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My cousin sent this to me in an email. This picture is interesting for the obvious reason, but also because of where it was taken in N.W. Florida. The game biologists for decades have been declaring that the only Florida panthers are located in South Florida and that there are only about a hundred in existence.
My Granddaddy had a farm about 20 miles from where this picture was taken and he used to tell me about panthers killing his hogs back in the 1950's.
About 30 years ago I got a glimpse of a panther crossing a road at sunset in the Tallahassee area. But of course it was a figment of my imagination because only a hundred exist, all in South Florida.
Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! P Henry
When the Government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the Government, there is tyranny.T Jefferson
There always has been panthers in Florida I lived in Arcadia during the 1940's and saw panthers aound there. My dad and brother cowhunted for a couple of ranches and saw panthers too.
JerryB II Corinthians 3:17, Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Mac in Mo wrote:That photo has been floating around for years. It has been claimed to be a photo from here in Missouri more than once.
Kevin
Ah crud! I was afraid of that. I actually did a Google search before I posted it to see if it was an email hoax.
With all of the local references in the email, I thought it might be on the up and up. Regardless, I believe my Granddaddy's story and I know what I saw 30 years ago.
Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! P Henry
When the Government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the Government, there is tyranny.T Jefferson
I have seen it several times before. The latest time claiming to have been taken in Jacksonville, TX, about 2 hrs southeast of Dallas. Who knows where it was taken?
I had a customer that said he has seen deer killed that way on his lease up near the Red River here in TX. He said that if your feeder was in a stand of trees, the cats would just lay up there and wait for feeding time, then just drop down on top of the closest deer. Easy pickin's. Don't know if he is full of hot air or not, but it makes sense to me.
"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen" - Samuel Adams
They are or were in the Fl. panhandle. I worked the last 20 yrs. That St. Joe Paper Co. ran their woodlands, West Bay Unit. This was from 77-97, And we did find their tracks in so.walton co. Between US98 @ 30A which ran along the beach's. We would tell the FGFC, they in turn would tell us that the big cat's tracks belong to Bobcats. But within 48 hours we would find them makeing casts of the tracks. Granted I never saw one, I did talk others who did. When they reported them to FGFC they were told the same thing. I moved to N.M. in 98 so I no longer know what roams those woods.
One was hit by a car a few months ago on the Merrit Parkway, just outside NY City! A DNA anaylisis of its scat and other cat scat found from Michigan to NY found this cat had traveled over 2000 miles!
only have seen 1 Florida Panther while hunting...about 20 years ago...
he was walking down the trail about 50 yards behind me....
then suddenly dissappeared....and I had to walk out the same trail...
I was so concerned about meeting him on the way out...
I walked right through a banana spider web.....with the 2" spider ending
up on my face!
i have seen a couple in east central FL. One I didn't see when my buddy Mark put an arrow in a buck late one afternoon, it got dark and his flashlight went dead before he found it so he called me. I went up with another litght and fresh batteries for his, about 30 yards on down the blood trail the cat tracks showed up on top of the deers tracks. We decided to let that one slide.
Missouri has been experiencing lions moving back in over a number of years. The sightings make the papers with more and more frequency. Most recently, a kid saw one opening day of gun deer season, though it could not be "officially" confirmed. This was about three miles from my property. Several have been seen, caught on trail cams or killed in the area recently.
About 7-8 years ago I saw something, just a blur, as my son and I crested a small rise on our place. If I was pressed to say, I would say it was a lion. It was only about 15 yards from us, and we were walking quietly on hard packed dirt. A few years later I found fresh tracks in the same area. They were feline and nearly five inches long. I have pics on my old phone and cannot figure out how to get them onto a computer.
We have Bobcats, lots of them, I see them all the time. I don't think anyone who is halfway knowledgeable and gets a clear look at one could mistake it for a lion.
Back in the seventies my Grandparents lived out in the woods closer to the Mississippi river. They would occasionally hear what they said was Panther screams down in a big holler out behind their house. I roamed all over back in there and never heard or saw anything.
Our conservation department still says there is not a breeding population in the state. That may be, but I still keep my kids close at hand and keep one of my revolvers, usually my 3" 624, holstered and long guns within reach when we are at our place.
cactus jack wrote:They are or were in the Fl. panhandle. I worked the last 20 yrs. That St. Joe Paper Co. ran their woodlands, West Bay Unit. This was from 77-97, And we did find their tracks in so.walton co. Between US98 @ 30A which ran along the beach's. We would tell the FGFC, they in turn would tell us that the big cat's tracks belong to Bobcats. But within 48 hours we would find them makeing casts of the tracks. Granted I never saw one, I did talk others who did. When they reported them to FGFC they were told the same thing. I moved to N.M. in 98 so I no longer know what roams those woods.
I lived south of St Joe in '83 (Ski-Breeze, just beyond the turn off for the state park on C-30) and worked maintenance on the Tyndall AFB Golf course. We saw tracks in sand traps fairly often on Tyndall, and one morning found tracks and a perfectly eviscerated BIG opossum with two fang punctures in the top of the head. Tracks in the sand were obviously cat and almost as big as a man's hand prints. One of the old time maintenance guys refused to work nights after he was growled at up close in the dark while driving a three-wheeled Cushman scooter, poking along slow, trying to locate and shut off water valves out back... The fish cops said "nope, only in the glades".....
rbertalotto wrote:One was hit by a car a few months ago on the Merrit Parkway, just outside NY City! A DNA analysis of its scat and other cat scat found from Michigan to NY found this cat had traveled over 2000 miles!
The DNA was traced to some sign a retired NY DEC officer found near his house in Lake George, NY in the winter snow. A few yrs. later this same cat appeared as a road kill in Ct. The mystery is why did it have worn pads and such as it probably was released in Pa. somewhere and then wandered into Ct. The conspiracy theory is that someone is raising them on concrete pads and selling them to ..........and now we have cats where we haven't had them in 100 yrs. All the agencies deny they are releasing them (....but evidence disputes this) to control the deer populations that the hunters haven't been able to control is there justification. afish4570
