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Big Cat Tales |
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Chris Farris
TEAM SWFA - Admin swfa.com Joined: October/01/2003 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 8024 |
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Posted: February/27/2007 at 17:04 |
Is it just me or do others hear stories about some sort of big cat being in an area where they are not indigenous? I hear these stories all the time in different parts of Texas.
For example around here (Ellis County, Waxahachie, Texas area) I hear stories about a black panther roaming the area. In other parts I hear tales of mountain lions being spotted where they are not known to exist and the stories usually involve a game warden as a witness. Some of stories offer explanations, like a circus train crash years ago or someone had a pet that got too big for the apartment and they just dumped it out.
Sort of an urban legend thing I guess. Just wondering if these tales are nation wide. |
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silver
Optics Master Joined: November/04/2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2291 |
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Chris,
The sad fact is that these animals do exist. What happens is that people have unlicensed "ZOOs" and these animals get loose. I would find these when I worked for a county doing property tax inpections. Once I came around a corner and felt the hair on my neck stand up. I caught a flicker out of the corner of my eye. It was two mountain lions looking at me and licking thier lips and twiching thier tails like cats watching bird. The guy had a private "zoo."
The Exotic Feline Rescue Center near Terre Haute Indiana had one of its lions climb out of this 18' cage. The cat is in the wild near the center as it tracks were found after a recent snow storm.
One of the guys I know had three bears. While cleaning the cage one day one of them grabbed him and they all piled on. HE lost his leg.
This stuff is out there and real. Certain people seem to be drawn to this stuff. |
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"If we weren't all crazy we, We would go insane." Jimmie Buffet
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silver
Optics Master Joined: November/04/2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2291 |
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"If we weren't all crazy we, We would go insane." Jimmie Buffet
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Bigdaddy0381
MODERATOR Georgia peach Joined: February/27/2007 Location: Georgia Status: Offline Points: 13682 |
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Chris, I know for a fact here in Ga a guy name Red Palmer had a few wild animals lions and thing of that nature.he had a company that did reserch with tranwalizers(spelling).My grandmother did the book keeping.i was there one day and one got loose and killed a few dogs in a close subdivision.i was there when they killed it.I also hear of srories of it happening more than a few times.this was in 90's
That place has long since been sold and moved to texas from what i under staing.
Brandon |
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jonbravado
Optics Master Joined: October/05/2006 Status: Offline Points: 1131 |
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i live in SC and have had a run-in w/ a long tailed black cat..........
halloween night (no kidding) we are in the woods hanging some climbing stands for the following morning's hunt. since you can't carry a weapon after legal time (or it's considered night hunting in SC), we were unarmed in the middle of of a WILD track of land (boars, lots of deer, turkeys, etc.) it was dry and the leaves were crunchy so even the stealthiest of animals could be heard. something kept creeping quite close and flanked us a few times - even though it was not 15 yrds from us we couldn't see it. after thoroughly being spooked we left and came back before light that morning. i hauled ass up to my stand and had a great hunt - coming out after the hunt i passed where we were being 'stalked' and saw a cat print in an old ant bed that was as big as my sprawled out hand (i got big hands). we asked the property owner about it later that day and he said, "oh yeah, meant to tell you.........we got a long tailed cat out there..." i about SH&T laughing.
two or three other folks i know have seen cats in the state.
Dept of natural resources confirms there is a BREEDING population..........illegal zoos, drug dealers, etc let them escape and a male has found a female.......and.......
anyway - they are around. it's exciting and creepy at the same time. master predators.
J |
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Dale Clifford
Optics Jedi Knight Joined: July/04/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 5087 |
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Pretty common around here-- will send pics. when find-- have an old female that comes down every winter trying to get one of the dogs. forgot to add-- for lunch Edited by Dale Clifford |
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mwyates
Optics Master Joined: June/15/2004 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 1196 |
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Big cats, actually Florida panthers, have been seen, and heard up and down the Sabine River in East Texas my whole life. They're not common, but I've seen about a dozen of them. They have ranged from black to brown to tan. These are not exotics that have escaped from a private zoo, but cats that have always been around in small numbers. They are very migratory. We might see a couple one year and then not see one again for two or three years. I have two stories about them.
One morning before daylight I was driving down a pipeline to one of my stands and saw a tan one cross right in front of me. He was a big cat, over 2 feet at the shoulders, with a tail that looked 5 feet long. This unnerved me a little because he was pretty close to where I get out and walk. I convinced myself he was long gone and walked about a half mile into the woods and settled in before daylight. I didn't see a thing, not even squirrels, so about 10AM I started walking out. I hadn't gone too far when I saw something strange up in a big oak. It was a half eaten goat. When I got up to the tree there were a lot of bones around under it. I understood then why there were no animals in the area. I was another animal that was getting out of there pretty quickly I went back in there a week or so later but there was no sign of the cat.
A few years ago my Dad and I walked into one of his corn feeders to check it. We noticed on the way in how quiet the woods were; no squirrels, birds or anything. When we got to the feeder there was a big mound of leaves under it and the ground in a 30 ft circle was perfectly clear of leaves and twigs. We started digging in the mound of leaves and found a half eaten doe. That will send chills up your neck. My Dad hunted there that afternoon but didn't see anything, but we did get one of his famous quotes. When he told me he would shoot the panther if he saw it I told him they were an endangered species and he'd get it big trouble for shooting one. His response -"If he comes by me he WILL be endangered!" I went back the next day with a trail camera. The carcass was completely covered again and had been eaten on. I never got any pics on the trail camera. I gues twice being disturbed was all he could handle.
So, yes, there really are panthers in East Texas, and I expect they'd be in central Texas, too. I'm glad they're there. It makes the woods a better place to know there's something that wild still out there. When you hear one scream at night it's the eeriest sound you've ever heard, and something you'll never forget. |
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jonbravado
Optics Master Joined: October/05/2006 Status: Offline Points: 1131 |
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good story, mwyates.
i have had to look over my shoulder a few times on those 'quiet' evenings, myself.
puts things in perspecive.
J |
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Urimaginaryfrnd
MODERATOR Resident Redneck Joined: June/20/2005 Location: Iowa Status: Offline Points: 14964 |
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Camp Dodge is on the North side of Des Moines and is East of Saylorville Lake which is surrounded by woods and expensive homes and farm fields. One of my boys who was 15 was in a ground blind near a gap in the fence where deer cross. He was holding my Hoyt bow. I dropped off my other son at a tree stand. I was going back to get in the blind with him and was about 75 yds away. A mountain lion crossed the road and hesitated in the fence gap only then realizing my boy was there because of the ground blind and scent killer. You can't imagine how fast that cat took off when the arrow passed through him. I ran down there and got my son and we went home and got guns and went back to trail the wounded mountain lion in the brush at night. We had a good blood trail for several hundred yards then almost nothing. One of the neighbors was a little spooked when he came out and asked what we were doing, then he hauled ass to get his shotgun and told us that deer around his house had been acting strange for several days. I'm told that a mountain lions blood coagulates fast. DNR swears there are no mountain lions in Iowa. I took them hair and blood samples from the arrow and they accepted them then later advised they had decided not to test them. We searched for several days but I think that since we had told DNR they found it first. A couple of weeks later someone found an arrow killed mountain lion just across the border in Illinois. Other sightings of the mountain lion had been reported prior to this incident but I have not heard of any since. The neighbor next to my farm at Exline Iowa swears there is a mountain lion there also. They have introduced legislation regarding making bears and mountain lions "furbearers" according to Iowa law but currently the state claims they dont exist. yea right.
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"Always do the right thing, just because it is the right thing to do". Bobby Paul Doherty Texas Ranger |
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Stephanie
Optics GrassHopper Optics Goddess Joined: February/13/2004 Location: Native Texan Status: Offline Points: 1502 |
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I know of one story that is true. We have a creek that runs behind my parents house. We see all kinds of critters that follow it. One night my dad heard the dogs going crazy! So he took a peep out the window. He seen this huge black cat "looked like a panther" on the hood of the car just for second, and it leap off the car over the fens. Needless to say he didn't go out, but the next day he told us about it, we could see the foot prints that was left behind on the hood. I'm glad I wasn't out that night!
Edited by Stephanie |
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Tip69
Optics Master Extraordinaire Tip Stick Joined: September/27/2005 Location: Nebraska Status: Offline Points: 4155 |
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We have them in Nebraka. They have been cuaght on trail camera's and one was even captured in Omaha. Funny thing is they found him in a creek right next to where my kids play baseball. The day before I was in that creek cause I couldn't make it to the bathroom. They tried to tranquillize it, but it charged an officer and he shot it. He only wounded it and they took it to the Henry Doorly Zoo where it still lives today.
Some folks think the the Game and Parks introduced them to help control the Deer population, but they deny that! . At first they denied they were even here, but now they don't. They are pretty sure they are migrating down from South Dakota. |
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take em!
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silver
Optics Master Joined: November/04/2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2291 |
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What's up? is cat in the air? Just before lunch I get a call from the boss wanting me to go to lunch with him. THEN he starts into his new story. He lives the next county over and it is know for being a bit "rugged." He lives down the road from the state park. Deer and turkey when I have to pick got him go to a client. You get the idea... Seems one of the next door neighbors called him last night and was telling him about seeing a mountain lion while hiking after the last snow fall... Well, that's one way to control the deer in the park... |
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"If we weren't all crazy we, We would go insane." Jimmie Buffet
WWW.formitch.com |
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Chris Farris
TEAM SWFA - Admin swfa.com Joined: October/01/2003 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 8024 |
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Here kitty kitty.
I got these pics emailed to me, not sure about the shooter or story. |
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lucznik
Optics Master Joined: November/27/2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1436 |
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The first picture at least looks to have been done with some "trick" photography (i.e. it looks to me like the guy has positioned himself way back from the cat to make it appear bigger.)
This is actually one of the "tricks" employed in the filming of the "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy to make the hobbit-actors appear smaller than the others.
Edited by lucznik |
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What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?
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ROCKMAN57
Optics Apprentice Joined: February/24/2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 88 |
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There are definitly cats in texas.About five years ago I was sitting up on one edge of a big branch off a creek in the Angelina Forrest north side of Lake Sam Rayburn.There was a fresh scrape I was watching on the other side of the branch with open hardwoods along the branch and a pine thicket bordering.All the buck had to do was step out of the thicket take two steps and he would be at the scrape.The rut being on I knew this was a good set-up.About an hour before last light a small lion came walking down the far edge of the branch headed towards the creek.He was what I would concider about half grown.I know it was a lion because there was plenty of light and my woodsmaster 30-06 had a 3x9 redfield on it and I watched him for about 50 yds in open woods.Talk about feeling great about being there WOW.To top it off my buck stepped out right at dark and started working his scrape.I dropped him in it.Nice mature 8pt.Dad came to me and helped me drag it out and I told him about the lion.He wasn't surprised because he's seen them in east texas before.I told my father-in-law the story(He's lived and hunted there his whole life) and I don't think he believed me.Two years later he tells me I did see a lion because his Brother saw it in the same area but it was grown.I knew what I saw all along.I could tell no difference in the woods that day,they were noisy with the regular complement of birds and squirrels but it did go quite when he came through.No different than if a person had walked by cause they started right back up after a few minutes.I believe that lion had more right to be there than I did
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Walk softly,keep the wind in your face and watch your back
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Chris Farris
TEAM SWFA - Admin swfa.com Joined: October/01/2003 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 8024 |
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From a guy out in Mason, Tx. Pictures taken from his kitchen onto his deck this year when it snowed in January. The cat was watching his little kids playing on the kitchen floor.
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Bigdaddy0381
MODERATOR Georgia peach Joined: February/27/2007 Location: Georgia Status: Offline Points: 13682 |
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I'm not positive but i don't think thats the average house cat.....I think if my kidds were on the floor and the cat was licking his lips i would have had to take him out rather than take a pic.Just becouse he might be back.when kidd are out side.Know what i mean.
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jonbravado
Optics Master Joined: October/05/2006 Status: Offline Points: 1131 |
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holy crap. that's crazy.
i know it's illegal to shoot them in SC, but i would have to draw the line if i found one of those rascals stalkin my family.
J |
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Bigdaddy0381
MODERATOR Georgia peach Joined: February/27/2007 Location: Georgia Status: Offline Points: 13682 |
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my thoughts exactly......
Shoot first ask questions later................... |
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mwyates
Optics Master Joined: June/15/2004 Location: Texas Status: Offline Points: 1196 |
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That's real unusual for one to do that. The cats that are around here as wild as anything and don't have anything to do with people. You never hear of them anywhere close to houses; to the point that they don't bother chickens or livestock. They disappear not toolong into deer season; too many people around. That one in the pics may have been somebody's "pet".
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