Black Panthers in the smokey mountains????

[Oh Shoot]

....Either way, you are correct; the idea that non-native or suspected extinct species could emerge in a region is completely ludicrous. No such thing has ever happened.

And yet you say your credible sources have seen them, you have seen evidence of them, and may have even seen one. Right.

- OS

[inspecting1]

Well say what you want back in Louisiana I alway heard about panthers in the area but the game wardens always said that there was none, but a few years ago there was a few caught on game cameras. So the way I see it anything is possible. This past deer season headed into the woodds in middle TN one morning before daylight. I spotted a deer with my head light after moving past it 20 yards or so I looked back (looking for its blue eyes again) and there was a set of yellow eyes looking at me. I figure it was a coon at first but it's hight was wrong and the spacing between the eyes was wrong too. it was about 2' off the ground and the spacing on the eyes was 2"-2.5" apart. it was either a big coon or a big bob cat ??? I did not get close enough to tell exactly what it was.

[ftncityfatboy]

I have heard that some Sevier County natives can't spell "Smoky Mountains", but didn't believe it till I saw it with my own eyes.

Are you sure those guys weren't just tourists from up north or did they alll have the official berets on?

- OS

you beat me to it!!!! Heard those guys were still hanging around.....

[Guest bkelm18]

I also saw a Water Moccasin.

[Oh Shoot]

Well say what you want back in Louisiana I alway heard about panthers in the area but the game wardens always said that there was none, but a few years ago there was a few caught on game cameras. ....

No, they weren't. Just more legend.

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

- OS

[Guest mosinon]

To be fair, it could be a released collected black cat of some sort.

The idea that there is a breeding population of the things around here seems far fetched. If you're really wondering whether or not something is around just monitor road kills. Sooner or later almost everything gets hit.

[Oh Shoot]

To be fair, it could be a released collected black cat of some sort.

The idea that there is a breeding population of the things around here seems far fetched. If you're really wondering whether or not something is around just monitor road kills. Sooner or later almost everything gets hit.

We're not just talking ANY cougar ("puma, mountain lion, catamount, American panther, painter, etc"). But a black one on top of that. There has never been ANY documented black cougar. Ever.

You see a cougar sized black cat anywhere here in the US and you've seen a jaguar or leopard variant that's escaped from a zoo or someone's jungle cat sideshow.

Or maybe Stewie got loose

World

- OS

[vontar]

I can't prove it but I was Driving on the KY side of the border once on highway 90, south of Middlesboro KY and saw some large black cat once when I was about 19 or 20. Never new for sure what it was, I know it had a long tail and it was no house cat.

To this day I still don't know what I saw, it was large and black. It was not a wildcat/bobcat.

At the time, I thought it was a black panther, or something like that but never knew for sure.

Never seen another one.

I used to drive that road allot when I was in college.

Edited April 2, 2011 by vontar

[wareagle]

Guys,

I agree with OS. There is and was no such thing as a black panther.

Back when i was a kid growing up in AL/FL panhandle area. There was constant talk of black panthers. Heck, my school mascot was a black panther at one time. Live black panthers would show up in carnivals and such. In reality, they were all black leopards. There's truly no such thing as a black panther

That said, I've seen some strange things that most would doubt. I've seen a cougar while hunting in remote river plains along the Alabama river, a black bear walking down the sugar white beaches in Panama Ciity, FL, and another black bear standing in the interstate near the I40/75 split in knoxville.

:D

Edited April 2, 2011 by wareagle

[Garufa]

Heck, I saw Santa's sleigh when I was a kid...with all the reindeers flying over the house on Christmas Eve.

I am stone-cold serious.

[Guest mosinon]

We're not just talking ANY cougar ("puma, mountain lion, catamount, American panther, painter, etc"). But a black one on top of that. There has never been ANY documented black cougar. Ever.

You see a cougar sized black cat anywhere here in the US and you've seen a jaguar or leopard variant that's escaped from a zoo or someone's jungle cat sideshow.

Or maybe Stewie got loose

World

- OS

I'd be hard pressed to tell a black cougar from a black jaguar at any distance. Even if it was biting my head. Which it would certainly do.

I understand that people like to buy these things but why people consistently "see" a black panther and not a white tiger (which people also collect I'm told) might say something about what they are really seeing.

Which, honestly, is probably a bobcat in bad light. Or perhaps a tom cat. Estimating size from a brief look see is notoriously difficult and eyewitness accounts are generally unreliable.

I've even brought an example. If you ask yourself "Have I ever seen Mosinon shoot OhShoots target by mistake?" You'll probably answer that question in the affirmative. But I was there that day. What you actually saw was bullet drift due to the rotation of the earth at fifty yards. Seems crazy but there you have it.

[vontar]

I now have Rudolph hanging on my wall. You will need night vision to see him now.

BTW, he was a 6 point.

[JR2ATN]

FWIW, here are a couple of threads about panther sightings in the Smokies.

Griztrax is a site dedicated to hiking in Southern Appalachia.

Wild Country :: View topic - mountain lions

Wild Country :: View topic - Panthers!

Enjoy!

[Guest BEARMAN]

Here's the ultra-rare tan version of the black panther with a small bull elk in his jowles....

FWIW...The elk's not dead...he's only sleeping.

Edited April 2, 2011 by BEARMAN

[TN Outlaw]

this isnt a joke im being serious here i have heard family and friends around here talk about it i have studied up and there are alot of sightings

[TN Outlaw]

i understand its hard to believe but i know what i saw was no house cat was only about 20 feet from my window

[Caster]

I also saw a Water Moccasin.

Are you sure it was a Water Moccasin or was it that old guy at Cherokee selling Moccasins? He was kinda dark and scaly last I saw him. Could have been an honest mistake.

[Oh Shoot]

this isnt a joke im being serious here i have heard family and friends around here talk about it i have studied up and there are alot of sightings

Oh, half the people on TGO have seen one of some color or other, know whut I mean, Vern?

They must actually be quite common, even the black ones -- I'm surprised they don't outnumber the possum roadkill.

- OS

[Dolomite_supafly]

Just like a lot of the stories that seem to "passed on" in this area. Uncle Joe Bob once saw a (insert something super rare) on his way home from aunt Mildred's. That story turns into part of the family's oral history but gets embellished more every time it is told. Add this to the fact that most people are looking for their 15 minutes and you have the right recipe for wishful seeing. Most people who want it to be true so bad that they are going to jade the story to fit what they want it to be. It all has to do with wishful thinking and a bit of an active imagination.

My father is like a lot of the people who seem to feel the need to feed others with their stories of the rae and unusual. He will swear he has seen big cats, bears, UFO's, aircraft dropping drugs, ghosts of civil war generals, 2 foot tall morel mushrooms, 10 foot long rattlesnakes and the super scary black wolf that was over 3 feet tall at the shoulders with the glowing red eyes that he managed to scare off with his own hearty growl. He even saw a very large, super rare long tailed bobcat that turned out to be our mainecoon house cat. It also seems like every house we lived in when I was young seemed to be haunted with everything from a civil war soldiers to nazi soldiers. And by the way my father is a heavy drinker and has been for decades. This no doubt had some impact on what he has seen.

Most don't know my father but can easily recognize the majority of his stories are all bull****, that is except the bear. My wife has seen it and I have seen it with a cub a few years back.

Not really sure what the OP saw but I seriously doubt it was a big cat, black or otherwise.

Dolomite

[TN Outlaw]

lol @ the people who think i didnt see one.... believe what you want if your gona just comment to tell me im a fool or lying just do your self a favor and dont comment

[Mike.357]

don't post preposterous stories on the internet and no one will remark on foolishness or lying.

You stuck it up here, whadj'a think ws gonna happen?

[TN Outlaw]

its whatever i wouldt come on here and lie i know what i saw

[Lumber_Jack]

Well I don't know what the OP saw, but my co-worker will go to his grave swearing that he saw a black panther in Morgan Co, about 2 years ago. Of course no one believes him and he gets really defensive when someone says he didn't see it. I believe him about 75%, but its so unlikely it's hard not to be skeptical. I guess when I see one myself I will beq convinced.

[TN Outlaw]

i was skeptical myself until i saw it.... anyway hope ALL fellow TGOers have a good day

[Mike.357]

I have a purple panther on the fireplace mantle