Very, very long post, but I'm going to go ahead with it (again.)

I've been a non-believer for a long, long time. Worked with a state agency and was in the field with a lot of experts who went to school way longer than me and had the titles to prove it. I was just a field hand with a college degree. They're reasoning made sense, and they were smart guys.

A couple of years ago, me and my 10 year old son saw a giant cat on the way into the woods during youth season. There was no mistaking what we saw -- we were about 50-75 yards from it when we first saw it.

Here is the real kicker -- my son saw it first, as we went over a drainage cut in the road leading to a deep drain. I'll never forget his words: "What is that?" I looked up and was not sure what I saw... and my Dad instincts kicked in. I started to explain what we were looking at (I saw a long tail -- dog with mange, etc, etc.) My son and I were engaged in conversation the entire time (which is something I'll never regret), but I was so distracted by what we were watching and talking about, I never once thought to pick up my cell phone and take a photo, or grab my DSL camera that had a 70-210 zoon lens attached and take a series of photos, or grab my rifle and take a shot at the animal (which would have brought federal charges against me.)

That cat jumped a 10 - 12 cut bank on a road, without touching the bank. I told my son that he and I, as father and son, had shared the coolest experience that we will ever have in either of our lifetimes. And then I put on my Dad hat, and I told him to be careful, because if he told people about what we had seen, they would call him out on it. He handed it really well.

I'm fortunate to live in a university town. Which means I move in circles with the same kind of people that I mentioned at the beginning of my post. I ended up with several of these folks (professors), and the majority of them basically told me that me and my son on were on drugs.

A good while later, I stopped by my wife's work, and one of her co-workers has a husband and 2 sons who are in my lease. I always like to visit with her, because she's a tomboy and is just good people. Out of the blue, she mentions that an adjoining landowner to our lease has a picture of something that he doesn't know what it is (I'd heard about this from a young blow-hard in the lease, and just ignored it.) I asked her to get me a copy of the trail cam photo.

About 5 minutes later she walks up to me with a photo on her phone. It's a big cat. I ask her to send it to me so I can download it.

The landowner's trail cam is 3 miles from where I saw it. 2 weeks prior. I sent the photo to all of the nay-sayers from the university, and everyone agreed that it was a panther/cougar. One of the botanist even pointed out the height of the bluestem plant, and compared it to a bobcat's height, saying that this cat was much, much larger than a bobcat. Every single one of these PHD professors apologized, and begged me to contact the state agency to have it verified. They all agreed that it was a very big cat.

Big cats are solitary, and they move over large distances. They are out there, although not widespread. I've never shared the photo from the adjoining landowner, because I did not get it from him directly. At some point I need to go and knock on his door and tell him what we saw.

Those of you who say they don't exist... I was the same guy for years, as a result of my work with a Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks in a neighboring state. One Friday afternoon during youth deer season with my 10 year old son changed my opinion that I'd held for a long, long time. That's two eye-witnesses, and we were fortunate to have a trail cam photo to back it up. I have nothing to prove, and to this day, I have nothing to prove and don't care what anyone says about what me and my boy saw. And the reason for that is because we know what we saw, and we understand that we were blessed by God to share that as a father and son.