Bill Cochran is a Roanoke Times outdoors columnist.

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Bill Cochran's Outdoors

Recent columns

• Hunters and anglers still in the conservation business
• Drum fishing on Virginia’s Coast comes in two colors
• Elk advocate finally gets his day
• Turkeys are plentiful, so why are hunting regulations so tight fisted?
• Column archive

Bill's Mailbag

• Remembering A. Willis Robertson
• Putting down a bear cub brings complaint
• Mail archive

Bill's Field Reports

• Eagles are up; black rail are down
• A. Willis Robertson great name for new DGIF headquarters
• Field reports archive

Resources

• Trout stocking schedule

BILL: Nice piece (on “Another cougar convert: This time it’s my wife.”).

BILL: On Tuesday, the Eastern Puma Research Network received a report on a mountain lion crossing West Va. 92 north of Frost in Pocahontas County. It was a fleeting sighting, as the puma didn’t stop for its picture to be taken and was loping across the road, as felines do.

Jim Wilson near Mounteville, W.Va., has occasional reports called or sent to him from witnesses who know what animal they are seeing.

Perhaps one day you will be roaming your farm on foot when a “released/escaped” puma will suddenly emerge from the underbrush, like its chops and think you may be its dinner. Very few native “wild” pumas have been proven as dangerous to humans over the past 125 years. That primarily occurs in released or escaped cougars, whose owners have treated them badly over the years and the cat is out for revenge on any human.

There are many events happening in Pennsylvania, Maryland and other areas of West Virginia. Many new sightings are being reported along the Blue Ridge Parkway from the Peaks southward. New reports also along Skyline Drive that are reliable. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries announced on its website 130-plus sightings in 29 counties, but refusing to investigate any. This has only thrown confusion on the issue, but that is how state/federal wildlife agencies want to keep the public -- confused on the issue.

BILL: When I was a kid growing up in Roanoke I remember some news about sheep being killed near Iron Gate. If I remember correctly it would have been about 1968. I think the Roanoke newspaper called it the “Iron Gate Monster.”

Thanks for the interesting article of what you and your wife saw.

BILL: Lord, I’d loved to have been in that car with you and Katherine. I’d have paid admission to have been there.

BILL: I agree with Mrs. C.

BILL: When I was a kid growing up in Roanoke I remember some news about sheep being killed near Iron Gate, Va. If I remember correctly it would have been about 1968. I think the Roanoke newspaper called it the “Iron Gate Monster”. This may be old news you are already aware of.

Thanks for the interesting article of what you and your wife saw