yup... and been stalked by something much scarier than a cougar out at red sands just out of el paso <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />.
here in utah, you can hunt cougars with permit... or put one down if your threatened. theres quite a few of them around here, and they go after humans on a regular basis. as for wolves theyre here as well, not officially confirmed but i know people that have seen them. theyve been migrating down from the jellystone & sawtooth packs.

So urban sprawl is to blame now?

The fact is, people are having less children then ever, my parents come from the baby boomer era of 5+ children. I come from the generation where 3 children is seem as outrageous. Its not the fact that more people are being born, its that less people are dying, modern medicine and assorted safety technologies have extended the mean life expectency to 80+ where as in the pre 50's people on average lived to a max of 70, and the percentage of infant mortality was much higher. Added to more safety in homes, business', and on the road, more people are living healthier and longer, and need places to live.

Now if you wanted to go further, you could factor in that families are no longer living in the same houses for generations, with several parts of the family all living under one roof. Instead people are building houses younger, or moving into apartment and condo complexs, with more and more going out on their own, more buildings are needed, to build the building more forest's need to be cut down, more factories built to supply the people.

Dont get me wrong, by all means more people can stop breeding, there are many gene pools I'd love to see ended. By no means do I mean yours, so please dont take offense.

Now I'm too lazy to go back and proof read all of that, so much of it may not entirely make sense, but I think my overal point was laid out.

Nick <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

I'm QUITE content knowing that when I'm sneaking around in the woods in the dark to hunt deer, that nothing is hunting me! lol Those cats are amazing.

Stony -

You might be surprised to know what's stalking you.

As a young'un I spent a lot of time in the swamps and woods with firearms..... many times alone. I heard stories about wild turkeys but I never saw one - much less bagged one - but now 50 years later the state is overrun with them and I've seen them sauntering down the median or sitting beside the road along I-26.... first time I saw that I just about had a wreck.

50 years ago I would hear stories about swamp cats that were blamed for the loss of livestock and small pets, but never saw one. There were times alone in the swamps that I would get that eerie sense of being stalked, though - something you often can't be sure if it's real or imagined until you find evidence - and I never did. When it happens to you every hair stands on end and your sense of hearing is greatly magnified to the point where your own footsteps sound nearly deafening.

I suspect we still have some of those swamp cats - Florida panthers/pumas/mountain lions, actually - and I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear they were also in West Virginia:

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

There were supposedly the natural color and black panthers - the Carolina Panthers NFL team uses the black one for a symbolic mascot.

Frank

i dont think theres really alot spots deep in the woods or mountains in any state where there isnt something there that wants to eat you. the only thing that puts us at the top of food chain when were out in the woods is our boomstick. up in idaho, where my grandpartents live, theyve got a wild dog problem... they cant even leave their house at night without said boomstick without risk of being attacked. seeing it first hand, its truly amazing how brazingly fearless of us they are. needless to say, its always open season on ferrile dogs...

Gee thanks Frank...tomorrow morning at 4:30 a.m. I'm SURE I'll be wondering if you're right and there's a cougar in the swamp...funny how your imagination can work when you're alone in the dark, isn't it?
You know, Big Foot has been spotted several times near my hometown. I'll never forget the time, 20 years ago, that I dropped to my knees in 15" of snow, making the most pathetic noise I've ever heard as my breathe was involuntarily exhaled in a pure terror....dropped my .50 cal rifle into the snow...I had been climbing a very steep bank, and it was almost dark...I thought Big Foot had me...three ruffled grouse and I almost shiznitmyself.

Stony, your a little skiddish for a hunter <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> I know the feeling, a little screech owl showed me who was boss in the dark one time.

LMAO...I hear ya' man. I'm not nearly so bad anymore...that was 20 years ago. I just hope no one sees me when we get the occaisional bat in my house...damn I hate bats. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/scared.gif" alt="" />

I was in the swamp once and had that "feeling" - stopped - looked all around - listened real carefully - saw/heard nothing.... just when I thought it was ok, glanced overhead and on the tree branch a foot above me was the biggest snake I'd ever seen - gut about 10" thick from the rabbit he'd swallowed. I still have flashbacks from it.

Used to walk 6' deep x 4' wide drainage ditches with underbrush growing from the sides - don't know why I did that except they were there - once came face-to-face with a copperhead and didn't walk drainage ditches any more.

I've had moccasins drop in the canoe while floating down the river - nothing like jumping out of the boat into their domain, flippin' em outta the canoe with a paddle into the water with you and then scrambling back into the canoe.... think it was the only time I could walk on water.

It's also a lot of fun to leave a wooden john boat pulled halfway out of a pond and go back next week to go fishing... as you push the boat back into the water and just about to jump in, there'll often be a moccasin where the boat was - trying to get into the fish well through the holes in the bottom that flood the well - but as now you've moved toward the water (pushing the boat) and the boat moves away you're standing nearly on top of the snake you couldn't see until it's in your face - amazing how quickly you can jump in a boat. Apparently they smell the odor from the fish well and think they can get an easy meal. I've even found them inside the fish well - nasty surprise.... heard of one fellow that just about beat his boat to pieces with the paddle trying to kill a snake. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/baby.gif" alt="" />

Frank

Yeah, those who choose to raise children are pretty greedy. I mean, who wouldn't enjoy buying food, carseats, swim lessons, and college for someone other than their all- benevolent selves? And what could be more selfish than having someone who will grow up to foot the bill for those barren Gen BB, X, Y, ect. who took up the trendy low impact life only to live 15% longer, and 300% whinier.

Hopefully thanks to the continuing outcry of those selfless folks, euthanasia will be the norm by then and then we can put ALL the money where thier mouth is. With no one to speak for them otherwise <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/evil.gif" alt="" />

The population control argument falls on it face anywhere in the world it has been tried with sometimes dire, always long lasting consequences. There's no denying its about greed. And if it isn't then you first. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ignore.gif" alt="" />