When I first moved up here last summer...(August 08), I was sitting out front and a pickup with a man and woman pulled up in front and said they just saw a Mountain Lion cross the hwy next to where I live. Their eyes where big as saucers and as the guy was turning his truck around to pull back up to hwy #1 to get another look the girl looked at me and just shook her head up and down like it's was definitely a Mountain Lion..(cougar).

I've been here a little over a yr now and haven't seen one..but in my mind, the way those two acted they did see a cougar that day.

Hoyt are you south of Rt. 13?

Hoyt are you south of Rt. 13?

And does your last name start with an R ?
If it does I am thinking I may know you. If not sorry for being nosy.
There are rumors of loins (cougars) around these parts. No confirmed pictures yet.

I found a quarter of a deer in a tree south of steeleville, reported it but never heard from anyone at the DNR. I dont hunt that area much since

I'm South of hwy 13 on the edge of Gallatin Co. I posted about this on Illinois Bowsite Forum back when it happened. A guy that lives down the road from me towards Cave in the Rock, posted that he and his neighbors had seen a female cougar with kits several times and that the preacher in the little white church South of hwy 13 had seen one around that church.

I'm sure if there is one anywhere around here I will stumble up on it either before dayight or after dark..most likely while bowhunting.

I was in a friends ladder stand behind the place here back in Shawnee last archery season and right about dark I see something that looks black coming up from the creek. My first thought was "they don't have hogs up here I know". Then another one came up to it. Both had noticeably long tails and were dark looking. I figured it had to be two black dogs running the woods, but they didn't act like dogs. They were cautous and deliberate moving..stayed in that one area. I got down while there was still light and high stepped it on out.

I'm not saying what they were..just what I saw..they might have been regular dark brown cougars or dogs...I don't really think they would have been two black phase jaguars. I do beleive cougars are in the area..not so sure about the black cats though.

Movin up and down the Saline maybe? Here is a message I got from a guy from Harrisburg I've corresponded with:

"I think it was about ten years ago down by Womble Mountain at my brother's house. Another brother of mine was cooking a bunch of hams for a big party. We had set up a new BBQ pit and were seasoning the new steel with ham skins. We started off sitting kind of at the edge of the woods with a radio playing and the light on from a station wagon. My sister in law came out and started chewing us out for playing the radio and using the lights and said she had been having battery trouble. Okay so the lights and radio got turned off and my brother and I are sitting next to this pit full of hog hides which are smelling good. Only a few minutes later we heard the sound that the MGM lion does at the beginning of a movie. The cat was within a few feet of us! It was definitely a roar!
Not a growl like a dog or a scream like other cats I've heard, but a deep throaty big headed roar! Yikes! I thought it was finis! We went to the house."

When I first moved up here last summer...(August 08), I was sitting out front and a pickup with a man and woman pulled up in front and said they just saw a Mountain Lion cross the hwy next to where I live. Their eyes where big as saucers and as the guy was turning his truck around to pull back up to hwy #1 to get another look the girl looked at me and just shook her head up and down like it's was definitely a Mountain Lion..(cougar).

I've been here a little over a yr now and haven't seen one..but in my mind, the way those two acted they did see a cougar that day.

there out there i go out by johnson county panthers AND cougars

I'm South of hwy 13 on the edge of Gallatin Co. I posted about this on Illinois Bowsite Forum back when it happened. A guy that lives down the road from me towards Cave in the Rock, posted that he and his neighbors had seen a female cougar with kits several times and that the preacher in the little white church South of hwy 13 had seen one around that church.

I'm sure if there is one anywhere around here I will stumble up on it either before dayight or after dark..most likely while bowhunting.

I was in a friends ladder stand behind the place here back in Shawnee last archery season and right about dark I see something that looks black coming up from the creek. My first thought was "they don't have hogs up here I know". Then another one came up to it. Both had noticeably long tails and were dark looking. I figured it had to be two black dogs running the woods, but they didn't act like dogs. They were cautous and deliberate moving..stayed in that one area. I got down while there was still light and high stepped it on out.

I'm not saying what they were..just what I saw..they might have been regular dark brown cougars or dogs...I don't really think they would have been two black phase jaguars. I do beleive cougars are in the area..not so sure about the black cats though.

u probally saw a panther i know there out there 1st hand experirence when bow hunting

cats are every where we live close to a main river that they travel. a study was done in wyoming 2 years ago where they put collars on a cat and a coyote. the coyote stayed within 2 5 miles from where they let him go and the cat was 200 miles so they have a wide range but i do not belive they live here . they just travel the river