Visiting Tucson? Meet one of the locals...
We live in a senior community of 5K homes just 6 miles up the road from Catalina State Park. We are at 3,300' at the foot of and about 5 miles from Mt Lemon {9,200'}. Here are a couple of shots on...
Forum Discussion
OP here...
Our adult Senior community {5K houses - 10K people this time of year} always has had and always will have the big cats around. We are located in a valley right at the foot of Mt Lemon at 3,300'. We are about 20 miles north of downtown Tucson but the big cats can be found all over Pima County {Tucson}.
I worked as a marshall at the local golf courses for 5 years and the highest incidence of sightings every year came in May and June when the water sources up on the mountain dried up. The deer would come down to our community seeking water and the big cats naturally followed them. By July the Monsoon commences and the deer and big cats by in large return to the mountain
I would rake the paw prints out of the sand traps on a regular basis that time of year so as to not freak out some of our more senior residents. We had a big cat trail one of my brother rangers early one morning {about dawn} as he drove down a concrete cart path pausing every time he stopped but getting progressively closer. He finally hauled butt as fast as that cart would go and fortunately the cat broke off and disappeared into the brush.
Another time just before dawn the landscape crew found a large Mule deer butchered, a serious bloody mess on one of the greens that could only have been done by a big cat. They cleaned up as best they could and threw the carcass down into a steep ravine behind the green. The next morning the carcass was back in the original location albeit more than little bit chewed up. The message sent seemed to be don't mess with my food, I killed it here and will eat it here...
Had to be a large cat to not only take down that deer but to haul the carcass all the way back to the sight of the original kill. Really freaked out the landscape crew.
We even see the occasional black bear in our community. Fish and game had to put one down a few years ago as it had lost all fear of humans and kept returning and aggressively menacing some homeowners. When they shot it with rubber bullets he just stood up as if to say "Is that all you got?" Larger caliber ammo quickly resolved that issue.
Yes, Coyotes will track and attack humans. You don't want to be on the short end of the food chain when they are a pack and you are alone. I frequently would encounter a large pack of 6 or 7 that would aggressively hunt the back nine right at sunset. They would scatter when chased by a golf cart but I would not have wanted to be afoot and encounter them.
We thoroughly enjoy all of the wildlife we encounter. Have had Bobcats, deer, Coyotes, Javelina
to name a few. Many birds of prey, hawks, falcons and we even have a very large Great Horned Owl all of whom take up residence or at least visit our yard on a regular basis. Almost as much fun as camping... well, almost.
:B
Our adult Senior community {5K houses - 10K people this time of year} always has had and always will have the big cats around. We are located in a valley right at the foot of Mt Lemon at 3,300'. We are about 20 miles north of downtown Tucson but the big cats can be found all over Pima County {Tucson}.
I worked as a marshall at the local golf courses for 5 years and the highest incidence of sightings every year came in May and June when the water sources up on the mountain dried up. The deer would come down to our community seeking water and the big cats naturally followed them. By July the Monsoon commences and the deer and big cats by in large return to the mountain
I would rake the paw prints out of the sand traps on a regular basis that time of year so as to not freak out some of our more senior residents. We had a big cat trail one of my brother rangers early one morning {about dawn} as he drove down a concrete cart path pausing every time he stopped but getting progressively closer. He finally hauled butt as fast as that cart would go and fortunately the cat broke off and disappeared into the brush.
Another time just before dawn the landscape crew found a large Mule deer butchered, a serious bloody mess on one of the greens that could only have been done by a big cat. They cleaned up as best they could and threw the carcass down into a steep ravine behind the green. The next morning the carcass was back in the original location albeit more than little bit chewed up. The message sent seemed to be don't mess with my food, I killed it here and will eat it here...
Had to be a large cat to not only take down that deer but to haul the carcass all the way back to the sight of the original kill. Really freaked out the landscape crew.
We even see the occasional black bear in our community. Fish and game had to put one down a few years ago as it had lost all fear of humans and kept returning and aggressively menacing some homeowners. When they shot it with rubber bullets he just stood up as if to say "Is that all you got?" Larger caliber ammo quickly resolved that issue.
Yes, Coyotes will track and attack humans. You don't want to be on the short end of the food chain when they are a pack and you are alone. I frequently would encounter a large pack of 6 or 7 that would aggressively hunt the back nine right at sunset. They would scatter when chased by a golf cart but I would not have wanted to be afoot and encounter them.
We thoroughly enjoy all of the wildlife we encounter. Have had Bobcats, deer, Coyotes, Javelina
to name a few. Many birds of prey, hawks, falcons and we even have a very large Great Horned Owl all of whom take up residence or at least visit our yard on a regular basis. Almost as much fun as camping... well, almost.
:B
