Here we go again, second consecutive week that there’s so much stuff that it requires two columns; pressing information that really should be covered before it gets old. I probably could have held off but, having just returned from a wet hunt, maybe Wednesday’s local sports events will be canceled, opening up space. Plus, today’s supposed to be a washout, good day for reading by the woodstove, so why not?

Anyway, here we go again …

Let’s talk about cougars. Yep, more cougars, a few way too close to home, including one from right across the street that at first really piqued my interest. Then, this week, after revisiting the trail-camera footage copied onto a CD, I came to my senses. It was a house cat walking a trail through the woods. It fooled me the first time, even though I knew it couldn’t be a mature cougar, way too small. But it was definitely a cat with a long tail, and it was in the woods at night, lit up. Problem was there was nothing to compare its size to, and I was in a rush. I even told a buddy about it but admitted I’d have to look it over more carefully before drawing any conclusions, or sending it to an expert. Well, the second time I viewed it, I knew immediately it was a false alarm. As for the other two, well, let me continue.

I suppose I should start with the most recent incident, which came my way thanks to a message on my home telephone answering machine; it was from a friend I often spoke to at the auction and occasionally did business with at his antique shop. This fella and his wife both have roots in the area that reach deep into West County bedrock. I have over the years been suspicious of a few reports, but not this one, from a man I know. When I finally got through to him, the guy didn’t even want to admit what he thought he’d seen. Neither did his wife. I took notice. But the plot thickens.

About a month ago, a woman who lives at nearly the same location where the latest sighting occurred called my home and spoke to my wife about seeing a big-cat that had a tail way too long for a bobcat or lynx. I never chased down that lead because I thought at the time I had devoted too much space to cougar sightings. But now two in the same spot? Irresistible.

I listened to the antique dealer’s message noontime Monday after a short hunt. He had seen something on Leyden Road and wanted to talk to me about it. I wasn’t able to reach him until later that night from work. He said the sighting occurred Friday night about 9. He was on Leyden Road in Greenfield, between Leyden Woods and Wright Farm, on his way to a Leyden cattle dealer when this critter came out of nowhere, bound gracefully across the road in one powerful leap and vanished. He described it as “leggy and long with wooly legs” and his wife concurred, marveling at how smoothly it moved. “I wish I could have seen its face,” she said. “It only touched the road once, if that, then was gone. It was not a deer. That I know. Even the color was different. It looked more gray than brown.”

Although neither of them wanted to say or even suggest it was a cougar, clearly they didn’t know what else it could have been. Must be they couldn’t get it out of their heads over the weekend and finally called me Monday.

You may recall that I wrote a column this summer about several cougar sightings in my upper Colrain Road/Smead Hill neighborhood, which is just a hop, skip and a jump west of the Leyden Road sightings. One of the sightings occurred less than a mile west of me on Brook Road. Then there were several other sightings a mile north, atop Smead Hill, between Smead’s barn and the Van Nuys/East Colrain fork in the road.

I wonder if anyone else has recently seen something strange in northwestern Greenfield, Colrain and Leyden and kept it to themselves? Not unlikely.

But enough of that. The sightings don’t stop there. Another occurred last Tuesday on County Road in Deerfield, along a low ridge between Routes 5&10 and Eaglebrook School. It came my way via email Thursday. Let the emailer, Candy Rutka, describe what she saw:

“Mid-afternoon Tuesday, I spotted an animal about 75 yards away in the field to the north of the house. My first thought was a neighbor’s dog or a fox.  However, it was definitely feline — light tawny in color with a fairly long body and a very long tail, about the size of a German Shepherd. The face was lighter in color and may have had some darker markings. My husband got the best look through binoculars. We’re sure it was a Mountain lion. The evening before, while sitting on our north porch we had heard a very different animal call from the same area (railroad tracks run behind the house). A neighbor about half-mile away was out walking his dog and he, too, heard it and felt it was unfamiliar as well. Any other sightings reported in the area? It was quite an impressive experience!”

I wrote back that I did recall a sighting by Steve Nartowicz four or five years ago just below hers. According to Nartowicz, as I remember it, he was on his way to work around 7 a.m. and the cat crossed 5&10 just north of the Bridal Barn. The big cat climbed a leaning tree, looked back, bound down into the swamp and disappeared. That sighting occurred a half-mile or less from the Rutka sighting, which I would assume to be unrelated. Cougars passing through the Northeast are not residents; they’re wayward “dispersers” roaming eastward from the Wild West.

One more thing. Unlike the sighting by the Northfield Mountain cyclist reported here, then reported by the witness to MassWildlife, the Rutkas were not satisfied with the state agency’s response. The Rutkas interpreted it as dismissive at best, suggesting they had seen a bobcat, not a cougar, and that it’s always nice to see such a beautiful creature. Well, an indignant Candy Rutka was not amused with the condescending reply and fired back:

“This was NOT a bobcat. It had a very long tail, body-length perhaps, and one was spotted just below us some number of years ago. Trust me. This was a mountain lion!  Never saw anything like it before in my life, and I am 62 yrs old. They do exist!!! Why do you persist on denying it when there have been so many sightings???”

Leave me out of this one. You be the judge.