Rickey,

Wow! I have to tell you that I am not surprised. I am kind of disappointed to hear it is still around. I was hoping it had moved on to greener pastures.

Did you feel like you were looking at a full-grown one like the one seen in Thackerville dragging the deer across the road, or a smaller juvenile like I saw this summer?

I do agree that hearing one is worse than seeing one....unless you're seeing one very up-close and personal. LOL And, you're not an old man either! You're like me...."experienced" and "well-seasoned".

The trap was removed at Bill's request. I think he was frustrated because they released the second bobcat back into his woods, and he said he'd just set his own trap and try to trap it himself. (I don't know if he's done that. I need to call him or Sherry and ask.)

I don't know what we're going to do. I suppose it is best to keep a loaded gun handy at the house and be prepared to protect yourself (and your dogs) if you have to.

You could call the game warden and report it, but I don't know if it will do any good. It sounds like you saw it on public land (?) and I doubt they'll set a trap there.

Please be careful. I worry about you coming home from work in the dark, especially since it has been around you house before.

Thanks for letting me know. I finally felt like enough time had passed that it was "safe" for me to start walking the dogs again, although I only walked about a half-mile north and always turned around and headed home just south of the spot they were seen crossing the road onto the Cox Ranch. I guess I'll have to walk inside on the treadmill instead.

I'm hoping that once deer season opens and there's a lot of folks running around with guns, that the increased activity and sound of gun shots will push the cougars back down into the river bottom areas and away from our homes.

Dawn

Y'all just shoot the dang thing and quietly bury it. It doesn't look like you're getting any help. That cage was too small to catch a cougar from the git-go.

And the very idea, catching a wild animal in the trap and then just setting it free in the same place! I could see that if it was someone's pet that got caught in the trap, but really now. It sounds to me like the authorities are saying to each other, "Awwww, these folks are getting all up in arms over some little wildcats, thinking they're cougars!" When you set out a trap, you get whatever fits. I guess they don't know that.

Like you, Dawn, I hope hunters will solve the problem. I hope actually one of them will shoot the thing for you. I also hope one of them doesn't get attacked by it. It's not going to be very comforting for the locals to say "I told you so" when someone's been killed or maimed.

Please continue to be very careful.

Ilene,

I'm back to being paranoid about going outside again, but I'm still glad Rickey let me know about the latest cougar sighting.

My dogs were nuts last night. I had the windows open so we could enjoy the cool night air, and they were holding up their heads and sniffing and having a fit to go outside. They haven't acted that way on the other cool nights and days that I've had windows open. Clearly something was outside.

The other night I let our old deaf and half-blind dog outside. Now, here is where it gets interesting. I heard a wild cat snarl at her, although from inside the house, I had no clue what kind of cat it was....just that it wasn't the sound of a little house cat. I ran to the front door from the kitchen and she came inside all shook up and scared to death. OK, she's deaf! So, if she couldn't hear it, did she see it? Smell it? It was a couple of days before she'd walk out on the front porch again, and now she won't go outside to pee after dark unless I go out with her and walk into the yard with her. I used to just stand on the porch, but now she wants me right beside her.

Just when I thought it was safe to go back into the water......

Dawn

I couldn't resist!

Okay, though seriously, we'll be praying for you folk!

George

Here is a link that might be useful: sound byte from Jaws

lol you guys should trap it and set it loose in front of the game warden's office. if they ask why you are doing that, just say "oh, you folks forgot this thing by my house. i took the liberty of catching it for you & just wanted to bring it back." and let it go & drive off. lol see how they like something like that being let loose in THEIR back yard. that's definitely not very nice, but you guys should not have to feel scared to walk your dogs. that's not right at all. they are being very inconsiderate. i do hope the issue will be taken care of ASAP. sorry you have to endure the fear of having a big cat around.

George,

OK, you're funny, but the link didn't work for me.

True story....our fire pagers went off last night around 1 a.m. or so and a train had hit a vehicle at a crossing in the same general area where Rickey saw the cougar. I teased Tim as he was running out of the house to 'watch out for the cougar'.

Doku,

Despite multiple sightings by different people, all within a few miles of each other and generally right along the I-35 corridor between Thackerville and Marietta, we are told repeatedly that 'there are no cougars here'. I wish they'd tell that to the two cougars I've had near my garden this summer, or the two our neighbor saw about 1/2 mile north of our house. "Hey, guys, y'all have to leave this area because you don't exist here."

Rickey has had the sounds (roars, growls) and the sighting more recently, so apparently they're staying a bit south of us. I'm sure Rickey wishes they'd stay even farther south.

Rickey, If you see this, I was thinking that maybe the cougar had been down to check out the goats near the S-curve.....but I haven't heard if any more of them are missing. Have you heard anything new?

I saw Fred's picture on the front page of the paper, and it answered our question....he is 87!

Dawn

if they trap it how far would they take it? they have a roaming of 40 mile radius. if you kill it another would take its place. i don't think in the wild it is ever safe enough to go out without your dogs, but to keep them and the cats in at night and protect your livestock. i can certainly understand why pioneers kept a gun with them when they went out during the day. i remember reading how they would go pick berries and carry a gun to kill mountain lions and who knows what else.

Dawn

As I was going to work the next day, after I saw it I was thinking the same thing about the goats. It was real close to the goat pen. I have not talked to him lately, but I do know he has lost at least 3 babies. There was no carcass or anything in his pen. They where to big for even the biggest hawk to carry off, so it would be my guess the cougar got them. Got to get ready for work.

Rickey

Rickey,

Thanks for the update. I hope you have/had a good day at work since I'm assuming you won't see this until after work. Might as well be at work....it's too wet to do anything outside. : )

Poor little kids. I notice he's moved them all from the pen closest to 77 and is keeping them up closer to the house. I hope that helps keep the rest of them safer.

Dawn

This came from a Oklahoma City newspaper.

Mystery predator

MARIKA LORRAINE REPORTING

TUTTLE, OK -- It was around 1:00 a.m. when Ramona Huffman's dog Duchess asked to go outside. Ramona stood on the porch watching her tiny Yorkshire terrier, when something caught her attention. Huffman says, "It was fast. I couldn't really tell you what it was, I know it wasn't a dog." As the creature ran past, it scooped up Duchess and kept going.

Huffman says, "Duchess let out one little whimper and they were gone." Huffman is one of the few who has caught of glimpse of the animal, but she's by no means the only one who's lost a pet.

Tuttle's Deputy Police Chief, Captain Bill Boyd, says he's had between 60 and 70 reports of missing sheep, dogs, and cats in the last month.

Boyd says, "I've been here 18 years and I've never dealt with anything like this before. People are getting a little worried about it, a little afraid, as are we. We haven't been able to find the remains or anything."

One of his officers reported sighting a large cat with a long tail. The situation is concerning enough that Boyd is now sending out a strong warning to Tuttle area residents saying, "Keep an eye on your small kids and your animals. Just don't let them out."

Boyd notified the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife and was told they are sending traps soon. Huffman hopes the traps will give her answers as to what took her pet, and will keep the animal from moving on to bigger prey.

Huffman says, "I'm afraid that it might start snatching children."

Copyright 2009, KFOR-TV

Rickey,

I saw thia a couple of months ago when it happened, and have been waiting to hear if they've trapped anything. (I hope they used a larger trap there than the one put out here in the woods between our house and Bill's.)

I haven't heard a sound in several weeks, and haven't seen another big cat, and will be perfectly content to leave it that way. Do I think it is "gone"? No. However, I also haven't heard anything more from anyone local lately, so maybe the hunters have scared the cats back down towards the river. I'm still not seeing deer, rabbits, coyotes, raccoons or possums in the numbers we usually see....in fact, only seeing a few rabbits and not much else. Deer are coming to the corn I put out for them because I do see their tracks, but they aren't letting themselves be seen.

I suppose you haven't heard or seen anything else lately?

Dawn

My infor is far from official, but I had heard that the Tuttle cat was an escaped cat, long before I read this article. The same rumor mill said that it has been captured, so maybe you won't hear about that one again. Nothing about this post is official, just rumors from people who live there.

You'd think that if it was an escaped cat, they'd let people know it was escaped/captured so that folks would, perhaps, be less worried about an influx of wild ones.

It has been quiet here lately and I am grateful for that. However, I don't think I'll ever feel 'safe' in the yard again like I used to, and I don't walk the dogs any more for fear of running into a cougar.

Well, like thousands of other Oklahomans, I now own a trail camera and have been getting some really cool pictures. Maybe someone will catch an image of a cougar on one.

Will need apple quicktime to hear sound bite.

geeboss

I did not hear the growling noise but those last 3 sounds are what myself and next door neighber heard up close 1 night about 3;30 in the morning woke me up from a sound sleep

Rickey

That cougar sound is so close to bobcat sounds that nobody is going to be able to tell the difference unless they spend lots of time around these animals.

Hasn't someone heard the cougar's long scream that is used when the female is in heat?

News about that missing family down in Latimer county is all over our news.

It's all very strange. Money still in the truck, no trace of the family, no signs of foul play.

You don't suppose?

Scott,

The scream is all that I have heard....more commonly in the earlier part of this decade, and not the last couple of years. It WAS the horrid scream that I heard up close and personal that night in January....and which caused the neighbors to come from a mile away to check and see if I was still alive because they heard it too and knew it was coming (approximately) from our place.

When I hear bobcats or foxes, they are not nearly as loud. We've had bobcats often, but foxes less commonly. Coyotes are pretty routine, but they mostly stay a bit farther from the house and slink away most of the time if they see you coming.

I haven't heard of any cougar sightings lately, so I am hoping they've moved on.

Ilene,

I have been very puzzled about the missing family. I would have thought that some sign....a shoe....a scrap of clothing....something....anything at all, would have been found by now. If anything wild got them, I find it hard to imagine "it" or "they" got two adults and a child at the same time. It seems impossible. (If we had wolves....maybe it could happen, but we don't.)

I suspect foul play of the human kind. Either that or murder-suicide, which none of us likes to think that any seemingly rational person would be involved in, but it does happen. After reading more about the young man's issues with his family, I think foul play is more likely than a deadly wildlife encounter though.

I hope they find them or figure out what happened.

Dawn

By the way, Kansas had their second confirmation in recent history a couple of weeks ago. A hunter took some pictures of one in the northwest part of the state from his tree stand. The nearest breeding population from there is in the northwest part of Nebraska, and the nearest large breeding population is the Black Hills. Pretty cool. I expect we will get our third confirmation by the end of the year.

Scott,

I'll have to get Tim to dig up his Runner's World magazine and see which issue it is in, but recently he showed me a photo and brief article about a female runner in Kansas who was stalked by a cougar for over a mile while running. Of course, once she saw the cougar, she stopped running and walked backwards facing it. The cougar never made a move to come at her, I don't think, but it did stalk or pace her. I don't know if it was in the current issue of Runner's World or in an old one, and the photo was of the female runner and merely accompanied the story--it wasn't a photo of the cougar since most runners don't carry a camera while jogging. (Most don't even carry a phone. LOL)

Tim has only gone jogging a handful of times here since the cougar sightings earlier this summer. Instead, he jogs on our treadmill indoors or jogs at work. We're just in too deserted of an area.....if a jogger encountered a cougar, it is unlikely anyone would happen to come along in a car in time to help them. I don't walk the dogs any more either, and I miss that.

Our dog who has the great nose for tracking, Jersey, was positive something evil was lurking outside on Sunday evening (in the usual spot...the woodland between Bill's house and ours) and normally she chases off whatever it is, but this time she stood on the porch and whined. That's the first time she's acted that way since around the time Rickey originally posted this thread.

Dawn

We had a break in this summer and lost a log of food we'd been setting aside. Then I heard that a convicted murderer had escaped from a Muskogee installation, and that they suspected that he had returned ... here. Couldn't do anything faster that I did, but we did pick up an Anatolian Shepherd pup. The "little guy" is about 4 months old and weighs about 45 lb now. He may top out at 140, and this breed is awesome for protecting livestock, home and family. Dawn, I sure wish you had a couple of these!

George

Wow, George, that sounds like a lotta dog!

I am as scared of the two-legged kind of predator as the four, because if they find a source of food they're apt to remember it for another time. We've all gotten so used to feeling safe in our homes. All it takes is one break-in to make all that go away.

I hadn't read anything about the man of the family that is missing having issues, and yes, you'd think if they'd been attacked by an animal you'd find clothing. Such a smart dog, to stay with the vehicle, even if he was about starved to death, as they said, his chances of survival were probably better there than out in the wild.

That whole thing is just so strange. Money left in the car, so not robbery.

George,

I am sorry to hear about the break-in and the theft of your stored food. I just cannot believe that happened to y'all.

I wish I had a couple of them too. If we didn't already have 8 dogs, I would have bought a couple this summer when the trouble began. Our neighbors up the road have two of these dogs in the goat pastures with their goats. Those dogs stay right with the goats and stay alert and vigilant and protective at all times. These particular dogs are about 6-8 months old now and have been raised with the goats since they were a couple of months old.

I'd like to get a guardian dog for our chickens one of these days once we're back down to a reasonable number of dogs. Feeding 8 dogs is like feeding a whole extra family, but I love them all. All but 1 of them are rescue dogs. Our dogs always seem to live forever...the oldest (not a rescue, but a gift from a friend) is a 15-year-old Australian Shepherd who's now deaf and half-blind but otherwise healthy and the youngest is 2 years old...she's a rescue from the Great Gainesville Flood of 2007.

Ilene,

One of the stories I read in "The Oklahoman" mentioned there was a dispute over the family-owned business and the gentleman who is now missing had filed a lawsuit against another family member recently. Reading that set off alarm bells in my head....you don't have to be a cop's wife to know that when a party to a lawsuit disappears after filing that lawsuit, the police have to take a long, hard look at all parties involved in the lawsuit. And, no, I'm not trying to imply that anyone who knew this family harmed them....I'm just saying it is something the law enforcement officers have to consider and rule in or rule out.

Still no word on the family? That cannot be good.

Dawn

I just found out today that another small dog has disappeared from a home here along our rural road.

This dog was the replacement for another dog that disappeared earlier in the year and which we believe was likely taken by the cougar. (The 2 cougars were spotted this summer in the yard next door to this dog's yard.)

Rickey, if you're seeing this and wondering where the dog disappeared from, it was from a home near the intersection of our road and Old Burkhart Rd.

Dawn

Dawn, those 6-8 mo. old guard dogs, if they're already guarding well, will be absolutely awesome when they reach 2-3 years. Our Pyrenees is going on three, and I still find him chasing his tail. When these dogs hit maturity they take guarding to a whole new level. I helped find a home for an older Pyre this spring. After his new owner had him for about ten days I asked how he was doing. The fellow broke into a big grin and said, "Whoee! I gotta get me another one of these! In one week he killed 15 coon and two bobcat. The largest bobcat was 40 lb and he came in all covered in blood after that one. But when he cleaned up, I found out none of the blood was HIS!"

The fellow lived down by the Illinois river and had lost over 50 chickens to canines & other wild life.

George,

Those dogs have been with those goats since they were very young and rarely stray from that area. The two dogs usually put themselves between the goat herd and the street. It is a fenced pasture (fenced with electic fencing) but a lot of people at that end of our road let big dogs run wild (no dog leash laws out here in the county--only in the city limits), so the goats did need protection from anything that might jump the electric fence (it is only about 3' tall).

And, I just posted the latest cougar sighting on a new thread. (sigh)

Dawn

Dawn and everyone

I have linked a page to a gun forum I read daily.
Dawn read the whole page you are talked about. This sighting seems to be legit.

Dawn,

They just showed a couple of pictures on KWTV Channel 9 of a cougar photographed in southern Atoka County on Dec. 22, from a game camera. The news clip said it was a female cougar and they think she might have cubs nearby. This is the same cougar shown in the pictures of the article linked above by oyousooner.

My apologies for doubting you and all others here in OK who say they've seen cougars. I did not mean to offend anyone. My husband and brother both swear they have seen cougars in the wild while deer hunting, but I'm the type who has to see if for myself before I'm going to believe it. :) I could never understand why no cougar was ever photographed by all the thousands of game cameras here in OK, and hopefully now these pictures are the real thing and PROOF of cougars in the wild here. We have a game camera set up in our back yard and get pictures of deer, coyotes, bunnies, crows, turkeys, etc, but never a cougar picture, and I sure hope to heck we never see one either!

i'm sure these pictures will be reran on Channel 9 several more times tonight at 5:00, 6:00, and 10:00 if anyone wants to hear what they have to say. I'm really glad someone got some legit pictures of a wild cougar in OK.

Rickie,

That's funny. I am not crazy (laughing) and I didn't need the trail camera photos to prove it....nor did you.

We have another thread on these trail camera photos going...it is called "News for Okiedawn" and was posted by a forum member from Bryan County.

Dawna,

No apologies are necessary. I understand that some people need to see in order to believe and it doesn't offend me. You and I are friends, always have been, always will be and we aren't gonna let difffering opinions about a big kitty come between us. Seeing them here was so odd that I even tried to convince myself I didn't see them, but you can't talk yourself into denying what your eyes saw and your brain recognized. When my daughter-in-law almost hit one while she was driving down our road in October, I even gave her the third degree and kept asking her if she was positive it was a cougar and not a deer, calf, colt, large dog, coyotoe, etc. and she said she was sure. You'd think I, of all people, wouldn't give someone else the third degree--but I wanted to be sure she was really sure about what she saw. LOL

There's another thread here called "News for Okiedawn" that has links to a lot of the photos. The photos were on KTEN--the NBC affiliate for the Ardmore area earlier this week or maybe it was last week, and were posted on the website of The Oklahoman either yesterday or today.

I've been wondering if more trail cam photos will show up because people will pay more attention to the "non-deer type animals photographed by their cameras.

Above all else, the real lesson here for all of us is that we need to expect the unexpected, we need to be careful when outside, and we need to keep an eye on our pets, farm and ranch animals, children, family members, friends and neighbors. It is really easy to think none of us ever will encounter a dangerous predator (animal or human) but we all need to understand they are out there and act accordingly.

Dawn

This will almost certainly not turn out to be a wild female and it certainly will not have cubs nearby. As I said before, that would be the most significant wildlife event in Oklahoma in the last half century if it happened.

It will turn out to be the third confirmed cougar in the last decade here and we will probably start getting them more frequently.

Hey Dawn - in the link to the gun forum that oyousooner reads daily, the person that referred to you as his "wife's gardening buddy" live outside of Grove. Think that might be our Ilene's "Hubs"?

Paula

Could be! There are other forum members in that general area too, I think.

Thank God someone got some photos of this thing so we can quit discussing whether they are real or not and here or not. The cougars are real and they are here.

One thing that bothered me is that the game camera is in the general area of Boggy Creek, which all good Okies know is the only place in Oklahoma where supposed sightings of Bigfoot or Sasquatch have occurred. (I'm not making that up, but I honestly don't believe anyone has actually seen Bigfoot there even though they claim to have seen it.) Still, sightings get reported and it makes the news. If y'all think the cougar photos are getting a lot of attention, wait until they get a photo of the "real" Bigfoot that inhabits the Boggy Creek area. That will be a real media circus. LOL

Dawn

Paula - Nope. That would be soonergrandmom. He reads that forum everyday and was surprised to learn that I was reading it today. He's a gun nut. Carol

OMG CAROL!!! I should have known we had more in common than just gardening! Didn't you tell me that you once lived not very far from me on 108th? My DH is an avid hunter first, and arms enthusiast (sp?) second.

I've just had Ilene on the mind since I'm trying her newspaper seedling cups this year.

Dawn - that joke about Bigfoot makes me squirm. My wonderful, newfound Sister (remember a previous thread on mulberry's book?) is a staunch believer in the BigFoot theory. I can't tell her about this or I'll have to deliver her supplies because she'll be camped out to catch the first picture. Her hobby is photography...so MUM is the word, right you guys? LOL

shhhh...
Paula

Paula,

Well, it isn't really a joke. Every couple of years, someone insists they've seem a Bigfoot-type creature in the Boggy Creek area and the local media covers it as if it might be a legitimate news story. I guess small market stations and newspapers are desperate for anything 'newsy' because not much that is actually newsworthy ever happens here. Beyond the local media, it gets discussed a lot on certain websites and blogs belonging to 'believers'.

Every time there is a "Bigfoot" story on the news, Tim and I roll our eyes. But I will keep it quiet and won't tell your newfound sister about all the sightings in the Boggy Creek area.

I googled using 4 words and found a lot of the past Bigfoot story just in case you want to catch up on these hoax-type sightings.

Dawn

I just skimmed this thread. Don't know what it has to do with gardening, but I used to live in Oklahoma. My mom still does.
Why all the hysteria?
I think its wonderful if mt. lions are showing up. They are endangered or extinct in many areas. Deer are overpopulating and need more predators. Mt. lions are part of the scheme of things. Hopefully humans will learn to keep their livestock and pets secure rather than just grabbing the nearest gun.

Here is what it has to do with gardening. A member of this forum has had a cougar visit her garden in the daylight hours twice this summer. Many other people in this community have seen this animal (or animals actually) roaming the area in daylight hours. Roughly 70 pets and chickens have disappeared from the yards and barnyards of thses people. None of this would be considered normal behavior for a cougar. No one cares to guess at how long it will be before it trys to take a child from a play yard, or attack a vulnerable adult.

I have doubts that it will ever be taken alive, but it is possible that the Oklahoma Wildlife folks will need a place to relocate these animals, so you might want to send them your address.

Wow, I couldn't have said it better Soonergrandmom.

Amen.

hyperion8b,

When you walk outside your garden gate in broad daylight about 100' from your house and run into a predator animal known to attack and kill human beings and that predator is less than 5 yds. away from you, then you'll understand what it has to do with gardening. It is hard to feel comfortable and safe in the garden after something like this happens. It is hard to maintain your garden when you're nervous every time you leave the house and don't feel comfortable even going out to the garden unless someone else is home to go out there with you.

On this forum, we discuss wildlife pretty often, both the negatives and the positives, because wildlife of all types is a part of our lives and our gardens. Many of us garden for wildlife, planting native plants that provide nectar, food and shelter for many types of wildlife, including butterflies, moths, bees, hummingbirds and songbirds. Many of us carefully put out water daily for the wild animals during times of drought when the ponds and creeks dry up or when all the natural watering holes are frozen over. Many of us go to extremes to fence the wildlife out of our gardens so that we don't have to go to the other extreme and kill a wild animal that is repeatedly damaging the garden. We are not anti-wildlife, but are in fact pro-wildlife, but we also know the presence of certain predator poses a big risk.

Wait until you are staring a cougar in the face knowing it can make one leap and harm you before your judge me. Wait until you have seen your pets and farm animals killed, week after week, month after month, before you judge me. Wait until you have lived with the frustration of having a large and bountiful garden that needs attention but isn't getting that attention because of two cougar encounters very close to that garden before you judge me. I cannot say it any other way....until you have walked in my shoes, please do not presume to understand how it will affect you. You have no idea what it is like.

There are many wonderful people on this forum who have been very kind and supportive as this whole, horrible experience unnerved me and ruint my gardening year. I am grateful for their friendship and encouragement. A lot of us on this forum have children and grandchildren who spend time out in the yard and garden with us. If our discussion of cougars and bobcats and coyotes on our property serves as a reminder to one single person to be more careful "out there" and to watch the kids and grandkids a little more closely, then the discussion has been beneficial.

Dawn

He is pushing buttons for fun. I loved the Tetons on vacation. We went on a short hike; it was beautiful. Another year when we went to Glacier Park there were signs all over about a missing guy. He was a real out door type and was there early. They thought the bears ate him. No walks for me. Fear can change your behavior, ruins your fun and limit your activity.

Unfortunately, cougars will cause problems when they start to recolonizing this area and since the West probably has as many cougars as it did before we started wiping them out, they will probably start trying to recolonizing this area in the next 10 years. There are too many people here to ever have large populations of them, and since the wildlife department here leans towards the side of not wanting them around at all, they will really have a hard time regaining this territory.

There are plenty of them around the country. The only area where most feel they should be protected in order to expand their numbers is the "subspecies" native to Florida. Just because they no longer exist in some areas, that doesn't mean something is wrong.

I follow the NW wolf situation fairly closely. I understand the benefit of large predators on other species, I know how rare lion attacks are in areas where they are common, and I understand what hyperion is trying to say. But I'm still not interested in wolves or mountain lions near me for the obvious reasons, and I don't like people from texas talking down to me either.

Roll Tide! LOL.

I agree with what Scott and Carol have said. When I first read the post wasn't sure if it was a flamer or if he was serious. I will say I was taught to protest the animals put in my care. Also to make sure things are safe for my family and friends. If that means removing a lion alive or dead that is what I'll do. If he was serious it is evident to me he has had no experience with lions and thus no clue what dangers they present. JMO. Jay

Scott,

I agree with every single word you said, except for that "Roll Tide" comment. LOL

I cannot imagine the wildlife management folks would do anything to harm the mountain lions and, in fact, I'd rather it not come to that. In a perfect world, they'd trap and relocate them to very remote areas and wildlife refuges, not that there's any guarantee the cougars would stay in that area since they are going to follow their food source, so to speak. Of course, it isn't a perfect world.

I have watched the NW wolf re-introduction program with great interest too and feel like the feds have made some mistakes that have led to great mistrust of them and their program. I wish they'd had a better/more efficient plan to deal with the problem wolves preying on domestic ranch animals right from the start.

I'm merely hoping for a better year here at our place in 2010 with no real big kitties visiting the garden. Maybe I shouldn't have planted that whole row of catnip and catmint for my kitties and it is right along that garden fenceline too.

Roll Tide? So, you support Alabama? Having suffered through OU's bowl game, and then TCU's and UT's, I'm just glad the bowl game season is over. At least the Dallas Cowboys are still hanging in there, and that gives us a little something to watch as we wait for seed-starting time and planting time to arrive.

With the Florida sub-species, I'd like to see them thrive and grow because they have their role in the ecosystem. What will happen, though, if they start preying on animals or being a threat to people? What will happen if they start moving into Georgia and other areas? The 'idea' of having them around is easy, but the reality seems harder to manage.

Jay, I felt exactly the same way when I read the post from our visitor from Texas. At first I wasn't going to say a word but then I thought I'd make the points I made. Maybe this is a person who has no idea of the danger involved in having large predator animals hanging out in people's front and back yards. I have found there are lots of people who have no clue about wildlife. When someone tells me they think it would be "cool" to walk out their door and see wolves or bears or cougars 'out there', I just shake my head. Let's not forget the elderly couple here in Love County that was attacked by that buck this fall. The one thought that sticks in my mind is the statement that our undersheriff made about how there was so much human blood on the ground when he arrived that he figured someone had to be dead. I'm glad they survived, and now whenever I see one of "our" deer hanging out around the pond or compost pile, I head right inside the house and wait for it to leave before I come back outside.

The last two weeks we've had both coyotes and bobcats on our property, and I know this because the coyotes are leaving scat and both the coyotes and bobcats left tons of tracks in the snow and mud (thankfully the mud is about to dry up.) In an odd way, seeing them around a lot is good because they become a lot more scarce when something bigger and meaner than them is nearby.

Dawn

I have feelings about "Tex" as well.

(1) If he is just posting to "push buttons" then he deserves to know how we feel about that behavior. He said his mother still lives in Oklahoma, so I wonder if he would feel the same if it was in her yard or garden.

(2) If he is not just "pushing buttons", then we have to forget it, because you can't fix stupid.

"Don't know what it has to do with gardening" when you aren't in Oklahoma and posting on the Ok forum is asking for angry responses. That tells me his motive is not primarily concern for wildlife.