DuckSouth.com

THIS HAPPENED TO ME MONDAY ON A COUNTY ROAD BETWEEN CHOTARD LANDING....AND HWY 61...IN THE SOUTH DELTA....




DATE: 6/20/05
TIME: 10:45 AM
LOCATION: SOUTH DELTA
CONDITIONS: BRIGHT SUNLIGHT...
DISTANCE: 25 FEET....
TIME 10-15 SECONDS IN COMPLETE VIEW, DEAD STILL

WEIGHT:...35-45 LBS
LENGTH:....3.5 TO 4 FEET
HEIGHT:.....16-18 INCHES
COLOR: DARK BROWN...SABLE...THICK FUR
TAIL:.....DARK BROWN 3-3.5 FEET LONG


CAME OUT OF DITCH BESIDES THE COUNTY ROAD.... JUMPED UP ON FALLEN TREE 25 FEET FROM ME....STOOD DEAD STILL 10 SECS...TURNED HEAD BACK TOWARDS ME....LIGHTER COLOR AROUND EYES....NOT A REAL LONG NOISE....

1...NOT A BOB CAT...
2...NOT A COYOTE
3...NOT A _________....HECK NOT ANYTING BUT A BIG CAT....

ABOUT ME....THE GUYS ON HERE THAT KNOW ME, KNOW THAT I HAVE SPENT MANY DAYS IN THE SWAMPS OF MISSISSIPPI OVER THE LAST 50 YEARS...

UNCLE WALT

PS...DUMB ME HAD MY CAMERA PHONE WITH ME BUT DID NOT THINK OR IT.....DUMP...

If that was a panther it was a baby.

Where there are mommys and daddys there have to be babies! That would mean they are reproducing and doing well, despite the doubts of most. These sightings occur in some lowland/wet areas of TN often as well but no one has ever harvested one of these animals. I believe ya Walt!

Panther. No doubt. Does anyone still believe they don't exist here in Ms?

I believe you Walt - wish I had been there to see it! Cougar, Puma, Mtn. Lion, panther...whatever you want to call them, they do exist in MS. The critter that Walt described was 7 feet from nose to tail tip...seems like more than a baby one to me!

I saw a cat very simular to what was described this past spring
while turkey hunting. It was about 300 hundred yards away but
using binoculars I could see the long fat tail and low hanging body to
determine it was some type of cat. It was constantly walking away
from me down a levee road. This sighting was in Monroe county west
of Amory. (Blackcat Bottom)

I saw a cat very simular to what was described this past spring
while turkey hunting. It was about 300 hundred yards away but
using binoculars I could see the long fat tail and low hanging body to
determine it was some type of cat. It was constantly walking away
from me down a levee road. This sighting was in Monroe county west
of Amory. (Blackcat Bottom)

i used to hunt over around paw paw island years ago and i've heard several people report spottings of brown panther like cats being seen and the woman that may still own or used to own tara wildlife... ms. bryant i believe is her name, claims to see them all the time on the hunting club place.. she told me that it was a florida panther that had migrated up here. wheather that's true.. i don't know.. i've never seen one..

Does Florida have confirmed panther inhabitance? I always hear that, when someone mentions a panther sighting round here:"It's a lost/migrated Florida panther" Seems to me Fla. must be missing bout half their panther population
Seriously though do panthers exist in the wild in florida for sure or is it another debate there too?

Looks like they do exist in FL...

http://www.panther.state.fl.us/

Florida definately has panthers. They live in the Everglades. I'm sure at one time it was one large species of cougar across america but as the population has increase the breeding pool has become divided. Now instead of one large population you have several scatter pockets. These pockets are free to breed among themselves and may even take on seperate characteristics such as longer tails or noses.

Fairly interestin read if you have the time...

The Black Panther: Fact or Folklore
By Robert Prevo
Few things in nature can inspire such awe as the shadowy movements of a predatory cat moving through the dark forests. However, some legendary cats seem to be nothing more than mere shadows. Shadows that seem to move in and out of our reality at whim, only letting us glimpse them for a second and then disappearing as though they were never really there.

The legendary "Black Panther", as it has become known, is the epitome of just such a "shadow". For hundreds of years this mystery cat has been moving in and out of the shadows of North America and has evaded true scientific notice all the while. Or has it? Is there really anything to the mysterious "Black Panther", or is it just a matter of some kind of mass hysteria that's been passed down from generation to generation?

As any member of the zoological community will tell you, North America only has three types of native cats. Our native felids are the Cougar (Felis Concolor), Bobcat (Felis Rufus) and Lynx (Felis Lynx) (the latter of the two actually being very closely related). However, lately the zoological community is amazed to find that they might not be as sure as they once thought. Recent studies in Arizona have recovered pictures of Jaguars crossing through the countryside at night. As well, Texas seems to be on the verge of accepting that they may have a new invader from the south, in the form of a South American cat known as the Jaguarundi. Are we on the verge of discovery, or are we just waking up to see that some things aren't as "cut and dry" as we had previously believed?

The legendary "Black Panther" may be many things, but one thing it isn't is new to the scene. It's widely debated that the history of sightings may go back as far as the colonization of the New World. However, most evidence points to sightings only being as distant as the end of World War Two. One reason for the debate is the term "Panther". This one word has been used to describe many different species of felids over the centuries.

A true "Black Panther" is actually a melanistic form of the Leopard (Panthera Pardus), which is found in Africa and throughout most of Asia, parts Europe and the Middle East. To confuse matters more, this term has also been used to describe the melanistic form of the Jaguar (Panthera Onca), which is found most commonly throughout South and Central America. Now to add yet another twist to this term, it has also been used as a regional name for the Cougar (Felis Concolor), which was once common throughout all of North, Central and South America. As if that isn't bad enough, the term "Black Panther" has been used by the "Average Joe" to describe any unidentified black cat that he/she has had the fortune of crossing paths with.

No picture...........No panther.

Here is one that did not make it

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/03/11/ ... killed.ap/