Do mtn lions "whistle"?

[T Bone]

Serious question. Do mountain lions have vocalization that sounds similar to a whistle?

I called in a lion tonight that I couldn't get a shot at, it came in on the downwind side, stopped in some deadfall about 150 yards out and then I heard a low pitched whistle come from it's direction and then saw it take off running.

From the tracks, a small to medium sized cat. Thought I was going to punch my tag tonight.

Can anyone else verify the sound?

 

[Lawnboy]

I ran into a guy who camps below me in a drainage. He always hunts this particular ridge that the elk move up in the mornings. He said one morning he could hear them coming. The bull was bugling moving his cows and the cows were talking as usual. The herd passed by him without offering a shot and continued up the ridge to bed down. He said soon after they left he heard another cow trailing behind. He stayed put waiting for her to appear. He said he couldn't believe what he saw next. A mountain lion appeared following the same trail that the elk were on. Not only following them but mimicking cow mews. The lion passed by him at 50 yards mewing as he followed the elk. He said he looked through his binos the whole time. The cat was making almost identical cow sounds.

It freeked me out thinking how pedators and animals in general adapt to survive. I cow called a lion in 3 years ago and was fortunate enough to see him at about 100 yards sneaking in. Wow that got the juices flowing. Anyway just thought I'd share those lion stories.

 

[AZ402]

Talked with a good friend of mine last night who is a lion guide here in AZ. He said he's never heard them whistle but has heard them make a howling type noise.

 

[Delw]

Iv'e heard them scream like a women, and make a weird not quite howling noise. One of the guys I varmit hunted with said he has heard them whistle wasnt high pitched but a low pitched one and grunt.

 

[ERSS]

Called one in to 30 yards or so with a cow call, and had it let out an ear piecer of a scream when he found out we weren't elk. But have never heard of the whistle before this thread

 

[mtmiller]

Tyson, I have no idea about the "whistle", but thought I would share a pic.

This guy was taken very close to where you live and the gentleman is from the same suburb as you.

 

[T Bone]

Del, it was a low pitched whistle. It had to have been the cat. Can't think of anything else that it could have been given the proximity and direction.

Craig, I heard about that one, but hadn't seen pics. I may or may not have been up in the burn above the house. Been consistently seeing tracks up there and have been calling there 3 times. I thought I had this one. Saw it first from about 600 yards across a steep canyon and it closed pretty fast. Just couldn't get a decent shot through the burnt trees, and then it circled.....

22 lions killed so far with no dogs allowed. Ya think we have a lion problem?
http://www.sdgfp.info/Wildlife/MountainLions/MtLionseasonstatus.htm

 

[Oak]

Sounds like you have a lot of lions, but with as many deer as you and mtmiller posted this fall, it's hard to say if you have a problem or not. Maybe a deer problem?

Good luck getting one before the quota fills!

 

[T Bone]

Oak,

I mis-spoke. I don't believe Western SD has a lion problem. I opine that there is a very healthy population, and hunting should be supported. For some reason there is a very vocal opposition to hunting cats here. I think there are more lions here than most locals realize. I've seen more cats here in 3 years than 19 years hunting in ID.

There are a lot of eats for the lions here.

 

[Oak]

T Bone, I was just playing devil's advocate.

There has been a couple of big cats killed.