It was explained to me that the reason the game and fish guys consistently say there are no cougars in MS and arkie is that if they admit there are big cats in a area that the cats may be considered a protected species and some parcels of land COULD possibly be shut down to hunting to protect the so called protected cats. Idk if that is completely true but it does sound kinda logical though. Talked to my uncle from Winona bout this today. He has seen them in a few different spots round Montgomery county over the years.