# Tell Your Cougar Story



## ScrappyJ

Just as the thread states, we have yet to prove their existence although it would seem through casual comments members have made that they are out there. 

I don't have a story but my father when he was hunting in Temple Ga heard many strange sounds, one of which unnerved him so much that he booked it to his truck. I think it was a growl followed by closing heavy footsteps or something. The man who gave him permission to hunt on that land also swore to his grave that he had cougars there.


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## westcobbdog

A brown one was shot by a hunter in West Ga a few years ago.


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## Colohunter

I was 27 and she was 39.   Opps!  Wrong forum.


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## John Webb

Colohunter said:


> I was 27 and she was 39.   Opps!  Wrong forum.



 The best one yet!


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## southernboy2147

Colohunter said:


> I was 27 and she was 39.   Opps!  Wrong forum.



good one!! lol

my brother and his buddy were ridin on the farm and they both swear they saw a huge brown cat about 120lbs with a tail longer the the body of the cat in one of our fields.


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## Cavalry Scout

Dont know if it was a cougar but, I did see a cat like animal with a long tail run across the road outside Fitzgerald one day.  Mid day at that.  I have seen a bobcat there several times. Sooooooo?


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## dawg2

I saw a Liger in Pine Mountain.


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## Thunder Head

westcobbdog said:


> A brown one was shot by a hunter in West Ga a few years ago.



Yep, and would you believe it, he actually got clear undeniable trail cam pictures of it walking in front of his deer stand several times before he shot it.


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## ScrappyJ

I'd really like to see a picture or two of it!


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## snookdoctor

ScrappyJ said:


> I'd really like to see a picture or two of it!



Google it.


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## ScrappyJ

It sounds like they think due to it being so well fed and without very many parasites(which shows it hasn't been feeding on wild animals) that it was human raised.


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## GA DAWG

The guy eventually got a big fine. It was a wild Florida panther according to dna tests.


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## ScrappyJ

I do remember that now at you mention it, quite a shame. Then again, I wouldn't shoot something as pristine and rare as that anyways.


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## sinclair1

dawg2 said:


> I saw a Liger in Pine Mountain.


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## TreeFrog

In 1994 I saw a young one eating a dead deer on the side of the road early in the morning (just after sun-up) in Coweta County.  This was when the area had far less people than it has now.

My other story was documented on Woody's.
http://forum.gon.com/showthread.php?t=158777&highlight=
I saw one while deer hunting.  Felt very lucky to have seen such an animal.


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## ScrappyJ

I'm guessing you weren't able to get a photo?  cool though! It's unfortunate that they still aren't officially recognized as being out here, hopefully more evidence comes up and that can change.


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## snookdoctor

Do black panthers count as cougars? I've seen them around.


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## shakey gizzard

snookdoctor said:


> Do black panthers count as cougars? I've seen them around.



 We've always called em blaguars!


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## dtala

there I was laying asleep when I woke to TEETH crunching across my skull as a COUGAR bit my head. I immediately leaped up and fought off the attacking mountain lion, rolling it in the bed covers. My wife was hysterical......






...with laughter.....





...till it attacked her. Then my K-9 dog Taz came to the rescue, jumping on the cat. Destroyed the bed covers.....




true story. 



pics to prove it....


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## Buck Roar

I dont know why people think they arent in GA. I havent seen one but it isnt like they can read the signs so they know not to cross in to GA. One of my buddies cousins treed one coon hunting one night. They pulled the dogs off and it jumped out the tree and disapeared


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## jigman29

Me and a buddy were turkey hunting one morning.We were on the top of a mountain waiting for daykight and just enjoying the morning.It was just breaking light enough to see the outlines of everything really good when we hear a snap off the back of the ridge.We were looking and I saw the back of something moving along and thought it was a deer.I pointed it out to my buddy and as it topped the ridge he whispered I think its a coyote.I said no its a deer.Then I he said wait what is that thing.About that time it was completely outlined and it looked straight at us.It had the long body and long tail and when it turned its head to look at us its head was short and flat and was kind of wide with short ear that were kind of pointy.I had my gun up thinking it was a coyote but I wouldn't shoot it without being sure.When it walked away I looked at my buddy and both of us had the same look and he asked what was that.I told him I wasn't sure but if I told him what it looked like to me he would think I was crazy lol.He had the same idea as me.Bear in mind at no point after crossing the ridge and coming into the open it was not more than 10 yards from us until it was gone.I have never believed in a wild population of them here and still don't.Our theory on it is that a guy about 5 miles from there had a bunch of exotic animals at his home for years and at one time had 2 cougars in a pen and he let them out.This was about 6 months before the forest service guy was supposedly chased into the Chattooga river by one.He said it was black but I would say he was just panicked and thought it was darker than it really was.


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## hummdaddy

Use to see one ALOT back in 93-94 i think in bluffton ,ga on family farm,next to kolomolki plantation...checking irrigation at night while walking down the come along irrigation road and it would step out in your flashlight beam...prints everywhere,screaming sound like a woman being murdered,while walking to the deer stand...sightings in the daylight too...we had 100 head of cattle and 800 head of hog back that way at one point,and great wildlife habitat...they captured it though and shipped back to florida i think...nic knows something about it,i can't find a link


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## Nicodemus

hummdaddy said:


> Use to see one ALOT back in 93-94 i think in bluffton ,ga on family farm,next to kolomolki plantation...checking irrigation at night while walking down the come along irrigation road and it would step out in your flashlight beam...prints everywhere,screaming sound like a woman being murdered,while walking to the deer stand...sightings in the daylight too...we had 100 head of cattle and 800 head of hog back that way at one point,and great wildlife habitat...they captured it though and shipped back to florida i think...nic knows something about it,i can't find a link





I believe you are talking about T 43 or T 48, one of the Texas cougars released in the Osceola National Forest back in the mid `90s, as a study to see if they would have enough prey to survive. This was something of an interesting experiment. 

I`ll see if I can dig the information back up.


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## saltwatercowboy

Nicodemus said:


> I believe you are talking about T 43 or T 48, one of the Texas cougars released in the Osceola National Forest back in the mid `90s, as a study to see if they would have enough prey to survive. This was something of an interesting experiment.
> 
> I`ll see if I can dig the information back up.



I saw one in the Osceola National Forest during that time frame..It walked out in the middle of the road up in pinhook swamp looked at me and walked on across the road.Ive also heard them at night down on the Suwanee just south of Fargo readily sending chills up my back...


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## Nicodemus

Here is the info on the released cats. It was T 48.

http://www.panthersociety.org/sum.html#t43


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## saltwatercowboy

Nicodemus said:


> Here is the info on the released cats. It was T 48.
> 
> http://www.panthersociety.org/sum.html#t43



Thats good info man..Thanks for posting this.It even talks about T30 moving through the pinhook.Cool stuff!


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## westcobbdog

One or more Black cats were spotted by my two brothers at different times hunting in Ben Hill Co. near Jacksonville Ga. some years ago on my buddies farm. Maybe the mid 90's. It was a big black cat who had prolly roamed up from Fla., which is only 2-3 Counties due south of there. It lept acoss a dirt rd in front of their car in one bound, was spotting drinking water at a swamp pond edge, 3rd time my bro climbed a try near it in the swamp at day light, it jumped down growling.  What is so hard to believe about that or other sightings? They did not see a pack, just 1 cat. I don't think they are  reproducing in big numbers. Its really no different than a bear in a lady's pool in heavily populated Cobb County, it wild and can travel.


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## Nicodemus

westcobbdog said:


> One or more Black cats were spotted by my two brothers at different times Hunting in Ben Hill Co. near Jacksonville Ga. some years ago on my buddies farm. Maybe the mid 90's. It was a big black cat who had prolly roamed up from Fla., which is only 2-3 Counties due south of there. It lept acoss a dirt rd in front of their car in one bound, was spotting drinking water at a swamp pond edge, 3rd time my bro climbed a try near it in the swamp at day light, it jumped down growling.  What is so hard to believe about that or other sightings? They did not see a pack, just 1 cat. I don't think they are  reproducing in big numbers. Its really no different than a bear in a lady's pool heavily populated Cobb County, it wild and can travel.





The problem is the color. Sure, the occasional Florida panther roams up through here. That`s really not even news. But in the history of mankind, there has never been a black American mountain lion, cougar, puma, Florida panther, or whatever local name they are called, been killed, found dead, run over by a vehicle, or caught on camera. Ever. 

You even have some who swear that there is a breeding population of jaguars right here in Georgia.


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## Georgia Hard Hunter

Nicodemus said:


> The problem is the color. Sure, the occasional Florida panther roams up through here. That`s really not even news. But in the history of mankind, there has never been a black American mountain lion, cougar, puma, Florida panther, or whatever local name they are called, been killed, found dead, run over by a vehicle, or caught on camera. Ever.



x2.....its kinda like bigfoot sightings, I'm sure you saw something but it ain't no Black Panther


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## Scotsman

Many years ago, a friend and I saw what we think was a cougar jump onto a mountain road in front of us. We were grouse hunting up on the TN/NC border near Tellico Plains, TN. It ran down the road for a few yards before before bailing off the side down the mountain. There was snow on the ground, so this thing was quite visible.

Also, at a local gunshop here in Ringgold, there were pictures of a mountain lion that had, allegedly, been killed on Grassy mountain in the Cohuttas. I had no reason to doubt the story.


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## Budda

When I was a youngin I come across a cougar.  She was about 140 pounds with brown hair.  I saw her many times over the course of about two months.  Then my daddy found out an asked me how old she was and I said "40".  I was only 20 at the time.  Then he asked me how old she would be when I was 40 and wantin to play.  I said "60".  Then I realized, I needed a younger woman!!!


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## Throwback

I can't tell you my panther story. It killed me. 





T


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## ScrappyJ

Budda said:


> When I was a youngin I come across a cougar.  She was about 140 pounds with brown hair.  I saw her many times over the course of about two months.  Then my daddy found out an asked me how old she was and I said "40".  I was only 20 at the time.  Then he asked me how old she would be when I was 40 and wantin to play.  I said "60".  Then I realized, I needed a younger woman!!!



Hahahahan I had to re-read that!!


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## ScrappyJ

Very cool info! Thanks!


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## Turk

Nicodemus said:


> Here is the info on the released cats. It was T 48.
> 
> http://www.panthersociety.org/sum.html#t43



Nic: T48 was treed and darted in the "California Woods" area of Stewart County just west of the Providence Canyon State Park. Radio tracking info showed it had traveled up from Early/Clay .


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## Ohoopee Tusker

About 4 years ago I was traveling down a remote stretch of highway late at night. When a large dark (black) looking animal came out of a big cotton field and crossed the road in front of me as it made its way into another large cotton field. I was in a jeep and not traveling fast so I turned around and pulled down into the ditch. Standing in front of me was a large yellow lab. I had a good laugh and told myself that's probably how all the black panther stories get started. About 15 years ago I did see what I believe to be cougar prints in a remote river bottom slough.


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## arcaidy

I seen something driving back from Weiss Lake tonight that has me wondering... It was near the AL/GA border and it crossed in front of us. At first I thought it was a deer and called it to everyone in the car. Then I asked my buddy in the front seat what he thought it was because it looked to me like a messed up goat because its head appeared to have that kind of shape as we got closer. He replied that it had something in its mouth. 

It was big. Not the height of a full grown deer but big enough I wouldn't want to come across it unarmed in the woods.
It was about the color you'd expect from a deer. 
It had something fairly big in its mouth. 
It didn't run like anything I'd expect something that size to do. 

My buddy is convinced it was a cougar. I am inclined to believe him. I can honestly say I haven't seen anything like it before. 

I don't have any pictures and have nothing other than my opinion to offer as proof.


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## Nicodemus

Turk said:


> Nic: T48 was treed and darted in the "California Woods" area of Stewart County just west of the Providence Canyon State Park. Radio tracking info showed it had traveled up from Early/Clay .





Thanks for that info, Cuz. Terry Kile would have a writeup in the paper every week on how the cats that made it up into Georgia were getting along. T48 did like to roam, seems like.


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## NCHillbilly

One time (for the last 40+ years) I was spending uncountable numbers of hours out in the woods, mountains, and swamps in some of the wildest places left in the east; sitting in tree stands day after day, running packs of coon and bear hounds, driving up and down lonely backroads at night, and I saw lots of other critters, but no panthers so far. Which is strange, since my cousin who lives next door and hardly ever goes out in the woods has seen several black panthers.


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## ScrappyJ

I'm lovin these stories!! Keep em up!


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## swamp hunter

Here's a nice one T.P's Uncle Pete shot at the back Gate to Cohutta early one mornin.
Dang near dragged him out thru his Truck window.


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## ScrappyJ

Was it a pet? Wild? Part of scientific research? Very cool


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## mmcneil

This past season in Floyd county, I saw a black cat crossing through a pine thicket.  It was probably 60-70 yards away.  Looked to be 40-50 pounds and its back was around 24-28" high, its tail was around 16" long.  It walked like a cat, not the trotting walk of a fox.  I didn't tell anyone about it.  Last week of season I took a friend hunting.  He was approximately 250-300 yards from where I had seen the cat.  I never told him or anyone else about it at this point.  He calls me about 1 hour after sunrise and says he has a huge black cat looking animal climbing down a big tree about 75 yards away.  He watched it through his scope and described to a T what I had seen during bow season.  I later talked to some guys that worked at Rocky Mountain when it was being built and they had seen the cats out there before.  Still not sure what it was.  Black panther I'm guessing.


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## Throwback

mmcneil said:


> This past season in Floyd county, I saw a black cat crossing through a pine thicket.  It was probably 60-70 yards away.  Looked to be 40-50 pounds and its back was around 24-28" high, its tail was around 16" long.  It walked like a cat, not the trotting walk of a fox.  I didn't tell anyone about it.  Last week of season I took a friend hunting.  He was approximately 250-300 yards from where I had seen the cat.  I never told him or anyone else about it at this point.  He calls me about 1 hour after sunrise and says he has a huge black cat looking animal climbing down a big tree about 75 yards away.  He watched it through his scope and described to a T what I had seen during bow season.  I later talked to some guys that worked at Rocky Mountain when it was being built and they had seen the cats out there before.  Still not sure what it was.  Black panther I'm guessing.




if it wasn't screaming like a woman being killed it wasn't a black panther

T


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## GA DAWG

I've got a jam up black panther hound Id sell. He'd be high.


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## Throwback

GA DAWG said:


> I've got a jam up black panther hound Id sell. He'd be high.



im pretty sure  nicodemus would be interested


T


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## bigblocktransam

Mines totally unconfirmed, was fishing at night a Lanier (weird stuff always happens to us fishin at night) 
At either hwy 369 or 53 bridge can't remember which, there was a large patch of woods and 250 yds or so from bridge was a house, we were in between. When heard some noise up on the bank above us, when my bro in law shines his large stream light, and what we see is a large cat like animal, approx 2.5 feet to top of his back, eyes approx 4" apart, and a long tail that went down and curved slightly back up... Just like a cougar... He turned light off as it exited back into the woods calmly.. We just kept fishin. We didn't say a word for 10 minutes, then I said it, heck if I didn't know any better, that thing looked just like a mountain lion! I thought he was going to fall out of the boat laughing so hard! He says, I was thinking the same thing, but I wasn't gonna say nothing if u wasn't gonna bring it up.. Chances of that really being a mountain lion just outside of Gainesville, very slim to none! That's my story.


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## tlong286

I was 12 in 1967 when I watched a mountain lion slowly stalking in Forsyth County 300 yards from the lake. I was squirrel hunting with my 22 410 o/u and believe me that wasn't a comfort. I watched it for about 5 minutes, and knew it was going to eat me if I moved a muscle because that's what happened on The Rifleman.

I still get a chill when I remember those eyes and how it moved with that long tail, gliding along silently.

Fast forward to Cloudland, Ga. where my friend Steve the goat farmer has 'lion wire' all over the barn where he feeds and harbors his 100 goats at night. He lost a few to them there prior to his protective measures. The claw marks are unbelievable. That and the two Great Pyrenees hounds have stopped the attacks.


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## Killdee

Funny every time I hear a cougar sound on tv it sounds like a cougar and nothing like a woman screaming??? 

I still like to see a picture of someones Grandpappy with a dead black panther since we all know that have been here for hundreds of years and back in the day they should have been plenty of em????


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## GA DAWG

Killdee said:


> Funny every time I hear a cougar sound on tv it sounds like a cougar and nothing like a woman screaming???
> 
> I still like to see a picture of someones Grandpappy with a dead black panther since we all know that have been here for hundreds of years and back in the day they should have been plenty of em????


What about the mounted cat. Will that work?


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## Jim Thompson

well if it matters to yall...

I was in my office today listening to an old fella talk about how many cougars he has seen in southern illinois.  told me all about where and how many folks were with him when they were seen.

we dont have a confirmed population of em either.

just like in GA..and AL and TN and KY and IN etc etc etc...they may migrate in every once in a while or escape from captivity once in a while, but not with any regularity

now that pesky black one that gets seen in every state...HE exists!!!!

here is a pretty good interactive map
http://www.cougarfund.org/conservation/states/


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## Killdee

Jim Thompson said:


> well if it matters to yall...
> 
> I was in my office today listening to an old fella talk about how many cougars he has seen in southern illinois.  told me all about where and how many folks were with him when they were seen.
> 
> we dont have a confirmed population of em either.
> 
> just like in GA..and AL and TN and KY and IN etc etc etc...they may migrate in every once in a while or escape from captivity once in a while, but not with any regularity
> 
> now that pesky black one that gets seen in every state...HE exists!!!!
> 
> here is a pretty good interactive map
> http://www.cougarfund.org/conservation/states/



Map is flawed, no black cougar pop. even mentioned????


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## Yotedawg

Just now seeing this thread. Need to get in here a little more often I guess.

My story starts 30+ years ago. It was around 1980. Me and my friends did a lot of coon hunting. The dogs were out and trailing. We heard a godawful scream. One of my friends grandaddy was with us. He immediately told us it was a panther. A few seconds later the dogs came barreling out of the woods, knocked grandad over and jumped into the dogbox in the back of the truck and they were shivering. I can only guess they had encountered a panther.

A few weeks later we were quail hunting the area. Me and three friends. We saw two large cats, much larger than bobcats, step out of the woods into the edge of the field. One was grown, the other appeared to be about half grown. They were definitely panthers/cougars. Looked just like what you see on television. We set traps baited with a dead pig hanging from a limb to catch this critter but never did. Our coon hunting days ended around that area. We took this info to the game warden who in not so many words told us we were full of it and that there had never been a documented case of a panther in Grady county. Though we argued our case it fell on deaf ears but me and my friends know the truth.

About 2 years after that episode, around 1982, my mom told me to look out the window and tell her what was walking across the front yard. It was 7:00am. I took a look and it was a panther. Got a very good look at this animal. Small head, big body, long tail that turned up at the end and the tip of the tail was a little darker than the rest of its coat. No doubt what this animal was. Along the same time period I came home late one night. My headlights caught eyes in front of me as I was on the dirt road I lived on at the time. I figured it was my lab but as I approached it was clear it wasn't. It was a panther. I took it to be the same one that crossed my front yard. This cat ran down the road in front of me till I almost reached it then it jumped over in a field beside the road. 

Fast forward about 11 years to 1993. I was deer hunting in a head of woods that ran into the field that the 1982 panther jumped into which is beside the dirt road I lived on. I had been hunting those woods for 4 years. It was in November. Just before it got dark, a panther stepped out into a wet weather pond that was dry at the time and full of tupelo trees. He walked parallel to my stand and I got a good look at this cat. No doubt what it was. He continued walking west out of sight. Thankfully my truck was parked north of my position. I walked out of the woods backwards that evening. The next afternoon, just before dark, same thing happened. Cat stepped out at the same place but this time skirted the wet weather pond and was out of sight quickly. Never the less, it was a panther. Again, I walked out of the woods backwards. I hunted these woods for several more years but never saw that cat or any other again. About the same time as that, my brother was running a trap line on the other end of those woods. I would say 1500 to 2000 yards away. He saw some cat tracks that he took to be panther tracks in the edge of the field. I went with him to look and it appeared that is what they were. I went to the hardware store and bought some plaster. We mixed some up and took a cast of the track. The next day we went and got that plaster cast and took it to the game warden. He looked at it and his eyes got big and he wanted to know where we got it from. We told him. He asked us if he could keep the cast to send to UGA. We agreed. For a few years afterward we always asked about that cast and did he ever hear anything about it. He seemed to always change the subject and he has now long been retired. I don't know what he did with that cast. For all I know he broke it to pieces after he left with it.

Anyway, thats my story or stories. I know these cats cover a lot of territory. The cat that was in my front yard, the one I saw on the dirt road, the one I saw deer hunting, and the track we took a cast of were all apart of the same head of woods. They were connected. All of my sightings have been in Grady county. For those who may not know where that is, it's right above Leon county Florida. 

It has been 20 years since I've seen one and I don't live in the same area of Grady county anymore. But when people tell me they have seen one, the first thing I ask is what color was it. If they say black, I disregard it. If they say brown, I believe them. It sounds like there are a few on here who are skeptical about them being around. All I can say is I know what I saw and someday I hope you get to experience it. It's a very strange feeling when you encounter one in the wild.


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## base3448

True story,  Archery hunting, climber 25ft up, Wheeler Co., private land on the Oconee River.  Cat came right under my tree, I watched it, looked at its paws, tail and face.  I was shocked, it walked away.  Never saw it again. Think it was a panther.


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## burkehunter

When I was a kid around 10 or so, I was out on our neighbor's property which bordered a large overgrown field (this is in burke county) and I was shooting my bb gun at grasshoppers and birds and I'll never forget looking to my right and there was a large cat that resembled a bobcat but it was chest high on me and it was only about 40 yards away.  It stood right beside the high grass of the field and stupid me I shoot at it with my bb gun and I don't know if I hit it or not but it just stood there looking at me and after a couple minutes it walked into the field so I ran to the neighbor's house and we looked for it but it was long gone.  I thought I was crazy and so did everyone else.  Couple of days after that my dad when deer hunting behind the house and I hear the 30-30 go off about sunset and after he come back to the house he told me he saw that big cat I was talking about and he shot at it but missed.  I have never seen nothing like it since but it was something I will never forget.


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## David C.

I hunted in Georgia most of my adult life (I'm 52 now) and I have spent hours and hours, days and days in the woods in many different counties, and I have never seen one in this state. (If anyone has seen one, I believe them. Here's why.)

I did live in Texas from 1988 to 1996 and during that time, I was a member of a hunting club in Hardin county, very close to Honey Island, Tx. (It's in east Tx. close to area known as the big thicket.) At first, I  saw it's tracks. I told the guy that ran the lease, he said that they knew about them and a few hunters had seen them occasionally through the years. Keep in mind that each hunter had their own tract of land complete with fire break. Each tract was very large, maybe 100 acres or more. So basically, it's like hunting private land, alone. I never saw another hunter in the woods the entire 8 years that I hunted there.

In September of 1993, I was walking to my stand down my fire break when I heard a twig snap. It was dark and I was armed with a compound bow, a small buck knife, and a flashlight. No firearm. When I heard the twig snap, I stopped walking to listen. That's when it growled at me with the most blood curdling low pitch growl that I have ever heard in my life. It lasted a long time, maybe 20 or 30 seconds. It sounded like it was 8 or 10 feet behind me and to my left. (That's right, feet, not yards.) I thought to myself, don't panic, don't run. So I continued walking to my stand. I was in the stand all day, never saw a deer. As I was about to get down (not quite dark yet) I looked out over the clearing once more and that's when I saw it. He (she?) was sitting like a dog, staring at me. I tried to get a shot at it with my bow, but by the time I had an arrow re-knocked, it disappeared.

For those of you that don't believe me, check out this link;

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_br_w7000_0232.pdf

The state of Texas parks and wildlife keep track of "mountain lion mortalities" by county. Although Hardin is not one of them, there are two others very close. (See map on second page of the link.)

A few other things to note, they say that the mountain lion is also known as cougar, panther, catamount or puma. They also say in the article that the color is a light, tawny brown which can appear grey or almost black, depending on light conditions. The one that I saw APPEARED to be black. The light conditions statement in the article explain that.
The article also says this; "Its size (total length) ranges from
about 6 1/2 feet in females to as much as 8 1/2 feet in males.
Male cougars weigh between 100–150 pounds, and females
weigh between 45–96 pounds."

The one that I saw I would estimate at about 140 pounds, and about 7 1/2 feet in length if you laid it out head to tail.

This is why when someone says that they saw a black panther, I believe them.


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## state159

My wife swears she saw one cross the road in front of her while driving just north of Sparta on Hwy. 22 last week. She said it was huge, light brown, long tail and beautiful.


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## Theodore981

Cougars DO exist in the SE.  You are very unlikely to see one.  If you do run across one, and make it mad, you are extremely unlikely to ever know it.  If one wants to kill you, you would be dead before you even hit the ground.  They are not at all like a bear or hog, who will come at you face-on.

Yes, they are here.  Have been for quite a while.  But they get enough food, without "intruding" on us.  When they start getting hungry, even a gun wouldn't have a prayer for protecting you.

They snap your neck, from behind, while in the air.  They are cats.  You will not hear or see them coming.  It matters not what gun you are carrying, if a cougar wants you dead.

Yes, they are here.  Yes, I have seen definitive proof as such.  Just pray to your God that nature keeps in balance.    (as it should be)


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## JustUs4All

Those are great lines Theodore and awfully scarey, but not accurate.  Cougar quite frequently fail to make the kill when they attack a human.  There are, in fact, many more attacks than there are fatalities.  Several years back a fellow stopped an attack and killed the cougar with a pocket knife that he had to retrieve from his pocket and open during the attack.


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## flyfisher007

100% positive seen one in NC in the summer of 1995. chased a rabbit across the road in front of me. 99% sure I saw one in Columbia County 4 years ago bolt across the road in front of me.

There has been 2 in GA that have been proven since 1995.

The one that was shot and the other that was finally captured at Clarks Hill Lake. Not raised and released, but wild. so who knows what lurks the woods.

http://chronicle.augusta.com/sports...ia-hunter-fined-shooting-rare-florida-panther


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## Nicodemus

JustUs4All said:


> Those are great lines Theodore and awfully scarey, but not accurate.  Cougar quite frequently fail to make the kill when they attack a human.  There are, in fact, many more attacks than there are fatalities.  Several years back a fellow stopped an attack and killed the cougar with a pocket knife that he had to retrieve from his pocket and open during the attack.





Yep, and I`ve never found any evidence of a Florida panther ever attacking a person.


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## Killdee

Now we know what happened to all the missing person's every year, sneaky panthers ease into town snap yer neck, pull you up into a tree and get et......


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## BriarPatch99

And "they ate the bones"....


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## Oldstick

Killdee said:


> Now we know what happened to all the missing person's every year, sneaky panthers ease into town snap yer neck, pull you up into a tree and get et......





BriarPatch99 said:


> And "they ate the bones"....



Ya'll saw the movie, The Ghost and the Darkness didn't you?


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## Russdaddy

A friend of mine named Garth had a good Cougar Story...went something like this:

I went to work for her that summer 
A teenage kid so far from home 
She was a lonely widow woman 
- I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH -- I AM A POTTY MOUTH - bent to make it on her own 
We were a thousand miles from nowhere 
Wheat fields as far as I could see 
Both needing something from each other 
Not knowing yet what that might be 
'Til she came to me one evening 
Hot cup of coffee and a smile 
In a dress that I was certain 
She hadn't worn in quite a while 
........details are fuzzy now but it went something like that...


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## pstrahin

I can't tell my cougar story...........................I would get banned.


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## NC Scout

*Black Painters*



Nicodemus said:


> The problem is the color. Sure, the occasional Florida panther roams up through here. That`s really not even news. But in the history of mankind, there has never been a black American mountain lion, cougar, puma, Florida panther, or whatever local name they are called, been killed, found dead, run over by a vehicle, or caught on camera. Ever.
> 
> You even have some who swear that there is a breeding population of jaguars right here in Georgia.



There's an old black painter mount in a Native American souvenir shop over in Cherokee.  Just saying...

Black painters must be real because very summer Floridians see dozens of black painters in their sumdivisions up here in NC.  These reports always share similarities-painter is definitely black & too HUGE to be mistaken for bobcat, he has a very long tail, and sounds just like a baby crying.  

One brutally cold, snowy, winter night, I was coming home from Maryville on the Dragon, 3"s of snow/ice on highway and more peppering down every second.  Highway was slicker than snot so I was easing along in 4WD with my fog lamps on and I'd made 30 miles or better without seeing another living thing when my lamps lighted up a black bobcat eating roadkill in middle of highway.  He weren't a painter but he were black. I got a decent look at him cause he hesitated just long enough to bite off a hunk of whatever it was he was eating and then leapt into the snowy darkness below the road.


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## humdandy

Saw one, treed one, killed one.


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## Bucky T

I was at the zoo one time...................


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## humdandy

Bucky T said:


> I was at the zoo one time...................



Oatland Island in Savannah had one a few years ago.


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## Bucky T

Jim Thompson said:


> well if it matters to yall...
> 
> I was in my office today listening to an old fella talk about how many cougars he has seen in southern illinois.  told me all about where and how many folks were with him when they were seen.
> 
> we dont have a confirmed population of em either.
> 
> just like in GA..and AL and TN and KY and IN etc etc etc...they may migrate in every once in a while or escape from captivity once in a while, but not with any regularity
> 
> now that pesky black one that gets seen in every state...HE exists!!!!
> 
> here is a pretty good interactive map
> http://www.cougarfund.org/conservation/states/



Geeze..  My brother in law in southern Illinois has some picture or video to show me everytime I go up there of the elusive cougar up there..

He actually gets upset at me because I don't believe him and say, "Show me one in the back of your truck next time I come up, then I'll believe you."


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## Nicodemus

Still waiting....


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## Throwback

humdandy said:


> Oatland Island in Savannah had one a few years ago.



Had a what?  

T


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## 7Mag Hunter

As a teenager we fished a friends property north of Fayetteville
Ga an regularly heard screams from the swamp back behind their
property...They owned 200 acres with large lake with screen
house we camped in the summer...
Friends Grandfather said it was a panther and to stay on the
dock fishing or in the screen house...
I have since heard bobcats and what I heard as a teenager was no
bobcat...
This was when most land around Fayetteville was swamp and
Peachtree City was a marsh.......


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## Nugefan

Throwback said:


> Had a what?
> 
> T



a farm , e I e I O .....


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## The mtn man

NC Scout said:


> There's an old black painter mount in a Native American souvenir shop over in Cherokee.  Just saying...
> 
> Black painters must be real because very summer Floridians see dozens of black painters in their sumdivisions up here in NC.  These reports always share similarities-painter is definitely black & too HUGE to be mistaken for bobcat, he has a very long tail, and sounds just like a baby crying.
> 
> One brutally cold, snowy, winter night, I was coming home from Maryville on the Dragon, 3"s of snow/ice on highway and more peppering down every second.  Highway was slicker than snot so I was easing along in 4WD with my fog lamps on and I'd made 30 miles or better without seeing another living thing when my lamps lighted up a black bobcat eating roadkill in middle of highway.  He weren't a painter but he were black. I got a decent look at him cause he hesitated just long enough to bite off a hunk of whatever it was he was eating and then leapt into the snowy darkness below the road.



You should talk to the Florida people that live in the subdivision at the Clay/ Macon couty line on hwy 64,I hunted that area since I was a little feller,(before  all the Florida people took it over and chased all us local vermin out), I am almost 40 now, I have never seen a black panther, some of them people have been there 6 months and swear they see them every day, say they eat food off their porches, I havn't seen any pictures or proof, I really don't know what to say to them, tried laughing once, that didn't go over too well.I did however see 1 set of tracks in the snow in that area bout 10 years ago, I know every critters tracks around here, it was a little bigger than a big hound, it wernt no bear, It looked like a bobcat track, about 10 sizes too big, It had crossed US 64, had also made some really long strides like nothing I'v ever seen, must have been running.I will assume without seeing the creature, it was a big cat, My dad swears he and a buddy saw a black one in that area bout 30 years ago, they were riding around the NF roads,Every time he talks about it , I just change the subject.


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## Killdee

There's an old black painter mount in a Native American souvenir shop over in Cherokee. Just saying..




Scout, we need more info on this and a picture, suspect its a black leopard mount though. If its real reckon we could cook it for Nic?


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## NC Scout

*Chunky Gal*



cklem said:


> You should talk to the Florida people that live in the subdivision at the Clay/ Macon couty line on hwy 64,I hunted that area since I was a little feller,(before  all the Florida people took it over and chased all us local vermin out), I am almost 40 now, I have never seen a black panther, some of them people have been there 6 months and swear they see them every day, say they eat food off their porches, I havn't seen any pictures or proof, I really don't know what to say to them, tried laughing once, that didn't go over too well.I did however see 1 set of tracks in the snow in that area bout 10 years ago, I know every critters tracks around here, it was a little bigger than a big hound, it wernt no bear, It looked like a bobcat track, about 10 sizes too big, It had crossed US 64, had also made some really long strides like nothing I'v ever seen, must have been running.I will assume without seeing the creature, it was a big cat, My dad swears he and a buddy saw a black one in that area bout 30 years ago, they were riding around the NF roads,Every time he talks about it , I just change the subject.



Yeah, they should put a black painter crossing sign at the gap up there. lol!

If there were a painter in WNC, black or brown, he'd be living in that Chunky Gal range.  Back in the late 80's I read a NC Wildlife magazine article about a biologist that spent months up there trying to document a mountain lion he'd seen or seen tracks of in that area.  He wasn't successful.


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## Bucky T

"I was 19 and she was 40...."

Sorry couldn't help it..


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## NC Scout

*Black Painter Awareness*



Killdee said:


> There's an old black painter mount in a Native American souvenir shop over in Cherokee. Just saying..
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Scout, we need more info on this and a picture, suspect its a black leopard mount though. If its real reckon we could cook it for Nic?



Just so happens I'll be in Cherokee this week-end and even though it will cut into fishing time, for the advancement of black painter awareness, I'll try to get some pictures of the mount.  

Enough parboiling will make anything chewable.


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## Killdee

NC Scout said:


> Just so happens I'll be in Cherokee this week-end and even though it will cut into fishing time, for the advancement of black painter awareness, I'll try to get some pictures of the mount.
> 
> Enough parboiling will make anything chewable.



Yep, Thanks for the extra effort for the NAABP, Good luck fishing.


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## The mtn man

NC Scout said:


> Yeah, they should put a black painter crossing sign at the gap up there. lol!
> 
> If there were a painter in WNC, black or brown, he'd be living in that Chunky Gal range.  Back in the late 80's I read a NC Wildlife magazine article about a biologist that spent months up there trying to document a mountain lion he'd seen or seen tracks of in that area.  He wasn't successful.



I read a book once, was an account of 2 fellas going from Franklin to Murphy, back before clay county was cut out of Macon and Cherokee counties, they were crossing chunky gal, wich is behind my house, they stayed the night in an old dugout, turned out that was the big cats lair, it came in on them during the night, wish I could remember the book, bet you'd like it.i have also had a few bear hunters tell me their hounds have treed a couple through the years, although I never saw one, weren't black ones though.


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## bronco611

this goes to show, DNR said they do not exist in Georgia. The hunter shoots one and post pics to prove it. DNR fines the man for killing a creature that they said does not exist. I really feel sorry for the hunter who shoots BIG FOOT!!!


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## bfriendly

ScrappyJ said:


> Just as the thread states, we have yet to prove their existence although it would seem through casual comments members have made that they are out there.
> 
> I don't have a story but my father when he was hunting in Temple Ga heard many strange sounds, one of which unnerved him so much that he booked it to his truck. I think it was a growl followed by closing heavy footsteps or something. The man who gave him permission to hunt on that land also swore to his grave that he had cougars there.



Thats a Cool Story  Dont think a Cougar's footsteps are very "Heavy" though...........Musta been something else

I saw a cougar on the same fairway I was on, at Cypress Creek golf course in FL.........its only about 3 hours away from the state line


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## Throwback

bronco611 said:


> this goes to show, DNR said they do not exist in Georgia. The hunter shoots one and post pics to prove it. DNR fines the man for killing a creature that they said does not exist. I really feel sorry for the hunter who shoots BIG FOOT!!!



DNR did not fine anyone. 


T


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## NCHillbilly

bronco611 said:


> this goes to show, DNR said they do not exist in Georgia. The hunter shoots one and post pics to prove it. DNR fines the man for killing a creature that they said does not exist. I really feel sorry for the hunter who shoots BIG FOOT!!!



Nobody has ever said that they don't exist in Georgia. There is no known breeding population in Georgia. Big difference. Dispersing young male panthers like the one you're referring to will cover hundreds or thousands of miles and are liable to turn up anywhere at any time. They are run over in the roads, shot by hunters, and photo-ed by trail cams all over the country every year. The difference is, none of these ever turn out to be females-just roaming males that may be here today and two states away next month. Until you have confirmed females, you don't have a resident breeding population of cougars, only occasional random wanderers.

On second thought, never mind- yes, Georgia has thousands of cougars that are producing cubs by the hundreds, and most of them are black. They spend their whole life in a 50-acre patch of woods behind somebdy's barn, and spend all night every night constantly screaming like women being raped.


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## JonathanG2013

Photo taken behind a friends house in Canton, Ga.


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## .

JonathanG2013 said:


> Photo taken behind a friends house in Canton, Ga.






To me that looks like the profile of a boxer from the looks of the head and seems to be a bobbed tail.

Why can't anyone take a clear focused pic of one?


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## NC Scout

*Never Say Never*


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## NCHillbilly

NC Scout said:


>



It looked better when it was still alive over at Soco Gardens zoo in Maggie.


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## Killdee

What is it. I cant tell nothing from that pic?


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## Throwback

JonathanG2013 said:


> Photo taken behind a friends house in Canton, Ga.





And what do you think that is?

T


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## Nicodemus

Killdee said:


> What is it. I cant tell nothing from that pic?





I don`t know, but it`s got some great ol big tushes.


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## Killdee

Kinda looks like a novelty somethinganouther a taxidermist threw together, like when they make a jackalope or a deer wif tushes or a doe booty wif an eyeball looking out.


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## JonathanG2013

I think it might be a really big bobcat.


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## humdandy

Throwback said:


> Had a what?
> 
> T



A panther, sorry for the confusion.

The show that panthers are a predator in Georgia.
http://internet.savannah.chatham.k12.ga.us/schools/oat/animals/Pages/predators.aspx


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## Lukikus2

JustUs4All said:


> Those are great lines Theodore and awfully scarey, but not accurate.  Cougar quite frequently fail to make the kill when they attack a human.  There are, in fact, many more attacks than there are fatalities.  Several years back a fellow stopped an attack and killed the cougar with a pocket knife that he had to retrieve from his pocket and open during the attack.



100% correct. Felines like to play with their catch before killing it. It's those few moments in between when you have a chance. Only thing is soon as you move they are back on you. Has got to be a terrible experience.


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## Throwback

humdandy said:


> A panther, sorry for the confusion.
> 
> The show that panthers are a predator in Georgia.
> http://internet.savannah.chatham.k12.ga.us/schools/oat/animals/Pages/predators.aspx



that ones not jet black with a swayed back and a long tail. 


T


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## ScrappyJ

Thanks everyone for the feedback, keep em coming! 
And for the picture above, I have no clue what it is. It almost seems fake.


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## Killdee

Panther and especially black panther threads are great entertainment here between seasons!!!!!!!!


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## Ytka

4 or 5 years ago I was on my way to my uncle's house in South Houston County. My wife and mother-in-law were in the truck with me. As I started to come up to the crest of the hill, I saw something black move across the road at the edge of my headlights. It stopped on the side of the road. I started slowing down and when I was about 20 feet from it, I stopped with the truck angled toward it. My wife, mother-in-law, and I all saw it, a big (100+lbs), black cat, with a long tail, standing right there in front of us. It was at night, but like I said, it was only 20 feet or so from us right in the headlights. Its tail went back and forth a time or two and it jumped into the woods. I'll never forget it. Nobody said anything until I asked, "I'm not crazy am I? That was a black panther standing on the side of the road, right."


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## bfriendly

7Mag Hunter said:


> As a teenager we fished a friends property north of Fayetteville
> Ga an regularly heard screams from the swamp back behind their
> property...They owned 200 acres with large lake with screen
> house we camped in the summer...
> Friends Grandfather said it was a panther and to stay on the
> dock fishing or in the screen house...
> I have since heard bobcats and what I heard as a teenager was no
> bobcat...
> This was when most land around Fayetteville was swamp and
> Peachtree City was a marsh.......



What to you think the screams came from? Just curious............I'd tell you what I Think they came from, but no one would believe me


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## Killdee

bfriendly said:


> What to you think the screams came from? Just curious............I'd tell you what I Think they came from, but no one would believe me



I would and I bet I what you are going to say.BTW I dont believe Panthers  scream, they just sound like a panther.


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## Nicodemus

Killdee said:


> Panther and especially black panther threads are great entertainment here between seasons!!!!!!!!





I continue to hold out hope that we`ll have one to skin and cook one day...


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## Okie Hog

For many years the OK Dep't. of Wildlife made it illegal  to kill cougars for any reason.   A local rancher lost a horse to cougar/s and his prize winning stud horse was torn up badly by one.   The guy called the OWDC.  He was told he would go to jail for killing a cougar and that the animals all had tracking chips.  

One day i was tracking a wounded hog in a wide gully when my hair kind of stood on end.  A big male cougar was crouched about 15 yards away;  licking his face and switching his tail.   He took a 370 grain Maxi-Ball in the chest from my muzzleloader. 

Finally the OK legislature intervened.  Cougars that pose a threat to humans and livestock can legally be killed.  You're supposed to call the game warden after killing a cougar.


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## Killdee

Nicodemus said:


> I continue to hold out hope that we`ll have one to skin and cook one day...



I call the drumstick!!


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## GA DAWG

bfriendly said:


> What to you think the screams came from? Just curious............I'd tell you what I Think they came from, but no one would believe me


What?


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## Throwback

GA DAWG said:


> What?



Bigfoot


T


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## Killdee

A woman being killed


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## Jim Thompson

all of these sound like the infamous woman screaming

http://www.pond5.com/sound-effects/1/panther.html


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## NCHillbilly

It's kind of funny that the only big cats on earth that have black color phases (leopards and jaguars,) are both physically incapable of making a screaming sound-they are roaring cats.


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## Nicodemus

NCHillbilly said:


> It's kind of funny that the only big cats on earth that have black color phases (leopards and jaguars,) are both physically incapable of making a screaming sound-they are roaring cats.





Facts are a real killer, ain`t they.


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## Ytka

Nicodemus said:


> Facts are a real killer, ain`t they.



Has anyone claimed they saw a black cat scream? I've seen accounts of both big black cats and Florida panther type cats in this area. The fact that some people say they've seen a black cat of some variety and other people say they've heard a scream, doesn't strike down the possibility of both being correct. Not one account that I've seen has said the witness saw a black cat while it was screaming. So your "facts" are nothing more than the same level of speculation relied upon by those same people that think a jaguar/leopard screams.

ETA: I've never heard a scream in the woods that wasn't from a screech owl. I will swear to anything you want me to swear to that the story I told above is true. Like I said, 2 other people were in the truck with me and saw it too. No mistaken ID there, it was right there in front of us.


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## bigelow

This 1 time an older lady came up to me at a bar


----------



## Nicodemus

Ytka said:


> Has anyone claimed they saw a black cat scream? I've seen accounts of both big black cats and Florida panther type cats in this area. The fact that some people say they've seen a black cat of some variety and other people say they've heard a scream, doesn't strike down the possibility of both being correct. Not one account that I've seen has said the witness saw a black cat while it was screaming. So your "facts" are nothing more than the same level of speculation relied upon by those same people that think a jaguar/leopard screams.
> 
> ETA: I've never heard a scream in the woods that wasn't from a screech owl. I will swear to anything you want me to swear to that the story I told above is true. Like I said, 2 other people were in the truck with me and saw it too. No mistaken ID there, it was right there in front of us.





To hear some of these stories, they`ve done everything but come down the chimney and ate the firstborn son.


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## Beartrkkr

Jim Thompson said:


> all of these sound like the infamous woman screaming
> 
> http://www.pond5.com/sound-effects/1/panther.html




I don't hear it.  I hear nothing that sounds like a woman screaming.

Try this is you want to hear an animal that sounds like a woman screaming and certainly more likely to be heard in the southeast
http://www.pond5.com/sound-effects/1/fox.html


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## 660griz

Lukikus2 said:


> 100% correct. Felines like to play with their catch before killing it.



These are not house cats. These cats hunt to survive. They do not play with their food. They try to kill as quickly as possible, this helps to prevent their food being taken from them and prevents possible injury to the lion from the prey struggling. 
However, they have evolved to hunt certain prey. These prey never have on backpacks, or heavy coats. Neither do deer have other deer come to the rescue before a prey can be suffocated. Heads on a grown human are usually too large for one of the killing techniques. 
Not to mention, most humans killed by the cats were in a blissful state of outdoorsiness. Moutain biking, hiking, running, unarmed and oblivious to nature. 
A hunter, will probably not trigger the prey drive a runner would. A hunter will hopefully be a lot more in tune with their surroundings.


----------

