Check out the tails of the two! Except for Florida, the eastern mountain lion is believed to have extricated from the east coast by 1900. Trappers assist biologists by providing important biological samples that inform managers on the health of the population. The last native mountain lion known to be killed in Pennsylvania is on display in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. How do I report suspected wildlife crimes? With that hope in mind, I have, for years, asked outdoors people if they ever heard of a mountain lion, or puma, in their area -- with my questioning limited to people in my home state of Pennsylvania. I don't believe someone's imagination could stretch a six inch long tail to three feet! "Cougars really are deer specialists," said Laura Prugh, an author on the study. Other exceptions are included with species seasons below. The Game Commission has various wildlife management plans, for many game and nongame species, to ensure long-term sustainability of the resource. The big cats largely disappeared from the eastern U.S. roughly a century ago. Here are a few ways to limit human-bear interactions: Bring pet food containers and bird feeders inside overnight, or completely if bears continually return; keep trash cans inside, if possible, until the morning of collection day; and regularly clean and remove grease from outside grills. *Please note: Comments posted on social media sites are always not shared with the commissioners or staff due to the high volume received. Unfortunately, at times, our wardens are not able to respond to every incident and they must use their best judgement on which calls to respond to first. The permission slip should be signed by the landowner, and should include the hunter's name, address and CID license number, and the landowner's name, address and phone number. . The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners voted in April 2021 to prohibit the use of centerfire rimfire rifles and handguns during the fall turkey season in response to concerns about spring harvest density being below goal in 15 of the states 23 Wildlife Management Units. Wet hens may leave a more significant scent trail allowing predators to be more successful at finding nests. Absolutely, not. Finally, it is important to note that the agency's prescribed fires are purposely conducted on a very small percentage of the overall land base, (less than 1 percent annually), providing significant amounts of refuge for animals that may be temporarily displaced. Compare any game camera image with the shots above, or this game camera image, to confirm your identification. Because the success of a seasons' offspring can be directly affected by poor weather in the spring, an abundance of hens can make it easier for a population to recover from poor hatch years. Bowhunter Education course records dating back to 2000 and Cable Restraint/Furtaker Education records dating back to 2005 are also maintained. Only once has anyone later determined that they had misidentified the cat, seeing a bobcat and not a mountain lion. Is there a correct position for the upright on a Wimberley actionhead? Most of the recent cougar sightings east of the Rocky Mountains were confirmed due to some kind of crash with a train or vehicle and as any Angeleno could tell you, some of them even reside in cities. Callers anywhere in the state can now dial 1-833-PGC-HUNT or 1-833-PGC-WILD to contact the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Centralized Dispatch Center and be directed appropriately. If you see a deer or elk displaying symptoms of CWD, report it to the appropriate Game Commission region office. (National Park Service). A sample permission slip is available on page 4 of the 2022-23 Hunting and Trapping Digest. No. Larger and more aggressive animals often exclude younger and weaker animals which causes aggressive behavior resulting in injuries and even death for particularly vulnerable individuals. It was recorded in Minnesota and Wisconsin in late 2009 and early 2010, and then died in Connecticut in 2011. There are geese everywhere, why does the Atlantic Population (AP) Zone have a one bird daily limit for the 2021-22 season? Im 61 tall and it comes up to my knee. Mountain lions in Pennsylvania, and other eastern states, account for more reports of undiscovered animals than all the other cryptids put together. Animal welfare is important not only to the public, but to wildlife managers and trappers alike, and will continue to be a critical component of trapping in Pennsylvania. Are mountain lions on their way to Pennsylvania? Why cant Pennsylvanias Spring Gobbler season open earlier? How do I deal with shaving weight for carrying my gear? How will I know where and when burns are planned? The Pennsylvania Game Commissions website, mobile app and Hunting and Trapping Digest are all great resources when looking for information related to current hunting and trapping seasons and beg limits. Bird feeders, trash cans and pet food left outside within a bear's reach are all free game to a hungry bear. What is the Game Commission doing to manage CWD? California state law requires the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to issue permits to kill mountain lions that attack domestic animals. Contaminated carcasses or high-risk carcass parts which includes the head (including brain, tonsils, eyes and any lymph nodes); spinal cord backbone; spleen; skull plate with attached antlers, if visible brain or spinal cord tissue is present; cape, if visible brain or spinal cord tissue is present; upper canine teeth, if root structure or other soft tissue is present; any object or article containing visible brain or spinal cord tissue; unfinished taxidermy mounts; and brain-tanned hides may also spread the disease indirectly through environmental contamination, which lasts for years, if not decades. Of course, bobcats are proportionately a bit taller than a cougar or house cat, and if it is a bobcat my weight estimate could be off. This is not a Pennsylvania puma! That a hunter holds no more than six unfilled licenses at a time. Do everything you can to fight it off. years are available through this link. Why not close pheasant hunting the day birds are stocked? Why stock pheasant that cant survive? 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Click here to learn more about our agency and its history. Through stringent trap testing, BMPs provide a guide to trappers for ensuring animal welfare and trap efficiency for each individual species. We encourage everyone to continue to take precautionary measures during this time and to continue to be safe and responsible during these unprecedented times. Will the Game Commission refund the cost of my hunting and furtaker licenses if I cannot travel due to COVID-19-related restrictions? If bears continually return, remove the bird feeders entirely. When I did, I discovered the intruder was a large cat. Pictures dating to the 1930s have appeared over the years in the Pennsylvania Game Commissions magazine Game News. Those applying for elk licenses can select which zones they would like to hunt. So how or why could there be a conspiracy? Kristin Hunt Would my mountain ridge be declared 'Critical Habitat' for the puma? Mountain lions weigh 90-160 pounds . Recently, I caught an animal on my security cameras infrared setting, moving past my rear egress stairs and across the back. They know what they saw, regardless of what the facts say, and they know they saw a puma. Mountain lions are about half the size of lions, but they can run up to 50 mph while lions can run only 37 mph. This can cause injury to humans and pets as well as lead to more vehicle collisions. But more importantly, he also said that regardless of color, he saw a big cat, with a tail that looked to be about 4 feet long! We do not currently know the effects of disease turkey populations. In an October study, researchers identified several regions along the East Coast that could be suitable habitats, including a section of Pennsylvania north of Du Bois and northeast of Williamsport. The head of the puma is small in comparision to a house cat when compared to the entire body. Please remember to be respectful of private property while visiting. Everyone is familiar with albinism, the absence of pigmentation that results in a white, essentially pigment free animal, defined by pink skin and pink eyes. Click here for ways to be ELK SMART. While mountain lion attacks are rare, they do happen. About six months ago I posted the question, Are there Mountain Lions in Pennsylvania? As the latest hoaxed photo of a mountain lion supposedly killed in Pennsylvania died a slow death on Facebook yesterday, the head of an organization tracking the eastern movements of the big cats was preparing a presentation for a Pennsylvania audience tonight. There are three ways hunters can report their deer or turkey harvests: Online at HuntFishPA, by phone at the NEW toll-free number 1-800-838-4431 or by mail (using the postcard in the Hunting & Trapping Digest). Of the deer harvested in the 2020-21 hunting seasons approximately 174,780 were antlered and 260,400 were antlerless deer. I usually follow-up on these reports and, via email or phone conversations, I receive more details. I've seen hoaxes, of pumas carrying deer shot with game cameras, but these were of western cats. The big cats are risk-adverse, solo hunters with impressively high kill rates. Bone out the meat from your animal; 3. Because turkeys eat a variety of foods, large populations won't damage their habitat. On average, one antlerless deer is harvested for every four antlerless deer licenses allocated. Possibly, but it seems unlikely that enough would have been released or had escaped to make for a viable population. Would a puma then qualify as a native species? Isnt trapping just a few folks each year trying to make money from pelts? What species can a mentored hunter hunt? While ignition is taking place, additional crews patrol the firebreak perimeter to ensure the fire stays where it's supposed to. I spend a lot of time outdoors, and I've seen about 10 black bears in Pennsylvania, and all within ten miles of my home. The abundance of wildlife that thrives in Pennsylvania makes sightings of interesting animals fairly commonplacebears, foxes, coywolves and elk are. Can I shoot a mountain lion in self defense? Over the last two years I have occasionally posted a Question of the Month soliciting sightings from people who believed that they have seen a mountain lion in Pennsylvania or in other areas in the mid-Atlantic states. The dashboard is updated weekly and features an all-new way to view past and current information related to the disease. The animal could not be a wild mountain lion, because "there are no wild mountain lions in Pennsylvania." This was the approach of the PGC until a farmer named Roger saw a mountain lion, along with several other people on his remote farm, during a large outdoor party -- a party which included a big roast pig barbeque, near the edge of a forest. I have received about two dozen reports during that time, including one. Can so many people be so wrong? Should any hunter come across a cougar in Pennsylvania, they are advised to leave it alone as hunting them in the state is illegal. Furthermore, Game Commission biologists and emerging science indicates that wildlife are often attracted to burned areas immediately after the fire, occasionally entering burned areas before the smoke has even cleared, (to forage on a sudden flush of insect activity), or shortly afterwards, when a fresh flush of vegetation appears. The last native. More information is available here. *Interestingly, that following spring, we had a horrendous stench wafting in from the nearby woods. Smoke will be visible during the burn and might be seen for many miles. It is illegal to take or possess wildlife from the wild. But then it's a really nice-sized meal as well, so it's an efficient package of meat that can feed them for about a week, as opposed to hunting smaller prey like beavers or rabbits.". If the tag was on the antlers, there would be no way to identify the head or carcass. Elk, Pa.s largest wild animal, have become a tourism boom in the northwest part of the state. Why arent fall turkey seasons the same throughout the state? My friend was a former hunter and fisherman, and spent a lot of time in the woods, as did I, but neither of us had ever seen a coyote. Yes. Now, if there were any escapes, and if any of these bred with a possible minuscule number of eastern pumas, a relic native population, wouldn't the gene pool be corrupted? It also allows hunters who submitted their deer for CWD testing to directly access results online. Fearing the worst, I called 911. By allowing wildlife to congregate unnaturally at feeding sites, diseases such as CWD, mange and tuberculosis may be spread not only to wildlife, but also to humans and pets. Its impossible to say. Isn't the release of another predator just going to cause or add to the further decline of species such as the wild turkey, northern goshawk, ruffed grouse, Allegheny woodrats, or rabbits? Ironically, I almost deleted the image, as on the small camera LCD monitor the cat was small and I thought that it was just another deer that moved along the stream. So glad to post. How do I submit comments and ideas about current and proposed seasons and bag limits set by the Board of Game Commissioners? It is important to note that these symptoms are characteristic of many diseases other than CWD. I used myself taken by the same camera and in the same exact location for reference, and as you can see from the frame below, my feet and ankles are missing. Pennsylvania is home to the largest wild elk herd in the northeastern United States. I've seen about 20 mountain lions, or pumas, in the field, but all but 2 were in Chile. The counties typically with the highest harvest are in the northcentral part of the state, namely Clinton, Lycoming and Tioga counties. But even that little guy isn't prowling the Poconos yet. NEW! How do I report suspected sick, injured or nuisance wildlife? Recently, a man I spoke with told me that he was reminded of a sighting he and two friends had 20 years earlier, and after recalling the incident he was motivated to call his college buddies and reflect on their observation. American marten weigh between 1-3 lbs. Click here for full harvest reporting details. Learn more about elk history in Pennsylvania. Students must be at least 11 years old to enroll in a class. How can I help to prevent negative human-bear interactions on my property? 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