to get here. Somewhere along that way, it would have found suitable living conditions and stopped there. Any animal spotted for real was probably someone's pet of some sort.

Like someone else mentioned too, if you guys are worried about a cat or two, don't go out west. On a side note, I did just read that article about the Canadian singer attacked and killed by coyotes, that sure is a freak incident.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/29/canada.singer.killed/index.html

 

I feel like contributing some more opinion to this thread since I live in western Kentucky where we too have mountain lion "sightings".

I have a hard time delieving it was a 220 pound cat, like someone posted, that is a world record size cat in an area that doesn't really have any. If it was a pet, that may be a good reason for it to be oversized though. As we all know from having lazy housecats, when they stop hunting and such, they get fat and lazy, heh. But I know of no one who really has a pet mountain lion.

I do not doubt that a mountain lion can sustain itself in southern Illinois or western Kentucky, but how in the hell did it get here? It would have had to have wandered hundreds of miles to get here. Somewhere along that way, it would have found suitable living conditions and stopped there. Any animal spotted for real was probably someone's pet of some sort.

Like someone else mentioned too, if you guys are worried about a cat or two, don't go out west. On a side note, I did just read that article about the Canadian singer attacked and killed by coyotes, that sure is a freak incident.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/29/canada.singer.killed/index.html

It isn't a pet once it's loose........then its back to living as a mountain lion does.

 

repeat after me....
there are no mountain lions in southern illinois.
just the body of Jimmy Hoffa

 

Calm down, boys. That cat was struck and killed by a car in Arizona a few years ago. It was near the rim of the Grand Canyon. Not a midwest tom, so put away your bazookas!!!

 

I suppose you think there are none in Wisconsin too

 

Dude, you can't actually believe that can you?? First of all, the state isn't releasing mountain lions to reduce deer numbers, thats just assinite. Secondly, why haven't all these supposed Cat sightings been in the papers or on the news??? Don't believe ever thing you hear.

Shows how much you know. Several years back we were having a badger sightings on a farm about 5 miles from our house. After calling DNR they told us that they released them. Also a large cat was hit by a train around 10years ago by Litchfield Illinois. They are also finding black bears here now as well. Im just waiting on the Elk to come from Kentucky. Tasty!

 

It's funny how often this topic comes up! I love this!

I'm a huge fan of big cats. Saw a cougar cross a road here in AL a few years ago...my buds think I'm nuts!

Here in Alabama, the DNR denies their existence...but...interestingly, by law, it is illegal to kill a cougar in Alabama. So...if there are none here, why is it specifically illegal to kill one? :noidea:

 

Exactly



Kansas is the same way. No cat, no way, never has, never will, but fine and ticket, and they will confiscate it if you shot one. (Officer, it can't be a mountain lion, cause their ain't none in Kansas :shade

 

ive seen one about 5-10 miles west of mt.vernon by the woodlawn area before. They are in illinois, game warden told us you cant shoot something that doesnt exist, but he also wouldnt deny their existence. a friend of mine had one go by him in shawnee national forrest too

 

Here is all the cougar sightings that were said to be in wisconsin and just about every other state,
the links I have seen posted here is the same as the sixth one down and I am sure you all have seen the others i your state too:teeth:

http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/er/mammals/cougar/hoaxes.htm


and here is a link to the most recent sighting around me, within about 8
miles to where I hunt

http://dnr.wi.gov/news/BreakingNews_Lookup.asp?id=1137

 

I've seen two I think, one there is absolutely no question to myself that it IS a cougar -- for those who care to know, it was just East of The Dells.

There are FAR more cougar sightings than what the WDNR publishes, just like wolves.

The WDNR has a vested interest in keeping cougars off the hunting list.

Also -- the WDNR tried to tranquilize one in Wisconsin in the past year -- which got away from them -- it was "just passing through":mg:lain::spam2:

 

Yeah the one that got away was the one in the second link I posted,
way to close to my hunting area

 

For years GA DNR says we have no cougars in GA.Then last year a man kills one in south GA.DNR says it was more than likely a cat that escaped from a pen.Then they do a dna test on it and says it is linked to a cat that is on the endangered list.He is waiting to see if there will be a fine or not. Good read.
http://www.gon.com/article.php?id=2107&cid=84

 

back it the 70's 80's an onto the 90's alot off people had mt. lions for pets. after realizing they could not house or feed a full grown lion some off them got turn loose or escaped . i do not know the life span of a lion or if enough got loose to make a breeding pop. but they do live around the mid-west
also a male lion will travel up to 500miles so it is possable they migrated here. but what ever the reason is they do live here.