Did anyone ever confirm or deny that story? It has run, with the picture, in the local papers in Temple and Killeen.
Just curious.
Just curious.
So about that Mountain Lion in Milam Co.
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Last: 9 yr ago by 96AustinAg
I'm curious too. If the story is true the land owner has been awfully quiet. My parents have lived in Rockdale for 49 years and no one they know has heard any details except for the temple paper article.
It was confirmed by former TPWD official and current Milam County Sheriff, but completely discredited by the experts here.
To be fair, I don't think anyone here said it isn't true, just that there are a lot of details that seem odd about it.
Wow. That's getting kinda close to the BCS area.
(if true, of course.)
(if true, of course.)
There is also this which is also very very odd. And was posted 2 weeks before the newspaper article.
Yeah, let's all just jump on the media mountain lion in east central TX bandwagon based on some small town journalism supported by one witness. Don't forget the Giddings paper ran an column on this subject before Rockdale got in on the action.
Why is there no caption to the picture? With a weight/length of the cat? Why wasn't the hunter identified and tell his/her story? Why no corresponding follow up with TPWD experts? No comments from anyone other than the retired game warden?
This story has more holes in it than a gill net.
I guess to be positive here at least the story did not report a black panther had been killed.
Why is there no caption to the picture? With a weight/length of the cat? Why wasn't the hunter identified and tell his/her story? Why no corresponding follow up with TPWD experts? No comments from anyone other than the retired game warden?
This story has more holes in it than a gill net.
I guess to be positive here at least the story did not report a black panther had been killed.
I'm not trying to pump up a story. I'm curiouS about it and have doubts about the story for the same reasons you do. That's why I was asking.
Judging by how I interpret that article it doesn't sound to me like the TPW officer actually confirmed the killing, just that it is quite rare. It is also odd that there is no name associated with the hunter, no name of the ranch, and most shockingly absent no date listed for the kill. A confirmed cat killing is a huge deal in that part of the state, I would expect a lot more detail, a bigger showing from TPWD, biologists, along with several regional newspapers and local and regional TV. Maybe I'm overplaying it a bit, but this extremely rare event has been reduced down to a single photo that was posted to Facebook, 4 short paragraphs in a small newspaper, and a very odd Twitter post that judging by the dates broke this major event 2 weeks before anyone else did.
As a side note, don't google cougar rockdale Texas.
When Ursusguy comes on here and confirms it I will believe it. Until then.......
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quote:
As a side note, don't google cougar rockdale Texas.
Just did it, we don't have slumpbusters here anymore?
I can tell you as of Thursday, no one out of TPWD verified it. I contacted the person that handles mountain lion sighting data, and they knew nothing about....and he is the one in the FB post that pointed out that the only photo matched a Chinese Twitter feed on 12/7.
That's not to say that come tomorrow there won't be be something out of the biologist or game warden out of the area. If my curiosity gets high enough, I might call the buologist tomorrow. But I suspect I know the answer.
That's not to say that come tomorrow there won't be be something out of the biologist or game warden out of the area. If my curiosity gets high enough, I might call the buologist tomorrow. But I suspect I know the answer.
Die Hard, trust me, I love game wardens. But on a couple of occassions, I've had to clean up messes from them "confirming" something about mountain lions. Usually related to track ID. One of the biggest black panther proponents I know is a Game Warden. People take it way too much to heart when they say "we get reports out of" such and such area.
.
For a 10 plus years, I was one of a handful of TPWD staff that had actual mountain lion experience (and bears for that matter).
.
For a 10 plus years, I was one of a handful of TPWD staff that had actual mountain lion experience (and bears for that matter).
quote:It doesn't actually say he confirmed the kill. The article is to vague.
It was confirmed by former TPWD official and current Milam County Sheriff, but completely discredited by the experts here.
quote:man, i hate it when everyone "jumps on the media mountain lion in east central TX bandwagon" like this. what can we do to prevent this from happening?
Yeah, let's all just jump on the media mountain lion in east central TX bandwagon based on some small town journalism supported by one witness. Don't forget the Giddings paper ran an column on this subject before Rockdale got in on the action.
Why is there no caption to the picture? With a weight/length of the cat? Why wasn't the hunter identified and tell his/her story? Why no corresponding follow up with TPWD experts? No comments from anyone other than the retired game warden?
This story has more holes in it than a gill net.
I guess to be positive here at least the story did not report a black panther had been killed.
quote:
It was confirmed by former TPWD official and current Milam County Sheriff, but completely discredited by the experts here.
Read the article more closely. The Milam Co. Sheriff didn't confirm anything nor did a TPWD official.
And here I am. It finally happened. Sitting around in Robertson county Watching my relatives pass the phone around with this story and using it as proof that they are all over here. One has seen the tracks. Another heard one at night.
Ughhhh. I'm just drinking my beer.
Ughhhh. I'm just drinking my beer.
Yeah, none of this has been passed on to TPWD in any other manner...other than me making an inquiry to the individuals the reports would go to. "Nope"
quote:
As a side note, don't google cougar rockdale Texas.
Underrated
A guy I know that owns about 700 acres over there told me about it tonight saying it happened about 15 miles from him. Also told me about more than one black panther sightings in the area.
http://m.tdtnews.com/news/article_63e4249c-adfd-11e5-929b-ef0832f13f69.html?mode=jqm
Holderman is a friend of mine, I'll give him a call on Monday. He has extensive experience with mountain lions.
Holderman is a friend of mine, I'll give him a call on Monday. He has extensive experience with mountain lions.
I don't think it really matters if the mountain lion was actually killed. I think by now it is known that mountain lions do indeed live in central Texas. I may have or have not seen four with my own two eyes in Bastrop/Fayette county, three of those (a mom and two cubs) on a nighttime deer survey, and heard many first hand reports of other sightings over the years. I'll say that I may have been mistaking them for something else for the sake of them remaining mythical creatures. Most people don't know about them because they are VERY elusive animals but I am not sure how this can be surprising anymore since there ARE confirmed kills in south and west Texas.
No kidding they are in South and West Texas. And there are legit records from other areas around the state, just not to the extent often claimed. It would actually make our lives easier if a few would ever check out.
I would agree actually seeing them is tough, but finding actual sign they are in the area is pretty easy.
I would agree actually seeing them is tough, but finding actual sign they are in the area is pretty easy.
I don't agree with that. I sat there last night and listened to 5 people tell a bunch of first hand accounts thay were complete bull****. Like Ursusguy said, there would be signs of them that just are not there, not to mention pics on the thousands of game cams out there. But there never are.
quote:
I don't agree with that. I sat there last night and listened to 5 people tell a bunch of first hand accounts thay were complete bull****. Like Ursusguy said, there would be signs of them that just are not there, not to mention pics on the thousands of game cams out there. But there never are.
What don't you believe exactly? That mountain lions cross north of I10? Or that there aren't reports and trail camera pics (which I have also seen in person) around central Texas? Or that me along with 5 other members of a wildlife association know what a mountain lion with two cubs look like?
I do agree with you about most people not knowing what they're talking about however. I have also heard many reports that are a little amusing. I don't know how many people I have heard say they have seen one cross the road in front of them, only to have them describe a bobcat.
Ursusguy said that it was pretty easy to find sign btw...
FWIW I saw one one the golf course at Fort Hood about 10 years ago. I didn't think it was a big deal except it was leaving a neighborhood.
The day will come when someone gets drunk, and takes a trapped or tranquilized one way north and releases it.
On Fort Hood, there has been known mountain lions since the early 90's. Especially up in the Henson "mountains" area and down along Cowhouse Creek.
Die hard might want to just lurk for a bit before spouting off about board experts.
There are so many long tailed cats in Northern Brazos, Robertson, and Leon counties, it's a wonder any deer hunters survive their morning walks to the stand...
quote:But he didn't mean that it was easy to find lion sign just wandering around any neighborhood. He meant it was easy to find lion sign IF there was actually a lion in the area. ...and that since almost no sign is found in most of the areas talked about in this thread that more than likely it means there IS NO LION in those areas.
Ursusguy said that it was pretty easy to find sign btw...
I guess it was a bit of an ambiguous statement, but that is the way I took it. ...and no offense to you personally, I don't know you from Adam, but the fact that you and 5 members of a "wildlife association" saw a cat gives it no more credence to me than the neighborhood drunk reporting it would. Because the "big cat confirmations" almost always come from an "experienced hunter." ...and yet they still turn out to be a yellow lab most of the time. Our eyes trick us, we see what we want to see, etc.
I understand where you're coming from. The two sightings I have had in my life were over ten years ago when no one had a camera in their pocket. The guys and I watched the mother and her cubs with binoculars for over five minutes in awe. She didn't seem too threatened by the spotlight but they were probably 150 yds away. She finally just slowly walked over a tank damn after she had enough.
Just an fyi, when this was investigated by the biologist that is responsible for these things in that area, NO ONE actually seemed to know any details. Including the quoted law enforcement.
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