# black cat spotted in Liberty/Hardin Co



## slippinaround

A good friend of mine was hunting yesterday evening on our lease when she said a big black cat with a long tail stepped out between her stand and her feeder right at dusk. She said the cat walked down towards her feeder and then slipped back into the woods. She said she couldnt' get a shot at him because she could not find him in her scope fast enough. She's a very reliable person and has been hunting for years---saying that she told me that she has no doubts that it was a black panther. 

When she called me about this I was already on the road headed home from the deer lease or I would have gone to see if I could find any tracks---esp after yesterdays rain.

I've been hunting in this area all my life as has my dad---we both remember of hearing of a sighting of a black panther when I was a teenager--- 30 yrs ago.

anybody hunting in this area watch the little ones running around in the woods.

for those of you wondering specifically where our lease is located. It's in Devers on Dever's Hunting Club.


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## awally

here we go again


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## slippinaround

I contacted the Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist for our area and reported it. He told me that it's been years since a sighting has been reported.

I'll be back at the lease this Friday---I'll go to her stand and see if I can find any tracks


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## justinsfa

The ever so mysterious black panther has struck again!!!!


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## Fishspert

Jaguarundi


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## rubberducky

I'm in Polk count and seen one to!!!! I even have a pic!!!
I'm sitting in a 12ft leaner 












lol

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk because Reeltime told me to


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## slippinaround

Fishspert said:


> Jaguarundi


Yes, my friends husband said this is what it was. I've never heard of one. Pretty cool.

My friend is all fired up about it. Told her i spoke to the biologist etc. She going to try to go back to the lease today to look for some tracks---biologist said to put a pocket knife or scale next to it if we find any. I hope we don't get any rain over there today.


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## mattintexas40k

Back in 1980, my grandpa (Pop) and I found tracks in the woods. His farm was at the end of Berryhill Rd off of 146- which is just South of Hardin in Liberty Co- West of Devers. Tracks were almost as big as his hand. That land was woods and fields al the way to the Trinity River bottoms.


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## slippinaround

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_w7000_0013_jaguarundi.pdf

the decription here is a slender cat a little bit taller than a domestic cat that inhabits the border region of Texas and Mexico---this doesn't mean it can't get up here. It's been on the endangered list since 1976.


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## slippinaround

I just got off the phone with her---she said this thing was bigger than a domestic cat but a little smaller than a cougar, she said it was still daylight when it stepped out and it definetly was not a domestic cat. She said she didn't know what the heck to do when she saw it (shoot it or what) because it might be endangered. When she put up her gun she couldn't find it and it had slipped back into the woods. She said it scared the **** out of her and made her husband come get her out of the stand. Who know's what it was? I'm intrigued though.


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## Redfishr

No such thing as black panthers in North America...sorry


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## Mojo281

Redfishr said:


> No such thing as black panthers in North America...sorry


That statement is not 100% accurate...


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## Jock Ewing

Redfishr said:


> No such thing as black panthers in North America...sorry


This. If there was one it would be on a game cam


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## Johnny9

The Black Cat i saw in Austin County had a tail as long as its body. Not like this house cat shown. I can see a patch of white underside in the first pic.


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## fowlwaters

Got the popcorn popping


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## tamucc04

Fishspert said:


> Jaguarundi


Yep


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## justinsfa

The black panther is Texas' version of the Bigfoot.

Never found dead, never caught on camera, never shot.... But everybody knows somebody who has seen one...


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## Shaky

I got a bunch of family history stuff from my mother recently, and going through some of the personal documents (dating back to the late 1800's) they listed a tally of 50 bears and 20 panthers shot in one year. This was just north of present day Sargent around the Caney Creek area.
Pretty interesting stuff, even if it doesnt relate to the op's original post! lol I'll try to scan it and see if it will post as an attachment.


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## hounddog

justinsfa said:


> The black panther is Texas' version of the Bigfoot.
> 
> Never found dead, never caught on camera, never shot.... But everybody knows somebody who has seen one...


x2...exactly


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## justinsfa

Shaky said:


> I got a bunch of family history stuff from my mother recently, and going through some of the personal documents (dating back to the late 1800's) they listed a tally of 50 bears and 20 panthers shot in one year. This was just north of present day Sargent around the Caney Creek area.
> Pretty interesting stuff, even if it doesnt relate to the op's original post! lol I'll try to scan it and see if it will post as an attachment.


Do it! I love reading about stuff like that.... its crazy to see how much has changed and where animals roamed before we chased or killed them out. Kinda like wolves in SETX/SWLA.

My grandmother videoed a pair of what were believed to be wolves in their back pasture back in the early 90s... none had been seen there in a LONG time. Video was turned over to biologists. Not real sure what ever happened to it.


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## Redfishr

Shaky said:


> I got a bunch of family history stuff from my mother recently, and going through some of the personal documents (dating back to the late 1800's) they listed a tally of 50 bears and 20 panthers shot in one year. This was just north of present day Sargent around the Caney Creek area.
> Pretty interesting stuff, even if it doesnt relate to the op's original post! lol I'll try to scan it and see if it will post as an attachment.


I believe this......I've seen pictures of huge stingers of GIANT snook caught in Port A......Things change like the weather, its part of nature.
But not Black Panthers.......No such thing.
Brown and standing in the shadows maybe.


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## Dukdogtx

Redfishr said:


> No such thing as black panthers in North America...sorry


I'm not sure the difference between panther (leopard I think) and mountain lion, but I can tell you all that Not one of you guys nor any biologist could EVER convince me that black, or dark colored, long tail cats don't exist in Texas!!!

Explain this one. While sitting on a bluff in Center City, TX (Mills county) with a buddy of mine, I witnessed a black long tailed mountain lion sized cat cruise across an open field in broad daylight. The cat was at least the size of a full grown lab. Saw it with my own Dayum eyes. And NO, I don't drink or smoke the wild weed!!! I watched the cat for 20 or 30 seconds.


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## justinsfa

Dukdogtx said:


> I'm calling bull Sheeott!!!
> Not one of you guys or any biologist could EVER convince me that black, or dark colored, long tail cats don't exist in Texas!!! Sitting on a bluff in Center City, TX (Mills county) with a buddy of mine, I witnessed a black long tailed mountain lion sized cat cruise across an open field. The cat was at least the size of a full grown lab. Saw it with my own Dayum eyes. And NO, I don't drink or smoke the wild weed!!! I watched him for 20 or 30 seconds.


Got proof? Cuz nobody else who has ever seen one does either.

Nor has the hundreds of thousands of game cameras across the state.... nor the hundreds of thousands of gun toting hunters across the state with a bullet ridden carcass at their feet.... nor does the millions of miles of roadways across this state with a road killed body on the asphault.

I would love for it to be true, as it would be super cool..... but unfortunately, it is not.

I dont doubt seeing SOMETHING, but dont you think SOMEONE would have proof over the last 100 years?

Not ragging on you at all, so dont take it wrong.... just being realistic.


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## Instigator

Now Justin, you know that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence 

Keep the faith alive!

I don't doubt that folks see cats that look to be jaguar sized but folks see deer that tend to shrink when they hit the ground too and we have plenty of photo evidence for that. Is it possible that a melanistic jaguar made it up from Mexico? Sure, but it is also possible to win the lottery two days in a row.


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## bigbarr

justinsfa said:


> Got proof? Cuz nobody else who has ever seen one does either.
> 
> Nor has the hundreds of thousands of game cameras across the state.... nor the hundreds of thousands of gun toting hunters across the state with a bullet ridden carcass at their feet.... nor does the millions of miles of roadways across this state with a road killed body on the asphault.
> 
> I would love for it to be true, as it would be super cool..... but unfortunately, it is not.
> 
> I dont doubt seeing SOMETHING, but dont you think SOMEONE would have proof over the last 100 years?
> 
> Not ragging on you at all, so dont take it wrong.... just being realistic.


So all those big black wild predator cats in Latin America are figments of people's imaginations? Sorry, but you are incorrect. A "black panther" is any black cat of the Panthera family. That includes jaguars, leopards, and cougars (mountain lions). Jaguars and mountain lions are found in North America, can breed together, and both used to be found in Texas. While no black mountain lion has ever been proven to exist, it is possible. Black Jaguars are known and proven to exist.

Pics taken at Overton Fisheries around Centerville


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## Redfishr

WOW, that will stur things up....BUT he looks like he doesnt even stretch to the midway part in the road.......when he's laying in the road.
Thats only three feet or so.....I think thats just a plain ole cat.
He just doesnt look like a preditory cat to me.
His ears seem too pointed as well.
I wasnt there so I'm just guessing here.


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## bigbarr

Well if it is a domestic cat that is one big house cat ! lol


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## mullethead00

Really strange for a wild black cat to be out in the open like that in the day time. Cool pics though.


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## ntezbnchz

LOL.. a little research shows its most likely a cougar, and the fact the lighting was low due to it being dusk just reaffirms that suspicion. Their coats may appear darker in color in certain light. just sayin'..... maybe a Jaguar escaped from the Zoo and has hung out in those woods for 35 years


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## slippinaround

ok poke fun and all of that--- That's cool---it's expected. 

All I'm trying to do is share a intriguing real report of a real sighting that occured by a reliable person that I know. She's not saying that it definitely was a black panther---she's not a wildlife biologist or zoologist---she just said that a panther is the first thing that came to her mind when she saw it based upon her observations---- it was bigger than a domestic cat, was completely black and had a long tail. Who's to say that it's not an exotic that was released or escaped? You can't tell me that this has never happened before. 

I think it's pretty cool that she got the opportunity to see whatever she saw---a once in a life time experience that most of us will never get a chance to see.


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## justinsfa

bigbarr said:


> So all those big black wild predator cats in Latin America are figments of people's imaginations? Sorry, but you are incorrect. A "black panther" is any black cat of the Panthera family. That includes jaguars, leopards, and cougars (mountain lions). Jaguars and mountain lions are found in North America, can breed together, and both used to be found in Texas. While no black mountain lion has ever been proven to exist, it is possible. Black Jaguars are known and proven to exist.
> 
> Pics taken at Overton Fisheries around Centerville


Show me one dead "black panther"... one game cam pic of a "black panther"... one roadside carcass of a "black panther".... any of those and you would be the FIRST person in Texas to EVER... I repeat... EVER have proof of their existence.

A picture of a housecat playing on a dirt road isn't gonna cut it. There are biologists that spend years and years of their careers studying wild cats in Texas.... yet every single one will sit here and tell you "There are no black panthers in the state of Texas."

Conspiracy?? Me thinks not.... Reality is more like it.

Its a cool myth, but its still a myth.


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## Fishspert

I still believe a dark colored Jaguarundi could be the culprit here. Moving fast it could easily be mistaken for a dark colored big cat. Although endangered they are said to exist along the costal plains of Texas.


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## bigbarr

justinsfa said:


> Show me one dead "black panther"... one game cam pic of a "black panther"... one roadside carcass of a "black panther".... any of those and you would be the FIRST person in Texas to EVER... I repeat... EVER have proof of their existence.
> 
> A picture of a housecat playing on a dirt road isn't gonna cut it. There are biologists that spend years and years of their careers studying wild cats in Texas.... yet every single one will sit here and tell you "There are no black panthers in the state of Texas."
> 
> Conspiracy?? Me thinks not.... Reality is more like it.
> 
> Its a cool myth, but its still a myth.


You can get all hung up on the name "black panther" and Im pretty sure there are no true "black panthers" in Texas, but there are and have been Mountain Lion, Ocelot,Margay, Jaguarundi,Jaguar and Bobcat in Texas at one point in time or another and I wouldnt rule out the possibility that there could be a black cat of some species or another, crossbred/ freak or whatever that people have seen over the years...


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## justinsfa

bigbarr said:


> You can get all hung up on the name "black panther" and Im pretty sure there are no true "black panthers" in Texas, but there are and have been Mountain Lion, Ocelot,Margay, Jaguarundi,Jaguar and Bobcat in Texas at one point in time or another and I wouldnt rule out the possibility that there could be a black cat of some species or another, crossbred/ freak or whatever that people have seen over the years...


Show me proof... thats all I am asking.


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## billclemens

Big domestic black cat.


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## slippinaround

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_panther

"in North America they may be black jaguars or possibly black cougars (_Puma concolor_ - although this has not been proven to have a black variant), or smaller cats.[1][2]

Captive black panthers may be black jaguars, or more commonly black leopards."

Like Bigbarr said, it's probably a hybrid crossbreed or an exotic that was released. Nobody said it was native to Texas. Is it possible? Yes!!! That's why I posted it here-- to share others knowledge and experiences.


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## Lone-Star

Someone's bound to be have the link for the pictures of the jaguars they are tracking in South Texas along the mexican border...multiple game cam pics of jaguars in south texas were posted awhile back. Not black but if there can be jaguars then I wouldnt put a few black cats out of the realm of possibility.


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## shauntexex

Supposedly a Jaguar treed in New Mexico in 2006 while Mountain Lion hunting. Pretty cool picture and if true shows its not out of the question


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## piratelight

http://texascryptidhunter.blogspot.com/2012/02/black-panther-photographed-in-texas.html
here is some game cam pics


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## 4thbreak

end well this will not


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## piratelight

...


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## mullethead00

piratelight said:


> ...


I was waiting for something like this......well played. Proof positive, case closed.


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## threeredfish

piratelight - that is the best game cam picture i have viewed. green sent to you. i plan on saving it and splicing it into my buddies game camera. 

thanks!


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## piratelight

:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:


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## Rack Ranch

If yall have cats that big running around your house I'd hate to see your kitty litter bill..


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## tec

I was skeptical until I saw Pirate's picture.


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## bigbarr

piratelight said:


> ...


See. I told you Justin !


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## justinsfa

haha... can somebody help me pull my foot out of my mouth?


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## awally

Justinsfa is right on, come on people, seriously! this has been going on for 100 years yet nobody ever seems to get a pic or a shot at one, nobody ever ran over one, nothing, just like the divers that saw gigantic catfish at the Livingston Dam, Ive been hearing this **** since I was a kid, and its usually city slickers that dont know anything, I can assure you that if there were catfish big enough to swallow a person that some ******* would find a way to catch em lol, if people see that many cats somebody with some good hounds could tree one pretty darn fast, I cant believe this still goes around year after year after year, and somebody always has a a grandpa or whatever that said they seen one and they know what they saw, so go ahead and start bashing


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## sotx23

Jaguars do range into Northern Mexico and VERY possible some parts of South Tx.... Avian Quest can probably comment on this...I realize the claim is for East Tx, but I figured I would put this out there.

http://www.ranchocaracol.com/conservationandcharity/ocelotstudy/


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## Rack Ranch

I was one of those divers...trust me their there



awally said:


> Justinsfa is right on, come on people, seriously! this has been going on for 100 years yet nobody ever seems to get a pic or a shot at one, nobody ever ran over one, nothing, just like the divers that saw gigantic catfish at the Livingston Dam, Ive been hearing this **** since I was a kid, and its usually city slickers that dont know anything, I can assure you that if there were catfish big enough to swallow a person that some ******* would find a way to catch em lol, if people see that many cats somebody with some good hounds could tree one pretty darn fast, I cant believe this still goes around year after year after year, and somebody always has a a grandpa or whatever that said they seen one and they know what they saw, so go ahead and start bashing


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## awally

hahahahahahaaaaaaaaaa! then howcome nobody and I mean nobody has ever caught one of em, out of all the people that have been fishing there in the last 30 years or whatever, nobody even accidently caught one, sure there are a lot of big ones caught but not any man eaters, man has killed and caught just about everything on this earth but a place that as fishede as much as that place nobody ever caught one, and all the trotliners on that lake have never caught one, hahahaaaaaaaa! u better go tell that fishin story to somebody else lol !


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## awally

oh and let me guess nobody ever got a pic or any proof of those huge catfish either, and Im sure you could see so good in that clear water at the dam too, probley too muddy to take a pic down there I bet huh lol !


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## J.T. Barely

I'm on Devers hunting club and I have heard of a monkey being seen out there. Laugh if you want, I'm serious!


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## dabossgonzo

I am pizzed the only dang thing we ever see at our lease is pink elephants but I am usually to drunk to figure out how to use the camera when they come marching out.


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## kweber

all we have around here is La Chuza, La Llorada and chupacabras....
we need to import some black panthers to to keep those under control.


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## piratelight

Believe it or not there are snow monkeys in south texas. 


Sent from my eyephone


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## kweber

yeah, they dont make it very far when they get out.
monkey huntin' is big sport down there :biggrin:


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## JFolm

dabossgonzo said:


> I am pizzed the only dang thing we ever see at our lease is pink elephants but I am usually to drunk to figure out how to use the camera when they come marching out.


Is it a high fence lease?


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## justinsfa

piratelight said:


> Believe it or not there are snow monkeys in south texas.
> 
> Sent from my eyephone


This is a true statement. I read up on it a few years ago. Pretty wild.

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/03/us/killing-of-monkeys-approved.html

http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2005-08-05/283057/


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## SurfShark

I hunted off 61 there by Devers and at Devers too for about 10 years all together. I seen mountain lions or cougars on several different occasions while hunting in both locations.(Not Black ones) I also know a couple different people on Devers hunting club that have seen Black Bears on that lease.


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## Dukdogtx

Doubt all you want there my young friend. Saw it with my own eyes, using high powered binocs. The cat made its way towards us as close as 100 yds. Ive seen a cougar/mountain lion while hunting near Pleasanton, tx a few years back, this cat was the same, just a blackish color. My buddy saw it first and commented that someones black lab was running across the adjacent ranch. He then said "holy SH!t" that's a panther!!! I said let me look, I then watched the cat make his way towards our property. We later found big cat tracks with goat carcasses/skeletons tucked into an isolated corner where a lake dam connected to a bluff.

Trust me, there are big cats in Texas. May not be black panthers, but "...can appear black..." (TP&W)
Check with the Texas Parks & Wildlife. Not if, but how many big cat sightings, attacks, trappings, and/or shootings of cougars have occurred in Texas. Apparently, mortality rates 
have been the best evidence. Friend of the family has a cat mounted that was killed on his ranch just outside of Pearsal. Fact, not fiction.

UOTE=justinsfa;4463649]Got proof? Cuz nobody else who has ever seen one does either.

Nor has the hundreds of thousands of game cameras across the state.... nor the hundreds of thousands of gun toting hunters across the state with a bullet ridden carcass at their feet.... nor does the millions of miles of roadways across this state with a road killed body on the asphault.

I would love for it to be true, as it would be super cool..... but unfortunately, it is not.

I dont doubt seeing SOMETHING, but dont you think SOMEONE would have proof over the last 100 years?

Not ragging on you at all, so dont take it wrong.... just being realistic.[/QUOTE]


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## kweber

I have driven/ been/ railroad/ all over Tx... mostly W and SWTx and have never seen a live lion...
many 1000's of miles....
it'd be good if Black Panthers would show up...
might keep out the city(not excluding Mx) rif-raf.


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## awally

dukdogtx I dont doubt the existence of mountain lions in tx at all, plenty of them, but it seems everybody you talk to has one on theyre deer lease lol, but what is really gets old year after year is the same old wives tales of black panthers and catfish as big as volkwagons, and 20 alligators and just people that exaggerate everything


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## bassmaster2004

Y'all want to laugh about strange animals and not having proof. I was 16 just got my truck and my dad told me to go feed range cubes and some cow cake to the heifers on the river bottom. I pull up to open the gate and I see this thing jump out of the feeder and run in the woods and I was like that thing was a monkey had the tail and everything I fed and looked in the woods couldn't find him. So I told my dad which his comment was how much u had to drink or what weed u smoking. So next day I took dad with me and he opened the gate and bam there he goes from the feeder and my dad like what the hell was that. I told u, I'm ain't B.S u. So on a Saturday I fed early and set up against a tree for a hour or so and that little monkey came out and jumped in the feeder and I was like wow really a monkey. I watched him mess with the heifers and he ran under them and got on the other side of the feeder and he got on top of it and was relaxing. I called dad and told him it is a monkey and he just relaxing on top of the bulk feeder. So dad calls the local sheriff dept and reports it. Not two weeks later a lady calls a ask about this monkey and sayed her daughter had a wreck about 4 years ago and she was transporting a monkey for her uncle. They thought it died in the wreck because it was never found. Well the GW and local sheriff finally caught that monkey and I got to see him up close and he was tame and cool as could be. The family thank me but I thought that was a funny thing to run into.


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## justinsfa

Dukdogtx said:


> Doubt all you want there my young friend. Saw it with my own eyes, using high powered binocs. The cat made its way towards us as close as 100 yds. Ive seen a cougar/mountain lion while hunting near Pleasanton, tx a few years back, this cat was the same, just a blackish color. My buddy saw it first and commented that someones black lab was running across the adjacent ranch. He then said "holy SH!t" that's a panther!!! I said let me look, I then watched the cat make his way towards our property. We later found big cat tracks with goat carcasses/skeletons tucked into an isolated corner where a lake dam connected to a bluff.
> 
> Trust me, there are big cats in Texas. May not be black panthers, but "...can appear black..." (TP&W)
> Check with the Texas Parks & Wildlife. Not if, but how many big cat sightings, attacks, trappings, and/or shootings of cougars have occurred in Texas. Apparently, mortality rates
> have been the best evidence. Friend of the family has a cat mounted that was killed on his ranch just outside of Pearsal. Fact, not fiction.
> 
> UOTE=justinsfa;4463649]Got proof? Cuz nobody else who has ever seen one does either.
> 
> Nor has the hundreds of thousands of game cameras across the state.... nor the hundreds of thousands of gun toting hunters across the state with a bullet ridden carcass at their feet.... nor does the millions of miles of roadways across this state with a road killed body on the asphault.
> 
> I would love for it to be true, as it would be super cool..... but unfortunately, it is not.
> 
> I dont doubt seeing SOMETHING, but dont you think SOMEONE would have proof over the last 100 years?
> 
> Not ragging on you at all, so dont take it wrong.... just being realistic.


[/QUOTE]

You have zero proof.... just like every single other person that claims to have seen one with their very own eyes.

There has never been documented evidence that concluded that black panthers live in Texas. Ever. Ever. Ever... Ever.

50,000 people have seen them, but not a single one has evidence. Not one. Not a single one. Not anybody.

One has never been caught on film. Ever. Not one time. There are hundreds of thousands of game cameras all over Texas running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week... and millions of cell phone cameras in pockets all across the state. Never a snap shot of one. Never.

There is just as much proof that giraffes roam secretly across this state.


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## awally

well said justinsfa, everybody has seen one and they know what they saw lol! I love it


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## Reel Cajun

I though all the Black Panthers were on duty at voting locations


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## atcfisherman

Well, I saw a black sasquatch last week at the lease and I actually got his autograph!!!

:dance: :biggrin:


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## G-O-T-B

well i saw a panther sasquatch mix


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## ak

I sall manbearpig chasing a chupacabra while hunting jackalopes in matagorda.


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