by David Flint
A deer hit by a car may have made a meal for the elusive mountain lion reported to have been seen occasionally in these parts. Eric McCumber, who lives on the old Silvernail farm on Route 22 just north of the village of Stephentown, says that he heard a commotion across the road at about 8:30 pm Sunday evening, April 5. It seems a couple of guys had hit a deer just up the road apiece, and they had stopped to inspect the damage.
They looked around for the deer but couldn’t find it. The damage to their car was not too bad so they continued on their way.
Later that night, about 10:45, Susan Van Emburgh, owner of Pizza Plus in Stephentown, was driving north up the road when she spotted what she thought might be a deer by the left side of the road. As she slowed down and approached closer, the animal decided to scoot across the road right in front of her, and she realized it was not a deer but a very large cat with a long tail. Van Emburgh said it was tawny in color, and she has no doubt that what she saw was a mountain lion. She said she has seen one before, a few years ago on West Road, not too far from the location of this recent encounter. It was walking along the tree line there, and she recalls that it too was a tawny color with a very long tail, quite unlike the short tail that a bobcat has.
The next day, driving down Route 22, Van Emburgh spotted the carcass of a deer on the west side of the highway at the same location where she had encountered the big cat. Something had obviously been feeding on the carcass. The following day and the day after she noticed that the carcass had been dragged up the embankment and then into a corn field, with more parts missing as time went on.
McCumber noticed, too, that the deer kept losing parts as it was dragged further into the corn field. Finally a flock of vultures feasted on what was left. McCumber thinks it plausible that Van Emburgh saw a mountain lion that had had its fill that night and decided to head back into the swamp on the other side of the road. The bears and the moose, he said, have returned to this area, and he thinks it likely that mountain lions could be starting to make a comeback. He said he personally has never seen a mountain lion in this area but he has spoken with at least six trustworthy people who swear that they have. On the other hand, a friend of his whom he considers to be the most competent hunter in the area, does not believe they are here due to the absence of photos, scat or any other evidence.
There have been many other sightings of mountain lions in this area, but so far no one seems to have produced any photographic evidence. Reliable people have reported seeing the big cats in Stephentown on Round Mountain Road, Calvin Cole Road, Sutherland Road and Presbyterian Hill Road. Four-wheelers came across one on the Rutland Railroad bed across from the Valley View Motel. In Berlin one was seen in Satterlee Hollow stalking chickens, and a black one was encountered on Legion Road.
There have also been sightings on Route 20 just east of Nassau and in Wynantskill, Poestenkill and Taborton. A few years ago a horse was reported to have been attacked and killed in the Taborton area with claw and teeth marks apparent on the back of the neck.
In nearby Massachusetts there have been a number of sightings in the areas around Stockbridge Bowl, Interlaken, Monterey and on the Great Barrington-Stockbridge town line.
The mountain lion, also known as cougar, catamount or puma, was once a major predator in eastern North America. By the beginning of the twentieth century they had pretty much been exterminated from this area by early European settlers fearing for their livestock and by the severe reduction of the population of white tailed deer, their favored prey.
According to a fact sheet put out by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, the mountain lion is, next to the jaguar, the largest North American cat. Weights range from 80-225 pounds, averaging 140. Length varies from 5 to 9 feet, including the 26 to 32 inch tail. They have long slender bodies and small, broad, round heads. Ears are short, erect and rounded. The short fur is usually tawny (brownish, red-orange to light brown), more tan in the summer months and grayer during the winter. Cougars are secretive, solitary hunters that feed primarily on white-tailed deer but will also eat smaller game such as opossums, rabbits, mice and even insects if food supplies are limited.