CattNY

I just renewed my Hunting Safety Test here in NY and the Instructor told the class (and swore by it saying he saw video of it) that the DEC is or has released cougars in NY and also released coyotes. The purpose he said was to cut down the deer herd. I will be checking with the DEC to see what they say. I would think, he wouldn't be telling a bunch of young kids that there were mountain lions walking around NY State. What does everyone think about this?

mtair

i live in southern n.y. state , i have heard the rumors of the d.e.c. realesing cougars . i personally havent seen one but i know3-4 people who have claimed to see one , these are people who know the woods and whats in them , and have absollutly no reason to make up a lie . and i believe every one of these sightings to be true . i dont believe you will ever have thed.e.c. fess up about repopulating them due to liabillity the first time one of these non existant cats grabs somebdies kid for lunch !

doughboysigep

I find it very hard to believe that DEC would EVER release cougars (actually I think it is virtually impossibel - I don't think they have the authority to do it - they would need public hearings, meetings, stakeholder meetings, etc.) So no they have not released cougars (no proof, but....think about it ). With that said, a friend of mine says he/the people in his "neighborhood" have seen/photographed a couger. I'll believe it when i see it. The explainatin for the possibility of seeing big cats, is natural migration - like a moose venturing into the southern tier or bears moving up, out of the Catskills/PA.

LeeinVa1

well, lets see, so far they have released moose in the Dacks, tried to release wolf and not sure if they accomplised that yet, and my brother has a plaster mold of the track of a couger that he seen on the far end of columbia road in Cranberry Lake.

Outdoor

doughboy I have to agree with you. Every land owner in the surrounding area of a release would be notified.

mtair

i dont know about that there is an awful lot af land owned by n.y.state in the catskill forest preserve . the cougar sightings ive heard of were on the fringes of these lands and new york city watershed land ( which in it self is quite extensive

doughboysigep

for someone from VA, you know a lot about what happens in our state? The fact is (I use the term fact loosely - because I can't prove it with any written documentation) that no cougars have been released. They pose too much of a threat (maybe just perceived)to the public and the state (DEC) has to follow protocals to do anything like that - they are public servants, not the kings of our environmental resource. As for wolves, the DEC did not try to introduce wolves. There was an outside environmental group that brought up the idea and then studies were done and stakeholder meetings were held to determine the feasability. There was enough negative reaction and no hard evidence that a reintroduction would work, so it was scrapped (or maybe put on hold by the original group?). I believe you are off on the moose, as well. They have migrated into the adirondack naturally from VT, Maine, etc. The DEC does not have the time, money, etc. to have a concerted effort to bring moose in (again there is the public forum/meetings that would have to take place). It is not like they are overpoplating the northwoods. The only things they have done is to transport "lost" moose that have traveled (on their own) out of their adirondack home (this happened in Cayuga Co. several years ago and I think it may have even happened here in Broome Co.). Simple fact is animals roam and will travel out to seek food, mate, habitat (simple biology) and sometimes they make it a long way. Why does everyone feel the government has a big conspiracy to do "bad" things??? (i guess save your answers to that for the political forum - lots of consiracy theorists there)

shedhead

If there are cougars in NY it is because some idiot had one as a pet and got sick of it and went out and released it. Moose have migrated into the state though.

BuckAlley

Let me give you some info I know on this subject. Take it as you will. I have hunting land w/camp in Cortland Co. I keep in touch with some of the local neighbors, and other hunting clubs. A pair of black panther cougars was spotted the summer of 2002 by 2 different neighbors in the area. One who saw the pair was a farmer. He contacted the DEC regional office in Cortland asking them if black panther cougars had been released in the area. He was obviously concerned for his cattle. The DEC denied any such releases. A few weeks later the farmer then saw the panthers again, and got video footage of the pair. He again contacted the DEC with this information, and the DEC then admitted to releasing a pair of black panthers to help control the deer population.
This isn't the first time cougars have been spotted in NYS. Several yrs back a group of guys I hunt with in Northern Tier Boylston area jump a black panther while doing a deer drive. Several in the group saw it. Later that season another camp in that area got pictures of the panther walking along the edge of the woods by his camp. Cougars & Panthers do exist in NYS. The DEC does not have to inform anyone of such a releases. A few here or there isn't going to harm anything.

moose1915

BOTTOM LINE IS........ - prove it. All these urban legends have been circulating for years. Black panthers? maybe in NYC, but last i heard there were only a handfull of those cats left, and they're in florida. I'm a taxidermist, and every year for the past 10 or 12 years at least one person (sometimes more) calls up or shows up with a Cougar-Puma-Panther-Mountain Lion- to get stuffed.
And every single time its a 22-30 lb Bobcat. I also get the same thing with wolves. Yeah lotta them around NY...but the 100 lb "wolf" always turns out to be a 25lb Coyote.
No one IN THE PAST 90 YEARS HAS DOCUMENTED PROOF that a WILD mountain lion has been seen, shot, filmed, photographed etc...
Show some proof, and I'll throw in $100.00 and a rifle as a reward. Don't mean to sound so cynical, but there is no way ENCON would release an animal into the NY ecosystem that kills and eats humans, cats , dogs , etc.. Imagine that lawsuit?
they are not the Men In Black.
Shoot , i had a guy tell me the other day that encon uses helicopters to drop rattlesnakes in areas where theres too many turkeys! ( and we've all heard the one about the 10 foot long Pike in _________________ resevoir that scared the divers working on the dam so bad they swore theyd NEVER go in the water there EVER AGAIN!
Have a good one!
moose