Posted on 06/11/2015 3:51:20 AM PDT by SJackson
Sorry about that I should looked at the picture you were posting about.
Cougars are in mid-michigan...where my son hunts he was heading for town and had one walking down the trail in front of him. It then saunters off into the brush...One was spotted several years ago crossing I69 in Lapeer heading north. But according to Dept. of natural resources, ain’t no cougar in Michigan...again a bear was spotted within a mile of my house in Lapeer county, heading north, his movements were followed until mid state...that was about 7 years ago...Kept my grandchildren in the house, I lived on 4.5 acres...
This and other articles, seems like these backpackers did everything ok, but a bunch of bears and a bunch of tourists, inexperienced hikers or backpackers, there will be incidents. Even experienced, some things are out of your control. Smell control, who is perfect on that.
The pictures, honey get a little closer to the bear-buffalo-elk, it's sad. It's not like they're not warned, makes for great warning videos for the park website, but what are people thinking. That bear is smiling, let's take him some peanut butter and get a picture.
The risk is small, these things don't happen that often, and most encounters are fine, but you have to be prepared for the unexpected.
That’s ok. Bear would be a solution to that problem, they can be trained.
FYI, as of 2010 it’s legal to carry in National Parks.
http://www.nps.gov/grsm/learn/management/lawsandpolicies.htm
There are grizzly bear populations in western Montana and NW Wyoming.
Your point being?
My sister in law has a summer cottage in Montana. There are Cougars and grizzles on her 13 acres from time to time. I wouldn’t like that!
I had heard stories there still might be some in Montana but they were unconfirmed at the time.
The park has tracked one bear in particular, he goes all the way to Harlan county Kentucky and then works his way back through Bell county Kentucky, into Claiborne County Tennessee past the lake that supplies drinking water for the city of Middlesboro and makes the trip back again.
A couple of months ago my son was coming home late from work, he got off around midnight and a small bear cub darted out in front of him near the road to our house. He never did see mama.
I wouldn’t like that either...love wildlife but not in my backyard...guess I am a frady cat...
A few years back part of Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agencies Elk herd showed up in Clinton close to Oak Ridge. They had wandered off from Royal Blue LOL.
Yeah I think the lakes put the brakes on those migrations. I know Harlan county has an awful bear problem but it is getting worse in Bell county.
I know the county game warden who hunts on my property for squirrels and my neighbors and he says he gets calls all the time for bear issues. He said there was one bear call he kept getting about their trash cans being destroyed and he kept telling them put it up until the day of pick up. They said we are and he waits! Finally he went and witnessed it for himself. The bear would waiting until the family put their garbage out a few minutes before the garbage truck was due and the bear would run out and pounce as soon as they walked inside.
Now we are getting reports of wild hogs in the park and about the county. The game warden told me if you see one kill it and call me asap, they are going to be a mess to deal with. We also have a mountain lion about our place but the park rangers and game warden say they simply do not exist in our area and we are probably seeing bobcats. Big brown bobcats with that lion nose and head and long brown tail, bobcat, I don’t think so... I just grin at the game warden and say you are going to stick with that excuse one until the end right.
You mentioned elk. There is a section in Bell county where they are so bad they have an occasional special hunt to thin the heard. They keep getting hit by cars and damaging property, the residents raise hell with the county government and KY department of wildlife about the costs they are enduring for the states elk population. I haven’t seen any around my place but I have run across tracks. I would like to see one.
Yeah there likely are some mountain lions out there. Possibly ones that survived and stayed hidden for generations or someones pets they got illegally and the cost to feed it lead them to release it.
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