Wild New Jersey Exclusive: Cougars in New Jersey? Find out this Saturday at High Point State Park
Photo credit: EasternCougar,org/Susan C. Morse
A lecture by the
Eastern Cougar Foundation,
The search for the eastern cougar is one of the great riddles in North American natural history. Despite thousands of sightings from Maine to Mississippi , only a dozen confirmations have emerged east of the Mississippi River during the past generation. Members of the Eastern Cougar Foundation have conducted sanctioned remote camera surveys in seven states while soliciting reports for a decade without logging a single piece of confirmed evidence.
ECF president Christopher Spatz has run remote camera surveys at High Point State Park, NJ and at Minnewaska State Park Preserve, NY. Including a review of cougar biology and behavior, Chris will discuss his survey findings, explain why sightings don’t produce evidence, and how restorations of this magnificent predator are imperative for the recovery of critically declining eastern forests.
Posted by WILDNEWJERSEY at 6/22/2009 2:00 PM 
Categories: Events and Premieres
Tags: High Point State Park cub cougar eastern cougar
Categories: Events and Premieres
Tags: High Point State Park cub cougar eastern cougar
You should check out Keasbey, NJ. I heard there were cougar sightings along the Raritan River.
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I live in Rockaway NJ, near Wild Cat ridge. I bar-tend in a small establishment. I was scared when I took the trash out one night, a large tan, long tailed cat jumped out of the dumpster. It looked to be about 80 pounds. It was dark and about 25 feet away. I'm addicted to the nature channels and know the difference between wild cats. My guess is there is probably one mountain lion that escaped as a former pet.
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I heard there was a cougar sighting in White Meadow Lake over the weekend. The cops were running around with shotguns. They are trying to keep it quiet. True story, ask around.
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I live in northern ocean county and was hiking Alone in JAN. 2010 near the bald eagle nest near the Manasquan Reservoir. A large and tan cat confronted me and I froze. The 100 lb and 5 ft long cat lunged at me and as it went over me I saw it was male and reached out and grabbed its genitalia and it screamed and I ran. I looked back as I ran and he was motioning for me to return and blowing me kisses. I kept running.
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If this tall tale were even remotely true, you'd be dead. Coming from a guy who used to live in NJ but now lives in a state where hunting mountain lions doesn't even require a permit...I would know.
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a woman was mauled a few years back in vernon and it didn't make the paper for a reason, the state dosen't want people to freak out with good reason... a person is smart, but people are dumb.
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while driving up route 515 in vernon, n.j. a few days ago (may 23, 2010) i saw what appeared to be a cougar who ran from the edge of route 515 into the woods. it stopped briefly to look at me and then disappeared. i did notify the vernon police, and shared my story with a few locals ..i am not from the areA BUT I WILL BE MOVING TO VERNON SOON!
i also saw a young black bear that day in wawayanda park! i'm so angry that i lost my camera!
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I just wanted to let someone know what I saw. My friend and I were bow hunting in the Catskills in the Bear Spring Mountain park area early November 2009. We were walking down a trail when we saw what we thought was a deer. about 100 yards away. The trail we were walking on was about 5' wide enough for two men and gear to walk side by side.
As we looked the animal started to look different the body was fuller the color was a golden color not the grayish color the deer have at that time of the year. The animal spotted us and it crouched down for a second then bolted into the woods. The one thing that sticks out in my mind was the tail long and bushy. The animal leaped just very different than a deer.
I wished I had my camera out but had my bow in hand.
I asked the owner of the cabins we were staying in about the sighting. He stated that there were some cougar sightings a year or so ago but nothing recent.
I am 48 years old and have been hunting from the age of 13.
I know what i saw and it was not a deer.
I would be more than happy to discuss this with anyone.
Thanks,
Kelly Dickinson
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I swear I saw a cougar while hiking on the AT yesterday (4.7.10). I was on Backpacker Magazine's "New York City: High Point" hike, and when I was about a 1/4 of a mile from the trail head on my return I saw from about 75 feet away, a roughly 60 lb golden creature in the trail that looked up and immediately sprinted down the trail and then into the woods. It ran fluidly and had a round head, and a real tail, unlike deer. I looked for prints, but the ground wasn't soft enough, and walked the last 1/4 mile very quietly (as if that would do the trick) but I didn't see it again.
On my drive home I told a family friend who works for a NJ environmental group but he said that there were none in NJ. I'm convinced it was a cougar.
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On 7/31/10 driving south on Route 15 Expressway just south of Sparta a Brownish looking 70 or so pound what looked like a big cat came streaking across the north bound lanes without hesitation it continued across the south bound lanes in front of my car and leaped over the guard rail to the right (west side of expressway) and was gone. My mind tried to tell me I saw something else, but the head was round and cat like. Had a long tail and ran like the big hunting cats. It timed its run perfectly across the road in between traffic batches
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I live in Lafayette NJ my backyard is
Sparta NJ & I am responding to Gerald Goldchein's article "citing of a big
cat" which I saw also on the same day.
On 7/3l/10 I did my gardening & about
7:30 PM I wanted to take a look at a dying tree so I drove by in my car & in my front yard resting on the grass was what looked like about 80lb cat golden-yellow, very muscular with a long tail
a beautiful creature (was not a dog &
was not a coyote,had a round head I
know the difference) I was in my car
roughly 20-25 feet away & got a good look at it After a few moments he darted into the woods. I did call the
State Police.
Arlene Molnar
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I live in East Windsor, Mercer County, NJ and I have been hearing this screeching growling sound since last winter. it happened again last night and i looked up different sounds and it sounds like a cougar. Can anyone help me?
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Cougar aren't known to be vocal cats except during the act of mating. Mama cougar are known to purr to their kits but they don't yowl or screach like some people think they do. They may make low articulationsin their throat and snorts but nothing that would be audible to humans unless you were fool enough to be behind a bush next to one. They're actually quiet creatures. The post before yours mentioning the twp police covertly hunting one rumored to be in the area, man that just pisses me off. They follow deer populations & tide themselves over in between weekly big kills with small animal snackage. Not likely if there is one there it would prey upon a human.
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I grew up over the 60's-70's in the Wildcat Ridge area in the last groupings of homes. We had on occasion, seen Couger/Puma about once per season. Usually spring and summer. Us kids ran all through the wood, almost every day and was never bothered or approached by a cougar. We did nothing to attract them, and left them alone. They were no trouble at all. We never had a close call or was chased, etc.
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It is sad to read how uneducated people are when it comes to Mountain Lions. @Holly, you are so right. Sometimes they are vocal if in a tree with small game and there is something else trying to take it from them. I've heard that right outside my window. But a the other sounds could be anything. If anyone has heard a fox, they have the most chilling strange call during mating season. When they are seeking a mate it's a strange call that people could think is a big cat. Heard fox calls 2/20/12 last night.
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April 22,2012. 1130 pm on a stormy night, my girlfriend and I were driving north on 515 just a little bit north of route 23 in Sussex County. A large cat like animal crossed the road in front of us, with some kind of dead animal in it's mouth. I had to slow down so as not to hit it and we got a good look at it in the headlights for 4 seconds. I would guess it was around 100 pounds, light tan in color and no markings. We live in Vernon and hike and bike the woods frequently and have had numerous encouters with wildlife, including black bears and coyotes, so we know what they look like. What we saw was without a doubt a very large cat, striding across like a true predator. It did not look like any of the photos I have seen of the smallish bobcats that are known to be in this area. Very cool to have seen this. How they got here may be a mystery, but they are definately here. Pete
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Pete, thanks so much for your comment. Sounds like an amazing encounter. And I can tell you that I have heard of many similar encounters among folks living in the Sussex County area...
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