Fact or Fiction Scott Borthwick - Canaan, NH On December 19th, 1941 a local farmer was returning home with his horse and wagon after delivering a load of produce to town. It was a snowy day and traveling was rough. Somewhere between town and home something happened to this poor farmer. The next day his mother found the horse and wagon in their yard, but no farmer. She unharnessed and fed the horse and waited for her son to return. After many hours she took off on foot in the snow to look for him, which was pretty amazing, since she was over ninety. She found her son in the snow as the paper said “beyond earthly care.� That pretty much sums up the newspaper article. The story I was told, was that the farmer was attacked and killed by a Mountain Lion. To this day a lot of people in town believe this to be the truth. However, after doing some research, it turns out that after selling his produce the farmer was known to stop at the local tavern for some adult beverages. After a few too many he headed home, and on the way there he passed out and literally fell off the wagon. Eventually he froze to death. But the gruesome part was his carcass had been gnawed on by something, probably a Bobcat. People call me now and again to tell me they have seen Mountain Lions, Lynx, and even Wolves. Now it is not impossible for these animals to be here, but it is unlikely. Especially Mountain Lions. Many people including myself spend lots of time in the woods and have never seen any sign. One person showed me a picture of a so called Mountain Lion which turned out to be a large housecat. I have seen lots of Bobcats though. Lynx and Wolves have been spotted in Northern New Hampshire. So again it is not impossible. I do believe that sometimes the mind misdiagnoses what some of us actually see. For Example: I received a call from a lady who said her chickens were being eaten by a coyote. During the conversation she stated that the coyote was so big it must be a wolf. I set some traps and a few days later I caught a sickly Red Fox weighing between 8 and 10 lbs. It was missing fur and smelled real bad. Showing it to the lady, she insisted that it was not the culprit. However I did not catch anything else, nor did she lose another chicken. Summer 2017
Mountain Lions, Lynx, and Wolves are very large animals. Wolves can weigh well over 100lbs and a Mountain Lion can be over nine feet long. Everyone wants to see something no one else has seen, but the reality is that most sightings are coyotes and bobcats. If you have had a legitimate sighting of these or any other non-native species please contact me through my web site estatewildlifecontrol.com Scott Borthwick owns Estate Wildlife Control. He lives in Canaan, NH with his wife Donna, two dogs, a couple of horses and one tough old chicken named Henrietta.
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