Years ago I used to hunt in Crockett County near Iraan as my wife was from there and had family there for years.  Though I never saw any Mountain Lions, it wasn't unusual for the people that lived in the area to see them and I was asked by ranchers to shoot them if I saw one on several occasions.  They can do serious damage to the deer and livestock if the numbers are high.  It would be nice if they could be managed in huntible numbers.

We heard one in Kimble Co a few years back, and although we never saw it we did see its tracks.  I'll never forget the sound either because he was close...about had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.  That one cat decimated the turkey population at that ranch too.  I don't know whether the landdowner ever got him or not - we haven't seen tracks since though so maybe he or someone else did.

One of the ranchers we used to talk to in Terrell County told me at one time there actually was a federal hunter in that area, and that over a period of 3 years he took over 40 cougars.  Now that might be just 'rancher talk', but I worked south of Sheffield for a while and saw a lot of sign in those canyons, so there might be some truth to the tale.  Sheep are about all that's raised in that country, and since sheep are a pretty easy target (i.e. dumb as a box of rocks) for a cougar that'd be a pretty good place to live!

around here, they say that if you see one then chances are they are getting overpopulated.

they are pretty elusive. we'd see cat tracks all the time in the az desert. We'd be walkin around, and then we'd come back to the same spot, like backtracking, and see the tracks goin the same way we were headed. kinda creepy, but we were all strapped so it made us feel a little better....

"Let Your Light so Shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matt. 5:16)