OT: Anybody seen a Black Cat (100/200 lbs. ) in USA wild?

rangerider7 · Post by **rangerider7** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:18 pm

Never seen one myself. I have been told by ranchers that they have seen them many times. They were 100/200 lbs Black with yellow eyes. I have talked to three ranchers this year that say they have seen them in the last 5 years. It is amazing to me that the Texas Parks and Wildlife has never had one brought to them, dead or alive.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:32 pm

I do not know where rangerider is in Texas.
In south central New Mexico I have heard stories of them, but I have never seen one.
I did see a jagurundi, 2-3 years ago; in this same location.

crs · Post by **crs** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:32 pm

As I remember it, these"black panthers" are a color of couger and were more plentiful in the southeast states in the deep woods. I do not recall them being common in Texas, but maybe in the east Texas swamps? The only cougers that I have seen or heard of in Texas are the common brown or tan ones.
This should be easy to research on the Internet though.

TedH · Post by **TedH** » Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:37 pm

Many years ago my Mother saw one here in central Missouri. She told me about it when I got home from school one winter day. I had my doubts, but I grabbed the 30-30 and went to investigate. Of course I didn't see the cat, but I did see the tracks it left in the snow. Seems like they were 4-5 inches in diameter.

rangerider7 · Post by **rangerider7** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:26 am

The only thing I can make of the stories is that it is an melanistic jaguar they are seeing here in Texas. The biologist I talk to say there is no such thing as a black or melanistic mountain lion. Almost always the observer says that the big cat has yellow eyes. That is a characteristic of a jaguar. Those farther north that see large black cats, I have no answer. That's why I asked the question.

txpete · Post by **txpete** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:30 am

about 3 years ago I posted that a bud of mine hunting out near the lampasas river (maxdale) saw one on his hunting lease.I hunted with this man for years and he is a straight shooter.said it was about 60 yards when he saw it crossing the game trail.
pete

rangerider7 · Post by **rangerider7** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:35 am

http://www.thejump.net/multimedia/couga ... anther.htm

This video got me to thinking about it a few months ago.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 1:10 am

I grew up on the reservation, And I have seen some wierd things; discounting excessive alchohol consumption; some things can still not be explained.

octagon · Post by **octagon** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:15 am

I saw a black one two-three years ago cross the road in front of my truck about 70 yards away. He was about 130 lbs, real nice and fat with a long tail - could not see the eyes. This was about half-way between Menard and Mason Tx. Saw a big regular sandy colored cat in San Angelo last year about 150 lbs getting a drink at the tank I always shoot at - he scooted out of there like his tail was on fire.

Buffboy · Post by **Buffboy** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:48 am

I saw a 100#(IMO) one run across the road in front of me about 10 years ago here in SD.

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:58 am

We see tons of "black cats" in SC, but 100 pounds of firecrackers is too much to buy at one time!

Oh, the other "black cats"...

kimwcook · Post by **kimwcook** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 11:08 am

I watched a documentary a few years ago on National Geographic, Discovery or something like that about Jaguars. They gave the range from Mexico clear up into like Nevada, Utah and Colorado. So a Jaguar in Texas wouldn't surprise me one bit.

I've spent a lot of time in the woods and until four years ago I'd never seen a cougar in the wild. Slippery little buggers. I'll say one thing, they are getting over populated and are getting real aggressive towards people and their livestock.

samsi · Post by **samsi** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:47 pm

I spent some time in the northern Gila NF (New Mexico) in the late '90's. One of the guys up there claimed that a black jaguar had run across the road in front of him one day. I know they're out there - never seen one myself.

RAC · Post by **RAC** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:54 pm

Can anybody provide or post a picture alive or dead of a confirmed melanistic cougar/mountain lion (Felis concolor)? Ever? In the last 300 years? I am not talking about a grainy video. Anecdotal evidence is not proof. While I believe there are occasional sightings of jaguars in south Texas or Arizona, I am skeptical they exist anywhere else.

Post by **Old Savage** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 3:55 pm

Looks like a BIG black cat, not a house cat, on that video.

gcs · Post by **gcs** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 4:09 pm

This comes up on the trapping sites periodically, Seems lots of people claim to see "black panthers" but not one has ever been confirmed caught, shot,or run over. If you try to figure the odds of NO ONE bringing one in, when they're "seen" all over the country, well, you'd have better luck winning MegaMillions.

"Seeing is believing, but feeling it is the Gods honest truth"

cubrock · Post by **cubrock** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 5:52 pm

Saw a chocolate cougar in eastern North Carolina in 1998. They are supposed to be extinct in NC, but it was way too big to be a housecat or a bobcat. That leaves only one other alternative....

jeepnik · Post by **jeepnik** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 6:45 pm

kimwcook wrote:I watched a documentary a few years ago on National Geographic, Discovery or something like that about Jaguars. They gave the range from Mexico clear up into like Nevada, Utah and Colorado. So a Jaguar in Texas wouldn't surprise me one bit.

I've spent a lot of time in the woods and until four years ago I'd never seen a cougar in the wild. Slippery little buggers. I'll say one thing, they are getting over populated and are getting real aggressive towards people and their livestock.

Kim, you may not see them, but I'd bet they see you. More often than you'd think. I am beginning to think they like to sneak up on folks just for fun.

horsesoldier03 · Post by **horsesoldier03** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 6:50 pm

My grandfather had an old shack that set back in the woods in a remote area on his land near the Trinity River. When I was a kid back in the mid 70s he went into his shack one day to find a black panter waiting inside. (NO IT WASNT the RACIAL Group of black panthers) He left the area PDQ and then went back with a couple of my uncles all armed to the teeth. I was told that there was a litter of young in the cabin. Later I seen them and they were all dead. I was told that cat had killed them. I also remember hearing a noise on occasion that would come from the bottom that sounded like a woman screaming. I was told it was a panther. That was all in Texas.

About 5 yrs ago I was driving in a rural area in Kansas on my way home from work when I noticed a black animal crouched on the side of a hill about 75 yards off the side of the road. What first caught my attention was a long black tail that was whipping around. I slowed down and made a u turn and went back to the area where I had seen the animal. Luckily it was still crouched in the same spot and I walked a straight path towards it. When I reached about 40 yrds away, the animal leaped behind some nearby cedar trees and was gone. It was dead summer and had been hot for quite a while and the ground was hard. I tried to find a good track but there was quite a bit of grass. I know they say they dont exist but I think they do.

blackhawk44 · Post by **blackhawk44** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 6:53 pm

Rangerider, TP&W's official position has been that the jaguar, or American Leopard according to some biology books, has been extinct in Texas since 1938. I don't know how you will ever be able to dispute their view since it's also quite illegal to shoot a jaguar. They also will not accept the word of brush pilots who seem to be able to scare them up every few days (particularly in the Uvalde to Del Rio region). The only one I have ever seen, and verified by a witness from another vantage point, was very dark, but his rosette spots were still distinct enough in daylight that he could not be called black. After sundown that point could possibly be argued.

Of the mountain lions I've seen in the wild, all have been various shades of buckskin.

Scoutmaster · Post by **Scoutmaster** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 7:05 pm

blackhawk44 wrote:TP&W's official position has been that the jaguar has been extinct in Texas since 1938. I don't know how you will ever be able to dispute their view since it's also quite illegal to shoot a jaguar.

It strikes me as being a bit odd that they would have a law preventing you from shooting something that they say doesn't exist.
Don

Sixgun · Post by **Sixgun** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:02 pm

I see this one everyday! Its getting a little old and faded but everyday I wake up, she's waiting for me.---------Sixgun

Post by **Chuck 100 yd** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 8:40 pm

Back in the winter of 71/72 My friend and I were cat hunting in Imnaha OR. We were guiding a hunter who had drawn a tag. We were in the Imnaha tavern when a phone call came in from an old lady (in her 80`s) who knew we were hunting for Couger (news travels fast in a small town).
Well, we drove to her place and she had seen this jet black mountain lion on and off for a couple days and when she saw it close to the house she got ahold of us. Now I never saw it myself,but this old lady had lived on that ranch for all of her 80+ years and had seen many a Couger. We had no reason to doubt her word.
We crossed the creek and saw and struck the track right away. Our hounds chased that cat for hours and we finally got them back. That cat was just playing with the dogs in that rough rimrock country.
Sure wish we had cought him!!

Lastmohecken · Post by **Lastmohecken** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:35 pm

I seen a big black Cat, working it's way in and out of some tall cane along a creek, back in the late 70's, during deer season. It was seen in an area, in NW Arkansas, where stories of black panthers, were sorta a folk lore told by old timers back then. It was quite a bit bigger then a bobcat, and I seen it at long range, but I don't think it was even a hundred pounds in weight. What I remember was that it had a very long tail.

I also heard one scream like a woman, as they say, that same year in the same area. Or at least I heard something scream, that scared the stuff out of me, one night, while retrieving a deer, we didn't find until way after dark. At that point I had just finished gutting this deer, and we always figured it caught sent of the deer's blood. We spent the next hour dragging that deer out and watching our back trail.

I also see tracks along that creek, that sure made me wonder what made them, during that time back then, but I suppose they could have been a more common canine with long clawnails, or something, who knows.

Comal Forge · Post by **Comal Forge** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:14 pm

Supposedly, mountain lions (puma, cougar, etc) don't have a black phase but it has been documented in jaguars. I have not personally seen jaguars here in South Texas but I did see a cat that very much looked like an ocelot which may have come up from Central America so it is certainly not out of the realm of possibility. My grandfather grew up in Blanco county before WW1 and saw or killed several cats - both black and spotted. As Blackhawk44 said, the phases are not always clearly one or the other and can be any shade in-between.

I have also heard lion screams around Uvalde during deer season and it will definitely make your skin crawl - even while standing around a camp fire and holding a rifle. It is very primal to listen to an animal that can and will eat you...

rangerider7 · Post by **rangerider7** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:15 pm

Lastmoheken, If it had claw marks in it's track it's usually is not feline. IMHO

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Tue Mar 04, 2008 10:27 pm

I am a new member and this is my first post. I live in Texas. Thirty years ago, I worked the graveyard shift at the Ferguson State Prison in Madison County. I drove FM 247 south back to Huntsville every morning. This route crosses Bedias Creek right at the Walker County line. Three days in a row I saw a large black cat cross the road on the north side of the creek. This cat was very large, larger than any dog I have ever seen and I have one that weighs 115 lbs. The cat also had a very long tail. I talked to some old timers that said they used to be around there, but they had not seen one in years.

More recently my father and I saw one (also black) on his place in Washington County. It was right at the end of legal shooting light (30 minutes after sunset). We lost sight of it behind some brush. It was dark by the time we got to the spot and we could not find any tracks as the ground was covered in 1 to 2 inches of water. Since then we have seen tracks that we believe are a cat because they look like a large dog, but do not have any claw marks. We understand that a cat can retract its claws, but a dog can't. I'm sure someone will let me know wheter or not this is correct.

mescalero1 · Post by **mescalero1** » Wed Mar 05, 2008 1:10 am

Comal Forge,
I have heard that sound, it is indeed primevil!!!!
If you have have not heard it, you have no frame of reference!
The 1911 is always a form of comfort during these times

OT: Anybody seen a Black Cat (100/200 lbs. ) in USA wild?

OT: Anybody seen a Black Cat (100/200 lbs. ) in USA wild?

Re: OT: Anybody seen a Black Cat (100/200 lbs. ) in USA wild