Mountain Lions in Northern New England

[Peter Miller]

The presence of mountain lions in our hiking area gets debated on message boards from time to time. I haven't followed all the threads, so if the info that follows is redundant with previous postings, my apologies.

This information comes from Dr. Rick Van de Poll, the ecologist hired by the NH Lakes Region Conservation Trust (LRCT) to inventory the flora and fauna of the Ossipee Range in NH. According to Dr. Van de Poll, two conclusive signs of mountain lion presence in the Ossipees have been recorded in the past year or so: (1) DNA analysis of scat; (2) tracks left in snow, from which casts were made. It is not known whether these signs were left by transients or by creatures resident to the Ossipees.

LRCT has presented this evidence to NH Fish and Game, but apparenting F & G is not willing yet to state definitively that mountain lions exist in NH.

 

[Gris]

yep, they wander thru from time to time. i've told this story many times before. Dec 17/18, 2001 my wife and i were the only ones to stay at Pinkham during a bad winter storm. next morning dawned clear, nice & COLD. About 6:30/7:00 a.m. we scooted down to Glen Ellis and pulled off to park. Squeak, squeak, squeak thru 6 inches of fresh powder and got near to the rocks before the underpass. when my wife looked down and said "look." she said looks like cat tracks. then we both said simultaneously "very big cat tracks." we thought maybe they were Lynx but then as we took a disposable camera picture of the tracks we saw the lion just sitting in the woods where the tracks led to. we walked backwards to the truck, went and looked up the tracks for confirmation. yep, was a puma all right.

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

will make solo hiking at night all the more interesting.....

 

[Maddy]

This is terrific!!!
I am both in awe and just a wee bit afraid but it will make hiking more interesting.
I wouldn't mind some wolves in the mix also.
LIFE IS GOOD!

 

[Peakbagr]

I have family who live in the foothills just outside of Tucson. I get out on the trails around the National Park when I'm out there as they are a 10 minute run from the trailhead. They've been telling me about mountain lions in the Mt Lemmon area, a tall peak they can see out their window right across Tucson.

Mt Lemmon had huge forest fires last year, burning lots of the trees and vegetation off the top part of the mountain. This has apparently driven the wildlife, and the animals that prey on them further down the mountain. More than a few hikers and runners have seen mountain lions down low in the canyons, in places they've never been seen before. There have been a number of stalking incidents with the lions hunting humans. Some spooky stuff like hikers doing some in and out hikes, and on the way back out, seeing lion tracks over there hiking boot tracks in the sand.
I like to hike, run and bird in the Tucson area. When I visit in a few months, I'm going to be lots more observant of whats around me when I'm out by myself.

 

[Peter Miller]

Before my parents died, I visited their home south of Tucson fairly often. They would update me on local puma predation on humans when relevant. The attacks I know of all involved small children. I suspect the size of a person may be a critical factor in triggering or discouraging attack. If so, you're safe, Peakbagger (smile).

If you're willing to hike in heat, I highly recommend Madera Canyon/Mt. Wrightson Wilderness near Green Valley south of Tucson. Fine hike to Wrightson summit, passing through many climate zones typical of sky islands. Terrific birding area.

Also worth visiting, if you've never hiked there, is the Chiricahua National Monument east of Tucson. Beautiful loop trails through extraordinary rock formations.

Back to mountain lions and predator/prey issues. Having hiked repeatedly in grizzly country, mountain lions don't set my alarm bells ringing. Grizzlies are a different story. The last time my wife and I were in Banff, the berry crop failed, forcing the bears out of their usual forage patterns, and bear-human encounters were happening way too often for our comfort level. Intentional stalking, severe maulings, a few deaths. One bear had partially buried its human victim and was found guarding it. The parks do post info on bear sightings, and they close trails when bear behavior justifies, but that doesn't rule out chance encounters. We sought group hikes for safety toward the end of our stay. Haven't returned to Banff since that summer.

Time heals all memories, I suppose. We decided this weekend to hike in western Canada in 2005 and every year after that until our legs finally give out.

For the record, I've never seen a grizzly in my 50 +/- hikes in Banff/Yoho/Jasper. I've seen tracks, though.

 

[Peakbagr]

Peter,

Thanks for the info. I have some maps and a hiking guide for the area.
In the foothills around Los Angeles, there have been mountain lion attacks on adult humans and some fatalities. Pumas are ambush hunters who attack from the rear and do the fatal bite to the head or neck from behind.
Was just speaking with my family a little earlier and related the discussion. I think at least 1 adult was actually attacked but not killed in the Tucson area over the last few months and another has a very close call.

I've seen bears close up in the Canadian Rockies but no griz.
I'm a member of the Lake O'Hara trails club and get the annual newsletter. Lots of active griz activity there and they now close some of the higher elevation hiking trails and alpine routes each summer when there is sign of grizzly activity.

PB

 

[funkyfreddy]

I'm not surprised by mountain lion tracks in the Ossipees. Years ago I was told by friends in Wonalancet, NH how locals had seen mountain lions and also read about the mayor of Fryeburg, Maine posting warnings about cougars due to sightings there.

There was a news report today about a cougar that had been radio collared in S. Dakota being found dead in Oklahoma. This is a very intelligent elusive species and I'm sure some wander down from Canada into NY and New England from time to time.

I'm not scared having them around because there's plenty for them to eat in the Northeast woods, deer being their favorite prey. I don't think hikers have much to be concerned about here in the NE as there aren't many of them, and I would consider sighting one of them to be a treat. If I lived out west, however, I might think twice about jogging in mountain lion territory.

 

[Jack Waldron]

An excellent book on human - cougar interactions is "The Beast in the Garden" which documents the return of cougars to the Boulder CO area. I wouldn't assume that cougar attacks are more likely on children and pets. The death documented in the book was a high school senior out jogging, another adult female was attacked but survived.

 

[brianW]

My biggest concern about catamounts returning to the northeast is the saftey of my kids (or other children) while hiking/playing in the woods. It would only take one incident where a child is mistaken as prey for the general population to go anti-lion.

 

[Nonlegit]

Yeah, i lived in a suburb of Pheonix that was newly built when we moved in. Pheonix has been expanding like crazy and going into a lot of the desert wilderness around there, and we lived in the very outskirts. I learned how to survive out there lol. When i was little i used to go and get twigs and touch the web of a Black Widow that lived in our brick wall, and watch it come out. There apparently were reports of Mountain Lions, although my parents never really freaked out so i cant be sure that they were good reports. We had a ton of coyotes though, they would come in our yards and everything. TONS of rattlesnakes, which would also wander in our yards and wait in our plants and under decks and such. Also, we had a scorpians nest in the wall around our backyard. We counted close to 100 scorpians that acutally got into our house.

Can you believe I lived through that? Being 6 years old and playing with these animals. I love the American southwest, and i want to go back.

 

[CatskillsYeti]

I concur with Jack Waldron's recommendation of "Beast in the Garden." The book, which I think mostly takes a somewhat neutral, reportorial stance, makes some very important points about approaches to wildlife management, residents' attitudes toward wildlife (predators as well as prey) and what happens when good old common sense is put on hold.

 

[Mike P.]

Mountain Lion's do take a person size into consideration. That & if solo or not plays into the cat's decison. Solo in this case does not mean just by yourself. The boy in RMNP a couple ofyears ago had just run ahead of his parents a little ways.

My understanding is the adults in LA area have either been females under 5'6", runners I believe & petitte. If any men have been attakced they had few/no similaritires to Sherpa K, or myself. (They were short fit runners which Sherpa & I are not)

In case you meet a Mountain Lion, noise & making yourself look bigger & more intimidating are ways to discourage an attack.

 

[Gris]

documentary

there's a guy who lives in Montana who is a full time wildlife photographer. can't remember his name. he's done a lot of great film photography, the wolves coming back into Jackson Hole, etc.. he's the only guy who has done extensive "stake out" type photography of pumas (at least in the US). he recently completed a documentary on lions that aired on PBS. in it he's got the best puma footage ever including the only known filming of a lion stalking a human (him) as prey. he allowed the young lion to get within just a few yards of him before he finally had to mace him. it's just an incredible sequence - the lion crouching & repositioning himself (like a house cat after a mouse) over & over again for about two hundred yards getting closer and closer to the camera before finally getting maced! the sense i got from watching the cat operate was that if you saw it coming (unlikely) before he pounced you coud discourage him, but that after they hit you it may be too late as they go straight for the neck/kill. true predators they are.

RON SHADE - that's his name. he's also filmed Lynx, Griz, wolves, etc. in their natural habitat.

 

[mink319]

I think that eventually mountain lions will return to all remote places in the northeast. Places that used to be farms are growing back to woods, and that is more habitat for cougars, and after years of over harvesting they are finally starting to make a come back.