Green Mountain Lion Corporation, Inc. Business Consulting and Services Williston, Vermont 5,563 followers Boutique management recruiting firm focusing on heavy equipment manufacturing & distribution. She lives near the end of a gravel road in a modest, low-slung house tucked into the flanks of the Green Mountains. Some people say they have seen a catamount in the woods. No way to proveor disproveit. Instead, the responsne I heard were nonchalant, Oh, yes, lots of people have seen that mountain lion around here; pretty isnt it?. Until 2011, that question rested upon a hypothetical. (The cat I saw when I was a young boy was on the Gulf Coast.). I had a clear look, through the glasses at a bobcat. So Blodgett brought what he had learned in Wyoming and Arizona back to Vermont with him and began following up on catamount sightings. Experts need to see the body to dismiss their prejudices. You need breeding pairs and theyd probably settle down long before they got here.. About six years ago, my mother and step-father were traveling some back roads down to New Boston, NH to visit my sister where she lived in an extended care facility. Inslerman said the DEC received about a half-dozen calls reporting sightings of mountain lions last year; two calls this week. The catamount is a creature of stealth and concealment; it stalks its prey, which on the EasternSeaboard would likely be deer, moose, porcupines, beavers, and domestic livestock. Growing up in northern Vermont, Id heard stories of sightings, though always a few steps removed from the tellersomebodys cousin had seen a cougar cross the road on their way home from deer camp up in Canaan (or was it Coventry? Most of those sightings were misidentifications, Doug Blodgett says. Interesting how tree stumps or boulders assume the shape of an animal in this kind of light. I thought I saw signs posted in Pawling NY about 8 years ago, that DEC released a pair to control deer population,mane several people have seen them in Wingdale, NY. Our wildlife biologists and enforcement agents are mostly political bureaucrats who dont often venture more than 100yards from the truck. Theymay not be looking, specifically, for a catamount. Fish and Wildlife Service unofficially declared the Eastern cougar extinct. Jason. But that was OK. Bo Ottmann, A Lobster Trap Menorah Shines in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Chips Off the Old Block | Knowledge & Wisdom, Yankee Candle | New England by the Numbers, First Christmas | Krissy OSheas Scandinavian-Inspired Holiday Cottage, The Sweet Life | Holiday Baking with Dorie Greenspan, 2019 Yankee Magazine Editors Choice Food Awards, In the Kitchen at Mayfair Farm | Weekends with Yankee. Morse, 70, comports herself in a friendly and no-nonsense manner. Dismissing most of the sightings as probable bobcats, Morse asserted that the scientific evidence has not been proven. Mountain Lions have been more prevalent to the west in the last 100 years, but many of the pockets of breeding populations east of the Mississippi River have been wiped out over the decades due to habitat loss and hunting. Betty was quiet, and I wondered if even he, a man who does not doubt the presence of these cats in our midst and who himself claims multiple sightings, thought Ottmann was exaggerating. COLCHESTER, Vt. Catamounts are. I dont ever say to people, Thats not what you saw. I say, I hope you saw one, Spatz told me when I called him at his home in upstate New York. Raised them carefully to my eyes. Whenever I drive up and through my home state of Vermont, I look into the hills that surround me that have no sign of development for miles and miles. Camel's Hump (alternatively Camels Hump) is a mountain in the Green Mountains in the U.S. state of Vermont.The north slope of the mountain borders the Winooski River, which has carved through the Green Mountains over eons.At 4,083 ft (1,244 m), it is tied (with Mount Ellen) for the third-highest mountain in Vermont.Surrounded by 10 acres (4 ha) of alpine tundra, the mountain is the most . Wildlife biologists, as professional scientists, require a higher level of documentation and proof. Growing up in northern Vermont, Id heard stories of sightings, though always a few steps removed from the tellersomebodys cousin had seen a cougar cross the road on their way home from deer camp up in Canaan (or was it Coventry? In the United States the animal could, at one time, be found in all the states but with civilization, came a decline, the Vermont experience being more or less typical. He set down his cigarette and looked me in the eye. How did I know? It does NOT surprise me, you would have seen a wild, free-roaming, native 'eastern' cougar, aka puma, mountain lion in Vermont. In their estimation, the presence of a breeding cougar population in New England would likely stem from our proximity to Canada, where, as they rightly point out, DNA analysis has resulted in 19 positive identifications across Quebec and New Brunswick since 2001 (although some of these were shown to be of South American lineage, suggesting escaped pets). All of which is to say that if Alexander Crowell wasnt afraid on that long-ago Thanksgiving Day, he probably should have been. Its range was once similarly vast; from the high north regions of the Yukon to the Straits of Magellan. This is a site for people to discuss mountain lion sightings in the Green Mountain State of Vermont. Refuge volunteer Dale Erz originally. Indeed, one of her steadiest sources of funding for Keeping Track is a presentation on cougars that has been known to draw more than 500 audience members. We met for lunch on a Sunday morning in early March, and it didnt take long for me to understand why Harrigan is such a popular columnist. Could be a deer, but it didnt seem to be tall enough. Honestly, leaving this out of your article would seem to perpetuate the notion that there is a conspiracy to keep us all in ignorance. The solitary animal seeks out new territory and eventually a new population will be established. I was agnostic, I suppose, on these stories which the state wildlife biologists inevitably found impossible to substantiate and, often, easy to disprove. So long as the tails there, that is. There are so many great sites out there devoted to. That was plain, right away. Responding to complaints about a predator eating a local farmers sheep, Crowell and a small group of fellow hunters had tracked the big cat through the snow. Betty folded his arms across his chest, where they rose and fell and rose again with his breathing. In the few seconds that this took, I had convinced myself that I was looking at a mountain lion. There are also many unconfirmed sightings. The Strafford & Area Lions conducted its Food From The Heart food drive February 11th through the 18th, collecting 981.6 pounds of food and receiving monetary donations of $1,262 which were used to purchase food and other items to be donated to the Sharon, Vershire and Thetford food shelves. As they watched in amazement, the cat casually moved off and disappeared into the surrounding woods. My assumption is it was the same animal. There were caribou antlers mounted above the front doors, and the interior walls were covered in row upon row of books; a long table was piled high with still more books in seemingly random arrangements. Ottmann and I walked farther. Our hunter friend was hunting in central NH when they came upon an adult deer carcass way up in a tree. I was curious enough at the time to do a little research. Dont forget, south Texas also used to home to two other species of cats ocelots and jaguarundis. I live in Vermont and have seen, in broad daylight, a mountain lion (catamount, cougar, puma). I thought about why this might be and the best I could come up with for an answer is that we feel a kind of nostalgia for the wild. When I came out, the cat appeared in front of me coming up a rise (incredibly close to some ski condos). As I looked at my daughter and then turned to follow the direction she was looking, I saw the animal in my side mirror. Yet I also remembered something Sue Morse had told me months before, as we sat in her living room drinking beer and chatting cats. On the other side, there are those (as represented here by Bill Betty and Bo Ottmann, along with a number of others I spoke with) who say the overwhelming quantity of anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise. The Vermont woods would be a lot more interesting with mountain lions in them. But no. Chance of snow 90%. Respect predators, protect them but dont worship or try to hug them! It is what wildlife biologists call an apex carnivore, which means it can overpower pretty much any other creature in its environmentwith the exception of an armed human. Concerned for people / pets and a school just down the street, stopped to report the sighting where dispatch told me that if I did not have proof they would not respond. As livestock farming came to dominate the landscape, pressure on the big cats slowly mounted on two fronts: The number of farmers wanting them dead was increasing, while the rapid transition from forest to farmland meant their habitat was shrinking. People in Colorado communities might need to warn their children and to look over their own shoulders when they were out jogging, but not here. These sightings usually took place at night or in fading light, like that of my bobcat encounter. One wonders just how tolerant Vermonters would be of a healthy population of mountain lions after one attacked a child waiting for the school bus. They knew what they were doing, Blodgett says. Bernier gets more than 50 reports of mountain lions a year. There was never, of course, a photograph. A journey of nearly 2,000 miles. So yes they are here and not to sure why they dont admit to them being around ! Still more confusion ensued when a lab technician said she might have gotten some samples confused, and thus the canid result was thrown into doubt. Prior to the mid-1990s, the late Wildlife Professor Harold Hitchcock of Middlebury College, became Vermont's Official Big Cat 'hunter', who sought evidence of the Big Cats across the Maple State. vital part of this countries ecosystem. I lived in great Barrington mass and I took photos of tracks in a field in April of 2009 (and of course lost them). In my mind, I went through all the nots. This could, of course, be projection on my part. This was after the department sent him out west to study the behavior of mountain lions. At least once a year thered be a story from somewhere, but I only ran the absolute best, he told me. The discussion of whether federal lands should be a place to subsidize cattle ranching is another question. They may get here, Doug Blodgett said to me one afternoon. Was INCREDIBLE! The one thing that jumped out at her the tail. Around 7:10 pm this evening August 02, 2022 my wife entered our Oakwood Farm business off 6 Weed Road in Essex Center with headlights on. and with my friend Chris Christinat who lives in hartsville we saw one stalking a rabbit on her lawn about autumn of 2009. I only saw the back side, but he was huge. This isnt to say she believes none of these animals has stepped foot on New England soil over the past century. Stratton Magazine Celebrating Manchester and the Mountains. However, many of their claimsespecially Mr. Bettys contention of roughly a dozen personal sightings in New Englandare hard to take seriously. I was deer hunting with my father, it was in the fall about 7 years ago, in Barre Ma towards the Templeton Ma lines. But, yes, thats exactly what it was. Long Trail Mountain Lion roster: Myra Aldanondo, Olivia Cole-Bugay, Liz Daara, Rose Johnson, Aubrey Lanning, Molly Luikart, Camilla Marcy, Meara Morgan, Harlow Quail, . How big was the animal? Nostalgia for the Wild [Betty] and the other guys dont do this shit. Ottmann grew up and still lives just minutes from the tavern; his familiarity with the establishment was obvious (after we met in the parking lot, he led me into the building through the kitchen, greeting each of the staff by name). The light was failing and I was on my way out of the woods. Around 1830, the . It has, in fact, more names than any animal in the world. After 20 minutes or so, we turned and stumbled our way back to the parking lot. The reasons for this conspiracy vary depending upon whom you talk to, but they coalesce around the idea that wildlife agencies would be inconvenienced by the cougars presence, as theyd be forced to respond in ways that would tax their resources. He didn't want to dispute what people are saying they saw, he simply says they need proof to substantiate it. By the late 20th century, the range of the catamount was confined to several western states and a small remnant population along the Gulf Coast that was eventually squeezed down into the Everglades/Big Cypress area of Florida and reduced to a couple of dozen animals of poor genetic quality due to inbreeding. They are most definitely here. They have a right to exist here and they contribute to healthier prey species. Several years ago, I saw what was definitely a cougar walking along a street. The 1881 death of this catamount officially marked the end of cougars in Vermont; however, the very last Eastern cougar is thought to be an animal that was killed in Somerset County, Maine, in 1938. Matthew Johnson/Vermont Historical Society. We were about 50 feet from it and it stood taller than any labrador and we watched it tail and all slink down the side of the lawn and the rabbits being surprised out of the bushes. But other hard evidence of the big cats presence is elusive. The one killed on the Connecticut highway was on a journey worthy of Odysseus so it isnt likely that there will be a thriving population of mountain lions in Fairfield County, raiding backyard cocktail parties, anytime soon. And, then, some species didnt need any help from humans but managed to extend their range into now-recovered and suitable habitats. I saw one about 10 years ago, on our road. The females are where its at, she said. I was aware, too, of how a certain mythology surrounding the animal had taken root in Vermonts culture and even its identity: The University of Vermonts athletic teams, for instance, are known as the Vermont Catamounts, and their logo features a snarling cat lunging through the cleft of a V., I met with Morse at her home in Jericho. That animal in Connecticut makes for a pretty fantastic story but it takes more than one dispersing male. Geoffrey Norman is a Dorset author and a frequent contributor to Stratton Magazine. I wasnt planning to shoot her unless she moved in my direction. My husband and where riding our Motorcycle down Rte 110 near Milan NH Because while male cougars eventually strike out on their own and occasionally wander far from home, females are, as Morse puts it, hardwired to remain close to their mothers home range. Wildlife management programs succeeded in reintroducing species to areas where they had not been seen for years. Especially by one that he remembers involving a kill site.. Green Mountain Lion Corp #256 34 Blair Park Road Ste. All with eyes to see and spring loaded to see something. Newspaperman John Harrigan has long covered the New England outdoors, including writing the New Hampshire Sunday News column Woods, Water & Wildlife which ran for almost 40 years. I think of Aldo Leopolds Thinking Like a Mountain essay about how deer decimated the forests and died of starvation because of humans incessant desire to kill. Looking at the mounted animal, behind the glass, had made me feel kind of well, sad. Scat, tracks, lays, scratch mounds youll see these things.. New in PJ Media: The world having gone absolutely insane, the Mid Vermont Christian School (MVCS) girls' basketball team is likely to get a lot of heat for this, but in a sane world, they would be the heroes of the story. 104 Williston, VT 05495. We really must establish first that these beautiful animals SHOULD be in every state that was once THEIR habitat. Vermont Mountain Lion Sightings The tails gotta be there. The Great Divide | Are There Mountain Lions in New England. You could have 50. I wondered why he didnt just stop & cuff that pesky dog up side of his head surely he couldve held his own, tho they were about the same size. It seems humans just cant resist destroying these animals and either dont realize or dont care what damage we have done to our natural environment over the centuries. Hes also unafraid to take unpopular positions when he deems it necessary: Shortly before our meeting, hed signed a petition in favor of keeping ATVs off public roads. The habitat is certainly right, with so many farms having gone by and so much formerly cleared land returning to second growth forest and with the populations of prey species suchas deer and porcupines having reached abundant proportions. And so we come to the great divide over cougars in New England. If there is a follow up investigation, it turns out that people were mistaken about what they saw.. Low 24F. The Christian school also dropped out of the state . But this requires a breeding pair. Ordinary, the lone males do not range much more than 100 miles. But I learned something else in my ad hoc researchesnamely that this was a question that aroused a lot of passion in people. Still, there are those of us who know what weve seen. 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