Cougars

[anothertroutbum]

Has anybody else on here ever had an encounter with seeing a cougar here in NC? Believe me, they exist.

[dnakamoto]

I saw a few at the local bar last night .... 

[rockroller]

I have not seen one in the East.  And I only saw one in the Rockies where I grew up.

But far more than that one saw me.

When I was about 13 or 14, a hunter on a neighboring hill once started jumping up and down and hollering like a mad man.  I looked over at him, waved, kept walking, and he repeated the dance and scream routine.  He later described a big cat trailing me, crouching when I stopped, and stalking as I walked.  I never saw that cat.

Another time a scout buddy and I snowshoed up one of our favorite brookie streams.  We set up camp, pitched out tent, and in the morning found cougar tracks circling all around.  We never saw it.  We never heard it.

So I respect those cats!  A lot.  And as much as I keep my eyes open for black bears here in the Blue Ridge, I'll tell you that nothing makes my hair stand on end like when I used to clamber up some of those narrow Utah canyons and feel the eyes of a hunter.

Among the cougar kills I used to come across in those Rockies were two of the biggest bucks I've ever seen.

And a 3-weight is just no match.

[Woolly Bugger]

top cougar sightings

[anothertroutbum]

I have not seen one in the East.  And I only saw one in the Rockies where I grew up.

But far more than that one saw me.

When I was about 13 or 14, a hunter on a neighboring hill once started jumping up and down and hollering like a mad man.  I looked over at him, waved, kept walking, and he repeated the dance and scream routine.  He later described a big cat trailing me, crouching when I stopped, and stalking as I walked.  I never saw that cat.

Another time a scout buddy and I snowshoed up one of our favorite brookie streams.  We set up camp, pitched out tent, and in the morning found cougar tracks circling all around.  We never saw it.  We never heard it.

So I respect those cats!  A lot.  And as much as I keep my eyes open for black bears here in the Blue Ridge, I'll tell you that nothing makes my hair stand on end like when I used to clamber up some of those narrow Utah canyons and feel the eyes of a hunter.

Among the cougar kills I used to come across in those Rockies were two of the biggest bucks I've ever seen.

And a 3-weight is just no match.

The one I saw was drinking from a big rock in the middle of the stream. I had adisc camera in my vest and when I slowly went to get it out the cat bounded up the side of a cliff in one move. I fell in love and respect the big cats as well. Its no telling how many times I've been watched before and after.
And I'm sure a lot of you have too, considering where I was fishing.   

[overbrook]

We've had a couple of panthers down here in SC...I guess the same thing as cougars...but these were truly black.....we also had another big cat which I have yet to identify for sure.

[Midge]

My brother and I saw one in northern Michigan.

[glassfisher]

Man, I was thinkin this was a thread on the other type of cougars   :(

I was driving with my father in law on the BRP outside GSMNP and we saw a big cat cross the road about a 1/2 mile ahead of us.  Definitely the gait of a big cat, no mistaking it.  Game cats are so stealthy I don't think anyone would know it if they were still out here. 

[overbrook]

Man, I was thinkin this was a thread on the other type of cougars   :(

I was driving with my father in law on the BRP outside GSMNP and we saw a big cat cross the road about a 1/2 mile ahead of us.  Definitely the gait of a big cat, no mistaking it.  Game cats are so stealthy I don't think anyone would know it if they were still out here. 

yup...I saw em' twice down here crossing the road from a distance....like ya say....there ain't no mistaking it was a very big cat ....one other time I heard one probably not more than 75 yrds away in the woods right here at my house....never saw it...but hearing it alone about made me piss myself....my German shepard was back to the house like a bolt of lightning too....thats the only time I ever saw her run from anything!

[anothertroutbum]

We've had a couple of panthers down here in SC...I guess the same thing as cougars...but these were truly black.....we also had another big cat which I have yet to identify for sure.

The one I saw was tawby brown with black tipped fur. It first looked black in the sun and from a distance. The more I looked the more I saw the brown undercoat.

Cougars,pumas,panthers;they are the same cats.

[overbrook]

We've had a couple of panthers down here in SC...I guess the same thing as cougars...but these were truly black.....we also had another big cat which I have yet to identify for sure.

The one I saw was tawby brown with black tipped fur. It first looked black in the sun and from a distance. The more I looked the more I saw the brown undercoat.

Cougars,pumas,panthers;they are the same cats.

could very well have been...one sighting was at night....the other very early in the morning...and like I said it was from a pretty good distance....they certainly appeared to be black though.

anybody know what kind of cat this is? 





you can't see it in the pics but it had a long tail...not like a bobcat...black tips on the ears and weighed about 80 pounds..almost 3 ft. long



Troutrus....I understand your doubts...its hard for city folk to believe in anything they have'nt seen. Hell....my old man did'nt believe we had alligators either ...till one morning a 6 1/2 footer came out of the brush hissing at him while he was walking my daughter to the end of the driveway to catch the schoolbus. 




yup we have all kinds of mythical fairytail creatures down hear.    :j

[marc. p.]

Never saw one, but the Sparta NC newspaper had a photo about four years ago of a massive cat print a guy found in his garden.

[flatlander]

Beyond that, there is no "credible" evidence that cougars or panthers exist in the wild in the SE US. Most scientists agree that they were exterminated by a Sasquatch that had been roaming the area.

I heard the chupacabreh killed them all off. 

[phg]

Tom, I have heard that a bobcat will occasionally cross with a feral house cat producing a sterile hybrid.  That may be what you found.  The markings are definitely bobcat-esque. 

[tbird4]

We've had a couple of panthers down here in SC...I guess the same thing as cougars...but these were truly black.....we also had another big cat which I have yet to identify for sure.

My grandfather swears up and down he saw a black panther in up york county, sc.  As for me just bobcats, but I did see one last year while deer hunting that was almost the same size as my lab.