Not particularly well publicized, but they are surely here as
are Jagurundi's...When I maintained a kennel of Cat & Coon hounds and hunted some around Medina Lake and in the surrounding counties, I bumped several..Yesterday on the front
page of the Bandera Bulletin was a picture of 126lb Tom/Mountain Lion found dead from a vehicle on FM2828. I found
years past at least 5 females rearing young around the lake. The local dogs get a lot of blame for livestock destruction of
sheep, goats, and exotics that do not rightly belong to them.
The State for the most part chooses to ignore this or has in the past. Don

State doesn't ignore they know all they ask is you report it if you take one.

Not only if you take one but if you see one they want it reported

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/nuisance/mountain_lion/

How funny when one doesn't know or research on the subject, actually sad.

I was surprised to find out that some mountain lion confirmations go unreported, and therefore unknown by the public. I stumbled across that fact when doing a story about lions after a sighting in my area. The story is long, but here's the section related to this topic:


In East Texas, it’s clear that mountain lion confirmations are on the rise. And Basecamp Texas has learned of two recent cases that have never been made public by TPWD.

We know that a mountain lion walked in front of a game camera in Panola County in far East Texas two years ago. What you don’t know is that another photo of a mountain lion was taken a year later, also in Panola County, but at a different ranch. TPWD District Biologist Gary Calkins says it’s impossible to know if it’s the same cat. That landowner, he says, prefers not to make the trail cam picture public. And in another case which has also never been reported, a lion was captured on three game cameras last year in Newton County on a hunting lease owned by a timber company.

Why would officials not release that information?

“First of all, when we get proof of a cat, we are held by a confidentiality agreement with the landowner,” Calkins says. “We do not want people overreacting to the news. Mountain lions are a part of our landscape, and some people have a tendency to think that all cats must be killed. That is not something we want.” He adds that the department does not contact the media when a sighting is confirmed.

The story is called Mountain Lions in the Brazos Valley? Some East Texas cases go unreported

I agree with this article. If every sighting was reported mountain lions would become even more of a rare thing to see.

If a mountain Lion takes up residence at your hunting lease or ranch, you will want him gone and wont care how. He will kill 3 deer on average a week.On the ranch where I hunt near Sanderson, in one night, 49 goats were killed. After the rancher called in some "help", five (5) lions were killed in 3 days.

As I am from College Station as well. I have to seen a lion year before last down in the navasota river bottom near carlos. My dad and I use to be on a company lease as he at the time worked for TMPA. I decided to hang a new set off a big lake that had a good pinch point into the river bottom. So, i go ahead of my dad and come off the damn and get into the bottom and just happen to be looking up for a good tree when I see a cat stand up in a junction of a couple big branches on a post oak about 15' up. We had a stare down for a few seconds and he climbed down the backside of the tree and was never seen after. I rarely use much light while walking into stands in the morning but every time I went to that set My light was on and pistol in hand.

Has BMD weighed in on this yet?

They only kill a deer usally around every 10 days , an they have big home ranges so I'm sure they won't be puttin any one out of business on deer hunting ,

When it comes to lions there are a lot of people who won't report them because they don't want them killed. They may not care about coyotes and other critters getting killed, but a lion is a pretty neat critter and population is usually sparse. Supposedly there was one at the place I hunted near Junction. The landowner usually didn't care what we killed, including any exotic we saw (he wasn't paying for 'em anyway). However, he told all of us if even THOUGHT about shooting his lion we would be in more trouble than we could handle! Not sure what that meant really but I never saw it anyway.

They get a few reports of them between Iredell and Cranfills Gap. My parents live in the area and hear the neighbors talk about a sighting every once in awhile. Game wardens told them you should only worry about them if they become regulars around your barns or houses . Then have have gotten to comfortable with the surrondings.

Great posts! It's gratifying to see everyones not just bashing Mt. Lions. I usually keep my mouth shut because it is not wise to speak in anger. Truth is most people are ignorant on the subject. However they think they're experts because of what they heard from someone (who was also not educated about lions). Anyways, thank you all for your comments. It's great to see that not everyone thinks "lions are the devil"

I'm usually not one to pass along second hand stories but this story comes from a very reliable source.

A man that works with my wife lost 2 horses and has one very scratched up from a lion. His place is in Northwest Polk Co.

I think they are pretty cool, and I would love to shoot one. There's a few around one of my leases, so I'm keeping an eye out.

I do not think one to be bashing "Lions" if one may pay attention to them taking out wildlife and farm animals. One lady
off Talley Rd. outside San Antonio, just past the Nat'l Shooting
Complex lost 58 Barbados to one female w/cubs..She called me to run it with hounds and I told here too many residences and sheep
farmers..they'd shoot my dogs, or they would get run over on the roads..Sadly she didn't believe it until the cal left one hung on
the top rail of her fence..They are much more numerous than one thinks and they do not hunt old, crippled animals exclusively..They have no problem taking the best males in the herd..and no, I do not wish to kill them all..but I'd like to see
the State a little more involved and forthcoming when the cats kill livestock..and they really don't care if you report them or not..By the way, they occasionally eat a human also..DD

Not Texas but only 20mi north near mead OK. My mom had 6 ostrichs...1 really large male...a young male and the rest were female. There was cat on her property that she had seen a few times. One day she come home to find her very large male dead, partially eaten covered. Several days later the other male was dead then one by one the females. Then her axis, emus, and Barbados.

A few miles away on her other land she seen a momma cat with 2 cubs in addition to the above mentioned cat.

These cats are extremely powerful and WILL take down large healthy prey

I hunt up on Edwards Plateau in Kerr County. Anybody seen any out that way. I haven't but last season there was a claim that a small deer found near the road close by missing back legs and large cat tracks. Hope I never see one. On one hand they are rare and majestic, but on another they are masterful killers.

There are quite a few around Leakey and camp wood. 2 were seen within a week at the hack berry ranch last year.

Still good posts. I'm a lion hunter and understand what everyone is saying about lions taking farm animals. There is actually a program that the state is involved with. The problem is that most people don't know about it. I also do some of this type work. The problem is that a lot of people want you to do it for free. It costs a lot of $$$ to feed these dogs and keep them hunted enough to be successful when needed. Fuel and time along with feed add up fast.

I totally agree that stock killing lions should be removed. I also find nothing wrong with people harvesting lions. I just have a problem with people who think they need to be wiped off the face of the earth. They are a magnificent animal that deserves their place on earth as much as any other animal. JMHO

They are also in the area of Navarro Mills lake. I have seen one on one of the back gravel roads and one year when we were preparing to take Bluebonnet pictures, one of the park entrance guards on the Wolfe Creek side warned us that there had been several sightings there that week. For a cat to frequent areas that close to campers tells me they have been there longer than we would expect and are accustomed to humans.You have to respect them for that.

In 96 my brother and I were bow hunting in East Texas around Karnack, our ladder stands were about maybe 300 yds apart separated by a small ridge. At about 6:00 in the morning we were in our stands when this blood curdling screem ripped thru the air between us. Didn't see it but the tracks were huge, I know it made every hair on my body stand up. After that I always took my 357 bowhunting.

I think its very easy for someone to mistake a screech owl with a scream of a cat....imo

Had a quail lease out by Salt Gap 5 years ago, go up one morning th a cat screeming, very spooky sound. Found one of the ranchers cows half dead, she was giving birth and the cat attacked her. Tore the calf to pieces eatting most of it and basically disembowled her. Called the rancher and he came out and put her down.

We only had quail rights for that place, but from then on he wanted us to carry a centerfire with us wherever we hunted.

calling for bobcats with bobcat in heat call, I had a cat scream back. It was a quiet night and the scream came from at least a mile away across a canyon, but it sounded a hell of a lot bigger than a bobcat. Thing is, a lion would not respond to a bobcat in heat call, unless they were a bit confused...so people could also be hearing a bobcat thinking it is a lion.

I think lions are pretty cool, problem lions need to be removed but I would never want them eradicated. I hope I get to see one someday.