Well,I finally saw one for myself

[rugerman]

yea when they scream it sends cold chills from your feet to the top of your head. One evening I killed a spike in the "panther plot" right at dark and had to drag it a good way to get to where I could get my truck to it. About half way to my truck a panther screamed, I don't think that deer touched the ground the rest of the way to the truck, sort of just flapping in the breaze, I didn't have any trouble getting it in the back of my bronco either even though the deer hadn't been field dressed.

 

[DeepSouth]

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.

Somewhat further south in AL we have black bear crossing sign. (on US 43) We know, and even admit, there are black bears in AL. Last hunting season someone was hiding their corn in their shooting house when the bear tried to come in and get some.

I've never seen on of these "Long Tailed Cats" but I know a LOT of people who claim to have seen one. I'll be skeptical until I see one, but I want be to surprised when/if I do see one.

 

[Hunt480]

About half way to my truck a panther screamed, I don't think that deer touched the ground the rest of the way to the truck, sort of just flapping in the breaze, I didn't have any trouble getting it in the back of my bronco either even though the deer hadn't been field dressed.

LOL...I woulda been travelin fast too.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Just to be clear,this was NOT a cougar. I have seen 3 cougar in 2 different Alabama counties over the years and countless tracks. Black bear have been killed in neighboring counties and made news reports in Jefferson and Marshall counties.

 

[Mitch from LA]

Just to be clear,this was NOT a cougar. I have seen 3 cougar in 2 different Alabama counties over the years and countless tracks. Black bear have been killed in neighboring counties and made news reports in Jefferson and Marshall counties.

Then it is an entirely new species. Congratulations, you and countless others have confined to make the most significant discovery in North American Wildlife biology in the 20th Century.

Claims like this will be approached by the scientific community until someone offers actual hard evidence. It is possible, but highly unlikely. I'm not saying you didn't see something, but the idea that it is some new species of large predator is difficult to believe, particular for people with a degree of experience and education in the field.

To the gents that have heard one screaming, have you considered the much more likely possibility that you heard a Barn Owl?

 

[country boy marksman]

We see large panther tracks ever so often here in NW Florida, and have heard of these "black panthers" existing in south Alabama. The Milton High School mascot is a black panther, but I don't know if there's any special reason.

 

[average_shooter]

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.

Same with Wisconsin.

DNR swears up and down that there's no cougars and all the photographs are just housecats. Big housecats.

Folks that live in the country swear up and down there's cougars around.

I haven't seen any personally, but I do know that large cats can have home ranges a hundred miles or more across. Makes it entirely possible for these cats to be in one place, get seen by a couple folks, then not show up again for a good long time.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Congratulations, you and countless others have confined to make the most significant discovery in North American Wildlife biology in the 20th Century.

Thanks Mitch! I appreciate you recognizing that! (This is why the "experts" are the last to discover anything,a constant insistance that it doesn't exist.) Mitch,I saw what I saw. It was NOT a cougar,it was NOT a housecat. It was definitely dark in direct sunlight. It was near to me,maybe 20 yards. I had an unobstructed view. I make NO CLAIMS as to what it was other than that it was definitely feline. Ridicule gets us nowhere.

 

[Hunt480]

It was near to me,maybe 20 yards.

Sound like to me its time to make tracks at this point! thats an uncomfortable range for me.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Sound like to me its time to make tracks at this point! thats an uncomfortable range for me.

I was inside my house looking out the back window to see what had the dogs so upset. No danger whatsoever.

 

[Cougfan2]

My Brother hunts deer around Hillsdale lake in NE Kansas and he swears he saw a cougar while hunting there and has seen tracks on another occaison. Same reaction from KS Fish and Wildlife, "There aren't any cougars in KS.".

 

[McCall911]

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.

I'm in St. Clair County, just south of you.
About 20 years ago, a friend of mine reported seeing (actually watching) a large black cat close to Logan Martin Lake early one morning. This would be about five miles south of Pell City. It was raiding a dumpster behind a small restaurant like an alleycat!

What gets me is that some biologists don't believe there are such thing as large black cats! Apparently they think people are mistaken about the color. (What? Mistaken about black?)

Also, we've had occasional reports of black bear sightings here around the town of Riverside.

 

[13Bravo]

It freaked me out to see the back half of a black cat with a long curled tale fishing an old strip mine pond in southern Cullman County. I didn't see the head, but definite feline haunches and tale. That was 5 years ago, I guess. Seeing that made me a little more cautious in the woods is all. It wanted nothing to do with me and was out of sight quick.

 

[Mitch from LA]

I'm in St. Clair County, just south of you.
About 20 years ago, a friend of mine reported seeing (actually watching) a large black cat close to Logan Martin Lake early one morning. This would be about five miles south of Pell City. It was raiding a dumpster behind a small restaurant like an alleycat!

What gets me is that some biologists don't believe there are such thing as large black cats! Apparently they think people are mistaken about the color. (What? Mistaken about black?)

Also, we've had occasional reports of black bear sightings here around the town of Riverside.

Mistaken about one or more of the following, usually: Color, size, species.

The melanism gene in Puma concolor is rare (if it exists at all). Panther's are also stealthy and rare, particularly in the Eastern US. People are often mistaken about the size of any animal (or animal track) that they see in the woods. Finally biologists see enough pigs, dogs, and housecats reported as bears or panthers that they become a bit skeptical.

If a panther attacks you, by all means defend yourself. No one will fault you and you will finally have proof enough to sway my opinion. Or get a picture with definitive proof of the size of the animal.

Until such time as someone definitively proves these mystery cats exists, biologists like myself will likely remain skeptical for the most part. Eye-witness accounts are not enough for we doubting Thomases of the scientific community.

All that being said, I respect your opinions even if you disagree with me. Too often biologists do themselves a disservice by treating people poorly and being condescending.

 

[Art Eatman]

When you lay a clenched fist flat in a cat track and there's an inch of paw print outside your fist, it ain't no house cat. Nor a bobcat.

My local resident poo-tat is "Cigar Mountain Mama", about a mile south of my house. From time to time she's visited by Handsome Stranger, ensuring the continuation of the family line. I was coming home from a dance at Lajitas, one night, and she crossed the road in front of me, headed home with her jackrabbit dinner.

Our local residents are fairly knowledgeable about cougars. Figures; sometimes it seems like we're bum deep in puma-poop. Some years back there was a trapping program in Big Bend National Park. The biologists predicted maybe two pairs in the Chisos Mountains (roughly 100,000 acres). They trapped and put radio collars on twenty-two lions.

We do have the occasional dark brown cougar; very occasional sightings, but they do indeed exist. And I baited one big male, years back, which was marked much like a Sealpoint Siamese housecat. As near as I could guess, his live weight was around 140 pounds.

The owner of a 120,000-acre ranch in south Texas imported a few elk. A female lion killed a 500-pound cow elk and dragged the carcass some fifty yards to some brush. The foreman's son shot her; she weighed 80 pounds. Think "muscular". And figure a 100-yard dash capability of around four seconds. It's definitely awesome to watch one practicing being elsewhere at full speed...

 

[McCall911]

Mistaken about one or more of the following, usually: Color, size, species.

Well, I really can't say what my friend saw. But I'm pretty sure she woudn't have been very excited over seeing Fluffy jump out of that dumpster.

 

[Flintknapper]

I know these Big Black Cat threads are fun to muse about, and I have no doubt that people see (or think they see) dark animals in the wild. So I do NOT contest the idea that SOMETHING dark/black was seen.

But, I am still waiting (56 yrs. later) for someone to provide empirical evidence of a “Black Panther” wandering the U.S.

Invariably, these threads take a different track (no pun intended) and morph into a: “ I saw a Cougar thread, Cougars DO exist in My State, etc”

YES, YES, YES……….we know cougars exist many places in this country, but not BLACK ones (the subject of the thread).

I understand the mystique, big cats are cool and folklore does not die easily. But… come on guys, this black panther thing is rivaled only by Big Foot for being ubiquitous .

If you don’t believe me….try this (for the men): Next time you're at the Barber Shop….introduce the topic of a Black Panther sighting and see how many folks make the claim of having seen one, or knew of a Friend’s Uncle’s Cousin (twice removed), that saw one.

You will get responses from nearly every part of the U.S.

And the reason for this is twofold:

1. The most prevalent reason will be Mistaken Identity.
2. People like folklore.

The chance of a Melanistic Cougar or Jaguar….is miniscule. The number of people claiming to have seen large black cats (specifically Black Panthers they say) is HUGE. How do we reconcile that?

Logic and Intellectual Honesty…demand that we accept Mistaken Identity as the source for these sightings.

Yeah…I know, that kinda sucks all the FUN right out of the room, but that’s the truth of the matter.

Flint.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Okay,I'm done. The moderator can close the thread now.