Panthers in North Texas? (Richardson, Mineral Wells: fence, babysitter, moving)

[ladysrodgers]

Originally Posted by robinhood

Molly - From what I've heard, most sightings are around that time in the evening. It pays to be observant like you are. I'm also glad I'm not the only one that sees tarantulas.

As the sun is rising, and setting are the most likely times to sight a cougar.

FYI, to whomever posted that picture of a big cat, I don't think it's a cougar. Cougars are black behind the ears, their legs are shorter and more muscular, and their tails have a black tip.

[Woodsy1]

Originally Posted by kawgpz550

I will take my chances with the panthers, JUST PLEASE DON'T TELL ME THERE ARE ALLIGATORS ANYWHERE NEAR THE DALLAS AREA
Everyone has a phobia, alligators and crocodiles are mine!

I don't know about Dallas area lakes but there are indeed alligators in lakes and ponds 100 miles east. A five footer was run over in the road in front of some wooded property we bought near Winnsboro a few years ago. Also spotted a cougar in the valley behind this property stalking a doe. You can pick up a pamphlet on bears in Texas at the local fish and game office where you register your boat. We got her goin' on, don't we?

[Woodsy1]

Originally Posted by Mellysue99

Ok...I just came back from walking my dog and nearly wetting my pants. I have recently moved to the Crossroads area- just slightly west of Little Elm from Florida. Our subdivision is surrounded by fields and wooded areas. There is a small lake and they built a bike trail around it. In the evenings I take the dog jogging. This evening something moving caught my attention and I thought it was a deer because of the coloring. When I stopped to watch it I realized I was seriously mistaken. It was some type of very large cat- I assume a cougar since it was bigger than my dog and he weighs about 135 pounds. It stopped and watched me as I was watching it. Eventually it turned and walked further into the brush after turning around to look at me a couple times more.

It was amazing seeing that animal but now I do not know what to do. Is it safe to continue to jog in this area? The last thing I want is for my dog or myself to be viewed as a food source. The lady ahead of me must have walked about 20-30 feet from the animal and never even knew it. Anyone with experience with this please offer advice.

I'd discuss it with the local animal control people. Cougars are not protected in Texas and can be shot, so they maintain a healthy fear of people. I believe most human cougar attacks occur in California where they are a protected species. Unless this one is injured and/or very hungry, he will likely avoid human contact at all costs. There is also a possibility that he is an escaped "pet." There are those who think it's cool to keep them as such, and they occasionally get loose, or let loose due to the expense of keeping them. I have read of increasing numbers of cougar sightings all over the U.S. so we will likely
be hearing more about them. There are still huge expanses of country here where people seldom go, so it is not surprising that they are around in larger numbers than we might think possible.

[ladysrodgers]

Originally Posted by Mellysue99

Ok...I just came back from walking my dog and nearly wetting my pants. I have recently moved to the Crossroads area- just slightly west of Little Elm from Florida. Our subdivision is surrounded by fields and wooded areas. There is a small lake and they built a bike trail around it. In the evenings I take the dog jogging. This evening something moving caught my attention and I thought it was a deer because of the coloring. When I stopped to watch it I realized I was seriously mistaken. It was some type of very large cat- I assume a cougar since it was bigger than my dog and he weighs about 135 pounds. It stopped and watched me as I was watching it. Eventually it turned and walked further into the brush after turning around to look at me a couple times more.

It was amazing seeing that animal but now I do not know what to do. Is it safe to continue to jog in this area? The last thing I want is for my dog or myself to be viewed as a food source. The lady ahead of me must have walked about 20-30 feet from the animal and never even knew it. Anyone with experience with this please offer advice.

No, it isn't safe to jog there. Sunrise and sunset are the worst times to be out doing anything where cougars may be. That is the time they're the most active and are probably getting a drink at the lake.

Cougars are stalkers and chase their prey -anyone/anything running, is fair game. If they are stalking you, you won't see them until it's too late.

The woman in front of you is lucky you were so close....sounds like she could have been the next meal.

[juneda]

Just registered as a result of a search for "panther north texas" because my daughter and coworkers are debating as to whether my daughter's mom (me) actually saw a panther. The answer is "yes" - in 1968 when my family first moved to Mountain Springs, east of Valley View, Texas. My parents built a house deep in the woods and my mother and I were moving things to the new house during the day, probably about 9:00 a.m. I was playing hooky from school to help my mom move. As we topped the hill on the long drive to our home, a panther sauntered across the road in front of us at the bottom of the hill. Taking its time, it glanced at us without sign of fear or being startled and then disappeared into the woods on the other side of the road. It was pure black in color with a body the size of a large cat (cougar, panther, etc.) Nothing said will ever change my mind about what we saw that day when I was fourteen. I lived in my parents' home unitl I was eighteen, and one night I also heard a panther scream from deep in the woods as I slept in the den with the windows open on a clear summer night. I immediately ran to my parents' bedroom - the cat cry so much like a woman might scream in danger. Chills galore! Many cat prints were seen and others in the area saw a panther and her cubs a few times. I believe most of the big cats have since been forced closer to the Red River - lots of deep woods there and south of the Red River too, out in Dexter and Marysville communities.
My husband and I did witness a bobcat and her cubs appear from the woods in our backyard about four years ago as they ran to the tank (still in Mountain Springs). Surely wish our camera had been ready that day!
There is no telling what one might see early morning or dusk at Johnson Branch on Lake Ray Roberts. This can be a very remote place at times - good place for wild animals.

I have enjoyed the memories today in telling my story!
Thanks!
Deri David

[slpent]

Originally Posted by reddrum

I just got this pic off my camera that is set up in Carson, that is down in the bottom on Boisdarc creek on August 30, 2007. I beleive it is a cougar. You can not tell by the picture because I have increased the size to try and show the detail, but this thing is very big. Do you think that is what it is? I have seen tracks around this area before that were almost the size of a hand and also the loud scream that sounded almost like a woman creaming for her life.

Two black bars on back of ears tells me it's a bobcat. Bobs can get to weigh 40+lbs but it's rare here in Texas. Most mature bobcat are 15 to 25lbs I have on in my freezer that I took with bow & arrow last year.

[slpent]

As a kid I worked on a dairy in Mulberry Tx one summer(i'm from Bonham) and there was a cougar that came thru that summer and killed 2 dairy calves in Mr Overton's pasture down on the river. We found tracks, heard it scream and set up on the carcuses for 3 mornings but it never showed. It did return to feed on them but always during the night. My cousins still live and farm in Mulberry but they won't talk about such things for fear people will give em funny looks. They do have game cameras out right now. Said they are checking for hog activity.

[Ursa Major]

Hello All-
There is an excellent book on the subject of cougars re-introducing themselves to well-populated urban areas.
Title is:The Beast in the Garden.

It was written by a guy who does nature features for PBS. Great read...like a crime novel or murder mystery. Personal point: astonishing how naive some of the people moving from big cities to the Rockies were about proper behavior around dangerous game. (Imagine people taking the shark's side at the city council meeting in Jaws)

Sidebar: As reflected in this forum, there are sightings of a dark colored variant of the mountain lion in reports from across Texas. An excellent adaptation... making these critters far less visible at distance or at night. What can't be seen can't be shot...and therefore multiplies.

Doubly dangerous for those who still believe the big cats live elsewhere. UM

[Grainraiser]

On my way to work this morning I saw a coyote walking toward my subdivision . He was waiting for the traffic to go so could cross the street. I seems like his habitat is fading fast and he was on the search for a meal. This is the second time I have seen him but what shocked me most was that it was 8:00am and he did not seem to be bothered by all the car traffic. They are typically solitary animals but I guess this one was driven by hunger since it seemed a little thin.

[GayleTX]

slpent.......I'm right over the hill from Mulberry......when we got up yesterday morning we had been visited during the night by what was apparently a little herd of wild hogs.......my husband spent all day hauling and shoveling dirt back around the foundation of the house. They were probably rooting up all the pecans the squirrels have been burying all year (our house is surrounded by pecans....and squirrels).