Mountain Lion

Mountain Lion (Felis Concolor)

How do you like being stalked? How do you like being tracked? DO NOT attempt to track, challenge or capture a cougar without professional assistance. It can mean the difference between life and death.

The mountain lion (felis concolor), also known as the cougar or puma, ranks among the most illusive and discussed of all of Oklahoma’s wildlife species.

The mountain lion (cougar, puma, catamount, panther) is the largest cat native to North America. The head is relatively small, and the face is short and rounded. The neck and body are elongate and narrow. The legs are very muscular and the hind legs are considerably longer than the forelegs. The tail is long, cylindrical, and well haired. The pelage of the mountain lion varies considerably. There are two major color phases — red and gray. The red phase varies from buff, cinnamon, and tawny to a very reddish color, while the gray phase varies from silvery gray to bluish and slate gray, often
mistaken for black in low lighting conditions, thus causing a mis-identification of the species to be a Black Panther. The sides of the muzzle are black. The upper lip, chin, and throat are whitish. The tail is the same color as the body, except for the tip, which is dark brown or black. The young are yellowish brown with irregular rows of black spots. Male mountain lions are usually considerably larger than females. Adults range from 72 to 90 inches (183 to 229 cm) in total length including the tail, which is 30 to 36 inches (76 to 91 cm) long. They weigh from 80 to 200 pounds (36 to 91 kg). The mountain lion’s skull has 30 teeth. Female mountain lions have 8 mammae.

Simple Facts

Prey on deer, elk, and domestic stock, particularly horses, sheep, goats, cattle, rodents and other small mammals, when available.

Can kill large numbers of animals in one night, eg. a lone lion attacked a herd of ewes and killed 192 in one night. However, 5 to 10 sheep killed in a single night is more typical.

Mountain lions, having relatively short, powerful jaws, kill with bites inflicted from above, often severing the vertebral column and breaking the neck. They also kill by biting through the skull.

Lions usually feed first on the front quarters and neck region of their prey. The stomach is generally untouched. The large leg bones may be crushed and the ribs broken. Many times, after a lion has made a kill, the prey is dragged or carried into bushy areas and covered with litter. A lion might return to feed on a kill for three or four nights. They normally uncover the kill at each feeding and move it from 11 to 27 yards (10 to 25 m) to recover it. After the last feeding the remains may be left uncovered, and a search of the area might reveal previous burial sites.

Adult lion tracks are approximately 4 inches (10 cm) in length and 4 1/4 inches (11 cm) in width; they have four well-defined impressions of the toes at the front, roughly in a semicircle. Lions have retractable claws; therefore, no claw prints will be evident. The untrained observer sometimes confuses large dog tracks with those of the lion; however, dog tracks normally show distinctive claw marks, are less round than lion tracks, and have distinctly different rear pad marks.

Legal Status in Oklahoma

License Requirements
Residents & Nonresidents: A hunting license and a Legacy permit or proof of exemption.

Dates & Open Areas
Mountain lions can be taken year-round when committing or about to commit depredation or when deemed a nuisance, safety or health hazard. You must immediately call a game warden or other Department employee if you kill a mountain lion. The carcass (including hide) will be examined by a Department employee within 24 hours for biological data collection, which may include the removal of a tooth. Click here for confirmed Mountain Lion attacks on people in the United States and Canada.

QUESTION: Are Mountain Lions present in Oklahoma? ANSWER: Absolutely and confirmed.

The Oklahoma Wildlife Control® Limited Liability Company has been requested by both the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife & Conservation Game Wardens, as well as Hunting Leases and Livestock Owners … to verify, track and remove these predating animals.

To our knowledge, the Oklahoma Wildlife Control® Limited Liability Company Owner, Reginald Murray, is the only professional service provider in Oklahoma that has “hands on” experience in controlling or removing these dangerous animals. Mountain Lions are confirmed to exists in Western Oklahoma … and even in the Eastern portion of Oklahoma including the Tulsa and surrounding areas. Contact us today for a professional resolve.