Farmer Sights, Shoots at Mountain Lion.

ROCKWELL

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 8/31/2007 at 14:33:54

Bellevue Herald-Leader, August 30, 2007:
By Lowell Carlson
Rural Maquoketa farmer Donald Rockwell, 16604-150th Street, wishes he would have taken a photograph rather than a shot at a mountain lion digging out gophers on his farm located west of Highway 61 along E-17. The sighting occurred earlier this month.
Rockwell and his wife, Wanda, both observed the cat through binoculars. They believe it was a younger animal, perhaps a male. Rockwell, who target shoots as a hobby, believes the cat was about 170 yards away when he attempted a shot with a scope-sighted varmit rifle. It was a miss and the cat disappeared immediately.
The rural Maquoketa farmer said he had mixed feelings about taking the shot, but added they have young grandchildren and it worried him, the prospect a young child might be targeted by a mountain lion for attack.
Rockwell said he later put a milk jug at the location where the cat was and made another shot with the rifle, this time hitting the target.
Mountain lions are not protected and may be legally shot in Iowa.
Willie Suchy, the Iowa DNR's deer biologist, said recently there could be as many as ten wild mountain lions roaming the state. Up until a decade ago most of the lion sightings were either discounted, or believed to be mountain lions someone allowed to escape, or turned loose. That has changed says Suchy. With three mountain lions sighted and subsequently killed in recent years in the state it is evidence random migrating animals have come into the state.
With the odd bear sighted in northeastern Iowa occasionally and several timber wolf packs now well established in the Black River Forest in central Wisconsin, Iowa DNR biologists believe migrating animals will be spotted from time to time.
Ron Andrews, the Iowa DNR's fur bearer biologist, is emphatic there are far more "captive" lion than wild. It's a population hard to pinpoint, but Andrews believes there could be well over 100 mountain lions held privately by residents, another issue in itself.
Andrews is wary of reports of mountain lion sightings, many of which end up being big dogs, large house cats, not to mention tracks that turn out to be coonhounds.
He is even more emphatic about the urban legend the DNR is actually releasing the big cats. Andrews says the DNR will never release mountain lions.
For Donald Rockwell the experience of sighting and taking a shot at a mountain lion was still surreal as he explained the incident to the Herald-Leader recently.