4th December 2004: Male cougar killed by a bow hunter in New Boston (Mercer County). December 4, 2004 dead cougar found by hunters. This cougar had apparently been shot by someone with archery equipment probably a few days before it was found. (Quad City Times)
http://www.naturealmanac.com/cougars/pics/mercer.html
The following e-mail and pictures were forwarded to us 16 December 2004. Three more pictures (they’ll load slowly.)
Photo © 2004 KnoxL. All rights reserved.
From: KnoxL
Sent: Monday, December 13, 2004 7:38 AM
Subject: FW: Cougar found near New Boston, IL.
thought you guys may be interested….
Subject: Cougar found by New Boston, IL.
The male cougar was found dead approximately 100 yards behind a residence [of] New Boston, IL. It was found at approximately 2:30 PM by the owner of the residence (Kenneth I Tharp… ) He was on his way out to deer hunt. It had a entrance wound on the right front shoulder. The exit wound was on its left side. It appeared to be a bow & arrow wound. The exit wound was infected. The cougar was in good condition. The hair was not slipping and the eyes were not sunken. (Leading us to believe that the cougar lived for awhile after it was shot, and that it died 1-2 days ago.) It was not de clawed or nuetered & did not appear to be missing any teeth.
Tony & I took the following (approximate) measurements:
Overall Length- Tip of nose to tail– 7’1″ Girth– 28″ Top of front shoulder to paw– 29″ Head Circumference– 18 1/2″ Width of front paw– 4″ Width of back paw– 3″ Weight– @ 95lbs
Tharp is skinning the cougar and keeping the hide & head to mount. He is preserving the carcass and organs for us so that it can be analyzed at a lab. I attached the photos I took. It is going to be on CH 8 at 11:00PM.