# Ghost and the Darkness!!!!!!!



## Wornout Trails

*Ghost and the Darkness!!!!!!!!!!!!*         I was hunting my Buck Shot climbing stand on top what I now call "Big Cat Mountain" last season (2003).  Having seen serveral does that morning before 7:30, I was not suprise to hear a small crack of noise directly behind me,  and some leaf russel I sat moitionless for several min. (I am some 25-30 feet up a pine tree.)  A noise I had never heard in my 45 years of deer hunting came from directly behind me and the hair stood up on the back of my neck!!!!!  It was so loud it could have been heard several hundered yards away on that cold quit morning.  We all know the growls the cougers make from seeing them in the movies and TV!  This is what I am hearing!!!!  I did not move or turn my head, I waited. The thing let go again!  I knew it was within 50 yds of me, so after 7 more growls (crys - screams) and several min. had past I could not take it anymore.  I new the animal had scented me and did not know exactly where I was.  So as slow as I could move my head I started to turn.  No sooner than I moved, I saw what the Ga. Dept. of Natural Resourses says does not exist in Georgia!  A solid Black Couger (some folks call'm Black Panthers).  The Big Cat turned inside out as I got good look at him run through timber!  I have a Black Lab that weighs 95 lbs.  This cat was way bigger than (longer body) my Lab and had a long tail.!!!!!!!  It took me several mins. to calm myself down!  After I got down at 11:00,  I looked for tracks in the leaves and pine needles. Did not find anything except the area where it turned and disturbed the leaves..  :speechles  

That night I call a friend of mind who is our local Game Warden and relayed the story to him!  He said two weeks before another person had reported to him seeing a large Black long tailed cat cross the road in front of his car at night... some 5 miles from my hunting club.   My reply: "You can bet the farm this fellow was telling you truth!"  His reply was get me some tracks.!  I understand now why some hunters wait till daylight to go their stands!!!!!!..  (I have and still continue to get in my stand some 15 to 30 before light)!!!!


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## MCBUCK

*Black Cougar ??!!*

Worn out, you need to get your eyes checked.  I too live in the North Georgia mountains , and have hunted them extensively for 30 years , and there is a good reason the DNR says they do not exist ( Black ones any way ) There have been some unconfirmed sightings of Lions in the mountainous areas of North Ga. (emphasis on unconfirmed)  But non are proven.  I too have seen what I believed to be a "Mountain Lion" , however it was not black.  The black cat that now haunts your trip to the treestand is a native species to India and Southeast Asia, not the Piedmont region of the southeast U.S. There have been instances of Leopards in the southwest U.S. and Central America thhat have been to have what is called melanisim and caused them to be black hued , but you would , could spend a life time looking for a "black panther" in the state of Georgia and only find them at Grant Park. Sorry Guy, no offense.  Even the state would argue my sighting ( On Cohutta WMA 1987 on a bow hunt ) because no one has ever found any remains , scat , dens, cubs or any other evidence of their existence to confirm such.


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## beginnersluck

Evidenty you guys have never heard of the Rabun County "black painters" (that's how they say panthers up there)  .  Everybody in Rabun has heard the haunting sounds coming from the panther's mouth.  Just ask anybody from Rabun and they'll tell you they exist!


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## MCBUCK

*Copenhagen or Skoal*

Whicjh one causes that scream ??


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## beginnersluck

you know that they ain't sophisticated enought for those fines tobbacco products...Grizzly or Red Rooster is the backer of choice!  Just pokin a little fun on the Rabun County boys!


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## Handgunner

I saw Bigfoot on Hwy 108 between Waleska and Sutallee, one night while out riding around.

Nothing of Bigfoot has been found to "prove his existence" other than tracks, but I know what I saw that night.


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## MCBUCK

They got em in Soperton ?


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## Handgunner

I've not seen one yet, but I've been lookin'!


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## GA DAWG

If I ever was to see a black panther during hunting season.You can bet yall will see it to.  Heck alot of people see them so there must be lots of them in every part of the state.Surely taking one out will not hurt nothing!


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## Ga-Spur

It may be a black Jaguar  from South America. I saw one on Gin Creek a few years back. I think it was bigger than any Mountain Lion I have seen . John Mell Pitts saw one over in Oglethorpe County.  A number of people have seen these black cats after Russel Dam was built. The jaguar range reached into the southern USA at one time.


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## Rebel 3

I think many of these sighting are fromp people having exotic pets that are illegal in most situations and they are turned loose or get away.  I do however beleive there are possibly a few mountain lions left in GA.  I have little doubt there was a population of them 50 years ago.  Many dad swears he saw one in Lawrenceville in the early 70's when he was young.  He said his friends dog treed it and they sat there and watched it for a long while.  His dog was a great dane.  He said the dog was tearing the bark off the tree and the mountain lion was in plain view over their heads.


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## GA DAWG

I think most of these sightings are just peoples brains playing tricks on them.COME ON THERE IS NO LARGE BREED OF BLACK CATS IN GA.Wheres all the cam pics of them.Thousands of cameras in the woods no black cats I've ever heard of.These cats are so dumb they get seen by all kinds of people,but they are to smart to get a picture took.Not to mention hide their tracks and all.They must walk around with a big bush tied to the end of their long tales.I guess to wipe out all the tracks they would leave.By the way I know people who have claimed to see black panthers.Most of them are scared of the dark anyhow.Its all in there heads.


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## marknga

I was kinda laying back and waiting to see what kind of response Wornout Trails would get when he told his story.
I guess I should be called "well on my way to being a worn out trail" since I'm his son. 
First of all I can promise you that he isn't scared of the dark, wasn't on medication, etc. He called me at work that day after his encounter and was genuinely unnerved. Was it a Black Panther? A Black Jaguar? A overly fed steroided up black house cat? I don't know but I can promise you another thing .....If he said he saw it he did.
He told his story here after I mentioned it to him to share it. I believe that there may be other folks out there that have seen one and I hope that one day we can get proof that these creatures exist. 

Hope all of you had a Happy Thanksgiving! 
Man was sitting in the tree stand a ride this morning or what? I thought I would need to get some drammanine!


Mark


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## Mrbowdeadly

Just a note....

    I believe him.  Crocodiles, while not native to florida, are becoming quite a nuisance.  Yes I know, they are indiginous to the nile and Austrailia and such, but people own them and are releasing them into floridas ecosystem.

    I absolutely believe that someone could have lost or released a black panther without anyone knowing.

    ALOT of animals and plants got here that way.  Horses, palm trees, you name it.

     I once saw a jet black coyote in the stand, and he had yellow eyes.

Truth my friends, is stranger than fiction.

MBD


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## Muygrande

Mrbowdeadly said:
			
		

> I once saw a jet black coyote in the stand, and he had yellow eyes.
> 
> Truth my friends, is stranger than fiction.
> 
> MBD


MBD, I've killed all manner of colored Coyotes, mainly grayish/silver, but have killed Red, and black ones! I believe you!

Well, anyone here ever heard of the 170 club in Macon county? I don't know who here is with G.O.N. but several of them were on it. I showed a guy that worked for GON Panther/Lion tracks around one of Russell Thomas's (He ownde the property) ponds near the river. Whether we like it or not the Florida Panther doen't know state lines and there's piles more than the 25 living that they've talked about for the last 20 years. When I lived in Ocala,  I had seen them while hunting and a lady in Marion Oaks subdivision had the DNR come get a mama and 2-3 kittens after the mama charged at her hanging out clothes on the line one day back in 1987 or 1988. So if there's that many to be seen in Marion County how many are in the true rural swamps of Florida and how many have migrated due to development of their home. Melanism is surely the answer for the blackness, but the cats are real.


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## firebiker

*I believe you*

I believe you, were not talking about a Big foot sighting. we are talking about a animal that really exsists in another area. so whose to say it could have not migrated to that area or was released by someone. when a 500lb black bear gets hit and killed on I85 in front of bass pro shop in gwinnett county would you believe that ?( true story that happen)


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## tobyfloyd61

*have seen*

we have saw a couple of these big black cats over at lake wedowee...and have talked with several others that have saw them...my uncle lives on the lake and has heard there screams at nite...we all carry cameras now trying to get a picture.


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## Ga-Spur

tobyfloyd61 ;                     Where is Lake Wedowee and where are you located ?


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## tobyfloyd61

*wedowee*

wedowee is in randolph county alabama...heard is the joining georgia county...i live in wadley ala..20 mins from wedowee..been here about a year...was in meriwether county,ga for over 20 years..


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## Ga-Spur

There has been reports out of Heard County regarding sightings of big cats.


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## roadkill

I'm a believer too, and I bet there's a lot on this board that won't say they are.  My dad and I both saw a big cat in Schley county.  It went by me and then went by my dad.  I will assure you one thing, illegal or not, I will take a picture of the next one I see with my digital 270!    Then you can see the truth in the hall of shame!


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## GA DAWG

Well I'm not a believer and I'll admit it.I need more proof.A few stories dont cut it for me.I've heard my whole life tales of black panthers.I've yet to see one or hear one.I recken since they are smart enough not to get there picture taken by one of the thousands of game cams in GA.Then they must be smart enough not to come by me!


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## MCBUCK

Skinny bears with a cold.  If ther were any "black cats" I think surely they would be on Cohutta WMA Wilderness and I have never sen or heard of any logical Murray Co folks seeing a large black cat there. So I think what we have is a case of mistaken identy .  It's Smokey the Bear with a cold and taking dexatrim !!


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## PAPALAPIN

*I Have Never Seen A Black Panther In Georgia*

BUT, Just because MCBUCK and I have not seen it does not mean it is not there.  Too bad you did not have a camera.  I would hate to have to kill something that rare just to prove that it exists.   I have heard the scream of a wildcat (?) many times at night and it sends shivers down the spine.  Sounds like a woman getting murdered.

You know what you saw, don't let anyone tell you different.  What would be interesting is to hear the comments of the doubters if and when they ever see one.

MR. MCBUCK - Have you ever seen an ELK in Georgia?  Neither have I, but they are here.  How about Llama, Emu, Ostrich, or exotic game?  They are out there in very-very small numbers.

ROADKILL - Don't take my word for it, but my understanding is that if you run into a creature that is not native to Georgia, and not covered by the game laws, you can legally shoot it.  There has been exotic deer kileld in Georgia with no reprocussions.  When 4 ELK escaped from an illigal transport in the Canton area, the word from DNR was shoot on sight


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## GeauxLSU

PAPALAPIN said:
			
		

> What would be interesting is to hear the comments of the doubters if and when they ever see one.


... or if someone ever kills one or gets a trail cam pic.  They will simply say that is the ONLY one and it must SURELY have escaped from some pen and they will continue to doubt.  This subject always amuses me.  There's plenty of things that exist in Georgia that I've never seen.  Heck I saw my first shrew ever in my life last week.  Pretty sure Georgia has thousands and thousands of them.  Has anyone here ever seen one?  No?  Maybe I was imagining it....  : 
Hunt/fish safely,
Phil


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## PAPALAPIN

*Hey Phil*

I bet dey tink dat dere ain't no NUTRIA in JAWJA!

Dey got CRAWDADS here.  Dey jes calls'um BAIT.


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## GeauxLSU

PAPALAPIN said:
			
		

> I bet dey tink dat dere ain't no NUTRIA in JAWJA!
> 
> Dey got CRAWDADS here.  Dey jes calls'um BAIT.


That's OK, I'm sure they don't believe in the loup-garou either!     
Hunt/fish safely,
Phil


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## MCBUCK

*Crawdads*

Dats Funnay Papalapin


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## MCBUCK

MR. MCBUCK - Have you ever seen an ELK in Georgia?  Neither have I, but they are here.  How about Llama, Emu, Ostrich, or exotic game?  They are out there in very-very small numbers.

     When 4 ELK escaped from an illigal transport in the Canton area, the word from DNR was shoot on sight[/QUOTE]
  I agree, but you need to remember.. a black panther sighted this many times and no "cam pics, road kills"  etc.. I just think we would have had some one take a photo with his "digital .270" by now if they were there . I never said ther weren't exotics in Georgia.  I know a man pesonally that killed an axis deer just 2 years ago in Floyd Co ( escaped from a farm ) And Georgia even had a season one time on Fallow deer and Sika deer, out on the coast. I just said Bageera and the rest of Jungle book might be hard to find.   
   ( hope I did this quote thing right   : )


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## PAPALAPIN

*Mr Mcbuck*

Heck son, Whitetail deer are hard for me to find this year.  S C A R C E!!

I moved up into Bartow County in the country a year and a half ago.  I hear YOTES at night all the time, but I am yet to see one.  However, I did see a Llama last year. Totally unexpected. made my day.  

If there are BIG BLACK CATS running around Georgia (and I do say "IF"), what are the chances of one popping up right in front of a guy holding a NIKON with a zoom lense all set at the exact right focus.  "IF" there is one (1) out there, I would expect that just by its' nature it is going to be a vary secretive, cautious, wary animal, even more so than a YOTE, FOX, DEER, or any other wild animal that is just trying to survive in a world where man is steadily encroaching on its habitat.  

Are there BIG BLACK CATS in Georgia?  I don't know  : ; but I am not going to discount the possibility just because you or I have never seen one.  I have never seen England, but I feel pretty certain that it is there.

Since the 4 ELK escaped from the Canton area, how many reports have there been of theme being seen, shot   , photoed, or whatever. Only one that I heard of.  Where are they?  Could have snuck over to Alabama where they just consider them to be average sized whitetails.

Keep an open mind.  One day you may have the honor of seeing one and no one believing you.  I hope it happens for you.  WHAT A THRILL!!     If it does happen to you, whatcha gonna do?  Keep your mouth shut because you are sure no one will believe you, or do like WORNOUT-TRAILS and step out and tell what you saw.  

MR TRAILS - I believe you!


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## MCBUCK

Boom


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## GA DAWG

Not to change the subject,but the elk I thought were all accounted for.Some were ran over on 575.I know one was shot in the macidonia area.I saw one myself at the county landfill dead.I did see a few pics of them after they escaped!Cant remember were,but I saw the pictures.


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## PAPALAPIN

*Ga Dawg*

Thanks for the update.  Last I heard was when one got hit by a car probably one of the ones on 575.  I had never heard of the others being accounted for.  

OK, so now there are no ELK in GA.

You know it is bad enough when you have the misfortune to hit a deer.  Can you imagine what it must be like to hit an ELK?  Do you know if the ones that escaped were all calfs or were any adults.  Seems to me I remember all calfs.

I have been known to be wrong.

A while back there were plans to reintroduce ELK to North Georgia, planning a huntable population in about 20 years.  I think they have a program in KY and maybe some other Eastern states.   At one time ELK were native to the Eastern states.  It would be cool to see them here again, as long as some of us would not be recording them with a digital 270 just to show we saw one.


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## MCBUCK

Not enough wild high pasture in north Ga to sustain a huntable population of elk , at least that is what the DNR said, and the program was nixed. Too much influx of building in the mountains from the ATL. No offense to you Gwinett boys, but that is how th DNR figgered it.   Kentucky does have a herd , and now conducts a yearly hunt on a quota basis ( non residents ?? )  And Tennessee has reintroduced some elk back into the northern reaches of the Smokies , but that is a pretty small herd. 
       You boys have a good'ern !!  I am on muy way to B F Grant !!


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## Wornout Trails

PAPALAPIN said:
			
		

> Heck son, Whitetail deer are hard for me to find this year.  S C A R C E!!
> 
> I moved up into Bartow County in the country a year and a half ago.  I hear YOTES at night all the time, but I am yet to see one.  However, I did see a Llama last year. Totally unexpected. made my day.
> 
> If there are BIG BLACK CATS running around Georgia (and I do say "IF"), what are the chances of one popping up right in front of a guy holding a NIKON with a zoom lense all set at the exact right focus.  "IF" there is one (1) out there, I would expect that just by its' nature it is going to be a vary secretive, cautious, wary animal, even more so than a YOTE, FOX, DEER, or any other wild animal that is just trying to survive in a world where man is steadily encroaching on its habitat.
> 
> Are there BIG BLACK CATS in Georgia?  I don't know  : ; but I am not going to discount the possibility just because you or I have never seen one.  I have never seen England, but I feel pretty certain that it is there.
> 
> Since the 4 ELK escaped from the Canton area, how many reports have there been of theme being seen, shot   , photoed, or whatever. Only one that I heard of.  Where are they?  Could have snuck over to Alabama where they just consider them to be average sized whitetails.
> 
> Keep an open mind.  One day you may have the honor of seeing one and no one believing you.  I hope it happens for you.  WHAT A THRILL!!     If it does happen to you, whatcha gonna do?  Keep your mouth shut because you are sure no one will believe you, or do like WORNOUT-TRAILS and step out and tell what you saw.
> 
> MR TRAILS - I believe you!


 Thanks for your input!    I would have like to have seen someone get a picture of the Big Black Cat that morning I saw it, heck I could not have got it in my sights if I had tried.  It moved way faster than any deer,  I had seen lots of turkeys flying down from the trees right at daylight. I think the big cat was stalking some jakes when he got a whiff of me!  The Cats cries, growls, screams, whatever you want to call it, they got louder each time.  Best waiting game I ever tried to play, but it won out when I moved!  -------------Let the little ones walk!          Wornout Trails


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## PAPALAPIN

Hope that is not going to keep you from going back.  Heck, it would fire me back to go out more.   I call it "serendipity".  The act of finding something that you were not looking for.  Chances are that you can go out looking for it now and never see it again.  You are fortunate for the experience you had.

Don't let the doubters rain on your parade.


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## Wornout Trails

MacBuck:  Watch out for Elvis, Bigfoot, man on the moon, and elk down on the B.F.G! Heck we all know Elvis is dead, Lisa Marie proved this when she married Michael Jackson!!!!    Mac knows that the man on the moon stuff was all Hollywood, right Mac!!


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## Wornout Trails

Yea, it sure slowed me down seeing the Big Cat!.  Since Oct. 16th I've only been deer hunting 23 days, (I keep a log,date, location, weather, temp., game, hrs. hunted, etc.)!  Thanks!!   Wornout Trails


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## HMwolfpup

Delton said:
			
		

> I saw Bigfoot on Hwy 108 between Waleska and Sutallee, one night while out riding around.
> 
> Nothing of Bigfoot has been found to "prove his existence" other than tracks, but I know what I saw that night.



That wasn't bigfoot, that was Bassworm


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## FX Jenkins

*Kitty on camera - Oregon*

How would you like to be walking in to or out from your stand with this "ghost in the darkness"?


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## marknga

*I Have*

I did walk up on that "ghost in the darkness". In 1980 we were hunting Ocumulgee WMA and it was the first gun hunt of the year. We always hunted the same powerline year after year, hunted out of the same tree. Well in 1980 they had not cut/mowed the powerline and it was about waist high. That morning I went in to cut across to my "favorite tree" but it was so thick with briars and such I had to circle around instead of going my normal straight line. Here I am 45 minutes before daylight with my Baker Stand over one shoulder and my Remington Model 742 30-06 over the other, flashlight in hand and I "HEAR SOMETHING BREATHING BEHIND ME". I turned around and waved the flashlight toward the sound and a pair of large yellow eyes greeted me. It was a cougar, mountain lion, puma whatever you want to call it! It stared at me for a few seconds then turned around and glided into the briars. The last thing I saw was the long tail. Needless to say I found my way across the powerline to my tree and was up it in no time. Of course when I told the DNR officer about it he said "noway, there is no such thing" 
The thing about this; another hunter saw the cat that same year on a different hunt. Of course no photos, no tracks, no proof ........BUT I know what I saw, no mistaking a bobcat or housecat for this. I mean it was only 3 feet or so away. So yes I do believe.

Mark


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## Wornout Trails

I remember a young Markuga relating this "Encounter of the 1st kind" to me when we met up for lunch that day near my stand on the "old smoke house power line".  It started as "DAD you won't beleive what I saw this morning!"  Yea, I did!!!!   We laid by some good deer and hogs back in there, during the 70's and 80's.!!!  (The big cat had been seen in there back in 67 before that area of Twigss County became part of Ocgmulgee WMA----but thats another story!)--------------!!!!!!!!-------    Wornout Trails


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## Ben Athens

Hundreds of Mountain Lions are taken every year out west . So far there has never been a black one .


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## bilgerat

*fake*

that photo is a fake . I have seen it on other sites with an elk in place of the deer and of the cat alone .


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## FX Jenkins

*"Thats a fake"*

Yea I heard it from a few folks...just a little thought provoker for the thread...and notice I didn't claim authenticity...question is, do you think its possible?


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## leoparddog

Well, I spotted what I thought was a painter along I-85 one day heading south of ATL.  It was walking along sorta parallel to the road headed for some brush.  I spotted it several hundred yards away, new it was something I'd never seen before and started slowing down. As I got up to it, it stepped into the bushes.

I think it was a mtn lion.  Low slung, long tail, buff colored. 

All it would take is one exotic black cat to escape and start breeding with native mtn lions to start getting some black ones.

Its possible - not probable, but possible


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## coon dawg

*I believe in Black Panthers..........*

most of 'em live in Cook County, inside the Chicago city limits.   ......if somebody sees one, please get a picture..............seems no one has been able to for, well, .........forever.  .............I imagine one could escape from a carnival..........or there is a 1 in 1,000,000 chance of seein a melanistic eastern cougar.................I saw a monkey one year bow huntin'............no one believed me till somebody about a mile away saw it...........HE got a picture.


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## Tom Borck

coon dawg said:
			
		

> I saw a monkey one year bow huntin'..



What kind of bow was he using?  Must of been a small bow, unless it was a large monkey?  Was the monkey bow hunting black panthers?


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## coon dawg

*good one, Tom..............*

fact is, the sucker swung by me 'bout dark one evening.............thought at first it was just a gymnastic coon in weight training.  ............questioned what I saw for a long time........then several other folks saw it on another farm.........wonder how they tatse?


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## Tom Borck

coon dawg said:
			
		

> fact is, the sucker swung by me 'bout dark one evening.............thought at first it was just a gymnastic coon in weight training.  ............questioned what I saw for a long time........then several other folks saw it on another farm.........wonder how they tatse?



Like chicken, of course!  

Glad you got that Monkey off  your back! :speechles


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## coon dawg

*................*


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## PAPALAPIN

*1969  Clark Hill Area*

I had what looked like a huge squirrel with a white nose walk up on me.  I started to shoot it but didn't because I though it may be some kind of hybrid skunk.  Several years later at a Louisiana NFAA annual banquet a doctor from Mississippi was telling of a new hybrid squirrrel  that was coming up in the SE US.  What he described was exactly what I saw.  Kinda renewed my faith in my own sanity.

Pet monkeys get out into the wild.  Llama's escape captivity, so do other exotic animals.  No one can discount the possibility of a BIG BLACK CAT escaping into the wild, and then possibly breeding.  Cats are usually nocturnal.  If you think they are hard to see in the daylight, look for them in pitch black.


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## GeauxLSU

PAPALAPIN said:
			
		

> I had what looked like a huge squirrel with a white nose walk up on me.


Is this him? http://museum.nhm.uga.edu/gawildlife/mammals/rodentia/sciuridae/sniger.html
Hunt/fish safely,
Phil


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## HMwolfpup

GeauxLSU said:
			
		

> Is this him? http://museum.nhm.uga.edu/gawildlife/mammals/rodentia/sciuridae/sniger.html
> Hunt/fish safely,
> Phil



I see those suckers all the time around Taylorsville (or at least when I used to hunt that area).  For some reason I don't mind seeing them as much as those dadburn greys.  I've seen a couple this year at our club too, but not as many as taylorsville.


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## HuntinRebel3

*See 'em all the time*

at my golf course down here.  Usually see a minimum of 2-3 per round.  Pretty critters.


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## PAPALAPIN

*Phil*

What I remember seeing was a lot bigger than a FOX SQUIRREL.

It was about the size of a large skunk, or an average sized coon.

For a tree rat, it was HUGE!!

The coloration was that of a grey swuirrel except for the pink nose and white fur around it.  Now, you gotta remember this was in 1969 when I was no as senile as I am now.  OLDTIMERS DESEASE is creeping in.  May have been some kind of PIEBALD squirrel, if there is such a thing.

I watched it for about 5 minutes and then walked toward it.  It scappered away, but did not tree.  WIERD!  :


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## Wornout Trails

Packed up a new camera in my old "possibles bag",deer season is just around corner.  Just in case!  I can still hear that scream!     Climb high boys!!!!!      W.T.


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## Branchminnow

Get us some pics.


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## xpertgreg

Last deer season I saw a live bobcat for the first time.  Now, I hunt on land that has been in my wife's family since 1943.  Her grandpaw has hunted here since they bought the place and he has never seen the first bobcat here, did he laugh at me when I told him? No.  Nor would I laugh at someone that claimed to have seen a big black cat.  
I have a question for all you neysayers.  If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, did it make a noise?  of course.
Have I ever seen a big black cat romping through the woods? No, but that don't mean they ain't out there.

gw


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## LJay

*kitty*

The one I saw wasn't black, but it shor weren't no kitty cat. I don't care what the DNR says. That Mountain lion was very much alive and well. I didn't really believe that they were around til I saw It


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## Wornout Trails

*Big Cats have been sighted by U.S. Forest Service!!!*



Wornout Trails said:


> *Ghost and the Darkness!!!!!!!!!!!!*         I was hunting my Buck Shot climbing stand on top what I now call "Big Cat Mountain" last season (2003).  Having seen serveral does that morning before 7:30, I was not suprise to hear a small crack of noise directly behind me,  and some leaf russel I sat moitionless for several min. (I am some 25-30 feet up a pine tree.)  A noise I had never heard in my 45 years of deer hunting came from directly behind me and the hair stood up on the back of my neck!!!!!  It was so loud it could have been heard several hundered yards away on that cold quit morning.  We all know the growls the cougers make from seeing them in the movies and TV!  This is what I am hearing!!!!  I did not move or turn my head, I waited. The thing let go again!  I knew it was within 50 yds of me, so after 7 more growls (crys - screams) and several min. had past I could not take it anymore.  I new the animal had scented me and did not know exactly where I was.  So as slow as I could move my head I started to turn.  No sooner than I moved, I saw what the Ga. Dept. of Natural Resourses says does not exist in Georgia!  A solid Black Couger (some folks call'm Black Panthers).  The Big Cat turned inside out as I got good look at him run through timber!  I have a Black Lab that weighs 95 lbs.  This cat was way bigger than (longer body) my Lab and had a long tail.!!!!!!!  It took me several mins. to calm myself down!  After I got down at 11:00,  I looked for tracks in the leaves and pine needles. Did not find anything except the area where it turned and disturbed the leaves..  :speechles
> 
> That night I call a friend of mind who is our local Game Warden and relayed the story to him!  He said two weeks before another person had reported to him seeing a large Black long tailed cat cross the road in front of his car at night... some 5 miles from my hunting club.   My reply: "You can bet the farm this fellow was telling you truth!"  His reply was get me some tracks.!  I understand now why some hunters wait till daylight to go their stands!!!!!!..  (I have and still continue to get in my stand some 15 to 30 before light)!!!!



See Front Page of the "Anderson Independent-Mail" Newspaper dated: Sunday 2/25/2007

"Wild Cats or Wild Imaginations?"  byline:  David Williams

Seems a big black cat went after a U.S. Forest Service worker who was walking along the Chattooga River on Jan. 10, 2007, south of Burrells Ford Bridge. This location is in Rabun County, Ga.  The F.S. worker ran to the icy river and jumped in to escape.   The article tells of other sightings by other credible people.  The article also states that a professor of forestry and natural resources at Clemson University, a Mr. David Guynn said he is aware of more than 100 captive cougars in the Upstate of S.C. There have been reports of hunters and residents finding half-eaten deer carcasses left high in trees.    If you have any sighting and or elusive substantiated evidence contact Mr. Bobby Revels thru:   
Mr. David Williams (email:  williamsde@IndependentMail.com 
Thanks,   W.T.  
 
 p.s.   They are out there I know:   The hair stills stands up on the back of my neck when I think about the screece/screem/growl that thing made after smelling me that morning!   Like the Ghost and the Darkness came alive!!


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## DCHunter

I believe you. I noticed that when there's a thread about ghosts all sorts of people believe it but when you mention seeing something that actually exists, most act like you're crazy.


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## cball917

i live in rabun. and its funny this came out in the paper today. i was talkin to my grandmother about the black panther. she was saying she can remember as a child the black panthers would come through every now and then during the night and kill a couple of there pigs. then the would be gone. she said the scream they would let out would make you stay in the daylight for a month. i asked her if she had ever seen one. she said one night they were leaving the barn with a lantern and she said it was the most beautiful animal she had ever seen. she said it was like its coat was made if black silk. i hvae never seen one but after talkin to her and the way she was telling it, i just hope i get the opportunity to see one.


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## irishleprechaun

*From Wilkepedia, with research...*

Knew of a hunter in the low country of South Carolina who saw one chasing a deer right past his stand, so fast he couldn't react.  That was in 1990...

Cougar populations of the United States and Canada
Hunted almost to extinction in the United States and eastern Canada, the cougar has made a determined comeback, with an estimated 30,000 individuals in the western United States. In Canada, the cougar is found west of the prairies, in Alberta, British Columbia and southern Yukon. It is also found in smaller numbers within the Canadian Shield and river valley regions of Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The densest concentration of cougars in North America is found on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, while in the United States the densest concentration is in the Ventana Wilderness in the Los Padres National Forest, California.[1]

The cougar is gradually extending its range to the east, following creeks and riverbeds, and has reached Missouri, Michigan and Kansas. In Texas, the cougar is generally confined to the western â…” of the state. However, there have been Cougar sightings in 218 of the 254 Texas counties, with confirmed mortalities in 67 counties since 1983, an indication that it is expanding statewide to its historical range.[4] There are continuing reports of the survival of a remnant population of the eastern cougar in New Brunswick, Ontario and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec.

In the eastern United States, rumors and myths of the cougar never died, but this cat is slowly making its way from myth to reality, especially along the Appalachian Mountains from Virginia to Georgia. In this region cougar sightings are steadily increasing, and a government bounty is offered in many places for confirmed sightings. One very compelling piece of evidence surfaced in June 1997, when a Kentucky man hit and killed a cougar kitten with his truck. DNA analysis proved that the animal was descended in part from wild North American cougars, and it showed no evidence of having been someone's escaped pet.[2]

The sightings are not limited to the mountains either. Locals as far east as the Coastal Plain of North Carolina have reported sightings.[5] In 1994 Charles R. "Buster" Humphreys Jr. claimed in his book, Panthers of the Costal Plain to have recorded over 500 sightings of cougars. Half of these were coal black panthers. This species has never been officially recorded in North Carolina.[6]

Due to urbanization in the urban-wildland interface, cougar ranges increasingly overlap with human habitation, especially in areas with a large population of deer, its natural prey. In these cases, the cougar may occasionally prey on livestock and on pets, such as dogs and cats. Cougar attacks on humans have increased since the late 1980s when cougar hunting was effectively banned in many states and the cougar populations began to climb dramatically. Even so, cougar attacks are still rare. Also there have been some sightings in Pittsburgh of a cougar and tracks. [citation needed]


THEY ARE AMONG US!!!


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## kingb2

*Big black cats*

I have no doubt there Big black cats around. I moved here from alabama a couple years ago and two of the hunting clubs i was in i saw a big black cat at each one. People can say they don't exist or think whatever but from first hand experience i know they do. There were about 3-4 different people at one of the clubs that saw one of the ones i saw. and i two have heard the loudest screams i ever heard before. there were 4 of us hunting aroud a mountain within 3/4 of a mile of each other one day when something broke out with a couple loud scream that you hear cats make in the movies. all of us heard it and we all had the same conclusion that it had to have been a mountain lion


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## fulldraw74

Some threads just never die.....


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## DCHunter

fulldraw74 said:


> Some threads just never die.....



ttt


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## Researcher31726

fulldraw74 said:


> Some threads just never die.....




That's 'cause the topic is so interesting! 
Sue


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## Dub

After 60 Years, North Carolina Panthers May Be Back
[Original headline: Sightings of panthers spur talk of big cat's return to N.C. ]
The Carolina panthers may be making a comeback. And not on the playing field, sports fans. 
These panthers are the genuine item: native felines with stealthy moves, tawny coats and long, distinctive tails. 

There hasn't been a confirmed, "official" sighting in the wild for at least 60 years. 

But a growing contingent of optimists -- including former Gov. Jim Hunt -- are convinced that the eastern panther is reclaiming its homeland in this state. 

"Isn't that something?" Hunt said, almost dreamily. 

Of course, there are detractors, pessimists (perhaps realists?) who say the panther is a figment of the public's imagination. A bobcat in the shadows. Wishful thinking. 

Wib Owen, for example, personally investigates at least a dozen panther "sightings" every year as section manager with the N.C. Division of Wildlife Management. 

"I've been in this job 22 1/2 years," Owen said. During that time, he has fielded hundreds of panther reports. 

"I don't know that we have yet to document a single sighting," Owen said. "Most of the time they're dogs. There are probably real panthers out there, but I would guess they're pets that were released into the wild." 

Owen says the number of sightings always increases after some word of the panther, also referred to as the cougar or mountain lion, makes its way into the news. A creeping figure combined with high expectations can cause the mind to draw false conclusions, Owen said. 

But even Owen admits that if the panther/cougar were ever to reclaim its homeland, the conditions right now are ideal. 

The eastern cougar once inhabited a vast swath of the eastern seaboard, and sightings have been reported across the region recently. In North Carolina, reports have come from rural Eastern North Carolina and the far western mountains, said Fred Bonner, editor of Carolina Adventure and a retired biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Bonner refers to the panther as wildlife's answer to the UFO or Loch Ness monster. "With all those sightings, there has got to be some truth in it," Bonner said. 

Charles R. "Buster" Humphreys Jr. of Wilmington goes even further. Humphreys is author of the 1994 book "Panthers of the Coastal Plain." He claims to have recorded well over 500 sightings -- half of them sightings of coal black panthers, which wildlife experts say have never lived in the state. 

What could account for a cougar comeback? The conditions for the panther have turned around in recent years. A greater focus on habitat preservation has resulted in the conservation of hundreds of thousands of acres in Eastern North Carolina alone. More than 100,000 acres have been set aside, in fact, for the red wolf recovery effort in the Alligator River area. 

Meanwhile, the prey base for panthers is thriving. The cats feed primarily on deer, as well as some smaller animals. 

Even skeptics such as Owen, whose division "manages" the white tail deer and other animal populations, concede that there are "plenty of deer" for a top predator to hunt. 

"We have lengthened the hunting season," he said. "There are no large predators to control the deer population." 

It was a dwindling prey base, as well as hunting, that led to the panther's retreat from North Carolina back in the 1930s. It's no coincidence that the last confirmed wild panther sighting occurred about the same time the Division of Wildlife Management was created, Owen said. 

The cats were overhunted by an encroaching human population. And with a smaller herd of deer, the panther was literally starving -- and forced to move on to richer, safer hunting grounds. Nowadays, the only protected habitat carved out specifically for the panther is the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge near Naples.

In North Carolina, habitats have been preserved for several other endangered species. The bald eagle restoration has gone so well that the raptor will likely be removed from the endangered species list sometime this year. 

Sid Shearin, superintendent of Pettigrew State Park near Washington, N.C., believes that the panther may be taking advantage of some of those protected areas to carve out new hunting grounds for itself. 

Shearin is one of the cougar's true believers -- with good reason. 

He swears he saw a panther cross the road in front of his car late one night 15 years ago. 

"My wife and I were coming home when a cat ran across the road into the cornfield," Shearin said. "He was tawny, and he moved like a cat. But the clincher was his tail. He had the long tail of an eastern cougar. That was no bobcat." 

After 17-plus years as a forester and ranger in North Carolina, he knows the difference. 

After his chance sighting, Shearin tried to document the panther's existence Down East. It became his hobby. But not too long after word got out about Shearin's interest, someone shot two cougars scavenging near a Dumpster in Tyrell County. 

"It turned out that at least one was a pen-raised cougar," Shearin said. "But the fact that somebody would shoot him, well, that killed my enthusiasm for looking." 

Shearin no longer worries about publicity; he believes the Endangered Species Act offers the protection the panther needs. Under the act, hunters face a $5,000 fine for shooting a panther. 

These days Shearin keeps up with sightings informally. He can still spot the dreamers and the confused. 

"Most people have seen enough Lincoln Mercury commercials to know what a bobcat looks like by now," said Shearin. "But some people see big cat and immediately think panther." 

Shearin said that although it has been 15 years since he spied his cougar, he believes they are still roaming the eastern wilds. 

After all, he said, felines are secretive. Bobcats are plentiful in the state, and even as a park superintendent, Shearin has only seen four of those since 1983. 

As for the panthers, Shearin said, "I would like to think they're still here." 




• Story originally published by •
News & Observer, Raleigh / NC | By Ruth Sheehan - December 7 2001



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