# mountain lions in Illinois? ?



## Fort fireman (Mar 5, 2011)

I'm no expert and perhaps someone from out west who deals with them more could tell you better. All I can say is what i think i would do. DON"T run and act as big and bad as you can. Running will kick in the prey predator respnce in the cat. Make a bunch of noise and odds are they will move on. Generally speaking they try to avoid contact, Generally speaking. Now I may be waaaaaay off on that and end up cat food if ever presented with one.


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## jinx1990 (Nov 17, 2012)

If your trail riding your horse will let you know a cats around waaaayyy before you ever see it. Had a lion sunning in the pasture one day until Scars caught wind of it (I didnt know it was there when I turned them out, but they saw it from the house above the pasture) and Scars chased it out, but my gelding was in a panic. 

Best thing to do is not run away, make yourself as big and loud as possible
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

I see them several times a year. Sometimes more than one in a week. Still doesn't make me an expert, I don't think. But, what my friends and I do is the same as Fort Fireman says. We don't back down, definitely don't run, make ourselves big, and all of us roar, wave our arms, get quite ferocious. You may be surprised at how motivated you get when faced with one.

Mtn. lion stalk from behind, which kind of stinks. So, whether riding or walking, we frequently check our back trail. And, unfortunately, I have been horseback and the horse and I have been both surprised by lion.


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## Sahara (Jul 23, 2010)

They are definitely in Illinois. I know a local lady whose horse was attacked about 2 years ago. I have never seen one, but plenty of folks I know have.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Apparently the easter cougar is making a comeback, smaller than the mountain lion. It was believed they were wiped out, not so.


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## Missy May (Feb 18, 2012)

A few years back we had horrible huge fires very nearby. It pushed them off the blm and onto populated areas. They put out all kinds of warnings that they were moving in, and would be looking for water - sad situation. It made me very nervous for my horses just the same. I never personally saw one, but one drank out of my neighbors pond - so, flood lights went on 24/7. But, no one lost anything to them. In ordinary circumstances a healthy one just won't come off the BLM and go after an adult horse. 

If I had to ride through dense trees and worry about the possibility of them being "somewhere" in there...it would make me just a wee bit nervous. 

Just a note, we have lots of bobcats. If you pay attention to "signs" you can tell they are around. For example, recently the coyotes moved out but the rabbit population kept declining - which I noticed but didn't "think about it". I guess it ran out of wild rabbits so it went for my daughters rabbit. The horses just parked as close as they could get and watched the entire episode. Nice vet bill later, rabbit was okay. Anyway, I imagine there are similar things to "take note of" w bigger cats.


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

I was told, if you are being stalked by a mountain lion, there's a good chance you will not be aware of it since they do so from behind and are very stealth about it. I'm hoping that horses are low on their list of things to hunt due to their size and that there are many smaller animals on their menu since I do believe they are making a comeback whether the DEP wants to admit it or not.


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## dbarabians (May 21, 2011)

We have cougars here and I see the tracks all the time at the farm along the creeks and the river. I have seen two crossing the road near the house. The dogs keep them away . Or so the game warden thinks.
They have never attacked the cattle or horses. I do make noise when entering the wooded areas in the river bottoms especially since black bear have been seen down there. Shalom


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## cameron23finley (May 30, 2013)

Yes, a number of cougar sightings have already been confirmed here in Illinois. Cougars prey most often on deer. And according to some news I read, they are nocturnal and they generally stay away from people.


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## madilyng02 (Sep 18, 2013)

skipsangelheir said:


> I have been hearing a lot about them around my area recently.. a deer was killed on my road, throat ripped out by its head and long gashes on sides. We couldn't find any footprints but that was all that was done to it. A few miles away someone got pictures of one on a game camera and one of my dads friends has been stalked by one before. Anyone have ideas what to do if I would see one while trail riding or if I see one near my pasture? Thanks


Living in Colorado now, I have learned that mountain lions/cougars (all large cats, really), aren't much different than their domestic counterparts. Loud noises will scare them off. Clapping rocks together, even throwing rocks in their direction, yelling, etc should make them take off. I did hear of a man that was hiking that had to pull out his concel carry to shoot a mountain lion, once. The reason they found was because the cat had pneumonia and was starving, so all those things didn't scare the lion off. Absolutely do not run away, they will chase you, and they will absolutely be faster than you...this doesn't equate to anything good. Hope this helps! =)


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## Incitatus32 (Jan 5, 2013)

I agree with Madilyn. I'm in Indiana and lately we've been seeing some, mostly around the fields but a couple have been on trails passing through. Whenever we've seen them they've left us alone and we've left them alone. In all times though the horses have alerted us to them before we even saw them. I know around here the major concern has been horses in the pastures, but (at least where my horses are at) we've seen the meanest horses chase them out of the field. Once they learn a horse is going to retaliate they don't seem too interested unless they're starving to death. We've only had one do that so far, but luckily our gelding who's big and mean to any intruders in HIS field, took it down and there were no injuries to any of the horses.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

I'm in Indiana too and 3 of our neighbors have seen one this summer. All sightings have been in the daytime with 2 of them seeing it right in their yard. They said when it saw them it just kinda sauntered off. Wondering if it's one that someone raised and then turned loose when it got big. Hopefully, we have enough deer around here that it stays the heck away from my horses. I worry most about my old guy (28) and the minis.


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## Djinnjer (May 11, 2012)

In west central IN and over the weekend neighbors alerted us to one that's apparently using the ravine/swale that connects several properties out here to move about. That said, it cut across their horse pasture coming toward our place and their horses watched it, but didn't appear nervous about it. We have yet to see it, but carrying a golf club out with us at dawn, dusk and after dark now. My biggest concern is that we have only the 1 horse and a mini-donk and I'm afraid the cat might go after the mini-donk. Any suggestions from folks used to dealing with them as far as "marking the perimeters" around the house and horse areas...ie taking our dogs (we have 3 large dogs, but they are not free-roaming) out around the perimeters to do their business and DH and son maybe "mark" around the edges as well? Does that help discourage them from coming closer on-property, or no?


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## dbarabians (May 21, 2011)

I dont know about the marking ritual doing any good in keeping the lion away.
I do know that the golf club is not an effective defensive weapon if he wanted to attack you. They wont usually and the mini donkey might be vulnerable. The grown horse is too big to be a prey animal for a mountian lion. Shalom


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

It's a good possibility you have the same cougar we do. It's smaller than the mountain lion. It was believed to have been wiped out years ago but not so. They are making a comeback. Two young ones were photographed not an hour from here, fascinated with the odor on a tire (likely dog p). Why not mark your territory with man pee? Wild animals are shy of humans. An author set up camp within a heavy wolf population, pitching his tent on a well used trail. He peed to mark his territory and the wolves respected it and went around.


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