Attention Wingman, Delta, or Greenhead....(Panther video)

[NOHERE]

Well for what its worth, i have seen a black one close to Pickwick Lake. About 600 am in the bottoms . He/she crossed the road not more than 50 yards in front of my truck.This was about a year ago.

[Clifford]

The gentleman who has the video says he will bring it to our Spring Rendezvous for all to see... I just hope that we don't have a lynching over this... I just want to see everything I can about the Cougar in Mississippi... But, I would do the same thing about a UFO, Bigfoot, the Kennedy assassination, Flight 800, or any other topic that seems interesting...
Thanks to all of you fro your commments...
And, be careful out there... I hear that the boogie man lives where the ducks fly!!!!

[bwm]

Cliff, what ever became of the "hair sample" that you were going to have tested from GTK on msdeer?

[Junior P]

How can you prove where the video was shot? Not saying it wasn't in Mississippi, but there have been a whole lot of evidence forged on other "sightings".

[Clifford]

I have the hair but it doesn't prove anything because it could be pulled from a mounted cat, or a rug... The man didn't want anyone "prowling"around on his property, so that about did it for confirming anything...
In order to get the real deal, it's gonna take pics backed up by footprints, or some hard evidence... Believe me the MDWFP sends wardens all over on these wild goose chases doing the legwork for the biologists...
"Cat"tracks turn out to be big dog tracks, or there just aren't any most of the time...
I know how difficult it is to make a good case, but it can be done...
The things that work against it are, the lack of normal happenings when you have big cats around... They will kill a deer sized animal every week, eat some of it, cover it partailly with stick and leaves by scratching the debris back over the kill, and then move on to another one in a few days. Since they are an opportunistic predator, they would take whatever they could kill easiest whenever they are hunting... Have you heard of ranchers losing calves, goats, their dogs or cats in Mississippi like they do in the rest of the US? If an animal this size happens upon a good hunting area it will not leave right away. There would be someone who suddenly starts losing a lot of animals on a regular basis. To my knowledge, this hasn't been reported. And, hunters are not reporting finding deer carcasses left in the woods after being abondoned by them... I realize that coyotes would clean up any leftovers, but the odds are that someone would have stumbled upon something by now...
With the number of sandy creekbeds we have in the state, doesn't it seem likely that with hunting seasons that last most of the year, someone would spot some real tracks...
In Utah, where there is a big population of Cougars, it is possible to go for a lifetime without ever actually seeing one, but it isn't that hard to see their tracks.
I hope that one day we will establish that they do exist here, but for now I'm still waiting for some real evidence....

[BigGun]

My brother in law saw one while deer hunting in tate county. Said it was getting close to dark (but still plenty of light to see) and he spied him about 75 yards off in the scope. He had to wait about 30 minutes for it to leave the area. Said he has never been so scared and walked backwards about 500 yards to his truck. I know this is not a tall tale because of the way the story was brought up.

[peewee]

GH22 I believe if I remember right its a 1:250,000 chance. Theres a 1:200 chance for a melanistic phase coyote. Don't know what ya see exactly but I'm like timberjack. Im in the woods everyday and so are my cohorts (or at least was) and I never saw one or any signs. Out of all the foresters, biologist, surveyers etc. out in the woods everyday all over the state don't you think there would be some hard proof by now.