Big cat

At 12:00 noon today my son was heading east out of Marshall on rt40. Towards the top of Livingston hill on the right by the cemetery he saw a big cat like people have said they have seen in this area on motion cameras. He said it was the size of his siberian husky but longer with a long tail and light brownish tan color. He said it was a shock to see it so close up. I had a friend see a similar big cat on rt1 at West York back in the early 90's. It was draging a small deer across the hiway on the curve, but in was at night.

Big Daddio wrote:

At 12:00 noon today my son was heading east out of Marshall on rt40. Towards the top of Livingston hill on the right by the cemetery he saw a big cat like people have said they have seen in this area on motion cameras. He said it was the size of his siberian husky but longer with a long tail and light brownish tan color. He said it was a shock to see it so close up. I had a friend see a similar big cat on rt1 at West York back in the early 90's. It was draging a small deer across the hiway on the curve, but it was at night.

I just talked to my son again and he said the big cat crossed the hiway in front of him going north into the woods while he was going east up Livingston hill. He again said, it was big and long bodied, with a long tail.

Big Daddio wrote:

<quoted text>After looking at pictures on the pc, my son is positive that what he saw is referred to as a puma, cougar, or mtn lion. He say's it was lean, long bodied, and had a massive long tail. He could see it's shoulder blades go up around the head as it walked. The state used to get rid of road kill real close to this location. I don't know if they still do, but if so that would be a food source.

Pretty rare sighting, and in the middle of the day.

Actually I've seen a black one within the last 4 years but it was more up in the Douglas Twp area. Black ones have been seen along the Wabash riverbottoms from Wabash twp down to York Twp. We had a landlord that used to regularly go out west to hunt cougars. When he was taken to prints that were found at a sighting location he confirmed it as those of a cougar. Maybe we have some darker ones living in the area.

The one I saw ran in front of a hedgepost and I noted where the cat came to heightwise on the post. After I worked up my nerve I walked to the post. The height of the cat would be about that of a German Shepard but it had the very very long tail and it ran like a cat. I don't talk about it much because a lot of locals think those of us who have seen these cats are crazy.

Twinkletoes wrote:

Actually I've seen a black one within the last 4 years but it was more up in the Douglas Twp area. Black ones have been seen along the Wabash riverbottoms from Wabash twp down to York Twp. We had a landlord that used to regularly go out west to hunt cougars. When he was taken to prints that were found at a sighting location he confirmed it as those of a cougar. Maybe we have some darker ones living in the area.
The one I saw ran in front of a hedgepost and I noted where the cat came to heightwise on the post. After I worked up my nerve I walked to the post. The height of the cat would be about that of a German Shepard but it had the very very long tail and it ran like a cat. I don't talk about it much because a lot of locals think those of us who have seen these cats are crazy.

My son was shocked the other day when he saw the big cat. He figured it was as tall as his siberian husky, but it's body was very long and it had a massive long tail. He got a very good look at it as it walked from the middle of rt40 and into the woods. It's head was kinda down, and its shoulder blades moved up and down alot. So weird to be so close to town, and at noon. He said it walked, and did not run into the woods, and was out of site.

the big cats have been seen and found in southern IL. and the ones found dead were studied and thought to be native to the area. there is plenty of food for them up here and they do have a very broad range that they are known to travel, especially a male. you would think hunters would see one once and a while, but the cats are no doubt very aware of their surroundings and go undetected. makes you think about being in the woods mushroom hunting without a weapon, huh. i go to the woods quite a bit and have heard what i thought was a big cat, but i have never even seen a bobcat in deep woods. i have seen them more close to the edge of the woods, even going through a yard close to woods, on the move. i did hear of someone seeing a large cat dragging a fawn across a road one night south of Marshall.