New big game animal

[shoot-n-lead]

..,not really a new animal.

Wonder how long before they will open the season on thes beauties?

Maybe someone will smuggle some to south Ga.:Fire:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/12/08/jaguar-spotting-a-new-wild-cat-may-be-roaming-the-united-states/?utm_term=.94bbd1bf38a7

[Hickory]

No link, no picture.

[shoot-n-lead]

No link, no picture.

Sorry...forgot the most important part...:-D

[Hickory]

Sorry...forgot the most important part...:-D
Sometimes that happens.

[MUSTANG]

Great. I am pleased to see a re-population of the cats.

I'll disagree with the "Hunted to Extinction" statement in the article. Most people today would equate the term "Hunting" with men and women who are licensed sport hunters. The decline of populations of wolves, cougars, jaguars, and other predators in the US over the last 300 years was predominantly caused by those who were trying to eradicate a threat to people and livestock. The phrase chosen in the article to me is a hidden slander against "Evil Hunters" who would seek to eradicate species enmasse. (My interpretation any way).

I also take offense with the reported "Conservationists" who are State and Federal paid employees. I've been a "CONSERVATIONIST" since I could barely walk, but I've been a hunter and an advocate of using our country's resources responsibly. I have nothing in common with DEGREED Liberal/Progressive State and Federal employees who have falsely taken the mantle of Conservationist and sullied it's meaning. Hopefully one day a stable population of the Big Cats will be achieved, and then We True Conservationist may/or may not decide to hunt the Surplus or Problem animals.

[BrentD]

I wouldn't worry too much about the future of jaguar hunting. Trump's wall will put the cabbosh to that right quick.

long distance dispersing cats are pretty much always males anyway. Mountain lions from the Dakotas are regular visitors here in Iowa and beyond. But they are always young males. No populations come of that.

[GooseGestapo]

Actually "the wall" won't be built where existing mountain ranges constitute a significant barrier in and of themselves. No need too where nature provides a natural barrier.
This is exactly where the big cats live. Wall wont stop illegal entry, but will slow it down from a torrent, to a manageable "flood". Same as flood dikes along the Mississippi River don't prevent flooding, but "controls" it.

I was in Mexico in the early '70's as part of a cultural exchange. While visiting the pyramids/temple ruins we were warned about wandering too far into the surrounding terrain as it had a population of Jaguars.
The natural habitat of the jaguars included the s.e.usa circa explorations of DeSoto. But then also did the eastern woodlands elk. With the depletion of the deer herd in 1700-early 1900's, and elimination of woodland elk and eastern bison, so went the big cats (eastern cougar and jaguar), as well as some of my ancestors (creek Indian nation). Deer were largely reintroduced in the 1950'-1960's. Same with eastern wild turkey. Kentucky has reintroduced elk, and they have "wandered" as far as North and South Carolina and Ohio (bordering states). I'd expect (NOT LIKELY) to see an elk before a LARGE spotted cat ( I HAVE seen, shot, bobcats; not nearly the same thing!).

oddly enough, several years ago, a hunter hunting land I once was in on a hunting lease, killed a cougar while deer hunting and "bragged" about it. Former coworker investigated and recovered carcass. State of Georgia declined to prosecute as official position was that no remaining population of eastern cougar existed/exists, so animal represents an introduced "wild animal", not an indigenous "game" or "protected" species, therefore not protected. (Eastern Cougar IS specified protected species).
Fed's stepped in, took evidence and based on DNA evidence claimed it was "more closely" matched to previous samples from a Maryland and Maine killed cougars, therefore he was prosecuted in Federal court and convicted. Which proves,? Nothing.

Dont expect big cats to show up any time soon. If one does, PHOTOGRAPH, BUT DONT SHOOT!
Local l.e. might not get involved, but too many up east liberals in federal government may try to make an example of you. Don't make the governor or Uncle Sam get in your business!!!

[BrentD]

You can shoot any mountain lion you want in Iowa. It's done regularly. I don't know why one would, but you can. Bears too. Any bear you want, if you can find one. Now moose, elk, mule deer, antelope are all protected should one happen by, but not these predators. Pretty backwards.

[Rufus Krile]

Local news reporter and historian has written for years about "the big black cat with the long tail" and has reported so many sightings of them over the years that the local paper began using 'tbbcwtlt' just to save space. Described as, obviously, black with a tail that was half-again as long as the body. Many aspersions cast about the folks reporting them as to brands of bourbon or some of those pesky little cactus buds... Then trail cams came along and they started showing up on film... Still serious questions about what they were/are because of the lack of quality in the cams. Then some GOOD cams came along in the last few years and the quality of the pictures improved immensely.. well enough to be able to make out the rosettes on the coat. They are calling them a dark phase of the jaguar. The game cam I saw the film from was off the Kennedy Ranch about 35miles south of where I'm sitting and it's also home to at least one pair of ocelots that I've seen. Reports on tbbcwtlt have ranged from down here to the hill country. The only one I ever saw was back in the '60s... about 60miles north of where TxGnNut lives. But that's another story....

[TXGunNut]

Very good chance we have a small population of cougars in the counties south of me (Dallas, Tarrant, Denton) but not sure about the county I live in. Never heard of jaguars around here but I suppose it's possible. Years ago I hunted a lease in Jack County and saw a huge Cougar print. I've heard at least one of the big cats south of me is apparently an escaped cougar or possibly a jaguar. Not counting on seeing one anytime soon, won't shoot if I do.

[leeggen]

Maybe we need to build 2 walls and let the jag's wonder between, you know like a moat and gators. Well everything needs to eat!
CD

[leftiye]

Chinese use geese.

[trapper9260]

You can shoot any mountain lion you want in Iowa. It's done regularly. I don't know why one would, but you can. Bears too. Any bear you want, if you can find one. Now moose, elk, mule deer, antelope are all protected should one happen by, but not these predators. Pretty backwards.
I had the game warden told me the same thing ,when he came to tag a otter for me this season. I had talk to him about it and other things.All you stated was the same he told me also.

[sghart3578]

I live in Northern California. I used to hunt and camp around the Bucks Lake area near Quincy. Several of the locals and even one game warden tell stories of a black panther roaming around. The story goes that it belonged to a local wild animal trainer and that it escaped.

I told this story to my Air Force buddy in Virginia and he laughed. He says the locals tell the same story there about a cat roaming around near Toanna.

I think every place has it's urban legends. But after watching videos of the non-native pythons infesting Florida I could believe that big cats are moving into some places.


Steve in N CA

[Smoke4320]

Wonder do they taste like chick or fish ?

[BrentD]

chicken

[quilbilly]

There are definitely black mountain lions around here (maybe only one). I had to wake one up on the VERY quiet road in front of my house one morning to get my newspaper. Scared the heck out of him as he went from asleep to a 30 foot leap in a split second. Rumor has it he now resides in an an area about ten miles from here with lots of deer and homes. If memory serves, that type of near melanism is a male genetic trait.

[james nicholson]

Tastes just like the chicken you get at the Peking Moon, the place where you eat everyday at noon.

[BrentD]

There are definitely black mountain lions around here (maybe only one).

Show us the body. Seriously, nearly every mystery cat is black. There has never once been a melanistic mountain lion in recorded history. Not one. Perhaps it was just the lighting. A pheasant can look coal black against a cloudy sky at times. But there is no such thing as a black panther in the genus Puma.

[quilbilly]

Show us the body. Seriously, nearly every mystery cat is black. There has never once been a melanistic mountain lion in recorded history. Not one. Perhaps it was just the lighting. A pheasant can look coal black against a cloudy sky at times. But there is no such thing as a black panther in the genus Puma. I was only 15 feet from the cat and I must say, when it leaped with the morning sun in back of it, I could see a little brown through the black. This is why I say near melanistic. Out here on the Olympic Peninsula, a lot of our cats are dark phase. Just some are darker than others. Dark phase would be a bit of an advantage in our older growth forests I would think. I saw two last year during the late muzzleloader season. They were quite light colored. They literally cleaned out the deer from my favorite "deer honey hole" and I haven't seen a deer track there since even when berry picking last summer. I have never been interested in hunting the big kitties, just coyotes. Just me as I have helped others get theirs. My butcher says they make the best sausages ever so I may get mad at one someday. The good news is that our lions eat the coyotes around here so we haven't had a coyote problems in years. We had one large tom and one small female pass through our yard in the last few months which should keep the coyotes on their toes.

[starnbar]

In the hunting I have done only twice have I seen big cats both times right before dawn and both times near a river on different hunt leases I normally hunt in cypress swamps and hammocks near swamps and both times the cats were silent moving in the deep shadows just enough movement for me to catch sight of them from a tree stand never heard a sound and then they just vanished in the swamp.

[tdoyka]

thats all we need. here in swPA there are foxes, coyotes, fishers, bear, bobcats and whatever. they are hard on deer and small game. so thank you, but no.

[shoot-n-lead]

The good news is that our lions eat the coyotes around here so we haven't had a coyote problems in years.

Well, if they cleaned out your deer hunting spot, sounds like you have a cat problem...don't see the "good news", there.

[BrentD]

If they cleaned out your deer, then they must be gone by now. They can't live on bunnies and coyotes alone. There is no substantial cat population w/o a substantial prey base of ungulates.

[adcoch1]

There are definitely black mountain lions around here (maybe only one). I had to wake one up on the VERY quiet road in front of my house one morning to get my newspaper. Scared the heck out of him as he went from asleep to a 30 foot leap in a split second. Rumor has it he now resides in an an area about ten miles from here with lots of deer and homes. If memory serves, that type of near melanism is a male genetic trait.
We have one on the border of lewis and grays harbor county, my buddy has seen him twice and even got a picture with his cell phone, too cloudy in the pic to distinguish much though. Another friend saw it too, but didn't belive his eyes till I told him about the other sighting. I haven't seen him, but I did track him for a while.pretty big cat...

[Sur-shot]

I can tell you for a fact that hearing a female in heat at about 1:00 AM will make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. We lived on the border of a big military reservation in NW FL right next to a fresh water swamp with a real nice clear, white sand bottom creek running into it. About ever six months we would hear a female Panther in heat, squalling and screeching out on the edge of that swamp. The hound dogs did not howl or bark, they just got their tall hair coat on, and went under the house. Peeked out once in a while. They, not one of them, wanted any part of that kitty. Dogs do not react to a Panther like in the movies, they get under something, usually with a belly crawl, quick.
Ed

[salpal48]

It takes a Big man to hunt one of these, It take a Bigger man Not to

[9.3X62AL]

What Sur-Shot said, about a dog's reaction to big cat presence. I was out shooting in the brushlands & foothills near my house with my German Shorthair Pointer "Moxie". I saw 3 cougars making their way along a sidehill about 125 yards away. Moxie got their scent about that time, and bee-lined to the truck cab and leaped through the open door and onto the seat. And WOULD NOT get out. Poor ol' dog, one of the few times I saw her get scared of anything.

[Gator 45/70]

Interesting thread.
For the record I have peppered a solid ''Black'' one on a sand bar in the middle of the day on the Sabine about 7'
My mother tells a story of Uncle Sun whom had caught one in a snare and killed it, She maintains its tail was almost touching the ground as Uncle Sun carried it out of the bottoms over his shoulder.
For the record I've never seen a brown one in the wild!
We who have seen these know they are there and really I could care less what naysayers think.

[MT Gianni]

Lots of houndsman run cats during Montana's chase season and a few are taken during the open season. It takes a special hound but they will tree a cat and run past the point they should if not leashed by their owners. Like a racehorse that knows the prize they want to win and they win by treeing the cat.

[shoot-n-lead]

Lots of houndsman run cats during Montana's chase season and a few are taken during the open season. It takes a special hound but they will tree a cat and run past the point they should if not leashed by their owners. Like a racehorse that knows the prize they want to win and they win by treeing the cat.

That sounds like our bear hounds, down here in the south...if the bears don't get them, the alligators will.

[CLAYPOOL]

I kept hearing about "CHICKEN HAWKS", so i shot one. I took it to the house and cleaned out the guts. Man I liked to never plucked the feathers off of it. Wings really hard to do. I roasted it for 2 hours in the oven. I want to tell you boys not to try and eat one of them. They DO - NOT - TASTE like a chicken. They are really strangy and I couldn't chew it. I broke my plastic teeth on it. I took it out side and tried to get my dog to eat it. He bit me.. As that other guys says; "JUST SAYING".....

[woodbutcher]

:-D I have seen two Jaguars in Florida.One was west of Ft Pierce Fl,and the other was a picture of one that was shot by a fellow that I knew who lived in Fellsmere Fl when he was running his trapline.Shot it twice in the neck with a .22 magnum at a range of about 6 feet.Picture was published in the Press Journal in Vero Beach.This was about 50 years ago.They are for sure a beautiful animal.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[quilbilly]

Well, if they cleaned out your deer hunting spot, sounds like you have a cat problem...don't see the "good news", there.
I am sure the deer will be back in a year or so since the habitat for blacktail is great and no elk for competition. Great berry picking in summer and mushrooming there in early fall so I am always looking for tracks to see what is on the move. That place also has the best view in Western Washington in winter when the air is crystal clear - five volcanoes at once plus the Seattle skyline with both Hood Canal, Bangor Submarine Base, and Puget Sound in the foreground. Only a very few people even are aware that there is an access to this public land.

[borg]

Was varmint calling down near Patagonia, AZ in '69 and called in a Jag,, so, so pretty I didn't have the heart to shoot it.

[shoot-n-lead]

Was varmint calling down near Patagonia, AZ in '69 and called in a Jag,, so, so pretty I didn't have the heart to shoot it.

I doubt that I could shoot one, either.

[Texas by God]

Very good chance we have a small population of cougars in the counties south of me (Dallas, Tarrant, Denton) but not sure about the county I live in. Never heard of jaguars around here but I suppose it's possible. Years ago I hunted a lease in Jack County and saw a huge Cougar print. I've heard at least one of the big cats south of me is apparently an escaped cougar or possibly a jaguar. Not counting on seeing one anytime soon, won't shoot if I do.

Cougars are in Wise County for sure. None shot that I know of but I have seen one on our ranch and other sightings around the West Fork Trinity River. Black colored "panthers " were mentioned by my granddad in stories told when I was a child. Best, Thomas.