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A Confirmed Sighting
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| This photo, taken with a surveillance camera, shows a mountain lion that was feeding on the carcass of a deer in Knox County last weekend. On Friday, Nebraska officials confirmed the authenticity of the sighting, the first confirmed mountain lion sighting in Nebraska since 2004. (PHOTO: Rick Johnson, Ron Olson, Rodney Kemp) |
Confronting Lion Was Breathtaking Experience
By Linda Wuebben
P&D Correspondent
NIOBRARA, Neb. — “I was walking this trail I had made, hunting for mushrooms, when I came across a deer carcass which hadn't been there before,” said Ron Olson of Verdigre. “I kind of looked around and didn't see anything. When I turned around, just to my left, there stood a mountain lion.”
There is no doubt in his mind.
It took Olson's breath away. He was between it and its kill. Just as he was wondering if he would be its next dinner, the lion turned and walked away.
The lion sighting was officially confirmed Friday by officials from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. It is the state's first confirmed sighting in four years.
Olson had been on the trail just the day before and there was nothing out of the ordinary. When he went up there on Sunday, the trail was all tore up and as he went further in the thicket, he saw a deer blocking the trail. It had been chewed on.
After the lion walked away, Olson hiked back down his trail out of the woods — about three miles — to find a couple of friends. He had to tell someone. When he found brother-in-law Rick Johnson and friend Rodney Kemp, he convinced them to follow him back up the trail to see what he had come across. They took along a game surveillance camera — they wanted proof.
“Of course, we get to the spot and the carcass is gone and they're calling me a liar,” Olson said. But soon he found a bits of hair and blood on the stumps in the trail which went about 50 yards away. The lion had drug the deer carcass under a cedar tree.
Olson saw movement behind the branches of the tree and believes the lion left when it heard them coming. The trio set the camera up in the tree about 5 p.m. and went back and checked it Monday morning less than 24 hours later.
The proof is in the pudding or photograph in this case. About 90 minutes after they set up the camera, four shots were taken of the mountain lion eating on the carcass. Johnson also believes the animal was still very close in the vicinity when they set up the camera.
The mountain lion sighting was in a desolate area in Lazy River Acres, a public recreational area about 10 miles from Niobrara right along the river.
Johnson called the Game, Fish and Parks office in Norfolk on Monday and talked to Tom Welstead, district manager of the wildlife division. Johnson was concerned about alerting the general public since there is an area of about 75 summer cabins and 25 permanent homes only a half-mile from the sighting.
Welstead sent the photographs on to a wildlife specialist in Lincoln to confirm it officially, which they did Friday.
Johnson learned from Welstead the cougar or lion typically gorge themselves for three days and then leave the area traveling as far as 20 miles away.
Welstead described the cougar or mountain lion as being a member of the cat family and not the African lion. Its official name is puma and exhibits cat characteristics as opposed to those of the African lion that one normally would associate the mountain lion with.
The Game, Fish and Parks Service has had sightings reported from all over northeast Nebraska but nothing really concrete to confirm the animal's presence is a reality. Migration of the mountain lion to northeast Nebraska probably comes from places like the Black Hills of South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado where mountain lions are plentiful.
Mountain lions can be dangerous to other mountain lions and will kill each other. Within the species, they are very aggressive. The lions seen in Nebraska are young males that have probably been driven out of older cats' territories up north. The pumas will mark their territory with urine, which can cover as much as a 40-mile radius. Since they are aggressive with each other, when a younger one comes into contact with a marking, they tend to move on living a solitary life, only cohabiting at breeding time.
Two years ago, a mountain lion was killed in truck collision and its radio collar had been attached to it only four months previously by the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Service. A recent report stated lab analysis of puma hair can now tell what kind of water the animal had been drinking and its traveling route can be determined with reasonable accuracy from that.
“There is no immediate threat or concern to Game, Fish and Park officials for the general public,” said Welstead. “Large numbers of cougars reside in the Black Hills where hundreds of thousands of tourists hike, fish and vacation with no human attacks ever being reported.”
There is no doubt in his mind.
It took Olson's breath away. He was between it and its kill. Just as he was wondering if he would be its next dinner, the lion turned and walked away.
The lion sighting was officially confirmed Friday by officials from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. It is the state's first confirmed sighting in four years.
Olson had been on the trail just the day before and there was nothing out of the ordinary. When he went up there on Sunday, the trail was all tore up and as he went further in the thicket, he saw a deer blocking the trail. It had been chewed on.
After the lion walked away, Olson hiked back down his trail out of the woods — about three miles — to find a couple of friends. He had to tell someone. When he found brother-in-law Rick Johnson and friend Rodney Kemp, he convinced them to follow him back up the trail to see what he had come across. They took along a game surveillance camera — they wanted proof.
“Of course, we get to the spot and the carcass is gone and they're calling me a liar,” Olson said. But soon he found a bits of hair and blood on the stumps in the trail which went about 50 yards away. The lion had drug the deer carcass under a cedar tree.
Olson saw movement behind the branches of the tree and believes the lion left when it heard them coming. The trio set the camera up in the tree about 5 p.m. and went back and checked it Monday morning less than 24 hours later.
The proof is in the pudding or photograph in this case. About 90 minutes after they set up the camera, four shots were taken of the mountain lion eating on the carcass. Johnson also believes the animal was still very close in the vicinity when they set up the camera.
The mountain lion sighting was in a desolate area in Lazy River Acres, a public recreational area about 10 miles from Niobrara right along the river.
Johnson called the Game, Fish and Parks office in Norfolk on Monday and talked to Tom Welstead, district manager of the wildlife division. Johnson was concerned about alerting the general public since there is an area of about 75 summer cabins and 25 permanent homes only a half-mile from the sighting.
Welstead sent the photographs on to a wildlife specialist in Lincoln to confirm it officially, which they did Friday.
Johnson learned from Welstead the cougar or lion typically gorge themselves for three days and then leave the area traveling as far as 20 miles away.
Welstead described the cougar or mountain lion as being a member of the cat family and not the African lion. Its official name is puma and exhibits cat characteristics as opposed to those of the African lion that one normally would associate the mountain lion with.
The Game, Fish and Parks Service has had sightings reported from all over northeast Nebraska but nothing really concrete to confirm the animal's presence is a reality. Migration of the mountain lion to northeast Nebraska probably comes from places like the Black Hills of South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado where mountain lions are plentiful.
Mountain lions can be dangerous to other mountain lions and will kill each other. Within the species, they are very aggressive. The lions seen in Nebraska are young males that have probably been driven out of older cats' territories up north. The pumas will mark their territory with urine, which can cover as much as a 40-mile radius. Since they are aggressive with each other, when a younger one comes into contact with a marking, they tend to move on living a solitary life, only cohabiting at breeding time.
Two years ago, a mountain lion was killed in truck collision and its radio collar had been attached to it only four months previously by the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Service. A recent report stated lab analysis of puma hair can now tell what kind of water the animal had been drinking and its traveling route can be determined with reasonable accuracy from that.
“There is no immediate threat or concern to Game, Fish and Park officials for the general public,” said Welstead. “Large numbers of cougars reside in the Black Hills where hundreds of thousands of tourists hike, fish and vacation with no human attacks ever being reported.”
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