Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

A friend of mine says that his brother was deer hunting in south Texas and saw what he described as a "black panther". He said it was a cougar/jaguar type creature that was all black. He said he got a good look at it and watched it as it slowly walked away. He said there is no mistaking what he saw.

I thought there were no black panthers, at least in the United States. What do you guys know about them?

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

There is no proof that they exsit I am doubtful but won't rule it out. Down in Texas though it was probably a Jaguar rather then panther.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

Easily believable and cool sighting.
Black Jaguar exist and I believe that there are a few Jaguar down that way that cross the border and live in the US.

Black panthers, aka black, aka black cougars, aka black mountain lions do not exist.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

Thanks for calming my nerves. I was sure that after reading the title, PE Obama had emboldened the group to expand outside of urban centers.:):):)

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

Sure they do. There is a black color phase for mountain lions/panthers, but it is rare.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

it's not a panther. It is a mexico cat. similar to the cougar, but black. they came from mexico and are accually very prevlent in south texas with many sightings throughout the state. I live in Central Texas and have never personally seen one, but have heard of several people who have over the years. My grandmother told us that when she was younger, she was walking out to her garden and saw one. This was at least 50 years ago. Most people do describe them as panthers, but they are not as large. If your ever out camping and hear a very loud almost woman screaming type of yell, you have a good speciman of a mexico cat within a 1/2 mile of you. userally they hang out in the river bottoms.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

No such animal has EVER existed.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

Take a camera with a zoom next time, and get a picture of it.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

Your friends brother had best be on his guard and always leave the house packing some serious heat. And this is a warning to all hunters and non hunters alike in the Tex/Mex regions of the US. That ain't no cat or coyote.

What you friends brother is dealing with is a real life
CHUPACABRA!!!!!!!

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

You should all be afraid!! VERY AFRAID!!!!!

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

alot of game farms etc....in texas, very possible to be an escaped black jaguar....

from what I've read about jaguars in the wild....mexico doesn't have black ones....those came from either more central or south america...i think more specificially just one small area/country.

Though on discovery they have said if there were a samll breeding population it could be possible to have unsually markings/colorations etc...a picture would be awesome, stuff like that is always fun to hear about...

would be cool to have a population of jaguars in the US, i know some come into New Mexico/Arizona....course like the wolves, sure people would rather them not be here....but who knows? maybe in 50yrs?

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

Next you'll say there's no bigfoot.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

He probably saw a jaguarundi. Its a bit smaller than a panther, mountain lion, cougar, etc....

They have ranged into south Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. Also once thought to have a small population in Florida.

Heres a good read:






"Black panthers" exist in the United States.

This isn't a theory, hypothesis or hallucination, but a verifiable, undeniable fact.

No, science hasn't discovered a new cat species or a population of melanistic (black) cougars to explain alleged "black panther" sightings. They haven't even captured a black leopard that escaped from one of those circus train wrecks skeptics of cryptozoology so often speak of.

Yes, there are "black panthers" in the United States but believing in their existence doesn't require a leap of faith. It just calls for a new look at a known species: the jaguarundi.

The jaguarundi (Felis yagouaroundi) is known to range from South America to Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. And although not widely known by the public, jaguarundis are prime candidates for spawning "black panther" reports.

They are a medium-sized cat with a mean body size of 102 centimeters for females and 114 for males according to Mexican researcher Arturo Caso. Other sources list them as ranging from 100 to 120 centimeters with the tail making up the greatest part of the length.

Most specimens are about 20 centimeters tall and sport a dark gray color while others are chocolate brown or blonde.

A large jaguarundi crossing a road in front of a motorist or appearing before an unsuspecting hunter could easily be labeled a "black panther". Since very few people are aware of jaguarundis, it's highly unlikely they would report seeing one. The term "black panther" is quick and easy to report to others.

Everyone can relate to a "black panther".

North of the border

Jaguarundis are known to range from South America to the Mexican borders of Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. The key word here is "known". That means scientists have observed or captured the species within those areas, however they are reported to range much farther north in the Lone Star State and perhaps elsewhere.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) officials solicited information from the public and received numerous reports of the species in the 1960s, including several sightings from central and east Texas. Additional sightings were reported from as far away as Florida, Oklahoma, and Colorado

In a study conducted in 1984, TPWD biologists noted a string of unconfirmed jaguarundi sightings in Brazoria County, which corners the hugely populated areas of both Houston and Galveston.

Brazoria County is more than 200 miles north of the counties of Cameron and Willacy, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has designated as being the only confirmed areas of Texas that houses jaguarundis.

This is even more interesting when considering what TPWD biologist Terry Turney has to day.

Turney is now an endangered species biologist in Kendall County but spent the early part of his career in Port Arthur, Texas managing the J.D. Murphree Wildlife Management Area (WMA). On this 30,000-acre tract of mixed coastal prairie and marsh according to Turney is a population of jaguarundis.

"While I worked the Murphree Area one of the workers had seen three of them and the ranchers around the area as well as other members of the Murphree crew saw them fairly frequently. It was "those little gray cats" to them," Turney said.

"I had two of them in my neighborhood near Houston in the late 70s and the dogs would tree them every couple of weeks. They're about the most secretive critters around," he added.

The J.D. Murphree WMA is more than 300 miles north of the Service's estimated range. How is it that state workers are seeing these cats in Port Arthur while the official word is they're only in the southern extremities of Texas?

In my opinion this is a great oversight by federal biologists who wrongly believe this cat to only inhabit a specific type of habitat. Jaguarundis are listed as an endangered species by the Service and full under federal jurisdiction. And for the most part what the Feds say goes with endangered species.

A study conducted by Arizona and federal scientists states that jaguarundi habitat, especially in South Texas, includes dense, thorny thickets of mesquite and stunted acacias known as chaparral. It also state less than one percent of this type of habitat is left along the US-Mexican border.

That's true but jaguarundis are known to live in a variety of habitats, including rainforests, prairie, deciduous forests and marshland. It could very well be that very few jaguarundis live in that zone because of a lack of habitat. Most of that area has been converted to farmland. The game and habitat-rich areas along the Texas coast along with the Pineywoods and Hill Country region however is housing a population of jaguarundis that have slipped under the radar screen of federal officials.

How far do they range?

If there's any validity to the 1960s TPWD report, sightings have been recorded in several states bordering Texas. Since TPWD biologists say the cats are present in Port Arthur, which rests on the Texas-Louisiana border then it's likely the cats also inhabit that state. It's also possible they could range into Oklahoma and Arkansas. Gauging how far they might range throughout New Mexico and Arizona is more difficult because there have been few studies conducted there. Their ability to survive in solid desert is also questionable.

Florida has a resident population of jaguarundis that were imported into that state in the 1940s. Since the cats are so secretive it's difficult to gauge their population status, but it is generally believed to be healthy.

This begs the question of how far those transplanted cats have spread? Are they now in Georgia and Alabama, two states that have frequent "black panther" sightings?

More research needs to go into this matter.

Personal research

My interest in the jaguarundi connection to "black panther" sightings comes from a sighting that took place in the summer of 2001 near Port Arthur, Texas. At around 9 a.m. while driving in a rural area I witnessed a long, slender, gray-colored animal emerging from the brush on the side of the road at a distance of about 75 yards. When I approached to within 30 yards the animal slowly walked in the middle of the road and crossed into a brushy area on the other side. Having worked with more than 11 species of wild cats at the Exotic Cat & Wildlife Refuge in Kirbyville, Texas and spent time observing the cats at the Texas Zoo in Victoria I immediately identified the cat as a jaguarundi.

I was shocked at what I had seen, but remembered a local minister telling me about a biologist at the J.D. Murphree WMA, (which was less than a miles from where this sighting took place) seeing jaguarundis. That biologist was Terry Turney.

I returned to the area several times and have been able to cast a number of tracks. Jaguarundis have a footpad that is slightly different from the bobcat, which also inhabits the area, and after several comparisons to bobcat casts I have made it's obvious that at least some of the tracks are of jaguarundi origin.

Several of the tracks were made in a damp area and have absolutely perfect definition so an adequate review of field guide diagrams and photos of tracks taken in Mexican was made. The footpad of some of the others is too vague for me to give a positive identification.

The best track by the way was found less than 150 yards from where I saw the cat in 2001.

At the time of this writing a Buckshot 35 motion-sensing camera has been put on a trail where the most recent tracks were found. I'm hoping a jaguarundi will step in front of it and give photographic evidence of this fascinating feline ranging more than 300 miles from where federal managers say it lives.



Chester Moore points to a jaguarundi track near the area where he
saw one. That's a Petersen's Field Guide in his hand. Jaguarundis have a
slightly different foot pad than bobcats and domestic cats and Moore is
meticulous about positively identifying animal sign.







In conclusion

Is the jaguarundi responsible for all "black panther" reports in the United States? That's not likely.

Are they the source of many sightings in the South and Southwest? There is no doubt in my mind.

Besides the obvious physical characteristics that match them to "black panther" sightings there are some habits of the species that also lend credence to this theory.

Jaguarundis are diurnal meaning they hunt mostly in daylight hours and this goes along with many reportings I have collected of "black panthers."

Several eyewitnesses insisted the cat they saw wasn't a cougar or bobcat because they saw it in the middle of the day. They said they got a good look at a dark, long-tailed cat. Bobcats and cougars are chiefly nocturnal while the jaguarundi is a daylight dweller.

Looking back it's funny that for years I lamented at never seeing one of the "black panthers" I so frequently gathered reports of. It seemed as if I was living in a Mecca for mystery cat sightings, but a glimpse of the cat itself always eluded me.

Then I saw a jaguarundi cross the road in front of me. It took a little researching and thinking time for it to sink in, but I finally figured out I had seen a black panther.

It just came in a slightly different package than I was expecting.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

My buddy's cousin goes to school at Baylor at works at a ranch of some sort, and he was walking some clients to a deer stand and swears he saw a black panther on its back legs pawing at a deer feeder.

Also, my dad swears he saw one in N. Georgia about 30 years ago while he was deer hunting. There is all sorts of documented sightings of black panthers in Georgia. Another forum I'm a member of at www.gon.com, a lot of people have seen them. I know it seems far fetched, but if you want to, go to the forums their and search "black panther", and you can judge for yourself.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

All I know about the Black Panther sighting is alot of folks hollar they seen one while hunting but you NEVER see one on the back of a truck. When someone pulls in with one on the tailgate I will believe there are Black Panthers here. Otherwise there blowing smoke.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

I don't agree one bit. The Georgia DNR put a restriction on killing a Black Panther. If you kill one, it means a long time in jail. Yet, they deny that there are Black Panthers in Georgia. Fishy, huh?

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

Black panthers/lions have never existed anywhere - but Georgia has them?

Thats funny

Steve

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

I have seen two big black cats before, one looked to be about 80 pounds and the other maybe 50 pounds. The first one we were dog deer hunting one morning near Eufaula, Alabama. One that was being chased by the hounds trotted to a friend on the next stand, turned and ran up the bottom in front of me at about 30 yards. Bright clear morning, no doubt waht I saw. Another one about 7 years ago was crossing the highway in front of me one afternoon just as I was making a turn west of Troy, Alabama. Clear afternoon, again no doubt what I saw.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

I can believe it. There's all kinds of things in the woods that people don't know about.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

I'm sorry but I just don't buy the whole Chupacabra thing....until they go out, find one, blast the hell out of it and prove that its real, I won't buy it. Same with bigfoot, and that so called werewolf they keep seeing somewhere on a bridge, forgot the name of it. I know if I ever see bigfoot ora werewolf while on the stand, this is what they will hear- CLICK (rifle safety being flipped off) OK YOU GOT THREE SECONDS TO TAKE OFF THE MASK ***HOLE!!! ONE! TW- BOOOOOM!!! whoops sorry, light trigger. :D:D:D

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

care to explain what it was that i saw a few years back then? large black cat. maybe 50 yards away in broad daylight. i have lived in the woods my entire life. never seen anything like that before. what could it have been? a black panther.
you cant believe everything they try to spoon feed you. 5 years ago ODWC claimed there were NO mountain lions in OK. those of us who lived in rural eastern OK knew better. i was even called a liar in front of a large crowd 1 time for claiming to have seen 1. now OMG get this... we now have it in the regulations that it is legal to kill 1 if it is endangering a person or personal property. odd how they could change their mind s quick isnt it?

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

I also live in eastern Oklahoma and yes there are occassional Cougar sightings but there has also been some hard evidence. I know of one caught in a trap, another shot, etc. I could name several other examples. The difference is that there has never been a documented black cougar ever... anywhere. Animal experts are in agreement that this animal does not exist. That is good enough for me.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

Just because they say they don't exist doesnt mean anything. they swear cougars dont inhabit any of alabama.... but most of us know without a doubt that they do. Black phases are very rare in any species and seeing a black mountain lion would be difficult since mountain lions are already very elusive. when sightings happen they are just that... sightings. people dont carry a camera around everywhere expecting to see one... it just happens and mostly when you are least expecting it. Just because people havent documented in doesnt mean it isnt there. this world is full of mysteries and new creatures are discovered everyday that people never knew exsisted until they were discovered. Do I believe in Black Panther... yes very much so. If the black color phase can happen in leopards and jags then why not the cougars???

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

How can I explain what you thought you saw?

There has never been a black cougar - the gene does not exist in them as it does in other animals.

Except, you wish us to believe, in Ga:D:D:D.

Do some research, find anything other then alleged "sightings" and post it.
Good luck - this has been done here many times and NO ONE has proved that "black panthers" can possibly medically exist - let alone actually be out there in the numbers reported.

Steve

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

Well, I know there is at least one Panther (Cougar) in Louisiana and I am sure there are several more. A colleague of mine who owns property put a scouting camera out a couple of months ago. One of the pictures was a cougar. There was no doubt about it. The picture was very clear. It wasn't a black one, but it was most definately a cougar. I don't know about Black Panthers, but there are definately Cougars in LA. and the rest of the southeast.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

I have never seen anything like this with my own two eyes, but I will never forget the night out coon huntingthat I heardthe "Woman's Scream" deep in the Sulphur River bottoms here in North East Texas. Talk about sending chills up your spine.... I was told it was a panther. Never thought to question it till now.... Now I am just confused....lol

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

Jeremy, because "you say they do exist" doesn't mean anything either. And who are "they"? If you mean by "they" widlife biologists and other experts then yes, their opinion has a lot of credability with me. Evidence. Where is the evidence that black cougars exist? Shouldn't we base our belief on something based on some kind of evidence of its existence? How can you "know without a doubt" without some proof? I don't personally care one way or the other but I am not going to believe in something when there is no evidence to believe in its existence. That would be foolish. The consensus among experts, people that seriously and scientifically study these things, is that black cougars do not exist. And since the side for their existence has never offered any evidence whatsoever to the contrary , I got to go with black cougars do not exist in nature.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

Gypsey, no use in arguing about the existence of a large black cat. I will do this, as I have no physical proof, I'll submit to a lie detector test, you pay, and bet $5,000 that I'll pass it.My other friend that saw the same,first big black cat as I, will make the same wager.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

here we go with the black panther thing agin y is it that when some one post something everyone jumps in a starts trying to prove him or others wrong this place used to be cool to come an hang out at an meet hunters but lately it just seams like every one wants to fight an bash ppl for what they post who knows what the dude friend seen could have been a panther there are alot of things out there that know one can explainwhat we need to do is makethis place fun agin an quit fighting over this guy saying he seen big foot or that guy said he see a black cat who gives aSH** thats what makes me come back on this page every day is the stuff ppl put on here but i get sick of seeing every one fighting over bull

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

I callmelinated cougar on this one. not that it woudl be impossible to see a panther or jag, but more than likely a melinated cougar, which woudl be more likely

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

do a search of AMISH FARMER ATTACKED BY COUGARS IN PA.

he said one was black.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/endang/animals/mammals/jag.phtmlKEY WORD ENDANGERD not extinct

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

I seen a black panther on my parents gravel road in South East ,Missouri late at night,after 9 pm,back in 1987,it was black,and fur was slick and shiny,very long tail, my kids were with me in my car,it sat there in the road for a few seconds,then ran off into the woods.I wrote the Missouri Conservation Magazine back then about it,they are seen here on occasion in Missouri. My folks use to hear one at night, the sound of the screaming woman lets you know it is one.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

You can tell by the screams its black?:D:D:D

Steve

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

Kind of a stupid offer don't you think? As I read it it doesn't even make sense. You said you have no physical proof. I believe that is the problem. No proof from anyone, at any time, any where in the country.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

Someone should finally just call Mythbusters on the black cats. In the area I'd definately believe it. There are cougars in TN but TWRA don't agree with that. I was told be on of the officers after showing some tracks that they don't want to admit to it because then they have to set up money on a management program for them. And it's also against the law to kill one here. So if you see one shoot and shovel.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

I have actually seen one, whether you believe it or not is regardless cause I know. This happened 2 years ago while hunting panther swamp wma land in yazoo, ms (32,000 acres of protected land).I was going on a morning hunt and so I went to a remote part of the land where no oneever huntedand set up my climber about 400 yards in the woods and climbed up about 30 ft in the tree. About an hour later I heard a couple high pitched screams bout 100 yards off.Next thing u know i see something black moving through woodsreally slow and stealthily. I knew right off the bat it was panther so i raised up my scope and sure enough it was.Itcame within 50 yards of me butnever saw me.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

From what i have read and seen on "NOVA", "Discovery Channel", etc., there is no such thig as a"Black Panther" ... Pumas (Cougars, Mt. Lions) do not have a black coloration, however there is a solid black coloration for the Jaguar. I'd make book that is what was seen.

We often here of these in Alabama, but ironically no one seems to ever have a photo, foot print,hair sample, scat, etc. as evidence.Most recent best evidence was a trail camera .... under detailed photo analysis, itturned out to be a fat tabby cat. We still hae a lot of of moonshiners down here, and I suspect that some of this fruit jar liquer has been involved on several of these sightings.

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

lacking a picture or road kill does not mean a cougar is ot there.

it just means there are not many around.

i hope you all read have far a cougar was tracked last month went.

it went from wisconsin to chicago, dont laugh,its true.

that cougar went over 1000 miles in 9 months.

i said this before here in pa.
i believe that cougars they are seeing here are on MOVE daily.

this is what makes it so hard to get a picture or print in snow or kill by them of deer or whatever..


we get report of one in 1 area, then 1 month later, report of one 15 miles away.

i remember when a BLACK COYOTE when you saw one, you were called a fibber,nice word for lier.

well, now i saw 4 black coyotes in about 10 years here in western pa.

as for prints, eastern cougar group has prints in CLINTON COUNTY,yet non-believers say,THEY ARE NOT CONFIRMED AND WHO ARE THESE GUYS ANYHOW.


so, you see, a few dont want to believe cougar is here.

i recieved a e-mail from a friend of mine in maine,he asked me NOT TO CONFIRM COUGAR TRACKS.

he said that he and others have seen them more than once but if they say they did, they would turn the area into cougar habitat.

he works for the LUMBER INDUSTRY.

in fact, he does his best to call anyone a FIBBER if they report a cougar.

yet, he has saw them MANY TIMES.;)

same with the PGC ,this would cause all kinds of things they would have to do to MANAGE the cougar ,they dont want that, dont have money, they dont want the EXTRA problems it would cause to them.:eek:

RE: Black Panther seen while deer hunting
 

wow what an interesting read. i had a lot of fun reading this thread and learned alot about the allusive "black panther"

well last week i was checking my trail cam, when my wife called me back to the gator saying there was a huge black cat about 20 yards from her. walking across her grand fathers field (freshly harvested) so she got a good look at it.

by the time i had gotten back to her it had walked into the woods where i had just left. when i asked her what it looked like she told me it was a big black cat, kinda like a bobcat but a bit bigger than any bobcat she has seen.

now it would make sense that if there was something like this on our property that it would be living were my wife saw it, as there is a fully stocked pond, lots of cover and all the birds a big black cat could ever want to stalk.

i have just recently moved our trail camera to more likely spot of getting deer, so maybe if the "Black Panther"feels like walking down a game trail i might get a mug shot of the little fella. and if i do you guys will be the second to know :D

good luck to all and happy hunting.