NO Cougars in Ontario

[blasted_saber]

Take a good look at the actual size of Ontario. There's so much land and water, hell you can drive as many miles north as you'd drive south to
Florida and still be in Ontario. Most people fail to realize the size of this province and the amount of untouched wilderness. Saying there's no Cougars in this province is far from provable. A friend followed one down a logging road in his truck for nearly 100yds up in Earr Falls. He will not go berry picking without a gun ever again.

No other jurisdiction in North America has any trouble whatsoever identifying a self sustaining population of cougars. The state of Montana doesnt have this debate. Nor does Alberta. That there is enough for me to say we dont have one.

We obviously have cougars. The question is are they true wild animals in a self sustaining population, transients, or released/escaped pets. The answer, IMO, is the latter.

I also would question why your frined wont go berry picking without a gun due to cougars? Can you find me a documented cougar attack (on humans) in Eastern Canada/US?

[Bigbear]

With respect to a recent post about cougars:


There are NO cougars in Ontario.
There are a bazillion trail cams all over the province.
Most of them are situated to catch White Tail Deer-- one of the preferred foods of the cougar.
There is not one credible pic from any of these trail cams that shows an Ontario Cougar.

Any pic showing a "real cougar" has Douglas Fir or Lodge Pole Pines in the background.
Any other pic is blurry enough to qualify for a "Big Foot TV Special"

We all know the BS of Urban Legends.
When will everyone admit that Cougars are our "Rural Legend" and that there is no naturally reproducing poplulation of cougars in Ontario?

Forget it, my man. Some folks just want to keep believing in Santa Claus... and a living, breathing Elvis.

[Houndlover]

Forget it, my man. Some folks just want to keep believing in Santa Claus... and a living, breathing Elvis.

Yea because it's really likely that humans hunted out every single one...EVERYONE... in a place the size of Ontario? It's also impossible that a few cats migrated east

[Bigbear]

Yea because it's really likely that humans hunted out every single one...EVERYONE... in a place the size of Ontario? It's also impossible that a few cats migrated east

So....you've seen Elvis?

[Houndlover]

So....you've seen Elvis?

And Michael Jackson

[brent]

No other jurisdiction in North America has any trouble whatsoever identifying a self sustaining population of cougars. The state of Montana doesnt have this debate. Nor does Alberta. That there is enough for me to say we dont have one.

We obviously have cougars. The question is are they true wild animals in a self sustaining population, transients, or released/escaped pets. The answer, IMO, is the latter.

I also would question why your frined wont go berry picking without a gun due to cougars? Can you find me a documented cougar attack (on humans) in Eastern Canada/US?

Bolded and underlined.........is the most accurate statement here.

[redd foxx]

What happened to the passenger pigeons then. Weren't they hunted to extinction?

[Houndlover]

What happened to the passenger pigeons then. Weren't they hunted to extinction?

Passenger pigeons, went extinct due to hunting and habitat destruction.

However, passenger pigeons lived in southern Ontario, down to the central/north east states. Cougars live from James bay and beyond, all the way to south America.
That's a huge area, they were hunted other places to, but Ontarios population is concentrated almost completely in the southern part. And most people who live where we call 'up North' don't live very 'North' at all. We have land that no ones ever hunted- waters that no ones every fished- heck, weve got dirt that no ones walked on, how could we kill every cougar in Ontario 120 years ago when we have hardly treked up to the 'true North'?

Cougars are very elusive, even if you live in BC (heathly cougar population) you would be hard pressed to see a cougar in your life. To think we don't at least have a breeding population to me seems ridiculous.

Passenger pigeons are way different, they would fly over head in flocks that could take hours to pass through. Hunters could sit back and pick off as many birds as they wanted. If you had 200 shells, you could have 200 birds in no time.

[GW11]

In order to extirpate a species you wouldn't have to kill them all, you would only have to hunt them to the point where they could no longer breed effectively.

By the way, I have seen what I believe to be a cougar while deer hunting near Bobcaygeon but I still don't believe in a breeding population.

[Houndlover]

Have to be pretty damn close.... The roaming radius of a male cougar is 100 miles, farther when looking for mate,