Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum The Myth of Eastern Cougars.

I ever see one I'm gonna stroke it and post the pic on here.

Obviously they don't exist. You good to go

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.

The Florida panther I seen sure wasn't in Florida and sure looked black.

I saw one in the Coosa WMA, south of Hatchet. Actually I have seen it several times right off Mallard Cove Road. Big black panther. Go see for yourself if you don't believe me.

There use to be a big cat rescue kinda place years ago near Rogersville which is where they claimed the Cougar they kilt south of the TN river came from. Back then... they really had no idea that was before DNA and all this other stuff. Might have been 40 years ago I can't remember.

Alabama is one of 5 states that pretty much has no laws on ownership of exotic pets:

Meaning you can own a Tiger if you want. There are lots of people in this state that are here because they have a Lion in their basement. Not kidding.

So when someone says I saw a Black Panther they may have. I would guess that would be the coolest thing to own if you were into that sort of thing.

Yea. You can get a captive born tiger for like $1,500. I think a white one will run you about $5k

Yea. People live in this state so that they can own them.

I went to a landowners place this morning to look at some junk timber and he had two Siberian Tigers and nine Canadian Wolves in pens behind his house. All legal and permitted. In NW Florida.

And the goobers there are concerned about saving bears and ending state bear hunts. Harrumph.

Reckon I'll see any cougars on or around smith lake this weekend?

I think folks would be amazed at the weird and different critters people keep. I have friend that while in Vet school could've charged admission on Sunday afternoons to come to his house and see the many different critters.
He tried to get me to take a black wolf but the regs were pretty steep plus the raw meat to feed the dang thing.

Ever seen a 4 ft long iguana, african tortoise, sugar gliders, african monitors and hedge hogs in the same room? That's not counting all the insects of varying species like tarantulas, several kinds of beetles and other spiders. Probably over 100 different critters in all.

He used to fly to New Mexico and bring back Western DBs, pack them in his suitcase, they'd still be alive but would die in a day or 2 from the flight.

All of his critters died when the power went out during an ice storm in the early 90's.

He still has some crazy stuff but nothing like the zoo he did have.

Take some pics and post them to prove you did.

Hmmmmmm, makes one wonder why 80% of Alabama's hunters have seen one yet not a single one has been killed by a car, had its picture taken etc...we've got some reeeeal smart cougars.

I agree. I think its possible that there have been very rare occasions when they have roamed into the state and possibly been seen. The majority are just people not being able to get a good enough look at an animal to properly identify it, or they just don't know what they're looking at and won't admit it. Its just not reasonable to have so many people claim they have seen them and have no real evidence and believe the majority of the stories you hear.

Look at this gem some goodie posted on the Alabama Deer Hunters Facebook page.

That shits funny

A friend of mine was in a deer stand a couple of years ago on the Eglin AFB line SW of DeFuniak Springs. He said a doe came running by and about 4 minutes later a big brown long tail cat with a tracking collar with antennae came by on the deer's trail. Sounds like Eglin might have stocked some from somewhere.

It's estimated that the state of Florida has a population of 180-200 and last year alone, 34 were killed on state highways. Now tell me something, if 34 out of 200 were killed by cars in one year there, why does Alabama not have one.....just one confirmed road kill, gun kill, or actual proof from a picture/trail camera? You would think that with the tens of thousands of so called "sightings" each year that at least one person could produce some hard evidence.

It amazes me that people think that 20% of the FL population is killed by cars every year.
Seems like the place to look for them would be on the highway, huh?
And, you better hurry....because according to their reproduction rate, you only have a couple of years left to see one with that kind of mortality rate!

^^^^^ This is silly science as usual. It's a fact ALA has cats to the North "TN" and to the South "FL" yet there is no way there are a few big cats in ALA? I've never seen one however know 3 people that have and these 3 people are as credible in my book as it gets. These 3 sightings are all within 15 miles of each other also.

I agree. The North Jackson Co. AL , Southern Franklin Co. TN area is arguably the best territory for them in the Southeast.