Both of which make perfectly good sense.

I've only seen one other porcupine and it was in Alaska, so can't say for sure what i saw sunday was, but it sure looked like one, though MUCH smaller than the one i saw in Alaska. I have a really crappy picture of that one somewhere. That thing was the size of a medium sized dog, though i assume much of that "mass" was its quills and not the actual body.

Have seen two porcupines in Llano County in the past year, one large and one smaller. It is a friend's place and he has been going out there for 25+ years and had never seen one until then. Night vision helps you find things you never knew were there.

Never thought about it, but I've never seen a porcupine in the wild.

Didn't realize until I moved to CS that we had beaver in Texas, and didn't realize until somebody on tx4gun's lease shot one that we had badger in TX either. Always cool to learn new stuff.

Speaking of porcupines....

Yall do realize there are all sorts of lists for species found in Texas? Texas has a huge diversity of species. We have 141 native land mammals alone. If we include the marine stuff, push that number to 181. I teach several mammalogy, species diversity and Texas Carnivore Ecology classes, and even when I do hunter ed instructor CE classes, the instructors are usually shocked by the shear diversity.

I have allllmost been able to shoot a beaver with my bow twice this year but can't quite get them in my shooting lanes.

Dang good sausage.

I have seen multiple porcupines on and arpund our place in Runnels. Also have badgers on our place.

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That Aggieland thread is special. Don't quite have the heart to tell them I've gotten the "I know what saw" line close to 100 times over the last 12 years. If within 12 hours, I have a really good record of resolving the critter involved.

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You should drop the bomb.

What would be a great Wildlife MS thesis project that could be integrated with sociology would be something along the lines of Mt. Lion distribution in TX, present and historical, and public perception. Part of it would point out the fact that where mountain lions are relatively common (ie Trans Pecos), there are very, very few - if any - reports of 'black panthers.' I have lived in several deep south states and like clockwork, there is always a 'black panther' around somewhere. Yet no one ever gets one on a game cam, no one ever hits one on the road, no one kills one while hunting.....etc, etc.....but all of these instances have occurred where mountain lions exist.

There are several studies out there on wildlife observations and conformation bias.

Specifically related to 'black panther' sightings? Granted, it has been many, many moons since I walked the hallowed halls of Nagle.

In the early 2000's the State of Indiana (may have been Illinois) were getting so many black panther reports that they were able to do a any analysis of the matter. Boiled down, as often as they are reported, black panthers would have to be more common than cocker spaniels. Yet, we have no physical proof, ever.

No, I don't remember particulars off the top of my head at the moment.

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In the early 2000's the State of Indiana (may have been Illinois) were getting so many black panther reports that they were able to do a any analysis of the matter. Boiled down, as often as they are reported, black panthers would have to be more common than cocker spaniels. Yet, we have no physical proof, ever.

No, I don't remember particulars off the top of my head at the moment.

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Maybe a good funding opportunity, especially if sociology could be included in the mix. Not sure what agency would be the go to however.

black panther in the wild...

Based on your posts on page 1 that's kind of funny you posted this now.

better?

They may be rare, but TPWD has at least published that they've found carcasses in Brazos County in the last 32 years...

https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_br_w7000_0232.pdf

The other thing, and I've considered this as well, is that the ranch I worked was near a few larger spreads and pretty extravagant houses. It's not out of the realm of possibility that a someone imported and lost/released a cat that was not native to the area. I didn't give a flying **** where it came from. Native to the area or not, the damn thing had its nose to my boot print when I found it.

Since porcupines came up....... There are more porcupines in central Texas than most think. They just keep a low profile & don't draw attention to themselves. I've seen six in Bell county over the last 20-25 years. Four were DOR (dead on road) & one alive walking along FM 2484 between Salado & Youngsport. The most recent sighting, 8-10 months ago, was DOR on Hwy 36 just west of the Leon River/Belton Lake bridge (AKA the long bridge).
My vet in Salado has told me before that he gets 2-3 dogs a year that have had a "porcupine interaction" and needed his assistance.

Yes, I know that document extremely well. There is a reason I keep saying within 25 years. The cat iut of Brazos county was from the very beginning of the document timeframe.

Everyone also brings up the exotic angle. Could it happen, sure. In 2010, the USDA confiscated 7 exotic cats around the state. Escaped exotics don't last very long, they don't know what they were doing and generally won't avoid people (which would give credence to you idea).

I swear I saw a black panther this morning down the street from my house in Bryan. It was 4 legged, black, about 100 lbs, had a long tail and was squatting to take a crap in the yard 3 doors down. I mean, I have deer bedding down in my yard practically every other night so there is a readily available food source. And there's a creek across the street so there's plenty of water. It had to be a panther. I guess it could have been a black lab with a red collar, but I'm sticking with black panther.

Man that was easy. I don't know why you damn TPWD and wildlife bio guys have such a hard time finding them. They are right out in the open. What the black panther report hotline number again? It even left some scat for you guys to come get and verify.

The fun thing is if you get a pit with just enough bulldog genes to squish the face a bit, you can get a fairly feline looking face at a quick glance. Make it a monocolor light brown or black, wahla mountain lion or black panther. When I had to go see the other half, aka gheto or trailer park, this scenario would play out (the La Junta mountain lion story I've mentioned a few times---nutjob spotter with crossdressing former Marine for a friend..not kidding). This accounts for literally about 10% of my mountain lion investigation. The other 90% were me seeing the richer side of society. Nearly always "I'm a hunter" or "I grew up in the country" and "know what I saw" would come into play. And strangely enough, "I grew up around Abilene" was REALLY popular. These would lead to the really lanky yellow lab trotting out to meet up, and oh shocker, throws the same tracks as the "I bow hunt every fall in Colorado" mountain lion. Grapevine/Flower Mound/Southlake/Allen/Frisco checks in. Granted, due to the Grapevine area deer population, that area isn't completely written off, just leery. Collin/Dallas County, yeah, they aren't sticking around anyway.

ursusguy-

The news reported a mountain lion sighting in Buda couple years ago. You see that one? I'm guessing it was a fabrication?

Found a link.

That's just a chipmunk.

Rhodesian Ridgeback with a loooong tail

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Pic is from florida

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Is it? That's funny.

I remember seeing the story, and wondering if it was legit.

Yeah, that photo has been around for several years, and credited to all over the country. I believe Florida as the origin is correct.

Give it another couple weeks, I'm sure the mountain lion dragging the buck under the feeder will start making the rounds again.

There is a black panther sitting behind me right now. What shall I do?!?!?!


It must be a friendly....

Seen two dead porcupines in New Braunfels one my sister had one at her house one night causing a stir. She's a few miles north of NB.