TALES FROM ANOTHER HUNTER'S MEAL

I had the lovely opportunity to enjoy another hunterʼs meal, and as expected I came away with some fresh stories of mystery beasts from the woods of Illinois. I managed to get some information on mountain lions and wolves in Illinois, and more supportive testimony on the potential for large carnivores to exist out of sight and undetected for lifetimes.

Shortly after I entered the room I spotted a high-school friend, who - after I questioned him - gave me some interesting information. Kyle was able to tell me about not only of a mountain lion sighting but also a possible readily-available source of food for the animals. Kyle told me that he was traveling east on Illinois Route 116 late at night, and he witnessed a big cat what appeared to be a tan-coloured cougar at the side of the road. It was dragging a road-killed deer, and as he passed the mountain lion, he saw it move quickly away from the road with its food and drag the carcass across the ditch and into the woods. This brings forth the idea that in addition to plenty of land and live game, the population of large mysterious predators could easily find a food source provided by the highways with road-kill.

The next person I interviewed was a friend of my Father. His name was Dennis, and he is a farmer in the area as well as being a local deer hunter. Dennis told me of how about 15 years ago he had been hunting during shotgun season and saw a black mountain lion crossing the game trail about 50 yards down the trail from him. Dennis couldnʼt remember exactly when he saw it and unfortunately I cannot remember what part of the locality that he saw it. But he also told me about sheep that had been killed in a very particular way and partly eaten. These sheep had been killed about 25 years ago. Unfortunately the locality is still somewhat sketchy. I do not mean to taunt my readers with false hope, but Dennis did think he could possibly help provide the CFZ with credible pictures of a Mountain lion from my area.

His son had also seen one of these big cats while hunting. The case gradually becomes more obvious but the chase does not feel like it gets any closer.

In my area of Illinois it seems to be common wood lore that Mountain lions inhabit the state and every one I asked had 1 of 3 answers. "NO your crazy", "Yes I have seen them", or "No I have not seem them but I have heard of them all my life".

When I asked Dennis about the Shawnee Forest theory, he told me that he went to school down by there for college in his younger days, and up until as recently as 30 years ago, the Shawnee forest was totally impenetrable totally full of swamps and bottoms and glens with thick brush and tall trees. Dennis also told me about another interesting bit of information that Farrell hogs and Farrell Horses that live in the trees and bogs. So in addition to the already plentiful game there is still another food source. Dennis told me with as deep and as thick as the Shawnee forest is he sees no reason why the isolated relic population theory would not stand. He also believes that there could very well be a population of the recently rediscovered black bear.

Later that night, I spoke with another witness but his name escapes me at the moment, and he told me about seeing a pair of mountain lions while in his deer stand. And how he too could tell me where to look. He knew someone who might be able to produce credible trail camera photos. The man confided to me that he was looking for somebody to talk to because he had talked to the Illinois DNR and they told him to keep his mouth shut. The man also told me that he believed the Shawnee population theory as well. He also believed that near Henry, Illinois there was a surviving pack of great lakes wolves.

So I managed to come up with some interesting stories from the hunterʼs meal but the strange stories of uncanny carnivores seem to be common wood lore for most country folk. As I am relating interesting stories I have some more stories.

After making a post to a hunting group, no-one had any knowledge of mountain lions, but bobcats seem to be coming out of the wood work literally here with local raccoon hunters in Illinois constantly running them up trees or catching them in traps. As I have said before, the bobcats in Illinois started out as shady deer camp stories told by hunters enjoying a beer after a long day, but now they appear to have not only taken a foothold in Illinois but that they are a thriving population.

I also got a very interesting response to a video that I posted on youtube about my involvement with the CFZ. The young man Cory told me about how he was about 13 he was on an ATV on his familyʼs land near their timber when he ran something tan move out of the field toward the woodline and he thought it was a deer because of its size but then he saw the tail and knew it was a cougar when it stopped at the edge of the field about 50 feet in front of him, and he could clearly see it was a cougar. He says he turned around and rode away making sure it did not follow him away from the place. Orchardville was the place of this sighting. Cory also told me that everyone in his family had seen the cats black and tan big cats, and he may be able to get a hold of trail camera pictures of the face of a cougar. I will be reviewing any pictures with a fine tooth comb to insure their authenticity.

With what I know about predator biology and animal behavior some of these sightings could be the same animal because the Puma has a large range and could easily cover 20 miles in one day. So the actual population density is very uncertain.

Some other interesting stories to come out of my recent research also include more support for the sasquatch population that could survive in the swamps and trees of the Shawnee forest. Another cryptid that could exist in the Shawnee is escaped or released captive large snakes along with possible populations of American Alligator that may have come up the Mississippi river and survived the temperatures by hibernation in the bogs and wetland of the Shawnee forest. I have heard stories of hunting dogs being dragged under water by alligators. Though I do not have proof of the stories I would not be surprised. Also I have heard rumors of a 'gator body that was found in the swamp.

I will continue on the track of mystery Animals in Illinois. And I will attempt to track down more witnesses, and possibly verify these trail camera Photos. I must admit I have encountered quit a few very apocryphal stories in my research but I do my best to sort out the truth or what I judge as the truth. I Hope that yet again my meager research has in some small way helped the CFZ and I will continue to do my best.

Hunter’s Meal Interview Report

I had the pleasure of attending a hunter’s meal this last weekend and strangely enough it proved to be a well of Cryptozoological information, where I enjoyed American wild game, a few beers and fine fellowship with outdoorsmen of all ages. Shockingly it proved to be a good venue for me to begin questioning these people about their knowledge of Illinois’ cryptid creatures. Obviously I began the questioning early in the night before the whiskey started to flow.

The first man I interviewed was named Erick Reddigger, and the interview went very well I explained to him like all the other people that I interviewed that I was working for a zoology group interested in reports of large out of place carnivores and other strange animals in Illinois. I did say it was the Center for Fortean Zoology but to save too much explanation of our mission statement, I just saved time and just called us a zoology group.

Erick proved to be a well of information, and though I delved deep, I am sure the well has not run dry, and he told me he would let me know if anything new developed. He told me of growing up in the same area that I also have grown up in but as none of my readers will know where it is I won’t bother with naming the location. But it would be easy to find, and it’s a real location but its outside of Washburn, Illinois.

Erick told me of how when he was growing up some times he would hear a mountain lion scream in the middle of the night outside his childhood home in the woods. The scream would be not too far off, and he also found tracks. When I questioned him on the tracks, he smiled at me, and assured me that no they did not have claws in the pugmarks and that it was the size of his hand.

Erick told me also of having seen a mountain lion while deer hunting in the past two years. However, luckily for him this mountain lion passed him by, and did not stalk him like other hunters. But he told me of a threatening feeling that he got, as most witnesses seem to feel. Erick also enlightened me about how while he was running raccoons with dogs, he also found himself running bobcats up trees. But as a conservationist he always called his dogs off, and let the bobcats be on their way. But it was a fear of his that some night he would run a mountain lion up a tree and have to deal with that. He told me he would keep in touch, and that he would be willing to talk to the CFZ if and when they came to Illinois and that he would also help them as best he could and give them leave to investigate his property.

The next man I spoke with told me of also seeing a mountain lion while deer hunting, and said that it was about 100 yards from his tree, and that it was crossing an open field. However he had a laser range finder with him that is a useful tool hunters have so they can know how far away the game is. So that’s how he knows that it was about 100 yards. (I can’t say exactly 100 yards, however, because there is a plus or minus of 1.5 yards on most range finders but it gives a good ballpark idea). But he also looked at it through his shotgun scope and could clearly see its size. When I asked him, he asked me how could anybody mistake a mountain lion when it has a thick low sweeping tail?

I cannot at the moment remember this man’s name or the exact location of this sighting, but he is easy enough to find, and when the time comes I would be able to procure that information as well.

Another hunter I interviewed was an elderly man who was also a veritable well of information. This man’s name was Lynn Reddigger a relative of Erick’s who lived on Pleasant View Road, north west of Washburn. Lynn told me of five mountain lions, two of them being black. All of them within the past two years. One of the black mountain lions was seen by his son-in-law, who was also deer hunting but with archery tackle, and he was so well camouflaged that the cat passed within 15 yards of his stand and it did not look up at him, and it continued along the trail following the scent of a deer. The man then remembered that the beast could climb, and so he quickly got out of his tree-stand in case it came back to find him with only archery tackle. This Mountain lion in question that Lynn’s son-in-law saw was black.

Lynn also told me about what he has seen himself. The first Mountain lion was a plain tan one that he saw crossing his property skirting the tree line. He believes that this cat may have a den nearby but he was unsure. Lynn also said that he saw a black Mountain lion cross the road in front of him one night and appear from one side of the road, only to disappear into the corn of the other side. I know the area and I am not at all surprised.

One of Lynn’s friends overheard my interview with him and interjected that he had also seen a pair of wolves crossing a horse pasture not far from the place that the mountain lion crossed the road. I am not at all shocked about that, because that stretch of timber owned by my grandmother’s relative is substantial and could support large predators easily. So I will try to be in contact with the farmer that owns the pasture, to check with him if he had ever seen anything for his part, but his horses are very rugged mustangs and could easily take care of themselves.
Lynn also told me - as an afterthought that he had seen a black bear in the area about 8 years ago while he was plowing a field at night.

In his own words, “I was plowing this fella’s field for him because I used to make a little money on the side, and I saw something moving out in the darkness behind me and so when I got to the end of the field and turned around I hit this thing with the headlights, and I thought who the hell’s cow is out in this field, but when I got closer and saw it better it was a bear eating grubs that had gotten turned up by the cultivator. And the bear stood up on its back legs and then I know what it was and he was a big old boy, and I had never seen one that size outside of Canada. He was big and black and had a white belly for some reason, and as I got closer to him he dropped back down on all fours and run off toward the trees again. And that was about 8 years ago.”

Lastly Lynn told me of how his wife had seen a pair of tan coloured mountain lions cross the road in front of her as she drove a winding country road south of Lacon, Illinois.

Now that is a very impressive list of sightings out of one man, and when I asked him if he had seen the paper, he said “what paper?” And so I know he didn’t know about the bear that had recently been sighted in Buda. He seemed to be a very good witness and said that he would be in contact with me if anything new developed, and that he would also be in touch with the CFZ if and when they came to Illinois and would definitely work with them and open his property to an investigation.

My next man that I talked to was not an eye witness but knew of a man (who he said would not have lied) who saw a large black mountain lion while deer hunting in the 2007 shotgun season. Todd was the man I talked to, and he told me that his friend had seen the black mountain lion walk along a log about 50 yards away. I do not have many details about this sighting, but I will be trying to contact the man who saw the big cat. And Todd told me that he would also send anyone with stories to me to tell them and if anything new developed he would be in touch and also would more than likely help the CFZ expedition if he could. Todd told me that it was totally fascinating to him that they would be possibly investigating around here.

Todd also believed that it would not have been impossible that a relic population of mountain lions could have existed In Illinois. In addition Todd told me of seeing bobcat while hunting, and what he believes to be a fisher cat, which is not a cat at all, but a large mustelid.

One other local man that I talked with Scott told me he had not seen one himself but had heard of many mountain lions recently in the northern part of the state of Illinois along I-80. But there was a sighting in the past that he told me of as well, that dates back to about 15 years ago near Larose Illinois, which is one of the places that I hunt deer when they are in season. But Scott said that more than likely that big cat was now lying in front of some hunter’s fire. But that he would spread the word about the investigation as well and be in touch of anything developed.
All the hunters that I interviewed even if they had not seen them, or heard anything to report, told me about the fact that they believed the mountain lions were here and that there was possibly a pack of wolves living within the quad county area, as in Woodford, Tazewell, Marshal, and Peoria counties.

So the night was very productive and as I write this I am nursing a bit of a hangover. Luckily for me, my father drove me that night, and the local hunters were very helpful and planned to be even more helpful. I did not however take any video testimony but I will be checking back with them to be in touch, and also check their story at a later date to ensure that it did not change in the retelling.

This hunter’s meal proved to be an inexhaustible fount of information of cryptozoological interest, and proves that as I have always said that outdoorsmen and their woodcraft is a plentiful but rarely tapped source of intelligence for cryptozoloogy. I uncovered more reports of the black mountain lions, more reports of a possible breeding pair of gray wolf in the area, and another black bear and many bobcats.

I will also add as a caution do not go looking for trouble or it might find you first, I know those readers outside of the USA might not be able to enjoy the same method of self preservation as I can, (for at least the time being), with the right to bear arms. But keep in mind that these are large carnivores and we are lower than them on the food chain and would easily make a meal. The disquieting facts that I have uncovered about mountain lions stalking hunters silently like the predators they are should ring as a warning that these animals are and could prove to be very dangerous.

As a Guide to the expedition I would be totally remiss if I did not think about the safety of all parties in the cryptid hunting party. So if you do go looking for something please beware that it might just find you, and then no one else would ever find you, So be careful out there and use whatever battery would be legal in your region at your own discursion.

Most of the sightings are very current and all of them sound to me at least to be credible. As a side note the United States Federal Government is attempting to delist the gray wolf from those endangered species list, which would allow for state jurisdiction of the management of the large carnivores. So in the words of Jon Downes “Cryptozoology calls and we must obey over the hills and far away” however this is just outside my door. I will continue as always on the track of the mystery carnivores as well as other Illinois cryptids.