What you say about the young males being the primary movers is true. That holds also with black bears. Here in Florida, however, we're finding that now even the young females are moving north. We had a record panther road kill last year,12-14 or so, and several of these were female. Given the old rule that "Nature Abhors A Vacuum", many wildlife biologists think that a breeding population will become re-established in favorable habitat where the cats were exterpated decades ago. I think so also, though I am a forester primarily, with a limited wildlife biology background.
