My BIL and I both shot at a cat on two occasions at my land in Madison County. My place backs up to the Trinity near the town of Midway. He's been seen two other times there as well.

There have been multiple sightings of cats up and down the Trinity

Ursus- my inlaws have a ranch near Kyle in Hays County and my BIL claims to have seen a mountain lion. Says the GW confirmed that a big cat is in the area...

Any sightings that you know of in that area?

Hell
Believe (with caution of course) or don't... I'd never even consider believing it if I hadn't come across one. Of course there are only one or two stories I've heard that sounded plausible. The rest were no doubt misidentified bobcats, hawks, tabby kittens, field mice, or rogue garden gnomes.

Many years ago while out in the middle of the boonies near Hawkins Ranch/Chinquapin out in the middle of the Bay Prairie I saw the biggest cat with the longest tail I have ever seen. Took less than two full strides to cross the two lane dirt road - it was moving fast too. Wasnt black, looked brown from what I could tell in the blink of an eye I saw it. Crossed maybe 20-25 yards in front of us.

No picture - this was long before cameras were widely available, it was at night and I was in the back of the truck with a spotlight in one hand and a .22 rifle in the other. Saw the thing for all of 3, maybe 4 seconds - even if I had a camera there is no way a picture could have been taken. Not sure what it was, other than a huge cat with an extraordinarily long and thick tail proportionate to its body. Only time I have ever seen anything like that.

Damned sure wasnt a pig or a dog, way too big and too long of a tail to be a bobcat.

That area wouldn't completely shock me, but I'd be slightly leery. Not my area, but I know there was a lot of talk out of that area a couple years ago. Trust me, I love the GWs, but unless I personally know the GW, I take GW id on mountain lion stuff with a grain of salt. I've personally had to deal with the fallout of GWs "confirming" large canine tracks as mountain lions. When they say "we get reports" out of such and such areas, DON'T take that as confirmation of them being in the area. One of the biggest proponents of black panthers is a GW. Until recently, most of the local GWs would simply forward mountain lion inquiries to me to deal with. Likewise, out of District 5, for several years (and still happens occassionally) random game camera photos were sent to me to see if I recognized the photo (I was having that many mountain lion investigations). I went I think 3 years in a row with the most mandated mountain lion investigations in the state...with the worst chance of actually getting one.

I hope the reference to Fort Worth was in regard to 40 plus year old women, otherwise NO. I am the one that did those calls for 12 years, not a single confirmation or even a remotely questionable what if.

My favorite claim to fame on random stuff. I prepped the TPWD that had to go on Monster Quest about black panthers. So I have several direct quotes on Monster Quest. The biologist they interviewed is arguably the best track id specialist in the state.

Ahhh, good times.

quote:

---

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

---

Lots of awesome comments in that thread about the common but yet elusive East Texas black panther.

That's better than the OB.

My favorite from about 2 years ago here in Kansas was a "cougar" that "ripped open" a hog panel fence (5' tall, no top), killed a couple of 300 pound domestic hogs and then drug them a quarter mile up a steep ridge. About a month later a young 80 pound Tom was killed near the OK/KS border (about 350 miles from the pig killing) and that was definitive proof to this guy. Fun series of articles in the local home town newspaper.

this was south Brazos County last February. You decide:

Abominable Snowman!!

That's a pretty easy one.

Agreed, but when it was put on Facebook (by a friend) the believers came out. I didn't comment and refrained from putting it on the OB, but I couldn't resist anymore.

Apparently, the local Game Warden said it was a juvenile lion.

Good close-up of a bobcat there.

That wouldn't surprise me. That is why I had most of my area wardens contact me before commenting on mountain lion related stuff.

Keep in mind, there are only a handful of game wardens or biologists that have experience with mountain lions in Texas. I dealt with them in mostly NM, and some in Wyoming and Montanta (and oddly enough performed a necropsy on one of the largests lions killed in California), and passed my tracking certification borderline blind.

quote:

---

Agreed, but when it was put on Facebook (by a friend) the believers came out. I didn't comment and refrained from putting it on the OB, but I couldn't resist anymore.

Apparently, the local Game Warden said it was a juvenile lion.

---

Post it over on the Aggieland thread linked in the OP.

Since we're discussing hair brained stores, and tall tales.


Ursus, does the possibility even exist we could have any bear activity in South Eastern Texas? I've personally been relayed two....we'll call them stories from the Neches north of Beaumont this year, with one claiming to have watched a bear knock over there feeder. There is, of course, no photographic evidence, and I'm pretty sure that one is a big enough hill billy to have just shot it and then bragged.

Curiosity on my part. I think they're both full of it but hey.

There is a slight possibility you could get the very occasional dispersing male wander west, from the "swamp" population. A little further north, up through the mid 90's, LGF would relocate "problem" bears to the NE side of Toledo Bend. They would briefly venture over, but return to Louisiana pretty fast.

There hasn't been a verified bear sighting in East Texas for a couple years now. Not to say there hasn't been a couple potential sightings, just the landowner may not have released the information. TPWD operates on the basis that if the reporting landowner doesn't release the info on a location, that sighting doesn't exist in the data base.....which for some species sorta screws everyone. There are a number of species that are likely perfectly fine, but without the release of information, TPWD doesn't have the basis to counter the feds. If a landowner releases the information, they can request that the location be buffered. If it is a T/E species, the location will be buffered anyway.

That's actually not the answer I was expecting at all! And pretty cool to know they could be here.

I think one guy was probably intoxicated, and the whole thing is cooked up(he's also seen "mountain lions"). The other one wasn't giving me the whole story....he may very well have seen what he claimed.

I saw a bear in East Texas in the 90's on Highway 84 near Timpson. Ursus has convinced me over the years on this board it was one of those relocated bears from Louisiana. Believe it because no one else in the area has ever told me about another.

Lots of lion and Bigfoot stories up there but not many bear sightings. Don't even get me started on the glowing green potentially ufo sighting (my now deceased grandparents)

That's close to the Big Thicket and I always heard there were some bears there. I think that no one really know for sure what is out in the woods. Just because things aren't seen does not mean they aren't there. To dismiss sightings off hand is short-sighted. People tell me we have porcupines in Texas and I've spent hundreds of hours out in the woods, mostly Robertson County and the only porcupine I've ever seen was in Grand Tetons NP. There is just no way to see everything that's out there.

quote:

---

That's close to the Big Thicket and I always heard there were some bears there. I think that no one really know for sure what is out in the woods. Just because things aren't seen does not mean they aren't there. To dismiss sightings off hand is short-sighted. People tell me we have porcupines in Texas and I've spent hundreds of hours out in the woods, mostly Robertson County and the only porcupine I've ever seen was in Grand Tetons NP. There is just no way to see everything that's out there.

---

Here's a west Texas porcupine from Sunday. We do have them here but I think more in the south plains/panhandle region.



Also, we used to hunt in the area where the proposed Marvin Nichols Reservoir is/was supposed to be impounded. The guy down the road from us (by the name of Max Shumake) formed the Sulphur River Oversight Society to fight the impounding of the Sulphur River. Part of their argument was that black bears (and other animals) had traveled south out of Oklahoma and were beginning to take hold in the area. Never saw one or even a picture of one and we hunted out there for almost 20 years. Then again, this ole boy was a bit of a drunk and a bit shady to say the least.

Voila, an actual photo of the animal. And here is a range map:



Now supply the same for the black panther.

I've had to chase a porcupine off my back porch in Wilbarger county. They HATE the water hose by the way.

One of these was probably on the northern end of the thicket, he wouldn't tell me.

The other is just north.

Neither bears or mountain lions are typically real good about hiding their presence. They are big, they leave tracks, bears are very gullible to easy food.


Odd easy way to monitor for porcupines, piss on a wooden post a few times. If they are around, they will go after the salt.

I was on the East Texas Black Bear Committee for a number of years. Yes, the dropping out of Oklahoma into the Sulfur River basin was a common argument against the reservoir. Catch, there hasn't been any indication of a sow dropping south of the Red River. About 5-10 years, there was a slight uptick in sightings in Red River and Lamar counties. Since Oklahoma reinstated their bear season, the dispersal of males out of Oklahoma has dropped noticably. The last confirmed sighting in that area was '12 or '13. Around the Big Thicket is even longer. Ironically, that is where they were putting up the don't confuse bears and feral hogs signs (yes, in other states that has been a legit issue).

'08---to clarify how rare I am talking about, we're talking like maybe every 12-15 years. Pretty much anything south of Cypress Bayou/Caddo is dispersing out of eastern Louisiana. The Tensas population is growing nicely, and you get the occasional young male heading west, but rarely vet past Monroe or Rustin. Little is known about the Coastal/Lower Atchafalaya population. There are only a handful of bears, and rarely go west of Lafayette....but young males are known to do odd things.

Pretty much any bear in East Texas, come late June isn't likely to stick around....ie no females.

quote:

---

Neither bears or mountain lions are typically real good about hiding their presence. They are big, they leave tracks, bears are very gullible to easy food.


Odd easy way to monitor for porcupines, piss on a wooden post a few times. If they are around, they will go after the salt.

---

clearly, everybody's brother in law has seen one.

quote:

---

quote:

---

That's close to the Big Thicket and I always heard there were some bears there. I think that no one really know for sure what is out in the woods. Just because things aren't seen does not mean they aren't there. To dismiss sightings off hand is short-sighted. People tell me we have porcupines in Texas and I've spent hundreds of hours out in the woods, mostly Robertson County and the only porcupine I've ever seen was in Grand Tetons NP. There is just no way to see everything that's out there.

---

Here's a west Texas porcupine from Sunday. We do have them here but I think more in the south plains/panhandle region.

---

I saw one dead on FM 1170 outside Blackwell about 15 years ago. I was with my grandmother who grew up out there. She had never seen one before. We had to turn the car around to get a closer look.

I've seen 3 in the last 20 years in Lampasas/Burnet counties.

They like topography and big rocky areas. Ironic to this thread, the more likely you are to find porcupines, the more likely you are to find mountain lions too. They like roughly the same habitat, and lions actually like eating porcupines.---Kansas/Sean watch out

quote:

---

Odd easy way to monitor for porcupines, piss on a wooden post a few times. If they are around, they will go after the salt.

---

Works for mountain goats too. You pee and they come a runnin'.

i swear i saw a porcupine just east of Junction on my way back from Big Bend on sunday. However, it was getting dark and we were driving 70 mph, so maybe it was a possum or raccoon (saw several of those too).

i've seen one mountain lion and it was unmistakable, even in the split second i saw it before it bolted. However, I was in the back country in Guadalupe Mountains National Park.