Illinois Hunter Snaps A Photo Of A Cougar

By Chuck Sudo in News on Oct 30, 2012 10:25PM

Here's irrefutable proof cougars are among us in Illinois. A trail camera set up by a hunter in downstate Morgan County to monitor the trail movements of deer captured instead a mountain lion in the woods.

Mark Cobb told the State Journal-Register about the surprise waiting for him when he went to retrieve the SD cards in the cameras on Oct. 29.

“I just kind of went, ‘Oh, my God,’ and everybody thought I had a big deer on there.”

Cobb's photo was verified by officials with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, who also visited the area where the photo was taken. It marks the fourth confirmed mountain lion sighting in Illinois since they were driven from the state in the 1870s. A cougar was killed by Chicago Police in Roscoe Village in 2008.

DNR spokesman Chris McCloud said it's possible the mountain lion followed the Mississippi River down to Morgan County. Cougars have been slowly migrating east from the Dakotas in recent years and there have been many unconfirmed reports of cougar sightings in the northern suburbs.

Another thing that should make Cobb's heart skip a beat: Cougars are known to prey on deer and he's been hunting the property where he snapped the photo for 40 years. This could hurt his chances of bagging a 10-pointer.