I was driving in North Randolph County this morning and saw something strange in a field. It was black and had a really long tail. When I stopped the truck it looked back at me. I wish I would have had binoculars or a scope to get a good look It sure looked like a big cat.
Large Black Cat
Buck-Ridge
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Correct you are, the pic I found at the time 1988, was of a black jaguar. Although cougars are sometimes called panthers, "black panther" is not a name that can be attributed to this species. This is a blanket term for any large cat with a black coat due to a gene that produces a dark pigment. Mammals with this mutation are known as melanistic. In big cats, black panthers are actually jaguars or leopards. If you do research on the possibility of a Jaguar being in the U.S., you will find that the "experts" tell you they don't exist. Same experts that were telling us that in 2005 there were no wolfs in NW Montana. Only issue I have with this is I was there for spot and stalk for Black Bear. The main guide and two of the other hunters had pictures of them, Montana Wild life management said they were wrong. The gentleman from the local university who came out and confirmed the pics were wolf, I was sitting at the same table. The DNR experts in Indiana denies that cougars exist in the state (not from migration but from captive's being turned loose. But they have been killed. Believe what/who you want to believe, your choice.
Gotcha. So people in Arkansas are seeing black color phase of jaguars or leopards. Most of them are spotted. Strange how everyone has seen the rarest form of jaguars and leopards, the black ones, but I’ve never heard about someone seeing a large, long tailed spotted cat….much less any documented history EVER of a spotted cat being seen, or sighted in Arkansas, much less EVER killed. It’s like all the black ones are running away from Central/South America to come experience the American Dream here in Arkansas.
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If you had said black "cat" I wouldn't have posted....
Jagurundis and jaguars, which both can be melanistic could "possibly" be in the southern US....I've actually seen pics of these trapped in LA,TX, AZ, and NM...Though none of them were melanistic, scientifically it COULD happen....
NEVER... has a black mtn. lion been recorded from the wild or captivity.....
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There’s quit a few Big Black Cats here in the Memphis area....
And I’m sure one could find a black panther meeting once a month.
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That’s called a city council meeting at Orange Mound.
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And they really strut in February
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Their rutting behavior is basically year round.
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I don't know what it was. It looked like a big long tailed cat. It was across a field and I didn't have any glass to look with to see better. Plus I am old and have a vivid imagination.
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likely a squirrel
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Back about ten years ago I seen something similar. Was wading down foursche river above middle Brook and below Missouri state line. Had a stringer full of small mouth bass. Fishing my way back to my exit point. Was starting to get dark. Kept hearing noises up on a small bluff off the side of the river. Got to the end point started walking through a feild grown up. Saw some deer darting across the field. Grass was about to deers back. They came to a farm road and crossed. Then behind them a big cat (darker than a deer) came across about a min later. When it's nose entered the grass on the otherside of the road it's tail still wasn't out of the other side of the road. Had to five foot long. Needless to say I didn't wait around to find out anything.
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I can say from experience I've seen clearly two mountain lions in South Arkansas where they supposedly didn't exist until that one was killed in Hermitage a couple of years back and the AGFC couldn't deny it anymore. Those two sightings I can say without a doubt I know what I saw.
Now my 3rd encounter was not as clear. I had been bowhunting behind my parent's house (between El Dorado and Strong) and was coming out of the woods at dark. I had a small flashlight and mainly kept it pointed down at the trail but right before you come out of the woods is a fairly steep incline so I pointed it up the trail about 30 yards and an animal was in the trail quartering away from me but looking back. I vividly remember yellow eyes and it was jet black. Given the circumstances I can't definitively say what I saw. Could have been a big ol tom cat but it appeared much larger (not as big as either mountain lion I saw but much bigger than a house cat).
I never could figure out exactly what it was. I hesitate to say it was a "black panther" but maybe it was a juvenile mountain lion and it appeared black due to it being dark and the flashlight wasn't very powerful. I know it wasn't a bobcat, one of the defining characteristics I remember was the long tail with the upward curve at the end.
Other two sightings were between Magnolia and Stephens at a buddy's deer lease. I was in a stand and watched this one clearly for a couple of minutes. No mistaking what I saw. And the other one crossed the road just outside of El Dorado off of Old Calion road. Again got a clear look. No mistaking what it was.
Still can't explain the one behind my parents place. I just know I didn't have anything but a bow and all I could think to do was grab an arrow out of the quiver in case I had to protect myself. It stared at me for what was probably less than 10 seconds but felt like an eternity, then took about 3 steps and leapt out of the trail and was gone.
To this day I wonder if it was just my mind playing tricks on me but I can still see those glowing yellow eyes looking back at me. Not gonna lie, I was scared half to death!
It would be nice to have some proof of what it was but I probably never will. Haven't seen anything like that since that encounter. I want to say that was around 1997.
Now my 3rd encounter was not as clear. I had been bowhunting behind my parent's house (between El Dorado and Strong) and was coming out of the woods at dark. I had a small flashlight and mainly kept it pointed down at the trail but right before you come out of the woods is a fairly steep incline so I pointed it up the trail about 30 yards and an animal was in the trail quartering away from me but looking back. I vividly remember yellow eyes and it was jet black. Given the circumstances I can't definitively say what I saw. Could have been a big ol tom cat but it appeared much larger (not as big as either mountain lion I saw but much bigger than a house cat).
I never could figure out exactly what it was. I hesitate to say it was a "black panther" but maybe it was a juvenile mountain lion and it appeared black due to it being dark and the flashlight wasn't very powerful. I know it wasn't a bobcat, one of the defining characteristics I remember was the long tail with the upward curve at the end.
Other two sightings were between Magnolia and Stephens at a buddy's deer lease. I was in a stand and watched this one clearly for a couple of minutes. No mistaking what I saw. And the other one crossed the road just outside of El Dorado off of Old Calion road. Again got a clear look. No mistaking what it was.
Still can't explain the one behind my parents place. I just know I didn't have anything but a bow and all I could think to do was grab an arrow out of the quiver in case I had to protect myself. It stared at me for what was probably less than 10 seconds but felt like an eternity, then took about 3 steps and leapt out of the trail and was gone.
To this day I wonder if it was just my mind playing tricks on me but I can still see those glowing yellow eyes looking back at me. Not gonna lie, I was scared half to death!
It would be nice to have some proof of what it was but I probably never will. Haven't seen anything like that since that encounter. I want to say that was around 1997.
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