Could swear I saw this cat last week

[Boogieman]

Do You know how to skin a porcupine ------------ Very carefully

[abunaitoo]

That is a strange looking cat.
Could it be a cross breed????
How big was it????

[Ithaca Gunner]

Porcupine is good eating!

You know, as kids we tried eating anything we shot, porcupine we didn't. After pulling quills out of our dog's snoot, we decided to let that culinary experience pass. We did however try raccoon, that was terrible! Everything else we shot or caught was at least edible, fish, foul, or critter.

[MrWolf]

That is a strange looking cat.
Could it be a cross breed????
How big was it????

Slightly larger than a large house cat. It was longer an leaner. First thing that made me say that ain't a cat was the tail. Long and substantial and the darker coloring really threw me. Light brown, tan, etc I would have thought possibly young mountain lions which have been seen in the area but not acknowledged by DNR. That picture is basically identical to what I saw but could not be based upon the description. I will call the DR tomorrow to see if anyone else has seen something like that. It was pretty cool to see it run across the road from woods to woods.

[dale2242]

A young cougar slightly larger than a house cat would still have spots.

[MrWolf]

I called my local DNR yesterday. Kinda started off on wrong foot when guy made a statement that there are no mountain lions here and I laughed at him. If anyone from WV has pics or footage please let me know. Anyway, I went in to describe what I saw and said I know it can't be but I saw a jaguarundi based upon the picture and description I found on the internet. Silence. He then said a few months ago they got a call about one in Berkeley Springs (not really that far from where I saw it) and it had escaped from a private residence and that he actually saw it himself. My credibility went up a bit after that and I told him I also had a pic of a Paw print from a mountain lion when I first moved here 4 1/2 years ago. Said it was larger than my pocket knife which was about 4 1/2" closed. He said it could have been a really large bobcat but I could tell he wasn't as sure of himself with all the degrees he told me he had. Was an interesting conversation.

[Gator 45/70]

There's always that one common theme these sheepskin toting Wildlife ''experts'' fall back on every time they can't explain something....

Musta been someone's pet that got out??? Every single one of em' in every state holler's ''Pet musta got out''

[MostlyLeverGuns]

I have skinned a porcupine, killed in horse pen, horse had a couple quills in nose. The carcass smelled like turpentine, probably from eating pine and spruce bark, lived at 8700 feet in Colorado at the time. Porcupines are most places that have trees.

[Walks]

Saw one of these down below the Border when White Wing shooting back in the late 1960's. It was fresh skinned out. The Mexican Cowboys would shoot them with .22's.

[Hickok]

I called my local DNR yesterday. Kinda started off on wrong foot when guy made a statement that there are no mountain lions here and I laughed at him. If anyone from WV has pics or footage please let me know. Anyway, I went in to describe what I saw and said I know it can't be but I saw a jaguarundi based upon the picture and description I found on the internet. Silence. He then said a few months ago they got a call about one in Berkeley Springs (not really that far from where I saw it) and it had escaped from a private residence and that he actually saw it himself. My credibility went up a bit after that and I told him I also had a pic of a Paw print from a mountain lion when I first moved here 4 1/2 years ago. Said it was larger than my pocket knife which was about 4 1/2" closed. He said it could have been a really large bobcat but I could tell he wasn't as sure of himself with all the degrees he told me he had. Was an interesting conversation.

I live in the Canaan/Blackwater Falls area of WV, within 3 miles of Davis WV, the highest incorporated town in WV. I could have told you exactly what the DNR/gamewardens would say about your report.

Years ago when the coyotes started to move into WV, the game wardens would stand toe to toe with some of us, and positively state there were NO coyotes in WV. They said we were seeing wild dogs. Today the coyotes are everywhere.

Mention mountain lions, and the DNR/game-wardens will tell you that what you are seeing is feral cats, or large bobcats.

There are positively mountain lions in West Virginia. I worked at a coal-cleaning plant that was ten stories high. We all had fm personal radios we wore for communication. One of the guys in the plant squawked on the radio, "Look at that mountain lion in the field!" Sure enough, 8 men got to see the mountain lion walk slowly from the field and into the trees.

It was NOT a big house cat,...it was not a bobcat..(bobcats don't have a long tail), and it was not figment of the imagination.

I have also seen cougar foot prints in soft dirt and in mud. Like you state, they put down a big paw print...no mistaking the print.

Have many friends who roam the woods and hunt like I do, and they too have seen cougars.

I don't trust anything the WV DNR or game-wardens in our state say about coyotes, cougars, etc. Past experience of being born and raised in these mountains for 66 years.

[MrWolf]

Like I said I laughed at him when he said no mountain lions. Probably should have paused for a second or two but oh well. When a rancher tells me they have seen them and I have found a footprint, I tend to believe my neighbors over someone with "numerous degrees" as he put it. Gonna have to put out a game camera one of these days. Been awhile since I was really out and about on my property.