Went to the ranch the end of march besides seeing lots of turkeys strutting I saw what I didn't want to see a big cat (mountain lion / cougar). Saw while mowing sendero's, wondering how long the cat has been hanging out there because the area where I saw it had very little deer activity compared to the past couple years. Weird thing about the situation is my dad saw it the next day less than 100yards from where I saw it. Typical, didn't get a chance to take a picture and wasn't sure if it was legal to shoot. I have enough coyotes and bobcats stealing fawns, I don't need something taking residence that's very capable of taking down mature deer, kind of burning the candle at both ends on the predator issue.

the cats in my part of east Texas like pork
more than venison, but i'm sure they won't
pass up any fawns they come across.
don't feel too bad about not shooting. i've only
had a gun in my hands on one sighting and it
was a shotgun with shotshells. i don't think it's
something you can plan for unless you have a pack of
lion dogs and hunt them on purpose.

Im in Live Oak county, Three Rivers. Saw tracks years ago but wasn't 100% until now. The area use to have a lot of deer movement until last years it fell off dramatically. I guess its nature and natural, just hope it doesn't hang around.

I wouldn't fret about it. The coyotes kill far more deer than a mountain lion will.

I agree with maximum, they prey on small to medium size hogs most often because they are a much easier meal to catch.

We have mountain lions that we leave alone and don't pursue for the last ten years I've been hunting on the ranch that have not had any felt impact on our deer herd. We do get TC pics on occasion but they are never consistently photographed.

for sure, normally they don't hang around much in one spot unless they just made a kill, their range is quite wide

Wonder if that lion might be a female with cubs? Might explain why it is staying around the same area.

I thought they were pretty nomadic....



Sounds reasonable.....

No telling it might have some cubs, not sure if its the same one we saw before. Didn't have much time to size it up, just know it was not a bobcat. Guess 80-90lbs with about 5lbs of tail.

I am in live oak county as well between george west and alice. We had one on our place right around thanksgiving. Spoke with a totla of 5 ranches in the area and they had all seen it as well from about 4 days prior to thanksgiving until 4 days after and never to be seen again. They do not stick around very long from what i know and heard of them. 9 times out of 10 just passing through.

Hopefully

They say a tom will range 60 square miles, females less around 20 square miles. Young toms are run out of older toms range to look for their own area.