While deer hunting this rifle season I came across a nice nine point buck dead near a beaver meadow in Smithfield Township, Bradford Co. The buck had ben dead for a couple of days. The strange thing is that it looked as if something had ripped all his hair out and sprinkled it back all over the body. I was told that cougars will do this to maybe hide there kill. Does anyone have any info on this subject ?
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Coyotes do that, we wounded a mule deer in Wyoming once, found it the next morning, the butt was eaten out and the hair was put back on top of the dinner area. The buck had died with its head curled back as if to watch the coyotes have there way with him. The bite marks were small needle type teeth, and the dog's footprints gave them away also.
A cougar would have moved the kill if physically capable of doint it. Lot of predators cover the prey until they can come back for a second course.
Method of kill is more important, and you didn't mention that. Coyotes and most wild canines usually pull animals down from the rear by ham-stringing them, and commence feeding before the animal prey is dead. Cougars and most large cats go for the throat and kill by suffocation or dismemberment. They may pull an animal down from the rear, but they will eventually go for the jugular region. Ripped or bloody throat, could be a coyote too, but usually there will be damage to the rear quarters too. Throated kill, cougar.
That sounds like a mountain lion kill.Bobcats do exactly the same thing(I have photos of a couple bobcat kills),but I doubt if a bobcat would tackle a deer that size.The cats pluck a lot of hair off before they cut into it and start eating.After eating,they rake up ground litter from all around the carcass to cover it.A lot of the hair that was plucked out will end up covering the kill.The cat will be back if it's not all finished up.He will lay up not too far from the kill.If you know anyone with a game camera,you should be able to get pictures.If it's legal to kill one in your state,you could try sneaking into the kill three hours before dark and sitting quietly as far back from the kill as you can get and still see it.I found a kill in late November this year and got the cat to show itself twice by blowing a predator call.It was never close enough for a shot and didn't come to the kill while I was there,but it sure was neat to get a glimpse of it.I know a guy that killed a big tom by watching a kill in the evening.They will visit the kill during the day ,but evening is prime time.If you use a predator call.
,expect the cat to sneak in very slowly-may take up to an hour and they have great eyes and ears.You've found a really cool thing.What state are you in?If you have any doubters in you're area that cats are around get a trail camera on that kill!
I forgot to say,usually the first thing a cougar does is open up the chest and eat the heart ,liver and lungs.That's a tip-off.After that,they work the hind quarters and shoulders.Also you have to be mindful that a bobcat will feed on a dead deer,hunter killed or otherwise and pluck hair and cover in this manner.It often takes some close scutiny to figure out exactly what took place,but the clues will be there.Cur is right also ,the big cats will bite the throat and large punctures should be present.There are often cuts from the claws on the face where the cat dug in while biting the throat.
As Cur stated, a cougar is going to move the kill. EVERY TIME. Coyotes, foxes, domestic dogs, all do what you describe. Also, I don't ever recall seeing any predator eat the heart and liver FIRST. The large predators can't digest vegetable matter, but desperately need it to survive. So to satisfy this need, they usually eat the butt out of an animal first and then eat the intestines where partially digested vegetable matter is available. THEN they get around to the hind quarters and work they way inward. Next time you watch a pride of lions on National Geographic, tell me exactly where the point of attack centers and where dinner is first served.
cougars do usually move a kill.Who says this kill wasn't moved to the spot where it was found?I am still not convinced that this isn't a dead deer that was found and fed on by a bobcat.What to look for in this case is that after a few days of feeding it becomes apparent that the animal is feeding on the hindquarters and shoulder that are reachable without flipping the carcass,which it can,t.I live in mountain lion country and see kills every year.I have done a lot of predator control work here too and almost yearly have to release mountain lions that get caught in bobcat sets.Mountain lions do open the chests of the kill right away to get the heart liver and lungs.I guess you can't say always,but probably 90% of the time.Leopards handle kills differently than lions and jaguars different than leopards.Are you saying that by watching African lions on TV you know what cougars do on a kill?In this country when you find a kill you have to determine whether it was a lion,a bear(black or grizzly),wolf or coyote.Each one of these predators handle a kill differently and the signs are there to tell you who did it if you know what to look for.I can put you in touch with our local ,Federal government trapper whose job it is to determine what predator killed what,and then take them out if the situation warrants it.These guys know there stuff and learned it from first hand experience.You give a lot of really sound advice on here George and I respect you for it,but if I were going to argue about a subject like this,I would want to have a little more first hand knowledge and a little less conjecture.Take care.
Just to make sure my recall was working, I checked some abstracts regarding cougar killing and feeding habits. First of all, only one instance of a cougar killing by disembowling has ever been recorded, and that was in 1922 by Bruce, and later refuted by Robinette, et al in 1959.
In a study of mountain lion kills by Robinette, et al (1959) 15 kill drag distances were measured with an average distance of 93 meters (305 feet). According to researchers, mountain lions usually eat the liver, heart, and lungs first through an opening made in the rib cage. Intestines and stomach are removed and eaten only when the cat is extremely hungry. All kills are covered with debris and any hair placed would be by incidence, not plan.
The lion usually returns to the kill in cold weather after resting for one or two days following the initial feeding. Sometimes the carcass is moved and covered again after the second feeding. A mountain lion seldom returns to a kill in warm weather, since they will not feed on spoiled meat. Some scientists think that disembowling may be done instinctively since the exposed entrails would attract flies and carrion eating birds, delaying their attraction to the meat.
Mountain lions have also been observed grazing on grasses and plant matter, sometimes for moderately long periods. Bogue and Ferrari (1974), after examining scat, estimated that eating grasses may serve to reduce the lion's intestinal tract parasite load.
Most kills are made and evidenced by a bite to the rear of the neck or at the throat, as mentioned. All deer kills are made in that manner.
Most of the DOG kills are disembowled. Domestic dogs have taken down horses and cattle not foals and calves but full grown older established animals without weakness.
I have a habit of killing dogs that are running loose because of this happening.
Many times I have seen foo-foo poodles and dachshunds running in packs that had german shepards and rotties in it.
My bet is a pack of domestic or feral dogs.
puke up hair balls.
Multiflora rose has an acid that is a pretty strong natural vermifuge. We all know about acorns and tannic acid as an internal vermifuge. There are no doubt more.....seems the animals always seem to know what they are.
I got drunk one time and got the munchies. Couldn't find any thing else lying around the girlfriend's apartment but some cat food, so I ate it. Spent the rest of the weekend coughing up hair balls.
almost sounds suspicious. What was the source of the hair?
Tell girl friend to quit wasting good money on those hair ball formula cat foods, and just give 'em popped popcorn, and left over green beans (French style preferred, Blue Lake at that). In a pinch grass will work, but they have to gnaw it off themselves.
Problem is, we humans can handle the popcorn and green beans. Another problem we humans have is trying to swallow grass with out all those blasted little barbs getting caught in the throat.
We're going to have to figure out some way to keep you from retaining hair balls. I sure would hate for your duodenum to get plugged up.
Anyone have any ideas as to what we could possibly use to make cur puke?
Darn, I just reread your post, you said you were coughing them up. Hairy lungs is some thing I've never dealt with. This is taxidermy.net, and surely there is someone that can help you shoot those hair balls through the old trachea.
Everything you describe sounds right on from my observations.Nice work.