Tx Ags B-CS

Yellow Lab? Aoudad?

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They are known to travel around the Navasota River. Neighbors in Pebble Creek have them on wild life cameras along the perimeter of the neighborhood. Several years ago a friend observed one, large as a lab walking into woods from Saint Andrew, Spearman at daybreak. So, it is quite possible.

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Haha

I'm on a mountain biking list serv in BCS and a poster has sworn he saw a mountain lion at Millican Reserve this week. Claimed he saw the cat, feared it would pursue him, so he rode as fast as he could to the trailhead and safety. Needless to say I didn't post a reply.

I love comments about "a woman screaming", it's usually a fox.

Now my old relatives in Robertson County just east of Calvert are convinced they have a mountain lion. Something killed their neighbors older Australian Shrppard (which is true) and it could only be one thing. They have even seen the tracks over by the pond. Amazing what old age and seclusion will do to you.

Even better is they'll probably have a confirmed cat near Ballinger soon and the B/CS folks will use that as PROOF that their sighting off of Wellborn Road was legit.

My Dad and his buddies had a lease for 20 years on the Coke/ Tom Greene County line. This was probably 1988 and I was in the high wire blind. Deer walking around and all of a sudden heard that mountain lion call out. Those deer froze and ran off like bees were chasing them. Never saw the lion but let me tell you. I stayed in that blind till my Dad came back.

That was the most cool cat call I have heard.

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I can tell you NONE of the mountain lion sightings reported to TPWD in Brazos County, in the last 25 years, has panned out.

I used to be in District 5, and I'm really good friends with the former District Leader that was with TPWD for over 30 years.

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That's probably because the folks that actually saw them never reported it.. I know several that never reported anything...

That's why I said specific to what has been reported. Most of the reporting parties were rural based, not from the city. There's no shortage of reports on them, just the reports don't pan out.

Or maybe most of the folks that "actually" saw them were drunk.

I need an eye-rolling emoticon for that thread.

Back in the 1970's I saw something large, black and feline between Wheelock and Franklin. It was not a house cat and it was black as night. This was in the middle of nowhere on my grandmothers place off FM 46.

Summer of 1999 I was driving east on 190 between San Saba and Lometa. Just before the colorado river bridge I came around the curve and there to my right stood a mountain lion on the side of the road plain as day. As i went past it I slammed on my brakes and pulled over but it was gone in a second. Only lion ive ever seen in the wild.

You saw a black panther. Videographic proof here:

Saw what I assume was a bobcat barrel roll and kill a rabbit near toledo bend one time

damn near walked up on what I thought was a dog early one am..... big bobcat. I dunno who was more suprised. I actually have pictures of the two that (I know) live around here. They leave the chickens alone, I leave them alone.

If I had a dollar for every "cougar scream" story I've heard on the lower neches and lower sabine, I'd be Damned rich. The "black panther" that lives in port arthur is a hoot( the last one turned out to be a pretty sizeable pig).

Have there ever been any large felines that lived in east or southeast texas? I'm honestly not very familiar.

I fired at a large solid colored cat just outside of College Station out near the river.

I was walking from gate to gate on the property I worked (about a 3 mile hike) with a 12ga during dove season. I stumbled upon the cat while doubling back to where I started. It appeared to be stalking my original path.

7 1/2 shot can make a cat not land on its feet. Never saw it again, and never found any tracks other than the ones it made on the tractor path while running away.

Probably asked before but in your opinion are there any reports from TPWD or elsewhere that are interesting/worth reading on the topic of mountain lions specifically or wild cats in general as it pertains to Texas? Interested in learning more about both historical and more recent confirmed sightings/fatalities.

Definitely not the only one.

Simply put, anything west of 35 isn't going to raise a eyebrow, but the further east and north you are the more interesting the potential sighting is. East of 35, you are pretty well starting with an assumed bs flag raised, though you can get a very occassional wanderer out of South Texas (based on genetics).

From a historical standpoint, much of Texas was not historically good deer habitat and therefore not great lion habitat. Feral hogs have little to do with the presence or absence of mountain lions, they will try, but not a reliable/safe prey species for them. So basically anything that was historically grassland isn't holding lions for long. As we got more brush, and deer, lions have occasionally shown up in non traditional areas. But, they tend to show up in areas with some topography that is "normal" to them (like the Palo Pinto "mountains"--granted that is west of 35.

Fatalities, none I have ever found in Texas. All incidents have been pretty minor in the Big Bend area. Though I will say we were really lucky with the one involving the kid in the parking lot a couple years ago.

Look for anything by Dr. Micheal Tewes for rare cats of Texas info.

Jaguars have been gone for almost 100 years, and no sign of them in Texas. If they are around, it is pretty evident (the area with very limited numbers in Az is extremely remote). If there are cows, there will be conflict.

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Exactly. As often as black panthers are seen (or the rare East Texas normal colored mountain lion), there should be tons of game camera photos. No one east of 35 manages to shoot one. Perfectly legal to do so, and would make my life easier.

I just want one legit east of I-35 photo if a mountain lion. Just one. Should be simple enough with all the mountain lions/panthers people see....Virtually every one I have been sent "buddy on my lease got this on a game camera" has take less than 5 minutes to find on a reverse GIS. I like the ones that at least flip the photo. My favorite was a guy practically screaming in the phone that I would question the honestly of his friend. Then I pointed out the snow covered mountains in the background, in Kaufman county. For proof in East Texas, I can't tell you how many times I've been sent some version of the game camera shot of the lion in pine trees passing a saw palmetto plant....out of Florida. They will flip, crop, change the date, slightly blur the image. Those of us that do/did a lot of mountain lion follow-ups recognize various combo of mountain lion images on the first 5-10 pages of Google Images.

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Ha! The only thing worse than that are the "big" rattlesnake photos or the "dens."

Ursus I think I've mentioned my lion sighting in Victoria County several years ago but I'm like every one else... no photo.

From which group are the cats that have found their way to Ft. Worth?

I love the fact that the OP on the linked thread doubled-down and all the others who have seen them.

If only there were photographic evidence. At least this guy (an Aggie) had photos, even if all they did was show a big, well-fed tom-cat: Overton Fisheries black cat

I saw one at central park in CS around 2008. Didn't think much of it at the time and didn't report it. I've seen them down south and several bobcats. That was before I had a smart phone so no picture. I was up early fishing for stocked trout. Not long after daybreak a huge cat way to big to be a bobcat and definitely not a dog walked out from the trees around the ballparks. Walked quickly but cautiously to a tree stopped, sat upright and looked around. Then proceeded to the woods behind the buildings. Another guy was fishing too and walked up to me and asked if I saw it. I was sober and had 20/20 eyesight at the time anyway.

No. The pepper scared it enough to do a back flip, but it didn't make the whole 360 degrees. More like 220 so it landed on its face and then took off running.

I guess I could have hit an eye, but other than that no damage. No blood either. Just think of it as a really hardcore spray bottle.

When I saw what it was doing and the thought crossed my mind that it had plans on eating me, I wanted to hit it before it figured out I was there.

The camera on my Blackberry at the time (2008) wasn't all that great. Any attempt at a picture would have looked more like proof of Bigfoot.

I was about 25-30 yards away.