Would you shoot a black panther?

Like most of yall i have heard the storys of people seeing so called black panthers and never really believed in em but a coworker and his son were hunting in arkansas and his son was waiting 2 be picked up by his dad and saw one cross the road about 30yds from him. He said he raised the gun to shoot the cat and his dads lights came around the curve so he couldnt safely shoot at it. To make a long story short would you shoot one if you saw it?

In da face!

I have talked to alot of guys and they said they were afraid to shoot one because it my be a protected jaguar.

Here Kitty Kitty!

Yes, I like my Ibex more than big cats.SSS

Yes... otherwise no one would beleive me. (Just like I don't beleive the Arkansas kid's story)

Nope. If the animal isn't considered a common nuisance or source of meat, it gets a pass from me.

Yep and make sausage. Nobody has to know.

Never. I don't want Jesse, Al and JWP on my front porch for the next year or so.

Yes I would!!! It would make a nice mount!!!

Oh no, another hypothetical question. >> Thought maybe Axis or Chital was dreaming again, but too early in the morning for them to be outa' bed!

Nah, if one was standing outside a polling place I might give 'em a sharp elbow-jab walking past, but don't think guns are allowed near a voting booth.

you shoot a black cat in texas, better start shoveling or your have to explain to the game warden why you shot a jagarundi

I am a protected species also.

Any jagarundi in ne tx or arkansas? Ifi was hunting south tx i would worry more. I know i would try to shoot one if i saw it.

if you are seeing a black cat its not a black mountain lion.

THEY DO NOT EXIST.

its either a jaguar or a jagarundi. either of which are protected and will carry heavy fines

Just as quick as I'd shoot bigfoot.

Here we go again...

No one has ever actually defined a "black panther".

What some people have seen are "big black cats", which is probably a black jaguar...but who knows.

Those of us that have seen "big black cats" can only assume they are just "big black cats" - species unknown.

As far as the question: In a hearbeat.

I figure its a jaguar or black color phase lepeord that somebody released. I think i read somewhere that in all the years that cougars had bountys on em not one was brought in that was black in color. If any wardens were called i wonder what they would say? All the years ive spent hunting i have never seen anything like a big black cat.

I don't think there will ever be found a black cougar...anywhere. But ruling out an escaped jaguar or two isn't too far-fetched.
There's too many videos of big black house cats being called "black panthers" for this to have too much credibility publically, though.

Saw a u tube video of a older man and his daughter in a tree stand on a food plot and they had video on a big cat coming into the food plot and then walk off. I think it was in another southern state. cool video and no dought it was a big cat.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/jag/
if its a big cat is NOT a Jaguarndi,

8-16lbs is the size of a house cat......

Mountain lions can have a genetic disorder causing them to have black (dark charcoal grey) hair just like the black coyotes you see sometimes. The chances of someone seeing a mountain lion are extremely rare and a black one even moreso obviously. But it is possible. I don't believe any of the stories however until someone actually shoots one. And yes I would shoot one and sell to the highest bidder.

This

The wife wouldn't let me butcher the thing and put it in the freezer to eat, and I see little value in a trophy skin, so I'd let it go if I was sure it was an actual lion or jaguar. House cats get shot and fed to the vultures.

For real!

I guess to be safe and not go to jail if i ever see one let it walk or dont tell anyone i got one. lol.

maybe grey but not black. There is a pssibilty that the subspecies in the everglades has a black geen but none as ever been documented. Black mountain lions DO NOT exist. If you shoot one it will be in your dreams.

Just for he record i never said mtn lion or cougar, i said black cat. Im like most of you and have never seen one but wouldnt dought that some people have released one or two black jaguars or leopards because they got to big or to expensive to keep.

Id catch it alive

If I saw one I would be forced to shoot it just to settle this argument once and for all, have the DNA tested to identify what all species it was. Would not mind if there was a fine. Too many of THF members have done things that could be punished by fine and/or jail time.

how can anyone say they don't exist?

Shoot it Ned, its coming right for you!!!!


On a serious note, I saw a large black cat, much bigger than a bobcat, that had been hit in the middle of Hwy 277 in Haskell. Was in a hurry to get to my customers business and didn't think about getting a picture when I left as I went a different way. I could kick myself.

yep!

Black panthers do exist.

X2

Friends of mine live in secluded area out in the middle of about 300 acres and his wife said she saw a large cat with long tail crossing a hay meadow. Was wondering what she actually saw until we were coming up out of the bottomland a couple months ago and i saw it myself jump into a thicket. It was black and not as big as a mountian lion. Henderson/Van Zandt Co. line.

Well hell man, if they're armed, that changes everything and all bets are off...I'd definitely shoot. Taxidermy costs would eat you alive though.

I would not shoot one as it would most likely be bulletproof like unicorns.

Only if its a melanistic Unicorn, because true black Unicorns don't really exist..

My wife will only let me have 3 mounts in the house....1) Black Mountain Lion 2) Unicorn 3) Bigfoot

Hunted over 30 years in over a dozen US states and 4 continents and have yet to see any of the above.......

Here is a video of a "big black cat" - not a black cougar, not a black mountain lion. But of course...they don't exist...

Language in some of the comments are not for young eyes.

[video:youtube]v=tOHFT9RUW3I[/video]

Embedding disabled by request

Argh! Just click on the "Watch on Youtube" link.

Here ya go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOHFT9RUW3I&feature=player_embedded

Tried that too...nothing. Might be because I am on an iPad.

If that was truly an African Leopard, what are the laws about shooting it? When some regular African lions escaped south of my parents place in Cisco, the game warden told us to shoot them. Same deal here?

Me 2

That's the way I do things too.

Marc

Works for me...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOHFT9RUW3I

why shoot it? makes no sense?

cause it can kill your asss

Heck yes! I would love to have one on the wall beside my unicorn and sasquatch!

is that sasquatch a full mount or just a shoulder mount? Maybe a European?

You have a better chance hunting and killing an alien.

The unicorn is a shoulder mount and the rainbow gliiter mane is sweeet! The sasquatch is just a skull, that thing smelled so bag I had to ditch the hide!

yes

As footage goes for claims of black panthers, that would be spot-on perfect. The cat isn't clear in the video. There is no scale to reasonable assess size. No real detail is present. Of course, there is no body.

That's true. And it could be a pet jaguar. But it's not a house cat. And it could be a pet cougar that someone dyed its hair for a hoax.

Drt

Nope.

Definatly not a house cat. and orn that was the video i was talking about.

I would pass too.
Original Texas settlers recorded that they existed in South Texas when they got here.
They went away with the bears, buffalo and leopards.
That is why I would pass.
Seen any passenger pigeons lately?

Not me. I would catch it

If it moves, shoot it! NO

Thats a house cat in that video. Just like the video people shot across a tank of a cat on a tank dam, just a house cat.

Do you honestly think if there was food in that food plot (deer) that the cat would make his presence known? They're the most patient hunters in the animal kingdom. They will likely sit extremely still along the edge and wait for supper to come walking by. The the deer in the picture is clearly not a prey item for the cat or on its menu, housecat.

The muscle structure just isn't there for it to be a leopard or a jaguar and we all know black mountain lions do not exist; housecat.

IF I see a big black cat, I'm shooting. The only big black cat that would possibly be seen is an exotic species that does not belong here in the states.

I don't for a minute believe it would be a jaguar that migrated north from Mexico, because where are all of yellowish colored jaguars??? There are none. So with the black jaguars being 10% of the population or so, a black cat seen in the states is not a Jaguar that wandered its way over here from the wild.

IF you see a large black cat, its an escapee, good chance it has lost its fear of humans, you bet I'm shooting.

Settlers in south Tx. black coat jaguars. They still have spots that can be seen in the daylight and do exist even today.
The only true large black cats ever verified were in Asia nd Africa.

That's not always the case. Large cats, and other predators, are often seen amongst animals that would otherwise be their prey. The animals know when the cats are hunting and when they're just strolling by looking for a drink or commuting to another spot. If, in fact, that was a large cat, and I'm not saying it was, it obviously wasn't in hunting mode. I agree with Orn, I don't think it's a housecat. This video is kind of like Bigfoot video footage/pictures,..there's only enough there to wet your pallet, but nothing of any substance to satisfy your taste buds.

I can't stand sasquatch trophy hunters.

So its ok to shoot a unicorn but not a Sasquatch? I suppose the Loch Ness monster is fair game too? Why don't you just knock-up the tooth fairy, shoot Rudolph, snare the Easter bunny, and put out poison catnip for all the black mtn lions. Geesh...no respect for nature at all.

There is one that has been reported over by the NSSA and Talley Rd near San Antonio..Color is not indigent to this area..Mountain
Lions here to W. Texas are yellow mostly w/ball tail coming from
No. Mexico..Dick who retired as director of NSSA saw this cat himself I'm told..I had a lady call me that was loosing Barbados from behind a 4' high pipe rail fence..she had over 100..and they
wgt. from 125 to 250lbs..I went out and there was a large Barbado
Ram hanging over her fence w/it's legs caught.in the panel wire.
She didn't want to pay me for using my dogs in an Residential area w/sheep farmers or pay for my lost dogs..within a month it had killed every sheep she had..DD

I would shoot it, have it verified, mount it, create a wonderful carney style display, then make a tour of every hunting outdoor show and expo in the State, including the Texas State Fair and charge per head to see "the real, it's true, the one and only, Texas Black Panther"! Of course I would pick up some other strange but true oddities like a double headed rattlesnake, a real jackelope, a real chupacabra, and more to make sure everyone got their money's worth. I would be rich in no time.

I've heard feline meat is good eating...

I saw some sort of black critter 25 yrs ago in Colorado county. I had a scoped .243, it was about 200 yds away. It was slightly bigger than a bobcat, a tail equal to its body length. At the time I said it was black. In hindsight, it may have been a silvery black. I watched it till it disappeared. Never shot

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/city_of_wac...053f267d86.html
For all you non believers

What if the cat was watching u and growled?

If you don't shoot everyone will think you're crazy.

Lucky for me I already have the Bigfoot head.... now all I need is two more and I can get credit for the first grandslam on feral species.

I would take a picture of it

Count me in as having claimed to see two big "black cats" in my lifetime. I don't give two hoots what other people believe. Whether they are mountain lines, mutated bobcats, I don't know and I don't care. I just know how to size an animal fairly well by distance and they were no common house or feral cat.

I have grown up and spent most of my life in the East Texas woods of Anderson and Cherokee county.

The first sighting was with my parents and sister back in the early 90's in Montalba, north of Palestine.

The second sighting was with my wife, kids, and niece four years ago near ID Fairchild State Forest near the Neches River west of Rusk.

To each his own.

yeah and I heard that LSD was pretty popular in those counties back then too

What is the problem with Black Cats? I've shot them for years.

Everyone in Louisiana has seen at least one or two. Just ask 'em.

pewpew!

-Mickey

I would shoot one on principal alone.

Heck yea I shoot it.

I've shot a bunch of those Black Cats over the years. Usually around the 4th of July and New Years Day.

Shoot in the chest and claim self defense.

no

yep

Okay....I'm curious about something. I will admit I don't believe 95% of the "black panther" stories out there. Most are complete BS (particularly the people who claim they have seen them multiple times).

However, why do so many of you claim they "do not exist"? Someone correct me if I'm wrong....but I believe Melanism (the opposite of Albanism) can occur in any species of animal. I have seen pictures of melanistic Whitetail Deer, Impala, Giraffe, African Leopard, Axis Deer, Kudu, and other species. I have personally seen a melanistic whitetail doe, and numerous melanistic squirrels (no they weren't the rock squirrels from the Hill Country). Although EXTREMELY rare, why are so many of you denying the possibility of a melanistic Mountain Lion?

Have there been any studies done proving they cannot exist for some reason?

I heard they were trying to control polling locations at the first obamanation election.

People tend to not believe something they have never seen!!! People don't like the unknown!!! A few years ago there was a biologist from TWPD that wrote there is a possibility of it happening!!! I remember when I was young and saw a guy bring in a channel cat to a dock at Lake Livingston that weighed 26lbs!!! Later on a guy in his early 20's came down and when I told him he said that it was impossible because he had never seen one!!!

Yes, actually. There has never been a single instance of a melanistic mountain lion in recorded history, and they are officially considered to not have melanistic occurrences.

You're basically relying on the "anything can have mutations" if you assume it could be a melanistic cougar. You're equally as likely to see a pig with wings.

To answer the original question, if you see a black panther in the wild, there is a 100% chance that it escaped from a zoo or illegal captivity. It's not going to survive anyway and will absolutely prey on the easiest possible targets (livestock and people), so absolutely, yes. Unless it is somewhere that you can isolate it until authorities can get there with tranquilizers (in your garage that you close), shoot it. It's going to hurt someone very soon if you don't.

Multiple studies actually. Not one case throughout modern history.

Another BS story! SMH

Getting hung up on the "black cougar" aspect is a dead end road.

Escaped jaguars maybe. Who knows.

You would too; I've hunted with you a lot. Remember that squirrel you de-tailed in Oklahoma.

I don't know if I would; I'd have to be in that situation, probably not, I don't even shoot bob cats. Why, I don't eat them, and I don't need to feed my ego; it's alreay too big.

While driving a dump truck just outside of Texarkana, I saw 3 young black cats. They had to be immature cats because they weren't sleek and pretty, but scruffy and they all had a little white tip on their tail. They were crossing the highway about 100 yards in front of me and I got pretty close to them before they were able to make it into the woods. They were just a little bigger than your average bobcat with tails that were about 2 and a half foot long. I find it hard to believe that it was a gene mutation because all 3 of them where the same color and the same size or age. Were they "Black Panthers"? Who knows, but they dang sure weren't house cats.

They were either dogs or housecats.

if you're talking about the black panthers that hang out around election polling stations, then yes, I'd shoot those in an instant.

Cameron, you and I typically agree on things....but this isn't one of them.

You're saying that "because it hasn't been recorded"....it is impossible and cannot exist. Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?

Melanism is an INCREDIBLY rare occurrence in the wild for any species....and because Mountain Lions are rarely seen anyway, it would make sense that one hasn't yet been verified and recorded. However, that is in no way, shape, or form considered as "evidence" that they don't exist.

And yes, anything CAN have mutations. That is exactly what Melanism is....by definition, just like Albanism.

Eland, do you believe in Bigfoot??? About the same difference.

I'd be right there with ya.

Eland - They've found melanistic occurences in many animals, as you noted. In animals where it occurs, it displays itself. Cougars aren't even that rare. There are many, many more of them than there are jaguars or leopards, animals that do have melanistic occurences. Abino tigers? Way, way more cougars than there are tigers. Yet everyone knows those exist.

It's an animal that plain and simply does not have a melanistic variety. Yes, the fact that one has never occurred is, in fact, hard evidence that it doesn't exist. Or if you're okay with agreeing it's as likely as bigfoot or chupacabras existing, I'm fine with that.

Other than that, this isn't a case of just a rare animal not being seen. It is considered factual that melanistic mountain lions do not exist by biologists and people that do this for a living. That's enough for me.

I'm fine with agreeing that it's possible that at some point in the history of the world, a cougar with melanistic characteristics could have existed. I'm also 100% certain that no one on this board has ever seen one.

If you want to project my certainty against the total population of cougars in the history of Planet Earth and the theoretical (since none have ever been confirmed) exceptionally rare occurence of melanistic cougars and further discount that by the brief tiime period the posters on this message board have been living, I'm fine with us all agreeing that I'm only 99.99999999998% certain no one on this board has seen one.

I agree with aggiehunter03 they are possible, My Dad and his ole huntin buddy seen one cross a road at our lease in Honey Island in the 80's. I would shoot one if I had the chance.

They might have seen a mountain lion that looked black but I guarantee that they didn't see a black one. THEY DON'T EXIST, PERIOD!!!!

Yep, I 100% believe people when they say they saw a black panther or a black mountain lion or whatever, because I believe that they believe they did.

It's just mistaken identity. Light conditions, distance, mind playing tricks, etc all lends to believing you see something that you don't. If they truly existed, there would be evidence. There is none.

We will certainly just have to agree to disagree....

Mountain Lions may not be "rare"....but the are far from being a common animal. There are approximately 30,000 Mountain Lions in the entire United States (and by the way, there are approximately 50,000 African Leopards....so they are NOT "way, way more common" than Leopards). There have been very few confirmed cases of Melanistic Leopards, mostly in Ethiopia. Perhaps the occurrence of Melanistic Mountain Lions are even less common on a statistical basis.

Just for kicks....let's say a Melanistic Mountain Lion is a 1 in 1,000,000 occurrence. That means one would only pop up every 33+ generations of the animal. So for you to say, that because one has not been killed or "verified by biologists", "they cannot exist" is just irrational and juvenile. Once again, just because it has not yet been verified is ABSOLUTELY NOT evidence that they cannot exist. Hell, there may not have been one alive in the last 50 years....but that doesn't mean they cannot exist. Give me a break.

And for the record, NO I do not believe in Chupacabras or Bigfoot. That is an entirely different situation in which people believe in a mythical species. We are simply talking about a color mutation in a known species.

They haven't ever been confirmed because they don't exist. Why is that so hard for you to believe. Better yet what makes you so certain that they do exist????

I'll promise you half the people who hunt swear they have seen one but they never get a good shot or they forgot to take a picture or the camera malfunctioned! None of these people saw what they thought they saw or either would climb a tree to tell you a lie!

Hay anyone ever seen a black squirrel ?

Yes I have seen blackish rock squirrels

I see them everyday.

I'm not saying "they cannot exist". I'm saying there has never been a single one that's existed that's been documented by a human. No one has ever seen one, not a single game cam picture of one, one has never died and been found, one has never been hit by a car, zero. Anywhere, by anyone. They don't exist. Doesn't mean they never will, but they certainly don't now.

A melanistic cougar is actually much, much more unlikely than a black jaguar or leopard, animals that actually exist, just not in Texas.

And yes, leopards are at least as common as cougars. My mistake.

Jaguars are less than 1/10th as common, as are tigers. Yet we see their color variations.

I was just wandering about the black squirrel's cause I have seen at least 7 of them in my life in east Texas all were dead going in the frying pan or dumpling's, And 1 on dad's wall as a mount.We alway's assumed they were Fox squirrel but black instead of Red and bigger than cat or gray squirrel's. Just wandering.

I've seen 3 black Fox Squirrels.....all in Montgomery County. One of them lived across the street from our house, and came over to eat at our deer feeder nearly every day. Saw him for about 3 years....

Well I am glad to see you admit that they CAN, in fact, exist. I never meant to insinuate there are a bunch of them (or any at the moment)....just that it is not impossible for a Mountain Lion to be melanistic.

Been driving too long and wild imagination

I never said they do exist. I only that it is entirely possible for them to exist.....because, as I stated previously, all animals are capable of being melanistic.

In general.....it seems the more common an animal is (I.E. - Whitetail Deer and squirrels), the more common it is to see one that is melanistic. The more uncommon an animal is....obviously you will have a much lesser chance of seeing one that is melanistic. It is simply a matter of statistics.

I've seen tens of thousands of Whitetail Deer, but only one that was melanistic. I've seen tens of thousands of squirrels, but only three that were melanistic.....However, I've been hunting for 20+ years and have NEVER seen a single Mountain Lion (of any color). The chance of ANYONE seeing one that is melanistic would be extremely rare (so much so, that maybe it hasn't even happened yet).

I refuse to loose 3 hours of my life reading this whole thing, yall let me know when one is shot with a pic but yes I would in a heart beat. No issue from me killing any types of predators expecially after loosing so many axis etc to predators.

Some one just posted a trailcam pic of a black cat on facebook asking what you think it is, It look's like a big [censored] house cat to me, yall go check it out see what you think !!!

It's been on here a bunch of times. It's a housecat, very obviously.

Yes...we've got a bunch of black fox squirrels.

Man this has gone on way to long. lol.

As always...

My Boss at work is from Louisiana and he said he was stalked by a Black Panther one evening waking back from his Deer stand. I figured I'd stir the pot one more time. LOL

use to a fair number on a ranch 25 miles NW of Rocksprings. I read a study written by a biologist that a malinistic gene ABSOLUTELY does exist in western mountain lions.

Ive seen them at the polling booths in Louisiana but never in the woods.

Where can we find this study????

the real question is "why not shoot a black panther"? I mean there are a ton of sightings so it's not like you're killing something on the endangered species list and unless you bring proof everyone will call you a liar. It will also save resident children and weiner dogs from being brutally attacked outside of their homes. It is a proven fact that 93.6% of black panther attacks are blamed on pitbulls, so help save the world and please shoot all black panthers.

I am from North Florida and we have a lot of Florida Panthers that have been placed here by the FWC with tags. I have to say that I would absolutely without a doubt put one down if i was ever stalked by one again. I was walking in to the stand one mornig before dawn and kept hearing a noise in the bushes...Knowing that there were hogs in the area at times I just blew it off...a few minutes later as I came to the trail I go down, I shined my light down the trail and heard something crash out of the bushes behind me. I turned around to see a good sized Momma Panther with two cubs and she was not happy. I only had my bow and a backpack. I stood still and was growled at for a good 2 minutes. Yeah I pretty much pissed my pants! Now I cary my pistol in every time!! I don't know if it was the babies or not but I don't ever want to be caught in that position at 15 yds and have to nock an arrow up before getting mauled!