KOSCIUSKO — Just over a year ago a seasoned Kosciusko County hunter set up his trail cam near Black Lake. Cody Lewis expected to spot the usual game of the season, deer or even a coyote or two. However, when reviewing footage from that night, Lewis was surprised to find something a little more unusual and lethal skulking in the shadows.

Now, a year later, a second hunter is sharing Lewis’s experience through a video caught on his trail cam near the Marshall and St. Joseph county lines. In August, Nappanee hunter Kevin Yoder’s cam captured what he believes might be the same type of animal Lewis saw — a mountain lion.

[See related articles: Hunter Reports Possible Mountain Lion Sighting; Officials State Local Mountain Lion Sighting Possible, But Unconfirmed]

Yoder, who has hunted regularly in the area for the past 20 years, admits he was taken aback when he played back the footage.

“It definitely caught me off guard,” stated Yoder. “I thought it was cool but I didn’t think much more of it, just saved the video for later.”

Yoder noted because of a light shift on his camera, he contacted a friend, Blake Taylor, a member of the InkFreeNews staff, to see if the video could be lightened for a better view of potential mountain lion. Taylor was able to make minor adjustments in lighting to help improve the video quality leaving both men nearly certain this cat was no coyote.

Lewis and Yoder are not the only locals to hear of rumors that a possible mountain lion may be in the area. Last year Grace College Associate Professor of Environmental Science Nathan S. Bosch, Ph.D., noted other possible sightings have been reported around the Pierceton area over the years. Though there have been reports, Bosch noted they were “far from common” at the time.

According to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, the mountain lion, also known as the cougar, puma, catamount and panther, once lived in much of the eastern United States however they were extirpated from Indiana by the late 1800s.

The DNR reports that Indiana has no breeding population of mountain lions, however, data collected by the Cougar Network and other states over the past decade suggest mountain lions are appearing outside their traditional western range. According to the DNR, these appearances may be the result of an increase in mountain lion numbers in western states. Animals found outside of their Western range are usually young, transient males, which, according to the DNR, reduces the possibility of a viable population developing in Indiana.