Cougars in Central Texas

[Dusty Britches]

In the last 2 weeks during discussions with nieghbors, we found out that cougars are back. To keep everyone's perspective - we are about 1/2 between Houston and Waco.

Cougars haven't been seen around here in several years, but they seem to have returned. This really bothers me b/c while we have lots of coyotes, they won't take on a healthy calf. Cougars will and have taken my neighbor's calves about 2 miles from me. Then, a lady at church yesterday was telling a story about her neighbor's sheep.

Her neighbor considered himself a "naturalist" - let nature take its course. That was before the coyotes cut his sheep herd by 60%. He hasn't had lambs survive more than a few days. Then, this lady says something got a full grown sheep, took it from his place to her place (1/2 mile) and ate it not 150 yards from her house. She asked if coyotes would do that. Nope.

Another friend of mine wants to trap a cougar just to prove to the game warden they are there.

I just hope the cougars stay away from our place. I've got enough problems right now, but with that black stray cat that showed up a few weeks ago, I don't think our luck is going to hold. Since the black cat showed up we've had nothing but bad luck. We've only seen him at night and usually can't shoot him b/c of what's behind him. I ain't superstitious and I know the black cat is purely coincidential. Or is he?

Just rambling...

 

[Alice]

The black cat is coincidental...the cougars, now they are worrisome. You are a pretty good distance from where we are, yet we are also close to Chalk Mountain, and there's a lot of gas exploration activity around there right now. That makes me nervous when it comes to things like bob cats and cougars.

Alice

 

[backhoeboogie]

Cougars have been around here for a long time. I was on an island in the Brazos with one in '78, at night. When we hit it with the light it let out an awful scream.

 

[Joy in Texas]

Was talking to some folks last night. Game wardens have confirmed a mama and cub in our local area. A couple of calves were killed and a few dogs are believed to be victims.

 

[Caustic Burno]

In the last 2 weeks during discussions with nieghbors, we found out that cougars are back. To keep everyone's perspective - we are about 1/2 between Houston and Waco.

Cougars haven't been seen around here in several years, but they seem to have returned. This really bothers me b/c while we have lots of coyotes, they won't take on a healthy calf. Cougars will and have taken my neighbor's calves about 2 miles from me. Then, a lady at church yesterday was telling a story about her neighbor's sheep.

Her neighbor considered himself a "naturalist" - let nature take its course. That was before the coyotes cut his sheep herd by 60%. He hasn't had lambs survive more than a few days. Then, this lady says something got a full grown sheep, took it from his place to her place (1/2 mile) and ate it not 150 yards from her house. She asked if coyotes would do that. Nope.

Another friend of mine wants to trap a cougar just to prove to the game warden they are there.

I just hope the cougars stay away from our place. I've got enough problems right now, but with that black stray cat that showed up a few weeks ago, I don't think our luck is going to hold. Since the black cat showed up we've had nothing but bad luck. We've only seen him at night and usually can't shoot him b/c of what's behind him. I ain't superstitious and I know the black cat is purely coincidential. Or is he?

Just rambling...

There are no black cougars they do not exsist they are the imagination of scared people. There has never been a recorded kill of a black cougar.
All these people that claim to see these big cats can never kill one when hunting or get a picture either.
None every get hit by a car as they do in western states.
The people that see these cats you could make pee their pants after dark with a duck call and a flashlight.

There is a considerable variation in color and size of these animals across their large range of habitats. Adult weights can range from 145-200 pounds. However, in spite of anecdotal accounts of "black panthers" in the puma's range (and outside the jaguar's), melanism has never been documented in pumas. Such anecdotal accounts are particularly prominent in the Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States, a region where P. concolor is accepted as having been wholly extirpated by the late 1800's, and where breeding populations have not been documented as re-established by 2005.

 

[sidney411]

She's not saying a black cougar she's talking about a black stray house cat.

Anyway - my Grandpa works on a game reserve near Hico. He said they've lost some deer to cougars. I haven't personally seen one and neither has he but he's seen their tracks and seen the remains of the deer, said it was clawed to the bone on it's back.

 

[Caustic Burno]

She's not saying a black cougar she's talking about a black stray house cat.

Anyway - my Grandpa works on a game reserve near Hico. He said they've lost some deer to cougars. I haven't personally seen one and neither has he but he's seen their tracks and seen the remains of the deer, said it was clawed to the bone on it's back.

If you ever hunt where cougars are known to roam you won't mistake there sound, tracks or kill sites.
A mountain lion has a a huge hunting range something like 200 miles I would have to look it up again and they don't share well with other cats in there range.

 

[Alice]

She's not saying a black cougar she's talking about a black stray house cat.

Anyway - my Grandpa works on a game reserve near Hico. He said they've lost some deer to cougars. I haven't personally seen one and neither has he but he's seen their tracks and seen the remains of the deer, said it was clawed to the bone on it's back.

Now Hico is also too close...crud. Thanks for the warning, Sidney.

Alice

 

[Caustic Burno]

Was wrong there hunting territory is a 100 square miles.

 

[Earl Thigpen]

For those who are skeptical about black cats in Texas they do exist. I have a friend who has a place in S. Texas (Ben Bolt) who, for a couple of years, saw huge cat tracks on his place. He contacted the Texas Parks and Wildlife people and basically was told there no such thing. Well, a few months went by and his dogs started raising cane and Bobby went out to see what was going on and there it was, a huge black Puma (Cougar, Mountail Lion) or what ever you want to call it. Well, Bobby got pictures of it and of the tracks and went back to TP&W. This time he talked to a biologist who admitted there had been reports from all over that part of Texas of a large black cat. Seems that their range covers an area that takes about two years for them to cover (I believe thats the correct time) but in any case I'll see if Bobby still has a picture of the animal and I'll post it if he does.

I would not have believed it if I had not seen the tracks or the pictures.

 

[Caustic Burno]

For those who are skeptical about black cats in Texas they do exist. I have a friend who has a place in S. Texas (Ben Bolt) who, for a couple of years, saw huge cat tracks on his place. He contacted the Texas Parks and Wildlife people and basically was told there no such thing. Well, a few months went by and his dogs started raising cane and Bobby went out to see what was going on and there it was, a huge black Puma (Cougar, Mountail Lion) or what ever you want to call it. Well, Bobby got pictures of it and of the tracks and went back to TP&W. This time he talked to a biologist who admitted there had been reports from all over that part of Texas of a large black cat. Seems that their range covers an area that takes about two years for them to cover (I believe thats the correct time) but in any case I'll see if Bobby still has a picture of the animal and I'll post it if he does.

I would not have believed it if I had not seen the tracks or the pictures.

Earl, Jaguars have been known to cross the border which come in a black varation.
There are no black mountain lions thats BS plan and simple there has never been a documented case of a black mountain lion.
Jaguars are huge compared to a cougar.

I hunted cats for twenty years with hounds if you wanted to run anything larger than a bobcat you had to go to the Davis Mountains in Texas.
Thats why we run coyotes now just not enough cats.

 

[backhoeboogie]

When you hear one scream, it will send a bone chilling jolt completely through your body. Especially echoing off of the water. That sound will never be forgotten.

I am east of Hico about 30 miles.

 

[linebacker]

Had a dad bring a video of one of his deer feeders to school. It was about 5 in the afternoon, 3 deer were in the pen and get startled. About 4 seconds later a very large black cat jumps into a tree. It looks like it might weigh between 100-140 lbs. It just sit there for about 5 minutes and takes off. i am no expert and don't claim to be, but it was a big cat of some kind. Any ideas on what it was?

 

[Alice]

Had a dad bring a video of one of his deer feeders to school. It was about 5 in the afternoon, 3 deer were in the pen and get startled. About 4 seconds later a very large black cat jumps into a tree. It looks like it might weigh between 100-140 lbs. It just sit there for about 5 minutes and takes off. i am no expert and don't claim to be, but it was a big cat of some kind. Any ideas on what it was?

Black Panther, maybe? There's a wonderful legend/story about Fort Worth, and a black panther resulting in naming a honkey tonk Panther Hall. Wish I could remember it.

Anyway, maybe what you saw in that video was a black panther...who knows?

Alice

 

[Dusty Britches]

"Our" black cat only weighs about 20 pounds, but he's getting braver. Last night he came up to the house.

Funny, my friend's name who wants the trap the cougar is Earl.

We worked in the high country in Colorado many years ago on horseback. One morning in the early summer we were in a box canyon and heard a cougar hollar. What bothered us was that we couldn't tell what direction it came from.

 

[backhoeboogie]

"Our" black cat only weighs about 20 pounds, but he's getting braver.

They have housecats as large as 50 lbs. I don't think this is a cougar or panther.

 

[Gate Opener]

Have had several people tell me that they have seen a cougar(yellow) around here.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Have had several people tell me that they have seen a cougar(yellow) around here.

Mountain Lion sightings are up from verifiable sources across the state. There are not many cat hunters anymore as well as all the bounties have been off for years.
What I love is most people that sight these cats are city deer hunters that can never shoot one or get a picture of one.
They did kill a wild turkey the night before in the camp or a bottle of old crow.

 

[Gate Opener]

Is a Cougar and Mountain Lion the same thing? Two of the people I heard it from were on tractors farming 100's of acres of land. Said they saw the cougar in a bottom type area near the farm land. They saw it at different times. An old man saw one near the edge of a corn field (if my memory serves me right).

Will a cougar come near homes in the daylight like a coyote will? I'm not scared just curious. I saw the rear end of something going into the trees(about 250-300 ft away) this morning, didn't look like a coyote. One of our dogs was reluctant to go after it and he normally doesn't do that with a coyote. He did end up going after I told him to.

 

[IL Rancher]

Yes, a cougar and a mountain lion are the same thing. So is a Puma, a catamount and a few other names depending on locale... I have seen one in my life when I loved out west and it was pretty nerve racking.. From that point on we hiked carrying a firearm.

Had a mountain lion killed about 30 miles from here a couple years back. They have been wandering into Southern Illinois for years now, or so they say, and a lot of sightings up an down the Illinois river... We have enough kills here and there from cars and trains (And the hunter that one year) that it is believable they are here, maybe not in a breeding population yet..

If I remember correct there are black Jags and black leopards that are sometimes called Panthers (As are Florida's cougars)... All that I have heard of have been escaped/released pets up in areas that jags never inhabited...