This afternoon I went hiking at the Falls Mills area – love my Leki
hiking poles - and then I did a charcoal drawing of the falls. A good day!
However, what peaked my interest beside the falls was the discovery of what looked like a tier 1 (beside
man) predator tracks. The WV wildlife site says there are black bears and cougars/mountain lions in the state although
they have the cougar as extirpated. But I’m pretty sure these were cougar tracks in the snow. I remember
those tracks from my time at the Grand Canyon* and considering the terrain and the availability of deer this is a perfect
place for one. Hmmn. You know I thought I heard one late one evening last week and that’s when I went to
the state wildlife site to check if they were here.
Actually,
except for here I’m not going to mention this to any neighbors - what’s the likelihood that they’ll be reading
my blog? If a cougar is here, it should remain protected and left alone.
*I spent two or three afternoons a week from June through August with potential Jr. Rangers pressing
plaster casts of animal paw prints (mountain lion included) into wet sand. Also while leading a family nature hike we
found mountain lion/cougar tracks in wet clay and then several young people found the hidden scat – mountain lions/cougars
hide their scat – which confirmed the owner of the tracks.
