re: Panther sighting

[Type99]

Hello...

My partner and I saw what we believe was an immature Black Panther cross the road about 2 miles from our house.  We were riding into town to grocery shopping.  The 4 foot or so length panther came out of a drainage ditch and in two svelte leaps crossed the road.  This sighting was less than 100 yards from a sheep paddock with little lambs.  One thing I know for sure is:  that was no black cat that crossed the road.  That thing was HUGE!, but still not fully grown.

This sighting occurred in rural Maine in a district known for sightings of moutain lions, from time to time.

Anybody on this forum every spy a black panther in their ramblings?  Ordinarily I would question myself for craziness having seen something like this, but my girlfriend of 20yrs was with me, and swore that it was a panther too.

Cheers,
Gary in  Maine

[borrowed time]

About 10 years ago my wife and I were driving on a road south of Crandon WI. and a cat like you describe went across the road in front of us and stopped in the ditch, and the tail came up on the road side and laid on the road for a second. The ditch was right along the road, about 18 inch drop. I have seen many fishers, not this. The tail was like a broomstick.

There is an animal called a Chelsey that is south american wildcat crossed with housecat that gets about 35 45 pounds. People buy these because of wildcat look without the size and problems of the larger wild cats. Very fussy eaters, tend to have problems with stomach, if you get the drift. End up released in the wild. Supposedly a colony in Ill.

[NH Yankee]

BT

In 1992 I was in the St Jacques Cartier park north of Quebec City and 3 of us saw a black, long tailed cat that had to measure more than 8 feet from nose to end of tail.  That is not so far from ME, NH or VT.  In 1959 my mother saw on 1 occasion and I at a different time a black long tailed cat in VT.  My visitation was when my cousin and I were camping in a canvas wall tent.  The cat was less than 10 feet(maybe) from the tent entrance.  The dog took off after the cat and the 2 of us got out on the end without a flap.  The dog returned 2 days later.

NH Yankee

[Mikey]

I have hunted Panther in South America and have seen them solid black in color as you describe.  I would sure hesitate to think any had travelled that far north and would rather think they are pets that got loose.  Most of the North American Puma, Cougar, Mountain Lion or Panther I have seen and hunted are anywhere from tawny brown to grey in color which is what leads me to think these might be footloose pets.

Of course, if you live in a state like mine, where the state's noteworthy EnCon pathologist sez - hain't no such thang in this state, you can always take a picture of it after you shoot it and make a rug from the hide, and if anyone asks where you took it you can always say - in the west or south or where-ever.  Could be in the west (ern part of the county) or in the south(ern part of the state) or in the north(ern part of your back yard), where-ever.............. jmtcw.........

[drdougrx]

Hi All,

Gary in Maine....funny you mentioned this.  I was hunting bear with the Oxbow Lodge in Oxbow Maine last September 2008 and on third night as we were on our way out of the woods when we rounded a bend and the guide Sonny Pennison slammed on the brakes.  Ahead of us we both saw what we believe was a cougar crossing the road about 30 yards in front of the truck.  We had the high beams on and we clearly saw what we saw.  It stood about two and half feet high at the shoulder, had a smallish head, a long thick tail and, well, a cat like walk......no...we saw what we saw...it was a cougar.  He said that he had heard there were some sightings, but until then he had never seen one.  It wasn't startled or running, just trotted across the road as we stopped.  Couldn't really tell if it was black though.

[Retsof]

I've never seen a panther but I've heard from 3 people that insist they have seen or know others that say they have seen one. All of the unconfirmed sightings come from the Honey Island Swamp, a huge swamp in SE Louisiana. Of course this is the same swamp (not the same people) from which Big-Foot sightings have allegedly come. So, I take all such information with a grain of salt.

As I said, I've never seen one but I did have an experience that gave me goose bumps. I hunt in SW MS on about 110 acres, which are owned by my hunting buddy. Anyway, one evening just before I got out of my stand (legal shooting hours were just about up and it was getting dark fast), I heard what to me sounded like a baby being boiled in oil. That is the only time I've ever heard something like that. When I got to the camp, I asked my buddy about it and he told me it could have been a panther. Maybe, maybe not.

Finally, several years ago, my buddy was checking the barbed-wire fence around his property, when he noticed what he described to me as a large cat footprint. It had recently rained and the ground was soft. He described it to me as a possible cougar print. A neighbor of his was with him when this occurred and confirmed it as well. Whether it was in fact a cougar print, I really don't know. All I know is that I've never seen either a cougar or black panther while I've hunted there and I've been doing it for 15 or so years. Just for the record, my buddy is not one to make up stories.

[243dave]

Well I've glaced at this topic a couple times so I guess its time for my two cents. As a kid growing up in a very rural part of WV I always assumed there were two types of pathers(cougars, etc.)black ones and brown ones. I never seen one until I was about 20 years old and it was brown. But so many locals talked of an occasional black-one. An old lady up the road feed in the deer and squirrels year-round and even had some of them named. One fall the feed-in-animals started to disappear. After a few weeks she finally saw the culprit, a black panther. She told about seeing it catching her squirrels a few different times. My dad and uncle even saw it once next to her house. These sightings took place in day-light. So do I know that a black-pather exists, yes I know of one 20 years ago. Have I seen one first-hand, no. I generally don't believe anything I hear but in this case, I can vouch for all three of these people, even my old man.  

[Mikey]

Retsof:  the last Cougar I saw was a tawny coloured guy and I saw him in South Carolina years back when I was there hunting hogs.  A few years later I read of a Native American Chieftan of the Seminole Tribe who hunted and killed one in a native cultural rite.  I know they are in Fl as a buddy of mine reprots on them occasionally.  They are around, for sure.  The only time I would worry about them is if they move to chicago and start eatin' demicraps - then I would fear they would get poisoned from eating all that garbage and become extinct. 

[Retsof]

Mikey: I wholeheartedly agree about those demicraps. Maybe coyotes would be better for that. They can eat anything and just regurgitate what they can't digest. Of course, then we'd have a problem with increased amounts of toxic waste droppings.

I know you are correct about not worrying about panthers (either black or brown) but I gotta tell you that, when I heard that high pitched scream in vitual darkness, it does make your imagination go into overdrive. I now bring a revolver with me when I go deer hunting, just in case.