Poll: Have you ever seen ?a mountain lion?

Readers weighed in on their close encounters of the purr'd kind…|

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Whether you call them mountain lions, cougars, panthers or (our favorite) catamounts – pretty much everyone is fascinated by those big, beautiful and very stealth cats that roam the hills of California. Given our recent reporting on the ACR Mountain Lion Project and several sightings this past year of Pumas concolor we thought we’d survey readers as to whether they’d ever seen a mountain lion up, close and purrrrrrsonal.

A guest at our house reported a mountain Lion in our driveway in Glen Ellen. And the next morning we found mountain lion tracks in the mud. This year there should be many more considering with more rain come more plants, more prey and more predators!

A baby ran along the top of my garden wall. I’d heard it crying for its mother who must have been at the other side of a large field beyond the wall. But then I realized it was my neighbor’s mean fat cat named Herbie.

Yes. Twice. Once on a Sunday morning at our home on Sonoma Mountain. The squirrels started making a racket and we looked up and noticed him. He stared at us for a bit and then went on his way. The other time was out my car window on Grove Street on a summer evening. I noticed his tail and stopped. He jumped up on a fence, stared at me, then turned and went on his way.

Walking in the Mountain Cemetery

Twenty years ago on the hillside above Gerhike Road about a mile away.... thought it was a big dog until in turned and dashed for cover and I could see the tail. But within yards of my home at the top of a vineyard in the brush, we regularly find deer bones licked clean. Lost one housecat over the years... but could have been a coyote or owl.

Yes up in the Mission Highlands area

In my 40 years of hiking and jogging trails I have crossed paths with a mountain lion only once. It was in Sycamore Canyon in Southern California. I would love to see another mountain lion.

New Poll

It's June, a romantic time of year (not like that cold and wet February we had...) So we'd like to know, How did you meet your mate? Online? At school? At a party? Take the poll and tell us your story in the Comments.

Take the poll here.

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