MTA Newsletter this month: Panther on camtrakker

[Wingman]

The rather poor, b&w photo in the latest Mississippi Trappers Association newsletter shows a panther walking broadside thru some grass.

Photo reportedly taken in Scott County. I'll try to post a pic tomorrow.

Wingman

[Wingman]

Sorry..I seem to be about a week late on this

I hate pics like this where you have nothing in the background to compare the size of the animal to. For all I know, this could be a bobcat in sage grass, but they claim it's a panther. Of course, a good quality photo would be better, but this is all I had to give you.



Wingman

[DuckyDan]

Hope I don't see one of those boogers out in the duck woods! I think it might take a little bit more than steel shot to stop him!

Someone tell me about these animals......are they a subspecies of the mountain lion or what? I'm just curious. I've heard people say that there is a such thing and that there isn't. So many people say that they have seen them! I saw something right at dusk several years ago when I was deer hunting that at first I thought was a big black dog, but the closer I looked, it wasn't a dog. I swear it looked like a big cat with a long thick tail. Nevertheless, it scared the crap out of me because it was too close for comfort. If anyone has any information, pics, etc., I'd be interested to know some more.

[Don Miller]

Looks more like a bobcat than a panther to me. I probably wouldn't know if it was a panther or not, the only panthers I have ever seen were black and in a cage at the zoo.

[duckhuntalot]

I agree with the bobcat theory. Think about this. When you saw the cats at the zoo, didn't most of the long tailed cats hold their tails above their back?

[Robinhood]

Yea, looks like a bobcat, but sure has a long body. Wish I could see the tail. Hey wingman, what happened to your duck hunt on that TV show last season?

[DuckyDan]

Those big cats hold their tails just like a housecat. Usually, they'll go all the way to the ground and the tip will curve up.

I agree with it looking like a bobcat, but it may be a panther. The tail will tell. hahaha

How come there are no pictures of "local" panthers? This stuff bugs me.

[Denduke]

The back looks to long and swayed not like bobcat.
Part of tail is visible hanging low, looks like if it was bobbed it would be visible sticking up and bright.
The face looks panthem not bobcat.
I guess they didn't find tracks or scat or it would be a done deal.
I'll vote panthem just cause I saw one in Ala. one time and couldn't prove it. Like the intrigue.
Wonder if expert photo analysts could elaborate.

[DuckyDan]

Thank you Denduke.....At least I'm not the only crazy one in here.

[Greenhead22]

I honestly believe that the DWFP doesn't want to look at the facts about panthers residing in MS. In the past ten yrs at out camp we found a couple sets of tracks, called the district gamewardens, never showed up to follow up on the discovery.

[DuckyDan]

I've never uderstood the whole panther myth. Everything I've tried to look up about them says that we have mountain lions in the west and that there are panthers down in florida, but nothing to explain the animal around here. Some people say that there is a such thing, and others say that there isn't. There's this older couple that goes to my old church that had one around their house several years ago. No one believed them when they told them one was around. One day they saw it out by the levee of their lake right after it had rained, so the man went out there to look for tracks and had a mold made of them. It's pretty neat.....sorta scary though.

[Marcel D Ledbetter]

Looks like a healthy bobcat to me.

[Wingman]

For all we know, it could be a close up of "Patches", Aunt Betty's 4 year old tom cat.

That's why I hate pictures like that...not enough information.

And I can't really see the tail.

Now if we had some kind of background reference, then we could better tell.

Wingman

[Bullreds & Greenheads]

I wish the picture was better.

I am by no means an expert, but I have been interested in this subject since my brother saw one in the Big Black River Swamp near Vaiden, MS back in the 1980's. I wrote a couple of research papers on the subject when I was at State, so I'll relate a little of what I remember.

First off, cougars (aka panthers, painters, mountain lions, pumas, catamounts, to name a few) were at one time (maybe still are?) native to the state. Native-Americans and the early settlers definitely rubbed elbows with them. Their main prey would have been deer, but there were fewer deer in the state then than there are now, so there was never a huge number of them.

What deer were here were basically wiped out in the 19th Century and early 20th century by unregulated subsitence hunting. The reduction in prey animals had a similar effect on cougar numbers. Also cougars were seen as a threat to livestock and people, and so were killed at every opportunity.

If I remember correctly, the "last" cougar in Mississippi was "officially" killed in either the 1910's or 1920's. I don't remember where in MS or how they arrived at their conclusion that this was the "last" one.

However, panther reports kept coming in. Here are a few:
1. A cougar was seen by two witnesses (game wardens or security guards, not sure which) on Stennis Space Center property in South MS.
2. In the mid-to-late 1990's, there were several reports of a cougar being sited in the Vicksburg Military Park. Park officials even printed up flyers warning people and asking for sighting reports.
3. A bowhunter reported a sighting in the Big Black River Swamp somewhere around the Hinds-Warren County line. A game warden was called to the scene and plaster casts were made of the tracks. Big article in the Clarion-Ledger. I think this was in the fall of 1983.

Besides plaster casts of footprints, hair & scat have been collected at some scenes. Undeniable proof, right? Nope. The argument then shifts to whether the evidence points to a "loose pet" or a wild cougar. The point is critical to geeting researchers interested. A "loose pet" is not significant to researchers. A wild cougar would be, because it potentially represents a breeding population. The only way to prove that a cougar is "wild" is to capture a live one or to examine the carcass of one.

A word of warning. Any cougar walking around in Mississippi is considered an endangered species. Don't shoot 'em! You will looking at an incredible fine and jail time if you do.

The most likely way a body will turn up is by roadkill. Even in western states where they are common, bodies are rarely found in the wild. I don't know their protocols, but I understand that biologists can determine through forensics whether the animal is "wild" or not.

For more info, check out this site: http://www.easterncougarnet.org

The most controversial aspect about panthers is the continued reporting of "black panthers." No cougars or subspecies of cougars is known to have a black color phase. "Black panthers" are true mysteries. Some of the more common explanations are that people are seeing large black dogs and mistaking them for black panthers, or that they are seeing real panthers under poor light conditions. Wierder theories hold that "black panthers" are phantoms or some other kind of paranormal experience.
If that's your bag, go to Google and type in "cryptozoology" or "black panthers" and see what you get.

Oops. On second thought, you might not want to type in Black Panthers on Google.

Anyway, my fingers hurt and I've probably bored enough of you already. I like the subject and would definitely like to read any sighting reports that any of you might have had.

[ducks&bucks]

I've got an Uncle that has video of a black panther walking down his field road in broad daylight. My dad has also seen one on the same farm in Marshall Co.