Irish - 4 or 5 years ago, my FIL saw one chasing a doe across a gf, so we set up a camera and got a video. No question about the muscular tail, but the dark slate color still sort of throws me . This is on a large timber/cattle farm at the GA line a couple of miles north of Mentone. I'll send you the video if you want. Everybody's got a cousin's friend's uncle who saw one, or a picture that's been floating around the net for a decade or 2, (originally from Utah or somewhere), but I've seen mine.
The funny thing is, my son showed the picture to a UA professor he knew, and the guy said "I've seen a cat like that in my driveway, just after dark one night. I didn't tell anyone because I thought they'd think I was crazy." His house is on the bluff a mile or so north of the Mentone water tower, probably less than a mile from where we took the video. His siting was a decade before ours. They are out there.
My parents live in Mentone just before the state line on a little creek that I forget the name of.....They've had bears in their yard before but no cougar sightings yet.....
I saw one in Seale, AL about 20 years ago while bow hunting .....Got a good look at it too at about 30-40 yards so I'm pretty confident in what I saw
