"Ken Fortenberry" wrote


Here in Illinois we've had numerous cougar sightings that the
experts pooh-pooh, but they can't dismiss actual cougar corpses.
The first was found hit by a train in Randolph County (SW IL) in


my insurance agent is a hound man ( his father, now dead, was an avid fly
fisher and that is how they became "my" insurance agents ) and he tells me
that it isn't difficult to tree several cougars a day within 50 miles of
Oakdale, where I live. It's illegal to harm them, but he runs them with
his dogs, I assume legally. We have a friend that won't let her young (
toddler ) daughter out of the house alone ... they have cougar tracks in the
yard constantly and regular sightings. They are up the hill about 20
miles and in an area one would expect cougars to inhabit. We are right
where the valley turns to foothills and agro-urban sprawl becomes big winter
grazing ranch land, but still in the flat and irrigated, here.