Black cougars in NC.?

[nc.hunter]

Hey guys, I know that there arent supposed to be cougars or anything like that in the Southeast, but Just about 3 1/2 hours ago, Me and my brother and a freind were walking down to a small feild with a tiny patch of woods to the right of us, All of a sudden My dog charlie goes crazy and darts into the woods. I ran down the road until I came to the opening of the woods, and my dog was running through thick under brush, a few seckonds later a very large black cat leaped out of the bushes! I was amazed at how big it still looked from about 100 yards away! It looked to be about 6 to 6.5 FT. long plus the long tail, Thats how I knew it was not a bobcat, The dirt road is 8.5 feet wide, the cat coverd most of it. It Turned broad side and looked back up the hill at us, and then leaped into the woods. It was crazy, there were tracks in the mud were it landed, they measured to be 5 1/4 inches long! Not a house cat. Well after a few minutes of us looking for it, we started back up the dirt road, when I heard a very loud scream and a roar at the same time! It sounded like a growl and women screaming all at once. Then my dog charlie who was still sniffing around, come running out the woods! He bolted past me and whent straight to my house. Thats when we started running to the house! The whole thing sort of scared me, because the woods we seen it in are only about 250 yards away from my house. Sorry the story is so long, Have you guys seen any black cougars? Thanks, NC.HUNTER.

[telkev]

I do believe that there are panthers roaming the woods in the southeast. That is a documented fact. However, there are no black panthers that are indigenous to the United States. Even the term Florida Black Panther is misleading, because they are not black, nor has there ever been a documented case of any of the three species indigenous to the US being black. There are black Jaguars and Leopards that are indigenous to South America and Asia. Most sightings are in low light conditions and make the observer think they are black when they are actually a dark tan color. I myself have never saw one in the wild, but my father worked for the railroad at one time, and has witnessed many of them along the Mississippi River area while traveling the train tracks.

[big shrek]

DUDE!!!! You just saw one of the rarities!!!

Wish you had have shot it, or at least got a pic, they've been trying to get a corpse to figure out exactly what they are...lost pets, genetic malfuntions or what...

Y'all were lucky it wasn't curious about you, running from a cougar tends to make their hunting nature come out...kind of like mice running from a cat...

[toolman]

My buddy was wakened from a sound sleep a few years ago by a sound that he described as a "woman giving birth without drugs"! He was camping about miles S. of here. When he questioned the property owner he was told that it was probably one of the panthers that live in the area. He said that he shot one out there about 15 years ago and he does have a large black hide on his wall to prove it.

[sell33]

wow that is crazy. we had a regular cougar around here about a year ago and everyone was throwing a fit about it. i woudl love to see one in the wild, especially a black one. You are one lucky sob. Not to mention being lucky it didn't chase you down lol. Too bad you couldn't have at least shot it with a camera if not a gun.

[big shrek]

Toolman, there was a show on recently, Animal Planet I think, where they were trying to prove/disprove the whole Black Cat of the Americas thing...that pelt woulda helped...!!

[Rambo]

A real Black Panther.

[neophyte]

nc.hunter: Sir; a thought. Did you call the ''wildlife'' folks, maybe someones pet has gotten loose.
For you, dog, friend, and family, Call the Wildlife folks and show them what when where you last saw the cat. Prints will help.
These rain storms thru here in the last few days may have washed the tracks away, or the cat is hanging around leaving more.

[samuel]

I never saw one,but my wife grew up in northern Ind. and claims that in the early '50,s she saw a big black cat that stared at her and followed her for a little distance.She was about 10yrs at the time.She says it was much bigger than a house cat. sam.

[blaster]

cougars are showing up in many places where the game depts say they aren't. we have a lot of them in the Big Cypress Swamp. last spring gobbler season I saw 2 different ones in 2 days. one was grey and the other was a reddish brown. the long tail is a give away, it will be as long as the body and about 3" in diameter. wnen I lived in the U.P. of Mich. the DNR swore that they were extinct but lots of people still saw them. one of my hunters had one drag an arrowed deer from the place where the hunter left it while he went to get friends to help pack it out. they followed the drag marks and chased the cat off the deer. I hear now that the Mich. DNR finally acknowleges that there are cougars in the U.P. black would be as rare a color phase as albino.

[mym1a]

If you have a lot of deer in your area you probably do have a big cat around

[carbine100]

I have not seen one in NC, but I have seen one in upstate SC. Better check before shooting one though, although SC denies they are there, law was put on the books a few years back puts a heafty fine for shooting one.

[Mike Franklin]

Cougars used to roam all through the South. Just like any animal it's possible for black ones to exist. As rare as the cat would be I'd consider it a great loss to kill one. Maybe if left alone there might be a population large enough for some hunting when our Grandkids reach the right age. As for now, see if you could get him on camera although big cats tend to have large territories. It might be easier to do a cast of tracks, recover scat or maybe fine a few hairs on trails the cat would use.

[neophyte]

nc. hunter; Sir; maybe these folks could give you some more information.
If your uncomfortable talking to them; pm me. Thanks


The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Seeks Your Help...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is beginning a review of scientific and commercial information to determine the status of the endangered eastern cougar, the first review the Service has done since publishing a recovery plan in 1982.

As part of the review, the Service is seeking information on the status of the eastern cougar in the 21 states -- from Maine to South Carolina and west from Michigan to Tennessee -- where the Endangered Species Act protects it. Lacking definitive evidence of the species' existence, the Service has presumed the eastern cougar to be extinct. It is improbable that a small cougar population persisted in the eastern states for over a century. Most of the confirmed cougar records since 1950 (animals killed, good quality photos/videos, genetic evidence) are known to be escapes of captive origin. There may be thousands of captive cougars in the eastern United States.

Anyone wishing to submit information regarding the eastern cougar may do so by writing to:

Eastern Cougar
Northeast Regional Office
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
300 Westgate Center Drive
Hadley, MA 01035

or by email to EasternCougar@fws.gov. Information must be received by March 30, 2007, for the status review, although the Service will continue to accept new information about eastern cougars at any time.

For additional information on the eastern cougar, see www.fws.gov/northeast/ECougar.

[thebigitch62]

i watched a show on the discovery channel (I think) . people from that part of the country were seeing large black cats. and some expert said it might be a jaguar as they have a black sub-species. there was even video. but a different expert did all sorts of investigating and says it was a huge house cat. but the sightings are increasing

[Cyrano]

All sorts of people that don't realize the big cats are not domesticated, cannot be domesticated, and are still wild animals no matter how cute they look do stupid things like buy a big cat, find they can't keep it or deal with it, and then dump them. Could it be, perhaps, that a black panther was dumped as a half-grown panther and mated with a native cougar? I don't know if the offspring would be fertile, but the two species are certainly close enough to produce viable offspring. A black panther in the woodlot would go a long way toward explaining all these black cougar sightings.

[9mmfan]

I saw a tan eastern cougar just outside of Oak Ridge Tn. once. It was about 5 foot long. They have been seen quite often in the Appalachian mountains between North Carolina and Tennessee. Bobcats have been known to breed with house cats so almost anything is possible.

[Phil Lozano]

Can you post some clear photos of the tracks in the mud ?

[SoDakHunter]

How old are you NC? This seems like the paranoid ramblings of a 12 year old with a camera and possibly some feral cats, (of the domestic persuasion) roaming around. You have like 10 threads on this board about cougars and lions and sabertooth tigers that inhabit your farm. Like your trail camera pics where you mis id'ed a coon as a cougar. Get some real pics of big cats, then post.

[Silent Shooter]

I assure you it is not ramblings... nc.hunter and I live within 20 miles of each other. There have been multiple sightings of the critter(s).