Here we go again.....Black Panther Sighting

[Clampy]

^^ that's what they say but I'm sure a few are breeding. Got to be. They found that evidence of that one by fausse point a few years back.


"Its Just a Ride "

[Duck Butter]

Originally Posted by Clampy

^^ that's what they say but I'm sure a few are breeding. Got to be. They found that evidence of that one by fausse point a few years back.


"Its Just a Ride "

There have been at least two confirmed wild cougars in the last few years. None were black, and there was only one at each time. There is one on display as soon as you walk into the LDWF headquarters in Baton Rouge. This was killed around Shreveport, but it was actually of domestic origin. Most times when an animal is out of its range like that its a young male roaming, see it with black bears all the time. When a nuisance black bear is caught south of I-10 they used to take them up to the Tensas area to relocate them. Many times the bear would be back in the exact same spot not long afterwards after traveling over 100 miles IF it didn't get ran over by a vehicle. The only way to get a successful relocation now is to move a female with cubs. She will stay in the area to raise here cubs and not take them on that long journey back 'home'.

[jchief]

Have heard the rumors of the cats in Carlyss also. I have seen a track that I thought was from a cougar on the intracoastal. This was probably 30 or so years ago. The print was almost as big as my hand and did not have any claw marks. It was in very soft ground.

No expert and no idea what it was.

[Goooh]

Originally Posted by Duck Butter

Cougar sightings are taken halfway seriously until the person says it was a black one

Cougars do exist here, but there is zero evidence of a breeding population.

Target on ambassador was loaded with them on Sunday, the term cougar in itself means that they were part of a breeding population.

There were black cougars their too, but in far fewer numbers.

[CajunSteelsetter]

The "sightings" in Carlyss or even any area in the Western part of the state isn't far fetched since their population has been growing and expanding out from West TX. A stable population is highly unlikely. Also black "panthers", as in a true black colored mountain lion, is so highly unlikely to occur that its difficult that there could be more than one at any time anywhere without special breeding program in captivity. Jaguars is also highly unlikely in this area, although a few escapees isn't far fetched. Doubt they are viable and breeding though.

[Duck Butter]

The one at Fausse Pointe was verified as wild and the report was published in Southeastern Naturalist, here is the link to the presser

http://www.mountainlion.org/newsstory.asp?news_id=170

Mike Carloss is a biologist with LDWF now


The one in Shreveport was of domestic origin, there was one on a trail camera a couple years back (can't remember where) that was verified as wild as well.

For the record, everyone of my in-laws over 40 years old in Union and Lincoln Parish have seen or HEARD a black panther How does one tell a black panther by sound? My aunt had a black one pass in front of her on I-20, and my my uncle had one jump across the road in front of him in Tensas. Not denying any of this, as cougars are real and do come through Louisiana and one is probably here right now, as they do not know state boundaries when they travel, BUT my uncle also swears that he went through a time warp in Tensas Parish and I can not mention that without telling the story (story below) I really do believe him with the cougar as there was another guy with him and they were not drunk, but were leaving the camp to go get more beer for the evening.


The time warp story is a good one. Its 12 miles from I-20 to the water tower in Crowville where one turns to get to our camp. He and a buddy turned off I-20 and looked at their watches and said something about the time and how they were going to get there in time to hunt the evening. Lets say its 2 pm. They get to the water tower and both look in amazement as its only 2:06, which means they would have been going 120 mph in his old truck which couldn't have happened, so the ONLY logical thing that could have happened is they went through a time warp

Interesting enough, I was overseas with a dude from Newellton and for some reason we got to talking about this story and he turned a shade of pale and told me a similar story about the same stretch of highway

[Jcredeur]

Wow! I've heard plenty of odd stories from up that way. My Mom is from Ft Necessity just down the road. Never heard of the time warp but my Grandma and Grandpa always told stories of big cats around there but never specified black cats. My Grandpa passed away in 1988. He hunted Franklin, Tensas and Caldwell parishes all of his life.

["W"]

Originally Posted by Goooh

Target on ambassador was loaded with them on Sunday, the term cougar in itself means that they were part of a breeding population.

There were black cougars their too, but in far fewer numbers.

[Duck Butter]

Originally Posted by Jcredeur

Wow! I've heard plenty of odd stories from up that way. My Mom is from Ft Necessity just down the road. Never heard of the time warp but my Grandma and Grandpa always told stories of big cats around there but never specified black cats. My Grandpa passed away in 1988. He hunted Franklin, Tensas and Caldwell parishes all of his life.

Its a pretty good area now, but that must have been a paradise back then

[Jcredeur]

Originally Posted by Duck Butter

Its a pretty good area now, but that must have been a paradise back then

He would tell stories about hunting on Glascock island and in the Copenhagen hills. It was all open public land back then. He also talked about how people would come from miles around just to see a deer track when the numbers were down.

[Duck Butter]

Originally Posted by Jcredeur

He would tell stories about hunting on Glascock island and in the Copenhagen hills. It was all open public land back then. He also talked about how people would come from miles around just to see a deer track when the numbers were down.

Wow! I get to spend a fair amount of time there and its a cool place. You can walk through a prairie and find oyster shells and shark teeth and whale bones Really cool area

Found a freshly killed deer up there a few years back and thought it was one that got away from a hunter but the head was completely gone and the body was cached in some brush and covered like a cat or bear would do. Ran and got a game camera and had visions of finally getting a panther on camera. Came back 3 days or so later and it was a bobcat. He would come eat on it and then lick itself, and then take a nap and go back to eating it again Got tons of pics of it, and when I looked for the deer remains there was nothing to see, not a bone or a hoof or anything. Deer was 75 lbs or so and a buck, and had heard a bobcat can take down a deer, and they can. I think I posted pics here somewhere

[Jcredeur]

Originally Posted by Duck Butter

Wow! I get to spend a fair amount of time there and its a cool place. You can walk through a prairie and find oyster shells and shark teeth and whale bones Really cool area

Found a freshly killed deer up there a few years back and thought it was one that got away from a hunter but the head was completely gone and the body was cached in some brush and covered like a cat or bear would do. Ran and got a game camera and had visions of finally getting a panther on camera. Came back 3 days or so later and it was a bobcat. He would come eat on it and then lick itself, and then take a nap and go back to eating it again Got tons of pics of it, and when I looked for the deer remains there was nothing to see, not a bone or a hoof or anything. Deer was 75 lbs or so and a buck, and had heard a bobcat can take down a deer, and they can. I think I posted pics here somewhere

I never got to hunt that area but heard plenty of stories. When my Dad an Grandpa hunted out there it was all just open timber. Before leases were in existence up there.
We hunt west of Columbia in Mount Pleasant and have seen several suspicious cats. Word is however is that the lake they are making in the Duchene Hills off of the Oua****a is coming along. We have been seeing more n more hogs and bear with the activity. I'm kind of looking forward to see what gets pushed out on us when the lake is flooded.

[duckman1911]

I really want to see a black panther now. Since they officially dont exist that means they arent officially regulated so that means I can officially smoke check that mudda. Y'all gona know if I ever see a black panther or big foot cuz that is gona be in the back of ma truck.hehehe

[duckman1911]

Of course though the lovely wlfd would still come up with a way to fine you for shooting something they say doesnt exist..lol

[Lake Chuck Duck]

Originally Posted by duckman1911

Of course though the lovely wlfd would still come up with a way to fine you for shooting something they say doesnt exist..lol

PETA would have you azz! lmao

[duckman1911]

Lake, maybe i'll get lucky and PETA will send out the same folks they sent to that biker rally.lol

[scooper]

W, the shots of the groundskeeper doing the Ray Lewis imitation are classic! I've got tears in my eyes and I've gotta get on the phone with the DOT. Keep it comin', man.

[Bdub]

We had a new kid come work at the shop (19), said they shot 5 of em off their back porch somewhere in sulphur hahaha. He said they would walk out into the woods behind their house and you would see them jumping from tree to tree...what a good storyteller. He lasted a week lol guess the boss didn't like his stories.

[duckman1911]

Originally Posted by Bdub

We had a new kid come work at the shop (19), said they shot 5 of em off their back porch somewhere in sulphur hahaha. He said they would walk out into the woods behind their house and you would see them jumping from tree to tree...what a good storyteller. He lasted a week lol guess the boss didn't like his stories.

Just a guess but im bettin he conviniently kept forgetting to bring the pictures of them to work for you to see.lol

[Bdub]

He didn't make it a week, I didn't even bother asking for pics haha