Big Cats

[ClinchValley86]

Seems they're getting more populated in these lower Appalachian Mountains.

Saw a Lynx yesterday in pursuit of a small deer. Ran across the road chasing the deer, then right back across it again. Was bigger than I though they'd be.

Earlier this year my dog and I were stalked coming out from checking animals. Was a big solid black cat for sure, tail hanging low and long. When I'd stop, it would lay down instantly. When I'd move it would try to close the gap.

Saw a black puma/cougar/panther with cubs from 40 feet away back in the 2000's. They were laying in the ditch relaxing.

Neighbor had a big cat carrying goats across the fence 3 years ago. Lost quite a few then it stopped.

Are yall on the east coast seeing these more and more too?

They're beautiful animals. Wish they'd kill some of these coyotes.

 

[M.Magis]

Couple things worth pointing out. There are no lynx even close to the easter US. There are lots of bobcats though, very similar animals. There is no such thing as a black cougar, they don't exist. The only large cats to occasionally be born melanistic are the African leopard and the jaguar. Jaguars are extrememly rare in the US, I believe limited to only the extreme southwest.

 

[Warren Allison]

Couple things worth pointing out. There are no lynx even close to the easter US. There are lots of bobcats though, very similar animals. There is no such thing as a black cougar, they don't exist. The only large cats to occasionally be born melanistic are the African leopard and the jaguar. Jaguars are extrememly rare in the US, I believe limited to only the extreme southwest.

You are 100% correct. Other spotted cats like the ocelot, can have the black phase too. Thre may be lynx in the eastern states bordering Canada, like Maine, but certainly none in Tennessee. Their range is that of the snow shoe hare.

 

[Logan52]

Mountain lions, or cougars, were common here in the last quarter of the 1700s when the area was being settled. An old diary reported a cow killed by a mountain lion on the place where I live in 1786. I think they were gone by 1800. Bobcats were common then but they too disappeared in the early 1800s.
Stories of black panthers and wildcats lived on until the present day but never a carcass to back up the story (unless from a zoo escape).

The older lady who lived on my place when I bought it said she was constantly hearing panthers scream at night in the hollow above the house. I never saw or heard one. Bobcats have returned over the last 20 years but I have only seen one here on my farm, standing in the lane leading up to my house. I could hardly believe it and it was surprisingly large.

Coyotes have been a real problem here for some time, This year, for some reason they have seemed to disappear. I have not heard one howl all summer and they have put no pressure on the sheep. I used to see them regularly above the barn where they lambed and lost lambs and sometimes a ewe to them each year.

All the excitement now is the black bears coming down the Kentucky River from the mountains. They show up on Facebook quite often.

 

[Travlr]

Couple things worth pointing out. There are no lynx even close to the easter US. There are lots of bobcats though, very similar animals. There is no such thing as a black cougar, they don't exist. The only large cats to occasionally be born melanistic are the African leopard and the jaguar. Jaguars are extrememly rare in the US, I believe limited to only the extreme southwest.

Maybe... maybe not.

I saw a wolverine where there wasn't supposed to be any and when I called the DNR they weren't interested. And then they caught it on a door bell camera in a neighborhood, and suddenly they got interested in my sighting.

Cougars have been known to travel hundreds of miles outside of their normal territory, so maybe some other cats do as well. As you suggest, probably a big bobcat but without pictures I wouldn't automatically say it was.

 

[mayesfarm]

I am sure not going to argue with you Clinch. I have hunted the hills and hollers of eastern Mid TN for 30+ years, day and night with hounds. We have seen and heard things in the woods that we cannot fully identify nor explain. I definitely believe that there are things in nature that we do not fully understand and other things that we have not yet discovered.

 

[lynnmcmahan]

Does Fla still have a cougar population?

 

[kenny thomas]

Does Fla still have a cougar population?

Yes, but except in rare cases they are in about a dozen or so counties in extreme south Florida. Part of which is the Everglades.

 

[rocket2222]

Bobcat is actually a Lynx: Lynx Rufus

 

[ClinchValley86]

Couple things worth pointing out. There are no lynx even close to the easter US. There are lots of bobcats though, very similar animals. There is no such thing as a black cougar, they don't exist. The only large cats to occasionally be born melanistic are the African leopard and the jaguar. Jaguars are extrememly rare in the US, I believe limited to only the extreme southwest.

I hate to break it to ya, but they do. Seen them 100%. No question. Quite a few other folks have seen cougars around. Some claim to have seen a black one. Im pretty sure they are excellent at hiding. Usually up in a tree i suspect anyhow. "Panther Creek" is used frequently over my way as a road or community name. Guessing it should have been "Puma Creek" though.

On the lynx, maybe it was a bobcat. But was different than any I've seen. And had a black nub of a tail. Strange back legs that were longer than I'd have expected.

Attached photo. The one on the left Moreso resembles what I saw. Maybe it was a bobcat. I'm voting lynx though. Lol. I got to see it twice. It had HUGE feet.

 

[Mountaintown Creek Ranch]

A couple of years ago we caught a big cat on remote camera. Looked like a cougar to me....but officially cougars went extinct here in N Georgia about 100 yrs ago. Even though there have been many eyewitness accounts and pictures and videos.

 

[ClinchValley86]

I am sure not going to argue with you Clinch. I have hunted the hills and hollers of eastern Mid TN for 30+ years, day and night with hounds. We have seen and heard things in the woods that we cannot fully identify nor explain. I definitely believe that there are things in nature that we do not fully understand and other things that we have not yet discovered.

My uncle has told me of a time when my Papaw and the boys were out coon hunting. Dogs had something treed when all of a sudden all the dogs were scared shitless and wanted to turn back. Uncle said my Papaw suspected it was a big cat. This would have been in Clay County KY in the early 70's.

 

[tex452]

Here in Texas we have lions, bobcat and black bear, ( bears are protected) and lots of coyotes.
I've hunted all my life, from coon hunting at night to deer hunting all day, and I've never saw a lion, but lots of people have.
I have seen lots of bobcats and killed one with my bow, when I was an avid bow hunter.
The bear are in west and East Texas with a few sightings in central Texas, my buddy in West Texas had one tearing up his feeders.
On the black cat, my little brother swears to this day he saw one on our lease in the hill country, he said it was in a tree, he pointed his gun at it turned his head and pulled the trigger, then took off.
I wasn't on that trip, but he took off to find our older brother, crying all the way because he was so scared, he was so shook up he went the wrong way and had to turn around and come back through the area he saw the cat.
On the way he shot a deer, a spike (his first) but just kept on running.
He was in the third grade. ?

 

[BFE]

Many people have spotted them here too, although i haven't heard of a sighting for many years now.

Mom seen one when I was a kid, Dad laughed at her. A few weeks later, he came home and apologized, he'd spotted one too. Dad hunted and grew up outdoors. He's the type to tell you something once, no need to ask again because he won't change his mind, a very steady reliable man.
Never lied to me in my life.

My uncle has told me of a time when my Papaw and the boys were out coon hunting. Dogs had something treed when all of a sudden all the dogs were scared shitless and wanted to turn back. Uncle said my Papaw suspected it was a big cat. This would have been in Clay County KY in the early 70's.

My brother's father in law has some similar coon hunting stories here, dogs hunted every night that get spooked in the woods, won't hunt and turn back to the truck. That's what he suspected too.

 

[Dave]

We have big cats. Lots of them. I think we have 2 or 3 times more of them than the F&W people report that we have. But I have come to the conclusion that those sit at a desk staring at a computer biologists really don't have a clue about wildlife populations.

 

[kenny thomas]

We have way too many bear. They have started coming out of the mountains into the farm country. They get into anything that means food.
We have lots of bobcats also but still dont see them often.
I worked 38 years in Forestry so was in the mountains a lot. Im now in a hunt club with 15,000 acres of remote mountain land. Old mining roads all through it. I look for tracks in every wet spot. I see bobcat and even Elk tracks but almost never see the animal. We have lots of bear and we see lots of them.
I truly believe that there could be mountain lions there but have never seen a track.
And as stated by someone already there are no black panthers in the eastern US unless its one that was raised in captivity and released. There is not a black color gene in the mountain lion so not possible.

 

[Travlr]

Here in Texas we have lions, bobcat and black bear, ( bears are protected) and lots of coyotes.
I've hunted all my life, from coon hunting at night to deer hunting all day, and I've never saw a lion, but lots of people have.
I have seen lots of bobcats and killed one with my bow, when I was an avid bow hunter.
The bear are in west and East Texas with a few sightings in central Texas, my buddy in West Texas had one tearing up his feeders.
On the black cat, my little brother swears to this day he saw one on our lease in the hill country, he said it was in a tree, he pointed his gun at it turned his head and pulled the trigger, then took off.
I wasn't on that trip, but he took off to find our older brother, crying all the way because he was so scared, he was so shook up he went the wrong way and had to turn around and come back through the area he saw the cat.
On the way he shot a deer, a spike (his first) but just kept on running.
He was in the third grade. ?

There are still jaguar in Texas. They are known to be black very rarely.

 

[tex452]

There are still jaguar in Texas. They are known to be black very rarely.

There has been other sightings of big black cats, there is a good number of black jaguars in Mexico and South America, and probably south texas.

 

[rmattis]

Well cougars or panthers or whatever you call them do exist here in Illinois because I have seen them (very briefly!) as the ran across the dirt road I was on from one field to the next. Saw them twice on farmland near Terre Haute Indiana (on Illinois side). Also my neighbor and his brother have both seen them (maybe the same one) on the west side of the state nearer St Louis area on farmland there. My land is mostly woods and connects to other woods for miles so great habitat for them! Both times I saw it/them the color was nearly black--the size and long tail gave away what kind of animal it was. (and yes I can tell a cat from a dog!)

 

[TexasRancher]

I am sure not going to argue with you Clinch. I have hunted the hills and hollers of eastern Mid TN for 30+ years, day and night with hounds. We have seen and heard things in the woods that we cannot fully identify nor explain. I definitely believe that there are things in nature that we do not fully understand and other things that we have not yet discovered.

The bipedal "Dogman" (standing bipedal running wolves that are larger then regular wolves, first seen by lumberjacks the 1890's) are populating rapidly, coming down into Texas on into Mexico and there's been hundreds of sightings on every continent. They're highly intelligent and prefer to stay hidden around treed creek beds. But don't ever run from one..rather you want to close the distance and approach them (no fear) to scare them off. But all bets are off if you have a fish in your hand...they've been known to take fish from people.