Poll: Have you seen a wild puma?

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Have you seen a puma in the wild?

  • No, never seen.

    Votes: 85 58.6%

  • Possibly, brief glimpse but not sure of id.

    Votes: 2 1.4%

  • Yes, seen but not photographed.

    Votes: 42 29.0%

  • Yes, seen and photographed.

    Votes: 16 11.0%
  • Total voters
    145
MrFotoFool

MrFotoFool

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Whether you call it puma, or cougar, or mountain lion, (or in Florida panther), please use poll to indicate if you have seen and/or photographed one in the wild. If you choose to comment below, please list year and location. There are regular tours to see them in Chile, but this photographer had a chance sighting recently in USA (Oregon):
petapixel.com

'It's a Cougar!': Photographer Can't Belive His Luck Capturing a Mountain Lion

It's so very rare to spot one, let alone get a great photo.
petapixel.com petapixel.com
 
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I live in an area (the Bay Area, CA) where there are numerous reports of sightings. And I have photographer friends who have been lucky enough to photograph them. I have gone multiple times to areas where a mountain lion had been reported but no photos or decent sightings. I may have gotten a glimpse of one near dusk but not 100% sure (it was at a distance), could have been a bobcat or coyote. So finally went to Patagonia where (with a guide) we went to the cave where a mountain lion was sleeping, watched it get up, go for a drink and it walked by me within a 100 feet or so (it came out of some tall grasses). They are beautiful (though know they can be dangerous, one colleague was climbing in the Colorado mountains and got bit by one, he had inadvertently trapped the mountain lion on a ledge and it was presumably just trying to get by).

https://flic.kr/p/q6hKxY
 
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I live in the foothills west of Boulder, CO and they (Mountain Lions) are on our property often. They are also very adept at taking pets in/around the area. I have been fortunate to photograph them as they stroll through my property, although none of the shots are "award winning", ha. I also have two trail cams, and frequently capture images of them at night while I am sleeping (see image captured outside the bedroom window). On one occasion the trail cam captured an image when I was in the hot tub literally 20 feet from the cat and had no idea it was there.

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I live on the west side of Phoenix and hike in the White Tanks Regional Park further out West. I was hiking about 3 years ago and was observing a group of mule deer in a wash. They appeared to be a little skittish. My hiking partner was using a pair of binoculars and saw a mountain lion about 100 yds from the deer at an elevated position. The deer spooked and took off. The lion continued to watch and then moved out in their general direction. April of 2020. There have been other observations there as well as bobcats.
 
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I see tracks here in Big Sur often but have only seen one. I was hiking up to check our water tank and she was standing in the middle of the road 40 feet away. She appeared to be unconcerned with my presence and took her time moving off. I stayed where I was, facing her until she left. I was unarmed and no camera.

A Lynx trotted by the house last evening. Wouldn't wait for me to change lenses on the Nikon so I got a WA shot of his behind with the iPhone.
 
In the late 1960s I saw one in the Palo Alto California foothills in a cow pasture being pursued by a German Shepard. The pasture is now Tesla's world headquarters. Also about the same time, I took a long bicycle ride into the same foothills and, rounding a bend, saw one in the road ahead. About ten years ago my mother saw one on the other side of her back fence in the hills east of Oakland California.
 
Mal Paso said:
I see tracks here in Big Sur often but have only seen one. I was hiking up to check our water tank and she was standing in the middle of the road 40 feet away. She appeared to be unconcerned with my presence and took her time moving off. I stayed where I was, facing her until she left. I was unarmed and no camera.

A Lynx trotted by the house last evening. Wouldn't wait for me to change lenses on the Nikon so I got a WA shot of his behind with the iPhone.
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Lynx in Big Sur? Could it have been a large Bobcat instead?
 
Sixty-three years ago, when I was eight, my dad, brother, and I went riding in the Hauchuca Mountains in southeastern Arizona, and something spooked our horses. We stopped to try to figure out what it was, and caught a glimpse of a mountain lion scrambling up a nearby cliff face. Not sure who was more spooked - the horses or the cat, but it was a real treat to see one in the wild. Since then, I’ve often searched for them whenever I’m in cougar country, but have never spotted one. Someday maybe….
 
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I've looked for them for 40 years but never seen one. Granted, except for 6 years I lived in Northern California I haven't lived in areas where they live, but when I'm in those areas I look for them.
 
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JAS said:
I cast my vote as never seen. I did, however, hear one while hiking in Utah back in the late 70’s. I chose that moment to head back to the car.
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I was hiking in the mountains in Northern California in the '80s. Next to the trail was a cliff about 8 feet above us. We heard something that seemed to be following us on top of the cliff. Made me nervous as hell. I thought it might be a mountain lion. Never saw whatever it was, but it was pretty scary.
 
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Thanks for all the votes and replies that are coming in quickly. So far I am surprised that the poll shows more people have seen them than have not. I realize people who have not may be less inclined to even look at the thread, but still a surprising number of you have. I would love to one day, but I am not counting on it (unless I can finance a puma tour in Chile, which is doubtful).
 
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Doug Herr said:
Lynx in Big Sur? Could it have been a large Bobcat instead?
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Same family. This one had a 4 inch tail and the coloring was different than I've seen before. I looked online and the coloring was the same as a Lynx. The other Bobcats I've seen here had virtually no tail, many were rust colored. F&W will say certain species do not exist in California but they are full of it. I had a Grizzly on my Lost Coast property for 15 years until poachers shot it. He kept all the black bears off the property. There's no mistaking a Grizzly for a black bear.
My cat poked her head out from under the house after the Lynx left. She weighs about 1/4 of what that Lynx does.
 
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I have seen tracks in Patagonia, California, and Montana. But have not been lucky enough to see one yet. My father lives in the sierra foothills and gets them on his backyard trail cam occasionally at night. I will probably one day pull the trigger on a guided photo trip whenever I go to the Chilean side of Patagonia.
 
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Mal Paso said:
Same family. This one had a 4 inch tail and the coloring was different than I've seen before. I looked online and the coloring was the same as a Lynx. The other Bobcats I've seen here had virtually no tail, many were rust colored. F&W will say certain species do not exist in California but they are full of it. I had a Grizzly on my Lost Coast property for 15 years until poachers shot it. He kept all the black bears off the property. There's no mistaking a Grizzly for a black bear.
My cat poked her head out from under the house after the Lynx left. She weighs about 1/4 of what that Lynx does.
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Lynx have never lived in CA. Not like grizzlies or wolves where they used too, lynx never were here. And many black bears have brown coloring making them seem like grizzlies.
 
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First cougar I saw was while bike riding in Marin county, California about thirty years ago. I was riding up a fairly steep hill with a friend and first thought I saw a large dog and then realized that tail was way too big to be anything but a big cat. It turned around and looked at us but then turned and walked away. Since then I've seen one in the Gros Ventre mountains here in Wyoming and at the ski resort where I work in the winter we often see cougar tracks first thing in the morning on the groomed snow slopes so I expect they see us all the time though we rarely see them.
 
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raptor photo said:
Lynx have never lived in CA. Not like grizzlies or wolves where they used too, lynx never were here. And many black bears have brown coloring making them seem like grizzlies.
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I love how people make up rules and expect animals to follow them. Pay for the posting and I'll put up the picture. It looks like a Canadian Lynx to me.
 
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I've never had the good fortune to see a mountain lion in the wild in North America. But in Chile's Patagonia, we saw so many pumas at close range while hiking in the hills.
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Mal Paso said:
I love how people make up rules and expect animals to follow them. Pay for the posting and I'll put up the picture. It looks like a Canadian Lynx to me.
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Let's keep this cordial, please.

Wildlife certainly can and does wander from its usual range, but numerous sources consider the nearest Lynx population to be in the Wasatch Range. A Lynx in Big Sur would be quite a long walk from Utah.
 
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