Rattle Snakes

[Ralloh]

Yeah guys ... cats, snakes ... come on step on the really important issue here ... BIG FOOT ... now there's the really issue! Especially the one that good old boy just recently saw with the "long beautiful hair" 

[Bob Underwood]

Bo, thats the way i understand it.  However someone told me that parts of the Gorge were bear sanctuary..I doubt it but im too lazy to contact NCWRC..Anyone  know fer sure?

Bob

[mejones827]

You got to get to about the 1:20 mark but it is relevant....LOL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KCnxP3W2rY

[Ralloh]

You got to get to about the 1:20 mark but it is relevant....LOL

Funny stuff!

[bocash3]

Bo, thats the way i understand it.  However someone told me that parts of the Gorge were bear sanctuary..I doubt it but im too lazy to contact NCWRC..Anyone  know fer sure?
Bob

Bob,  I can't remember where some of the Burke County Bear Sanctuary boundaries all are.  I know that parts of the Steele Creek area are within those lines but cannot remember how far West the boundary goes.    Parts of the Gorge have to be open to bear hunting because it does take place and several are harvested out of the lower Gorge or west side of the Gorge each year.   If I can dig up one of the older NCWRC regulations "map" books, I think I can answer this question with accuracy.  Those "map books" used to be given out free.   About 4 years ago, the NCWRC stopped giving them out and started charging for them.   Seems I remember that the Bear Sanctuaries were a slightly different color than the rest of the Game Lands around them.......................... IF I can figure out the status of the Gorge area, I will reply within a couple of days.

Y'all have a great weekend.           Bo

[mtncmpr]

Hello Bo,

I understand by your statement in your previous reply in this thread (reply #10), you don’t think that there are any “cougars” in the area and that reports of such are in your words “just somewhat ignorant or otherwise being spread by those that had rather continue "old wives tales" as opposed to doing their own research”. I expect a lot of folks may agree with you. Everyone has an opinion, and “to each their own”. As far as your reply #13, (which I take as a response to my question in reply # 11 plus your reading of my report at http://www.linvillegorge.net/smf/index.php?topic=268.0  reply #1), and with all due respect, I want to respond.

I understand the “hard evidence” part but I also understand that among the many things science has proven, it’s proven time and time again that in some cases that what once was believed to be a rock solid fact, turned out to be false. If my particular incident (sighting) is not a case of someone’s "pet" mountain lion/cougar having escaped or something of the sort (as another poster mentioned the possibility of), and the consensus of the “scientific community” pertaining to this subject along with the time frame as stated is there are no big cats in the area in question, then I can personally say the scientific community is wrong in this case. Please keep in mind I am not implying that there was/is any particular number of them in the area. I am basing my report only on the one I saw, when I saw it, and nothing else.

As for my report of my sighting, I certainly have no reason to exaggerate it, especially to this group of so many avid outdoorsmen/outdoorswomen. I am not a scientist, but I can tell the difference between a bear, dog, dear, cougar, coyote and bobcat, and have been fortunate enough over my life time to have seen each with my own eyes (all before the time of my sighting of the big cat in my report). Even though I’m not sure as to what a “big cat” in this area technically would be called (cougar, mountain lion, panther, etc…), I know what I saw… and that was a “big cat”.

You also stated “In other words, "show me."  My mind is not totally closed, but I want to see the proof.”  I appreciate that you feel this way, and hope that if there still is a big cat (or cats) in this area, you will have the opportunity to see it (from a safe position of course). It was hands down the most exciting thing I personally have seen in the outdoor environment due to the fact of the rarity.

Though I don’t have any “physical” proof to offer up to you and I can only offer up my written report… I stand by it.
Glen

[Bob Underwood]

Anther gd reasn t carry camera and GPS in the frest   This cmputer wi nt type 0 & k;)

im ff t Hamirpur and may be ut f tuch for a whie

Bb

[Ralloh]

Well kroopm wan cc we c wrt Bob!!! 

[Whitjr]

I have to agree with  MTNMCPR as to cougar sightings.  There have been cougar sightings in the Blue Ridge, and these elusive animals are out there.  How can we be so arrogent as to think that we have eliminated a specie entirely?  

Bo-  with all due respect to your extensive outdoor experience- just how many bobcat have you seen with your own eyes?  You cite one such, when out turkey hunting.  And this was a sighting of a very elusive animal, rarely seen.  The cougar is again one such similar animal, and I'm told very very smart.  Perhaps this is the reason that few have seen them in the wilderness we all have come to enjoy, the LG.  I'll wager that the Cougar is smarter than the Bobcat, and since it's numbers have been all greatly reduced, the surviving cats have become even more elusive.  Also, these big cats have the ability to travel great distances, and hence to repopulate areas previously vacated due to hunting pressures.

I recently watched a documentary about the Snow Leopard in the Himalayas...  where the camera crew had the intention to film this very elusive animal.  While the locals knew of them in the area where the filming was taking place, no-one knew the exact numbers of the cats; and after many months the film crew caught not just one of them, but several, on film.  Mature cats, immature cats, migratory cats just visiting the area --were all caught on film. This film crew were going to great legnths to film them, using the sort of remote cameras and well-hidden locations to place the cameras, you get the idea.  The amount of sightings was surprizing to the film crew.   

Have there been any such efforts made on Cougar in the Blue Ridge, once home to this graceful big cat?  I don't know of any.  I'll also wager that  if such an effort was, in fact, performed, --the results would be surprizing to all. 

I guess that my point here is that there havn't been comprensive efforts to determine populations of this beautiful cat.  However , even so, I can't discount the sightings of them because there arn't documentarys on them.  In my humble opinion, nature abhorrs a vacumn, and repopulation of a "niche" species will occur.

Since you are a turkey hunter...  have you ever seen one hit a tree while flying thru the woods?  I have, from a deer stand.  It had just started raining, and a small flock started up into the trees for some reason...  and I watched one take to the air and fly directly into a pine tree trunk.  It was hilarious, and I'm sure that I gave away my stand location to any deer that might have been coming in...  because I was laughing so.... 

I share this with you to make another point.  We go into the woods to gain experience, to educate ourselves, and to test ourselves.  We see things , time after time, that we havn't seen before by doing so.

What people want to see is one dead on the road from roadkill, and then think that "Well, there must be one or two around here."