[OSU Storm]

They found this mountain lion about 2 miles from one of my hunting spots. [img]/forum/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

South Dakota lion's trek a testament to the species' resiliency
2004-06-13
By Ed Godfrey
The Oklahoman


Researchers were astonished to learn recently that a wild mountain lion radio collared more than 15 months ago in South Dakota was found dead in Oklahoma.
• Perhaps 25-50 mountain lions live in Oklahoma

The 2 1/2-year-old mountain lion was hit by a train in Noble County and found May 27 by a railroad worker inspecting a section of track.

Mountain lions

Tail: 2 1/2 - 3 feet
Weight: 70 to 170 pounds

The mountain lion is a large, slender cat with a smallish head and noticeably long tail. Its color is light, tawny brown, which can appear gray or almost black, depending on light conditions.

Mountain lions' favorite prey includes deer and wild hogs. They also prey upon rabbits, jackrabbits, javelina and rodents. Some lions occasionally kill livestock or dogs.

Except during the breeding season, mountain lions are solitary animals. They are found mostly in remote areas of the western United States, western Canada and much of Mexico.

But mountain lions appear to be expanding their range across the country.

If you meet a mountain lion

Stay calm. Talk calmly yet firmly to it. Move slowly. Stop or back away slowly. Do not run.


Raise your arms to appear larger. If the lion behaves aggressively, throw stones, branches or whatever you can get your hands on without crouching down or turning your back.
Fight back if a lion attacks. Mountain lions have been driven away by prey that fights back.

Compiled from Texas and Colorado wildlife department Web sites


The animal more than doubled the distance any other mountain lion has been documented to travel, said John Jenks, professor of wildlife and fisheries science at South Dakota State University.

Before the discovery near Red Rock, the longest distance a mountain lion has ever been known to travel was 301 miles, said Jenks, who attended Oklahoma State as a graduate student.

That mountain lion was collared as a cub in the Bighorn Mountains of north central Wyoming and killed west of Denver, he said.

"Had that one not been killed, it may have ended up in Oklahoma," he said.

The South Dakota mountain lion would have traveled 661 miles as the crow flies from where it was collared near Wind Cave National Park, S.D., to Red Rock.

But the cat actually would have traveled a greater distance before making it to Oklahoma, Jenk said.

The last contact researchers had with the mountain lion was Sept. 3, when it was in the Eastern Black Hills of Wyoming.

The mountain lion, and two others in the research study, initially moved northwest into Wyoming. Researchers lost track of other two, but think they continued north.

"God only knows where the other two are," said Dan Thompson, a graduate student at South Dakota State who is conducting the study.

Mountain lions normally travel at night and follow river corridors, but researchers couldn't speculate on what path the cat might have took to Oklahoma from Wyoming.

A global positioning satellite collar could have provided that information, but such collars are expensive and the university couldn't afford them, Jenks said.

Thompson rides in an airplane once a week to try and locates the mountain lions by radio telemetry. He is currently tracking 22, including four kittens.

The research study is to determine the population size, survival rate and dispersal patterns. It's estimated there are 140 mountain lions living in South Dakota's Black Hills.

At a young age, male mountain lions leave their mother and try to find a place of their own to live.

Occasionally, a transient male will fight with a resident dominant male over a home range, Thompson said. The loser, if he is not killed, has to keep moving, he said.

"I can't say why he ended up all the way in Oklahoma, but he was looking for a territory of his own," he said. "It shows how adaptable and resilient they (mountain lions) can be."

Jenks said the wild cat found in Oklahoma essentially was in search of a female mountain lion.

"He surely wasn't going in the right direction to find additional females," Jenks said. "That may be one reason he kept going."

The animal was healthy and had been eating well, weighing 114 pounds. A 2 1/2-year-old mountain lion should weigh about 120 pounds, Jenks said.

Deer is the main source of food for mountain lions and deer was found in the cat's stomach.

The wild cat was just 1 year old and weighed 80 pounds when it was treed with hounds, tranquilized and fitted with a tracking collar on Feb. 24, 2003.

Researchers are confident the mountain lion migrated to Oklahoma on its own. Investigators ruled out the possibility that someone killed the cat and dumped it near Red Rock.

The Oklahoma State College of Veterinary Medicine determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, consistent with the animal being struck by a train. The animal had no gunshot wounds.

An investigator with the Kay County District Attorney's office examined the blood splatter and concluded the animal died at the scene.

Oklahoma game warden Tracy Daniel said there were no vehicle tracks in the area where the animal was found.

"I really doubt it would have jumped a train or could have been transported in a way that no one would have been injured, unless they drugged it somehow," Jenks said.

"The fact the radio collar was still on indicates a low likelihood of foul play."

It's not unusual for wild animals to be hit by trains or other moving vehicles. And while such long migrations by wild animals are rare, they are not impossible.

Just last week, a wolf collared in Yellowstone National Park was found dead near Denver, a trek of about 500 miles.

It is believed the 2-year-old wolf died from being struck by a vehicle on Interstate 70 about 30 miles west of Denver.

Ed Godfrey: 475-3159, egodfrey@oklahoman.com

[bearbasin]

I HAVE HUNTED MOUNTAIN LIONS ALL MY LIFE {41 YEARS}. NOTHING IS TOO MUCH FOR THEM! I HAVE ONLY BEEN THROUGH OKLAHOMA A FEW TIMES BUT THE FACT THAT THE CAT HAD DEER MEAT IN ITS BELLY SHOWS THAT OKLAHOMA HAS A PLACE FOR LIONS ,AND MUCH LIKE HUMANS THE YOUNG MALES ARE ALWAYS SEARCHING FOR A PLACE OF THEIR OWN, WHERE THE GRASS IS NOT ONLY GREENER BUT POSSIBLY ALWAYS GREEN.
I HAVE HUNTED IN NEVADA, AND KNOW OF MALE LIONS WITH THEIR OWN TERRITORY ALREADY SET THAT HAD A RANGE OF 70- 80 MILES NORTH- SOUTH, AND 40- 50 MILES EAST AND WEST.
HERE IN NEW MEXICO ONE MALE LION CAPTURED IN THE WHITE SANDS STUDY NEAR LAS CRUCES WAS RELEASED IN THE VERY NORTHERN PART OF THE STATE, AND WITHIN DAYS HAD RETURNED TO HIS HOME RANGE TO NEVER LEAVE AGAIN UNTIL HIS DEATH.
TRULY AMAZING ANIMALS! THERE IS NOTHING LIKE HUNTING THEM. I DON'T KNOW IF I WOULD STILL BE TOUGH ENOUGH TO HAVE GOTTEN ON THIS ONES TRAIL, AT THE BEGINING OF HIS JOURNEY AND STAYED WITH HIM THOUGH! I HAVE A COUPLE OF HOUNDS THAT PROBABLY WOULD HAVE. SOMETIMES I LOSE TRACKING RANGE OF THEM ALSO. A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO I FOUND MY ONE DOG ICE 3 DAYS AFTER HE WAS RELEASED ON A LARGE MALE LION STILL TREED APPROXIMATELY 25 MILES FROM THE STARTING SPOT.

[DrakeHunter]

I just read your post about the lion found near red rock. I live in Enid and hunt in and around this area. I myself have never seen a lion but have heard many rumors of their existence in this area. I have a really good hunting buddie who is always talking about when we are going to get a story of our own. It has become sort of a joke. On one of the places that I hunt on skeleton creek East of Hennessey there have been rumors for quite some time. I have spent many hours in the woods,(as much as the next hunter or more) but have no sighting. But just like the big buck you never see, we all realize there is a good chance he is or has been there. Good luck with your hunting and thanks for the heads up, Its the first I had heard.