At least I'm assuming that's what this is, cause it sure ain't a bobcat.

Had my old man email this to me a couple of days ago. Got it directly from the person whose game cam it came off of. I won't give their land away, but its about 5 minutes outside of caldwell and the place this came off of is only 2.5 miles away from us according to google earth.




Thoughts? seems to be pushing their eastern boundary, at least according to what ive read so far. Any way to effectively hunt these? Would make a hell of a trophy....

We have cats in the Navasota basin and Bedias creek.

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cause it sure ain't a bobcat

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Ear spots & a short, black-tipped tail make me think it's a bobcat.

Just my .02 though

the cops shot one out of someone's backyard tree in Bossier City, LA a couple years ago so you're certainly not too far east.

Double post

[This message has been edited by thejonatron (edited 8/26/2013 8:16a).]

There's one in Muenster on my great uncles place near the river.

Long story short, walked to the river by myself hunting hogs, and my eyes were to the ground most of the time looking for prints. He has donkeys and they were near his retention pond on the way. On the walk back to camp the donkeys moved, were huddled together and hissing at me. I started looking at my footsteps from the walk over there and there were big ass car tracks, no nails right next to mine.

I nearly **** myself.

Yeah, like Max, lean towards bobcat. The positioning of the ears is also a give away.

Well that's disappointing, looked like a full tail on the guy and just bigger body in general. A bobcat isn't nearly as cool.

[This message has been edited by Agfan2013 (edited 8/26/2013 8:34a).]

bobcat, although i can see how one could conclude that it was a ML

That tail and rump does not look like a lion.
Google m lion and compare backside photos.
I don't think that is a lion. Tail should be more broad and a lot longer!

One thing to keep in mind, in ALL of District 5 (which includes Burleson), there have only been 2 confirmed mountain lions in the last 20+ years. Several years ago folks in Brazos County got excited and it ended up being a German Sheppard, not kidding.

I'd lean more twards bobcat as well size doesn't fit a big cat (from what I can tell in relation to feeder)

Outdoor board thinks all Mountain Lions are Bobcats / Auodads / etc...

Looks like a good sized bobcat.

Deer feeder.

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Several years ago folks in Brazos County got excited and it ended up being a German Sheppard, not kidding.

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I can't view the picture on my mobile, but there have certainly been cougars In Burleson co over the years. I saw a female w cubs in the early 90s. There was a cougar killing goats a few years back. Verified by tracks. The guy w the goats was looking for someone with cat dogs. That's how I heard about it. The are plenty of false reports, but just as many yahoos, and egg head scientists discounting real reports because they are too busy sitting behind a desk to see what's out there. Burleson county is big and about as rural as wil find in this part of Texas. Certainly suitable cougar habitat.

I've seen one a couple of times in Red River County. One time I was approximately 10 feet away.

07, I'd be real curious to know more about the verification in Burleson county, and who verified. I know those guys really well.

Some of us spent several years as a bear and lion specialist, and do a lot of in the field report follow ups.

That looks like a ML to me, I just see more lion than bobcat there.

Looks like an Aoudad to me.

[This message has been edited by gwellis (edited 8/26/2013 12:23p).]

gwellis, thats a nice leopoard! I can tell because it has spots.

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I can't view the picture on my mobile, but there have certainly been cougars In Burleson co over the years. I saw a female w cubs in the early 90s. There was a cougar killing goats a few years back. Verified by tracks. The guy w the goats was looking for someone with cat dogs. That's how I heard about it. The are plenty of false reports, but just as many yahoos, and egg head scientists discounting real reports because they are too busy sitting behind a desk to see what's out there. Burleson county is big and about as rural as wil find in this part of Texas. Certainly suitable cougar habitat.

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I've certainly heard cougar/mountain lion stories over the years being that a lot of my family is in Burleson and live on farms.

Appreciate the insight folks, when I look at the picture I don't think the bottom of the tail is anywhere close to where the picture stops, so I assumed long tail = lion. Didn't know about any if the ear stuff. Plus comparing with gwellis's pictures, it seems like it has quite a bit more mass than the bobcat in his pictures. Just how I see it though, if that's what a majority of y'all think then y'all are probably right. I just wanted to think that there COULD be one out there, it makes for some interesting conversations with the family members/farmer neighbors out there.

[This message has been edited by Agfan2013 (edited 8/26/2013 1:00p).]

Think if this picture was taken at night, they'd be one in the same. Also a reason I'd go with bobcat.

OP- I'd lean bobcat as well.

Look at the tuft of hair under the jaw. Mountain lions don't have that.

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I saw a female w cubs in the early 90s.

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I'm assuming from the 07 in your handle you were born around '85 or so? And you knew definatively between the ages of 5-9 precisely what a mountain lion would look like? And how to judge the size from a distance?

This sounds like the people claiming the black panther sighting around Buffalo a couple years back. The insistence of so many people on the below thread who claimed to have "seen a black panther" or "know what they look like because I'm a hunter/spend a lot of time outdoors" is hilariously astounding.

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4629132/1

[This message has been edited by Finn Maccumhail (edited 8/26/2013 2:15p).]

A really big Bobcat. Tail is too short for a cougar. With the black tip it is a full length tail not one that is frozen back or something. A cougar has a very long tail.

As to who did the verification, I'm assuming it was the land owner. Plenty of people out there with no formal training that are more than able to identify a big cat track. word got to me through a friend because I have hunting dogs. I've never started any of mine on cats but I'd certainly give it a try. It never went any further than interest on my part because the place was to small to turn out on.

Yes I graduated in 07 w a WFSC degree. I was around 8 at the time,feeding cattle w my dad. As far as black panthers go. Using slang terms never helps w credibility. Using that term is a good sign that the person has no idea what they are talking about. Your comparison of black panther sightings and my claim of seeing an animal that actually exists in the area humors me. there are only two big cats that are native to Texas. Cougar and jaguar. The latter has only been seen rarely in the south west us. Coming up from mexico. I am always surprised to see professionals s how so much interest in discrediting others who don't have the same formal training. But people with superiority complexes are pretty common I suppose.

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As to who did the verification, I'm assuming it was the land owner. Plenty of people out there with no formal training that are more than able to identify a big cat track. word got to me through a friend because I have hunting dogs.

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You've been stating this cougar sighting as verified fact, which from your statements sounds more like here say. There are some people here that spend the majority of their time following up on cougar "sightings" by "knowledgeable landowners how have been hunting their entire life" and an excruciatingly small number can actually be verified as cats. Most are dogs or house cats.

I've worked with lots of rural property owners who were dead set they had mountain lion tracks. Only to find out it was their neighbor' Great Pyrenees (some breeds do throw a cat-like track).

If I didn't give them some credibility (heck, ml do travel long distances), I wouldn't do any field investigations. I'll go with ml until evidence points elsewhere.

You would be amazed at what gets credited to mountain lions. About 2 months ago I advised on a "lion" kill on a horse. Even had a vet jump on the bandwagon. There were 4 lateral cuts running from the neck to the haunchs. But, follow the blood back about 100 yards, and you find where the horse tag itself on sheet metal by the barn. The rancher was sick with himself because he was so sure.

I'm sure there are plenty of false reports. That's not to say they all are. I'd be willing to bet the majority of lay people who legitimately see cougars don't ever report It. There really is no reason to.

Ursus, we had a vet & county sheriff "confirm" a mountain lion attack/kill in Northeast Kansas 2 years ago. The kill went something like this:

1) 2 breeder pigs in a 4' hogwire enclosure. The two pigs weighed approximately 350# & 500# respectively.

2) Overnight a 'cougar' ripped the 4' hog wire panels off the t-posts they were attached to, killed one of the pigs (the smaller one), scratched up the bigger one, then drug the 350# pig 400 yards straight up a ridge (climbing in elevation by about 800') and then 'buried it' (<-- so you know it was a cougar).

3) If in fact that was a mountain lion I will never walk outdoors again in this state because I would stand 0 chance against HulkSmash lion. My hunting escapades will end in order to protect myself against my certain abysmal death.

...the problem with this is that we HAVE had a confirmed mountain lion sighting in the last year (not surprising). Unfortunately that means that every drunk retard who "claims" to have seen one in the past 100 years thinks that is irrefutable evidence that his/her sighting was 100% legitimate. And being that most of them are dumb as **** there is no talking to them.

In parts of the state, that may be true.

I am specifically referring to when it sparks someone's interest to report it. If they hit certain buzz words, there is no choice but to do a field investigation. I've done 6-10 a year for close to ten years, and get sent who knows how many assorted photos on the matter. I was specifically a bear and lion biologist for 4 years prior to that, so I think I have a pretty good handle on the issue.

The commonality of all these calls starts like this "I've been a hunter all my life" or "I've been ranching all my life, and I know what I saw. Ten years ago, I had the same view you have. But having it as couple day affairs, several times a year, the skeptical view is there. Heck, I'd love to walk up on a set of tracks and not be staring at an "X" right off the bat.

But I will show up, because well, odd things do occur.

For Sean's story.

I did on a few years ago where a ml suposedly killed a shetland. Ok, but all the tracks huge, but only occasionally threw nail marks (none on the hard ground near the carcass), but if you looked close you could make an X. Well the neighbor had a Great Pyrenees with clipped nails, so it had been around the carcass some time in early morning. But none of the bite marks matched for a anything lethal. Then I noticed a little whole under, almost in, the eat. Sure enough, someone had shot the shetland. Coyotes found it some time after that (yes, matched bite marks), and pure speculation the GP came over an ran them off at some point in the early morning. When we first got there, the rancher was very angy and wanting to know what we were going to do with this cat. Well, an hour later he was very disappointed with himself, he had been so sure it was a lion.

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Your comparison of black panther sightings and my claim of seeing an animal that actually exists in the area humors me.

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Good. Because that was the point.

I'm well aware of the types of big cats native to Texas. And IIRC, the last verified jaguar in Texas was like in 1919. I seem to recall something about pics of a jaguar in the Trans-Pecos but that may have been further west.

Obviously mountain lions are far more common, though still not really seen very often. Do they exist in Burleson Co? Sure, but like ursus said there's been 2 verified sightings in 20 years or so. I grew up hunting a place in NW Burleson Co. through the 80s and while I won't say that the fact I never saw any signs of a big cat means anything other than my personal experiences I'm amused by all these so-called "verified" occurences.

As for the black panther thing, it's comedy. As a WFSC grad I'm sure you're aware that the melanistic phase only occurs in jaguars in the Americas. I understand that mountain lions lack the gene variation to produce a melanistic animal. So do black jaguars exist? Yes they do but they're so rare and never been documented in the US that it makes all the claims fairly hilarious.

Further, when you look at leopards & mountain lions as being from a diffrent genus so other than slang, the two shouldn't be confused even though the Florida Panther is actually of the puma genus and not panthera like the leopard.

Maybe you did see that mountain lion and cubs when you were a kid. But maybe you were a kid who's imagination got the better of him like all the people on the thread I linked who have "seen a black panther" or know they exist because they heard them back in '68.