Mt. Lion in WI

[riverhawk]

https://www.jsonline.com/videos/com...15/possible-cougar-sighting-ixonia/108630310/

This video was released and a school was shut down. The DNR says it was a house cat. I’ve never seen a Mt. Lion anywhere but on video, but something about this one doesn’t seem right. What do you guys think?

 

[shoots-straight]

Big Bobcat

 

[duckhunt]

There has been a few confirmed sightings in Iowa and one was just shot about a week ago. I think they are around more than people realize.

 

[riverhawk]

There has been a few confirmed sightings in Iowa and one was just shot about a week ago. I think they are around more than people realize.

They’re in Wisconsin. There have been a number of confirmed sightings.

 

[Topgun 30-06]

Looks like a cougar to me with one basic color like they have and bobcats don't have long tails or one color and it looks like that cat has both.

 

[riverhawk]

Apparently the silt fence at the beginning of the video is 28” tall

 

[pdq_wizzard]

I would say someone needs to stand up there and have the guy film at the same settings on his crappy phone.

if the cat would come up to his shin its a house cat if it comes above his knee its a ML. easy

 

[TheNorthStar]

Every so often we get reports of lions seen in Minnesota. Not sure what strikes such wanderlust into animals like that, but a handful of years ago, a cougar was tracked via sightings through my eastern outer ring suburb of the twin cities and ended up being found dead in Connecticut, if memory serves.


Edit*

Quick search and I found this from back in September. If moving east, it's likely the same cat.

http://www.twincities.com/2017/09/22/likely-cougar-caught-on-camera-in-southern-minnesota/

 

[Lone Elk]

Not sure if its a bobcat or lion, blurry video. Would think that you would see a long tail on a Mt. Lion. Lots of bobcats now in Wisconsin, even the lower portion.
But... I have recently seen pics of a Mt. Lion treed by bobcat hunters in the central part of the state....last week...

 

[OhHeyThereBen]

I grew up in the hilly country near Eau Claire, WI and my parents had a mountain lion down by the barn a couple of years ago. My mom saw it and they went down and found the tracks. Definitely bigger than a bobcat. They do turn up every now and then but they never stick around for long.

 

[mplane72]

There has been a few confirmed sightings in Iowa and one was just shot about a week ago. I think they are around more than people realize.

Yep, the one shot over shotgun season makes the 6th killed in Iowa in recent history. This one was reported to be a young female, which I believe is a first.

As to the OP's video. I say inconclusive but no house cat.

 

[Jim/Wa]

A few years ago from my deck in VA, I spotted something that looked just like the cat in the video. I've always been rock solid in my belief that lions have long been extinct from VA but looking across the pasture 200 yards this thing clearly looked like a lion. After I got the 12x50 binos on him though it was unmistakably a large tom house cat walking on top of an old tractor berm. It's crazy sometimes how context can fool the eyes.

I can't tell at all from this video though -- could be either. Wasn't the lion killed on the road in Connencticut a few years back known to have passed through Wisconsin on his journey from the Black Hills. Seems to me this was confirmed by hair sample DNA.