It seems like there are arguments/discussions on this forum constantly about sightings of black panters or mountain lions. Like most here, I've spent alot of time in the woods, and like most here, I have stories.

A friends grandfather used to swear he'd see a black panther on his place. He was a retired longtime judge and pretty much a no bs old man. One night, while spotlighting, we rounded a corner and something ran across the road. There were three of us in the truck and we all just kind of looked at eachother. We got the spotlight out, but didn't find a thing in the brush. It was low to the ground, dark colored, and moving very fast. We all thought we saw a black panther, but we had plenty of beer that night and I wouldn't swear to anything.

I've only seen one mountain lion in Texas (I've seen several in Colorado). I was sitting over a small stock tank, waiting for aoudads, and he walked through an opening not 20 feet from me. I was on the ground sitting against a tree. It was an unnerving feeling and my hunt didn't last much longer. The rancher had lost several calves to that cat and wasn't real happy I didn't shoot it, but I never had a shot.

But, all of this talk got me thinking. I actually see big cats every time I go to one of my properties. There is a large cat preserve a couple of miles down the road and they have lions, tigers, white tigers, cougers (mountain lions) and leopards (black panthers) plus many others. There is another cat preserve maybe 15 miles away as well that I pass on the way as well. I know there are many others in areas surrounding the metroplex.

So, that got me to thinking, do any of these cats ever escape? Or, do the owners, about to lose their animals, just turn them loose? The latter seems more likely.

So, it makes me wonder, do some people see exotic cats that have been released to the wild? Would the cat be able to survive in the wild? I would think it would given how well feral house cats seem to do.

Anyway, just a random thought on a sleepless Saturday night. I know I think about all those cats up the road pretty often when walking to the blind in the pitch black night. They have like 80 big cats and it doesn't look like the most secure facility in the world to me. The big cats are literally 10 feet from the county road, but behind large fences that are probably 15 feet tall. The thing is, 15 feet doesn't seem like enough for some cats.

I watched a pretty neat show on the history channel a while back that proved some dark (although spotted) Jaguars are moving in back from Mexico, which is supposed to explain the sightings.

I was quail hunting back in the early 80s around Decatur,TX and saw a mountain lion or cougar. Had a friend that lived in Alvord that I coonhunted with that saw several long tailed cats in the area.

I worked for animal control in Fort Worth and we always got reports on the black panther around N 820 and I 35. I saw several pictures a lady had taken on her land and it was indeed a black panther.

TPWD seemed to know about the mountain lions that roam several hunderd miles around Possum Kingdom lake area.

We have lots of cats in the Santo area.

Strange that you mentioned big cats ever escaping. When was the last tornado that hit in the Canton area? Sometime last year, I think. Anyway, they reported on the radio about 2 weeks after the storm that a barn had been blown down and a TIGER had escaped and was still at large. To my knowledge (and I've searched the web a few times), they still haven't found that tiger.

Now I don't know whether a "tame" tiger would survive in the wild or not, but I don't doubt that there's a good chance it could. Forget about it being able to chase down a deer or being forced to feed on pets and livestock. My guess is that ANY of the big cats in Texas that are capable, have shifted thier menu to feral hogs. They're numerous, easy to find (noisy and smelly), have poor eye-sight (making them easy to stalk), and not nearly as fast as deer. On top of that, every sounder of hogs I've ever seen has had numerous small pigs in it's ranks. Easy prey even for a beginner big cat.

Anyway, if anyone on here hunts around Canton, you might just see something out there one day that no one will ever believe. I mean, everyone knows someone who says they've seen a black panther while hunting. But how many guys would ever even admit to seeing a tiger?!!!

By-the-way; my opinion on black panthers? They don't exist. Period. Okay, you should never say never, but I'd put it right up there with bigfoot. Is it possible? Maybe. But why on earth hasn't anyone ever killed one or found a dead one? Truth is, I'd actually be more surprised to see a black panther (black mountain lion) dragged from the woods than a sasquach.

While hunting in Mason Co 5 years ago, a couple of the guys said that they had seen a Cougar- and not the East Texas kind. One was my bil and the other I would happen to believe. About 5 years before this, my bil and I were sitting in his tree stand and had a fawn walk under it. About 10 minutes latter we heard the worst sound you could think of. I jumped down after some coaxing from my bil and walk around some black brush where the sound came from and finally got back to the tree. I asked my bil if he had seen anything, as I found the fawn with a couple of bites taken out. He said "Yeah, just 3' of the tail!"
Three years ago, there was a sighting in I belive Granbury or somewhere around that area, where they had taped a Cougar on the football field. The lease we were on also started missing sheep about 2 weeks later, with one found on the county road.
So while they may not turn up on cameras, I think they're out there.

All the game cameras out there in the wild and not one single picture of a Black Panther (the Mountain Lion variety). Untill someone produces a pic of one they are just a myth!

Heck.......just think about all the people on this forum that claim to have seen a Mountain Lion (the tan variety) but I can only think of 2 that have either killed one or got game cam pics of one here in Texas.

My opinion is that 100% of Black Panther reports here in Texas are false sightings, and 95% of Mountain Lion sightings here in texas are false sightings.

Oh.......and Chupacabras are the real deal!

Wildlife professor told me there is a 0% chance of a mountain lion being black. He said if someone see's a big black cat that it would have to be a jaguar.

the black panther thing kills me... (almost literally).

you have some people who have only seen one or two mountain lions in their entire life, and by the grace of God, it just so happens they have stumbled onto one of the highest profile mythical animals in texas... a friggen black panther.

I saw a black panther chewing on a sasquatch femur the other day in my chupa pen.

I have seen 2 mountain lions ever, never any black panthers though lol.

My buddy swears to god that he saw one on a golfcourse in Burnet one evening while golfing. I dont believe him but 3 people that were in his golfing group all swear to it and tell the same story of the black panther chasing a deer across the fairway.

Was this outside the 19th hole?

Anybody ever notice that at twilight, when there's really not enough light to make out anything, is when you'll see the darnedest stuff. I swear, last season I saw a two-humped camel that later turned out to be a bush, a black bear that later turned out to be a black cow, a weed that had the biggest set of doe ears I've ever seen....the list goes on. Poor light and the mind's imagination make you see some really weird stuff.

Where was the Loch Ness monster during all of this???

I saw a chalupacabre once. That's a goat sucker in a crunchy fried tortilla with cheese.

I hope to see one through my scope one day.

As stated in one of the posts above, it is not about opinion. Cougars do not have a melanistic "black phase", so...no black mountain lions.

"Black Panther" is basically what anyone would call a large Black Cat that they see in the wild. Just because a Mountain Lion or Cougar does not have a melanistic characteristic doesn't mean that there are no "Large Black Cats" in Texas.

A few melanistic Bobcats have been captured, that if you saw in the woods, most people would call a Black Panther.

Another possibility is the jaguarundi, which is known to inhabit South Texas and was introduced in Florida in the 40's. They have a home range of over 40 square miles...Though smaller, could be a suspect in some of the sightings. Whats to say that in the last 70 years, they haven't ventured out of Florida or Southern Texas?

"The jaguar has had several (photographically) confirmed, and many unconfirmed, sightings in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and southwest Texas, but not beyond that region." It is well known that the jaguar, though rare, has the genetics to produce a "black" coat.

Also, as stated above, there are places scattered throughout that hold large cats in captivity and escapes are not unheard of.

So the idea that it is impossible for there to be "Black Panthers" and to discount every sighting and the people that have seen them seems a little niave. Most likely just mistaken identity.

As far as not catching one on Camera...We have many bobcats on our ranch in West Texas. I don't have a picture of one of them, so why would something a little less common be expected to show up on one?

But that is just my 2 cents....

It's not naive. They either saw a jagurundi, a house cat, a black dog, or nothing.

The odds of seeing a regular jaguar are like 1 in 10,000,000. Add the odds of that jaguar being a black jaguar?

If you told me that 1 or 2 people in Texas history actually have seen black jaguars, I'd chalk it up to one escaping from the zoo and it being the truth. But like 10% of this board thinks they've seen one. It's ludicrous.

Another much more plausible possibility is that people see real mountain lions and the light is cast upon them in fashion that makes them appear dark or black.

Jaguars, or a smaller breed, where native to Texas in the last century..whats to say that they were completely erradicated in Texas? Pretty sure that many people on this forum and elsewhere would confirm that there are plenty of remote areas of Texas that hide a cat... Not sure how many bobcats are on my little 10k acre place out West, but I have gone numerous years without seeing one. Doesn't mean that they aren't there...

I agree that many of the sightings are probably not a "black panther" and could be chalked up to a cat, dog, shadow, or a big cat in low light conditions or shadows...but I don't think that I could discount all the sightings and compare it to Big Foot sightings...

Guess I am up to 4 cents of input on this topic.

txhntr - The problem is that every, single animal, no matter how rare it is in Texas, gets hit by cars and is confirmed to exist.

That has happened exactly zero times with black jaguars or black panthers or whatever you want to call them. It's basically statiscally impossible that they exist at any level and haven't walked in front of a game camera or been hit by a car.

What if I told you that there are "Black Whitetail Deer" in Texas? There are pictures of them now, but 5 years ago...10 years ago...30 years ago, you would have called me crazy. There are not any on game camera's, none have been hit by cars and none have been shot...

Who is to say they haven't been hit by a car? How many farmers do you know stop and see what animal they just ran over? How many animals have you hit and turned around to find that they managed to scramble over/under a fence? How many bears have been hit by cars?

There are old stories of farmers in East Texas killing large black cats. They hung them on the fence like every other predator and continued on their way.

Statistically, the fewer there are the less likely they are to be hit, shot or jump in front of a camera. Cats are lurkers by nature as it is, so it would be logical to assume that they would be spotted less than most animals.

Also, statistically, camera's cover a very, very, very small area on any range. Lets say we put 50 cameras on 50 acres and there are still many acres left to walk through. How many hunters success stories about a big buck they killed include the statement "we never even saw him on our camera's."

People claim to see them all the time. People have "video" of large black cats that they swear are not house cats. People even have claimed to have shot one. I agree that not ALL of the sightings are real (even if the folks believe it) but there sure is alot of evidence to show that they could be real and could be in Texas. Even if it isn't a black mountain lion...

I would be willing to bet there are a large black cats living wild in Texas. They obviously aren't black cougars (mountain lions), but given how many people make very poor pet owners, I would almost guarantee that some exotic cats have been turned out in Texas at some point.

That was kind of the point of starting this thread. I wonder how long an exotic cat could live in the wild, whether it be a black leopard, a lion, a tiger, or even a cougar. I've got a buddy who has had a terrible problem with feral house cats on his property. Someone just dumped them off and they multiplied like crazy. If they could survive, why couldn't a leopard?

According to the website for the place down the road from me, they house 53 exotic cats including 6 black leopards. Makes me think that black leopards are pretty common amoung the folks who own such animals.

All of these animals were supposedly "rescued". Makes you wonder how many aren't "rescued", but the owner gets to the point of either not being able to afford the, the animal escapes, or who knows what else. Ever had a dog run away? I have. If you owned one of these big cats and it escaped, would you want that publisized? I'd imagine most wouldn't (I can't answer as I'd never own one or any cat for that matter).

I'd imagine that alot of these sightings are real, but that the cat they are seeing is a released/escaped exotic.