Well,I finally saw one for myself

[jimmyraythomason]

Until 2 days ago I believed there were large black cats living around my neck of the woods in Central Alabama based on eyewitness accounts from friends but had never seen one for myself. That all changed last week when my dogs alerted me to something moving from behind my neighbor's house down into a hollow. It was a very large cat. Very dark but I could make out the indication of rosetta shaped spots near the hind quarters. The long tail was almost equal to the body in length totaling around 4 feet, possibly a little less. Definitely NOT a house cat but a cat nonetheless. My first thought was my rifle but opted for my camera instead and by the time I got out the back door it was gone. Four inches of snow with a coating of freezing rain made going down into the hollow impossible. For me belief has been replaced with a personal sighting.

 

[Alec]

Too bad you couldn't snag a pic. I don't suppose you were able to get a look at its tracks?

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I don't think it left a track on the frozen over snow. There was no way to get into let alone get back out of that hollow(hollow aka,holler,is a Southern term for a ravine) to deep and icy.

 

[Hunt480]

whereabouts in Alabama Jimmyray?

 

[memphisjim]

alabama could be some crazy ferocious monster released from a zoo during hurricane

 

[jimmyraythomason]

North Central Alabama in Blount County.

 

[Hunt480]

That aint far from me as the crow flys just across the line Haralson county. There has been citings of mountain lions or panther down around Heard & Troup counties here in Ga. Seems like somebody got a picture of one on a trail cam there a few years ago. I thought I saw one coon hunting one night, all I know is it was the biggest cat I ever seen. My friend that was with me at the time said it was a black panther. It was black and big thats all I do know for sure. I been hearing about panthers around here all my life and considered it a myth until then myself.

 

[juk]

Jimmyray, that's slightly disturbing. Seeing as how I'm in Marshall county and all. A recent Advertiser Gleam (Guntersville's newspaper) had a huge writeup about how there weren't any of those big cats left walking around inside the state lines. They also said that black bears are never around either. I saw a black bear for myself not 10 miles from the city limits a year ago.

 

[brandon_mcg]

there have been tales of large black cats wandering around for a few years from what i can tell. i bet it gave you chills seeing that beast.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

No chills just happy to finally see one. When I told the guys at work about it they weren't at all surprised. One even has a video of a big black(or at least a very dark) cat roaming around his chicken houses.

 

[husker]

Dam I was hoping you saw a BIG FOOT

 

[dnr1128]

Dam I was hoping you saw a BIG FOOT

We had some tracks of the big guy here in south MS about a year ago. Nobody knows for sure what is or isn't out there.

 

[Mitch from LA]

We had some tracks of the big guy here in south MS about a year ago. Nobody knows for sure what is or isn't out there.

We have a pretty good idea.

 

[MudPuppy]

Just curious, did you report it to the local fish and game? If so, what was their attitude to the report?

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Just curious, did you report it to the local fish and game? If so, what was their attitude to the report?

No I didn't nor will I. Their attitude is always very condescending. Many people have reported seeing black bears,cougars and black cats all receive the same response, "a case of mistaken identity". No thank you.

 

[Magoo]

Sorry for the doubt, but it is widely held. These mythical creatures must posess some kind of anti-camera forcefield.

 

[Flintknapper]

Magoo wrote:

Sorry for the doubt, but it is widely held. These mythical creatures must posess some kind of anti-camera forcefield.

Not to mention they are "bullet proof". I suppose when you consider the two attributes together (bullet proof/camera proof), its no small wonder they exist in such large numbers.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

That is the same attitude that the F&G people have when some-one reports something out of the ordinary. Little wonder many folks won't publicize sightings.

 

[JimKirk]

Don't feel alone ....there have been sightings of big black cats here in Southeast GA...folks have gotten the same treatment from our game dept. One was sighted twice in the same day by two different people. But no one can get any response from the GW. Don't even mention black cats on the GON...they'll laugh and call you a fool...this all happened 1/2 mile from my house...I 've seen some very large tracks in the area myself.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Around 1980 I caught a "wildcat" in a dirt-hole set made for fox. It was as large as the one I saw the other day but wasn't dark. It had ear tufts like a bobcat but a long and thick(with hair) tail. It had spots on it's chest area but not along it's back. It was VERY irrate to say the least! I killed it but didn't even bring it out of the woods(no fur value). It was NOT a housecat(at least not a full blood housecat) and it wasn't a bobcat. I figured it was a cross between the two. I haven't seen one like it since.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Don't feel alone ....

Oh,I don't and I'm not surprised either. This is what I expected which is why I didn't post it right away. I don't kill just to kill but I would have shot it had it given me the opportunity.

 

[rugerman]

Yes I saw one back in the late 70's on old trucktrail 17 in south baldwin co (lower Ala.) and my dad worked for international paper and the employee hunting club had a stand back in the boonies near a swamp that they called the panther plot because most evenings a Flordia panther would be down n that bottom screaming (sounds like a a woman being killed and screaming at the top of her lungs) . Didn't take long to get back to the truck when that happened.

 

[Clipper]

Michigan DNR poo-pooed the hundreds of cougar sightings they were getting until some other federal agency found cougar DNA in some scat they collected at one of the sightings. The back-door story I heard was that as long as they could plausibly deny the existence of cougar in Michigan, they wouldn't have to spend budget dollars regulating them. Shoot, they spent years denying the existence of wolves in the LP until someone caught one in a trap and it was found they had actually planted them!

 

[Hunt480]

(sounds like a a woman being killed and screaming at the top of her lungs) . Didn't take long to get back to the truck when that happened.

People think this is crazy but folks around here used to talk about these cats screaming all the time. I have never heard this before but people I know don't lie have heard and seen these cats before.

 

[jbkebert]

In Kansas we are not supposed to have mountian lions either. Yet it is illegal as heck to shoot one. Funny thing the Topeka zoo has a exhibit with the predators of Kansas. The highlight is a mating pair of cougars. I thought we didn't have them. Now the Wildlife and parks office now says that we have displaced youth cougars who have been driven from the normal range. But they just pass through they don't stay here.