Been hunting for 65 years. Feel confident in my knowledge of our American wildlife. Hunted numerous states even the Colorado Rockies for about 10 years. Harvested elk, Mule deer and even encountered a few bears and a mountain lions on several occasions

I say this for I'm sure my claim that I had a black panther/ cougar cross the road at 100 yds in front of me on my way to church yesterday may not seem credible. Not a drinker either,

My place in very isolated about 4 miles from the nearest home in Dickens county.

As I pulled out my gate and went about 1/8 mile west I watched this large cat like critter come from the south to North crossing the road into the center of my property.

A very large animal which was way bigger then any domestic cat with a long black tail.

I sped up to see if I could see it in the pasture heading north but it has sufficient mesquite cover that it was gone.

My wife claims to have seen a mountain lion a few years ago while in her stand but to date I have never seen anything like this.

Wish I had a picture but this was only a momentary observation and is anchored in my minds eye as a unique experience.

this thread will likely grow exponentially ... but ... back in the early '60s my dad and I hunted on top of White Bluff (Garrett ranch) overlooking Lake Buchanan in north Burnet County. Early one morning on our way out, right at Spider Mountain, we came around a bend and saw something at the edge of the pavement munching on a dead deer. As our headlights swung in that direction, we were both shocked as it appeared to be a black mountain lion, we were less than 100 yards when it turned and went into the cedars on the east side. We had hunted that ranch (Fry ranch) for several years prior to moving to our then current lease. There were many sightings/kills of mountain lions all around that area. Later that week, dad was visiting with the local game wardens (Billy Mac Sprout and Bill Johnson) and they just laughed at the story about a black mountain lion anywhere around those parts. A month or so later, he was talking with the GW again and they said that old man Fry killed a dark chocolate colored mountain lion male, a big one, on his ranch after loosing several dozen goats which would be within a mile or so of where we saw whatever it was we saw.

I suspect, could be similar to what you saw...

melanistic lion, perhaps?

Bigger than a jaguarundi? I know people swear they don't exist in Texas anymore, but I saw one about 15 years ago at 50ish yards, and watched him for 15-20 seconds, without a doubt. Had three different people have sightings on that property over the next couple years. Haven't see one since, but I wonder if they still might be around Texas...

As far as Jaguarundi, I am confident I saw one between Whitsett and I37 on FM99 in 2017. Was headed to Choke Canyon with my boat in tow before daylight. Much larger than a house cat but smaller and darker than a mountain lion. Crossed the road right in front of me. At the time I didn’t even know what a Jaguarundi was, just knew that cat was not like anything I had seen before. Did some Google searching and the Jaguarundi photos were spot on with what I saw.

Melanism has never been documented in Mountain Lions in captivity or the wild and Jaguarundis would not be in Dickens to my knowledge. Could've easily been a normal lion and the light and shadows made it appear darker

Very sure I observed on sneaking up on deer in wheat field around the Dumont farm 20 years ago.. still to this day

I hope someone finds their black lab.

second 10pt post today we are on roll!!

I am amazed at the number of hunters who see black panthers but never manage to kill one, even when they are "hunting."

Think about it. We put millions of licensed hunters into the field every year, many will hunt many many times. We have a bunch of unlicensed hog hunters that are out all year long and ostensibly operating at all hours of the day and night. Yet nobody has killed one. I wonder why that is.

The same reason there are so many bigfoot sightings.

Look, we are just talking about Bigfoot's pet. No reason to muddle the waters by including Bigfoot who has a documented reputation for dislike and avoidance of humans as noted by the likes of Bobo, Cliff, and Ranae.

I saw an article about a real live Jaguar caught on a trail cam before the damn panic. Could it have been a Jaguar ?

[quote=Double AC]Melanism has never been documented in Mountain Lions in captivity or the wild and Jaguarundis would not be in Dickens to my knowledge. Could've easily been a normal lion and the light and shadows made it appear darker[/quote]

While I think the vast majority of 'sightings' (of Mountain Lion) are mistaken identity altogether (let alone Black Panthers) I am accepting of the notion above.

I can see where under certain conditions (low light with no artificial light illuminating the cat) or even in good light BUT seeing the 'shadow side' of a cat 'could' have one to believe the animal was black in color.

The Puma below is clearly in bright sunlight (and on snow to boot), but there is a heavy shadow on the 'off' side.....making it appear much darker.



It is NOT a 'black panther/puma/ML'....but the illusion is that it is dark in color.

Let someone who really WANTS to see a Black Panther see this cat....and BINGO you've got yourself a Black Panther.

3 legends that everyone has seen but no one has caught or killed; the black panther, Bigfoot and the man sized catfish living at the dam of every lake in Texas….

have you ever scuba dived to the bottom of lake PK?

Florida largemouths in Japan. you don't think we can have Italian catfish

https://www.wired2fish.com/news/angler-catches-potential-new-world-record-catfish

It would have to be since there is no such thing as a black panther.

Only approximately 6% of jaguars are black and the closest BLACK ones to Texas are in Belize in Central America. The black genes seem to have developed in jungle areas over the centuries. The last Jaguar killed in Texas was in 1948 about 3 miles southeast of Kingsville. It was of course spotted. A few male jaguars have made their way into Arizona from Mexico but they are just wanderers on their travels. No breeding population exits in the US. If people were seeing Black jaguars it makes sense that they would be seeing more than 16 times as many spotted ones and virtually no one ever reports seeing those.

Mountain lions do not have the gene for melanism and a black one has never been documented anywhere in the world. Shadows can play tricks on the eyes as can unusually large feral house cats. People mention all the hunters never having killed a black one but also no roadkill, no game camera captures, no attacks on humans, etc.

I belong to a site that has TPW investigators, wildlife biologists, trappers and people that actually go to Mexico, Central America and South America to work with big cats in the wild. There are a lot of interesting and funny posts on that site but the regular members demand hard evidence. The pictures posted are invariably, black dogs, hogs, large and sometimes regular sized housecats, bobcats and of course regular tawny mountain lions in shadow.

A large number of reports seem to come out of East Texas, where my land happens to be located, but I have my own thoughts on why that occurs!

Crystal meth.

Smoke some shards and stay awake for 3 days you will see all kinds of stuff. Black panthers being about the most believable

In all seriousness Ringtail is bringing facts into the argument; no where, ever, has anyone killed a black mountain lion or been able to produce a clear photo.

In many cases it’s a black house cat, others, a legit mountain lion in the shadows making it appear very dark.

There were transient jaguars that would come up to Texas from time to time but there never was a breeding population here based on what the people in the know say.

But, everyone knows someone who has seen one….

I lived in Florida for 10 years, and the local lore there was the Florida Black Panther. I knew dozens of people who swore up and down that they'd seen one. Yet nobody had killed one or had discovered roadkill. Why? Because Florida has cougars. Aka mountain lions. In the shadows, they often look black. I think we're gonna find evidence of sasquatch before we find evidence of Black Panthers.

I have a pic of one hiding in some grass…

Add to the conversation, there are thousands and thousands of game cameras being used in the state, never any pics of: Bigfoot, Skinwalkers, Chupacabras or Black Panthers.

stop trying to add logic to this conversation. it ruins everything.

Y’all are sure a doubting group. Heck y’all probably believe that chupacabra and Bigfoot don’t exist.