jaguars in az

[the breeze]

saw the az daily star tue. 10/19 edition. they say 3 diferant jaguar remote camera pics since 9/25. i am betting unit southern 36 b in the lobo tank area. any other guesses?

www.dailystar.com/dailystar/dailystar/44062.php

Edited January 1, 1970 by the breeze

[KGAINES]

I read about them also, I don't know where these were, but as I have mentioned before I seen one in 35a east of parker canyon lake in sunnyside canyon.

[treestandman1]

Wow Keith,

 

I've never heard of anyone seeing one b4. What time of day was it? How close was it? Did you get a good look or was it fleeting.?

[the breeze]

that parker canyon area is oak that would be consistant with the article

[.270]

there are still a few around. one of the klumps from over around bowie got busted with a couple mounted ones a few years back. the game and fish have been catching a few on trail cameras. one of the ol' lion hunters, seems like maybe by the name of glen, caught one with his hounds and videod it some years back. they worry me. they're a great animal and it's a shame there aren't more of em, but we're on the very northern edge of their range and it's shrinking. i'm just afraid that the epa or some other hugger organization will use them, or the lack of them, as a tool to further restrict hunting. they've been hinting about it for some time. shutting down about everything is SE Az. to make a sort of jaguar sanctuary. my grandad's brother was a gov't trapper from the '20's until the 60's. he saw everything there ever was too see. he said there were never very many jags. he caught a couple in over 40 years, but said their were just not many at all, even years ago. we're just a little too far north. sorta like the problems they're having getting the masked bobwhite to take on the buenos aires. just too far north.

[bullwidgeon]

My guess is up in Brown or Thomas canyons in the Baboquivaris. I saw a track once a little South of there. These desert lions just do not get as big as the track I saw .

 

Bret M.

Edited January 1, 1970 by bullwidgeon

[COUESAZ]

My cousin has a picture of one at a distance you can not make out the spots very well but he said it was good old unit 36. They have had black panthers in the san pedro river in St David Az also. A guy killed one about 12 years ago and was find up the wazoo. Do not forget about the Bigfoot that is running around too. THAT ONE I WILL SHOOT.

[Rembrant]

Jags are awesome. The only N. American "roaring cat".

Ticks me off that the burros are Federally protected.

Mike

[300 wsm]

I know a guy up here in pinetop that killed one back in the 60's while varmint calling. He called it in somewhere up in unit 1 near reservation lake. He has a rug from it, it was the last legal one killed in Az.

[KGAINES]

Me and my brother had made it back to our truck and were headed back to camp just before dark, I seen something coming through the brush toward the road, I thought it was a bobcat, I bailed out of the truck and popped a round in and it jumped right in front of the truck, I was about ten yards away, the first thing I noticed was a long tail and spots, it was as big as a mountain lion so it was pretty young, I am scrambling to get back in the truck with my brother screaming at me to get in, it kind of walked to the edge of the road and jumped into a tree, it looked at us for about 30 more seconds then jumped down and took off, the funny thing was when it jumped into the road my brother hit the headlights to the truck and I don't know if thats what froze it, but it helped me get the heck outa there.

We did call the jaguar number in the regulations and made a report.

Lark, I think there are very few in AZ and they are known to migrate 500 miles or so, so the population has probably been stable for the last century, so I think you are right, we are the extreme edge of their range and them making a sanctuary for them isn't going to change that. We probably have more respect for them than the people that would wan't to make a sanctuary anyways, what would they do buy some from mexico, breed them until they had a few and then release them and say they were re-introducing them, hand fed cats. It sounds like we already have them so they need to leave well enough alone

[az4life]

I was watching the news last night ans sow the game camera photos. Singles and at least 1 picture had a pair in it. I recall about 2 years ago the AZGFD publishing a story about having a research study on Jaguars in the extreme southern part of the state. That story said they were suspected to be migrating from northern mexico as many of us are guessing.

 

Anyway, the phots were cool and the story is too!

[Rembrant]

I don't doubt what Lark is saying about the anti's wanting to go overboard. That's what they do best. What I have read, is that a multi-agency group is meeting periodically to try a figure if there are certain "corridors" that the big cats may be using to get in and out of the state - and then try to hold off progress in those corridors. You guy's theory, I think, is pretty good. They've probably been here all along, and at about the same numbers. This fringe population will likely always need a connection with Mexico to sustain. Good thing Phoenix ain't sprawled along the border.

Mike

[Kilimanjaro]

Brett, you are right about them being in 36c. I have a friend that was up in Brown canyon lion hunting with hounds a few years back. They found a good track and turned the dogs loose on it. They had treed a female up in a pondarosa pine up in Brown about 10 minutes after they turned the dogs loose after her. They took about 10 rolls of film of her and then pulled the dogs off and called the jaguar 800 number. I'll try to get a pic from him and post it. I also saw an article awhile back that had seversl pics of jags that were caught near the state line down by Douglas.

Scottyboy

[.270]

jag's thrive in the hot humid jungles of southern mexico and nothern south America. their numbers dwindle each way from their. when the Lee brothers were big into jag hunting years ago, they hunted in belize and on and island off of belize, mostly. they did catch a bunch of em in mexico too, but the place where they are really home is in tropical, swampy jungles. they're just as at home in the water as in the trees. they catch fish and big snakes and all kindsa stuff, as much as deer, javelina and other land animals. i think the most exciting stories i ever heard were clel lee talking about hunting jags and reading about it in dale lee's and hunter wells' books. if you ever get a chance to read either book, do it. dale's book is i think "the life of the greatest guide". the title says a lot about how he felt about himself, but he was a heck of a hunter. just had a personality like a cold turd. "they call me hunter" is hunter wells' book. it is great. he was a guy from prescott that ended up down there with curtis prock, an ol' lion hunter from young who got a little crossways with the laws here and moved off down there to hunt. i think he's still kickin'. last time i was in young there was a pretty fresh sign in front of his place saying he was still guiding. he must be 100 years old. if you ever read those 2 books, you'll want to sell the farm, leave the ol' lady and kids and head south to hunt jags too. if you have a soft spot for hounds anyway. Lark.

[25-06]

Another great book about the Lee brothers and cats is called ONZA The Hunt For A Legendary Cat , it has alot on hunting jags in Az and has a photo of a huge jag that they shot in the rincons.