Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Mountain Lions of west Texas

rockinbbar: I will ask him who told him that mountain lions can be black. If not a mountain lion, what do you think it is?

There's about a chance in a million it could be a dark phase jaguar in Texas. (Jags are VERY rare here, but a dark phase jag would be phenomenally rare.)

Well that's good for you then because TBH I don't believe you. I've never in all my days seen a single picture or even heard of a single example of a black mountain lion. You'd think if there were, there would pics posted somewhere. Especially in this day and age of game cams and cell phones with cameras. If I'm wrong I'd be happy to admit it. This was taken right from the OK DEPT. OF WILDLIFE:


"Though a popular myth, black panthers do not exist in the wild in North America. A black panther is a melanistic version of a large cat, usually an African leopard or a jaguar. These can sometimes be seen in zoos. Melanistic refers to the unusual black coloration produced by a hereditary, genetic mutation. There has never been a black mountain lion documented anywhere in their range."

JaguarTX is kind of a “dark phase” Jag

I've HEARD there was one in his woodpile somewhere...

We had one on our veranda a few years ago. Scared my wife and Grand Kids. Biologist came out and took pictures of the prints. Said that he doubted we would ever see him again.
My favorite photographer paid his way through Texas Tech shooting and trapping bobcats and coyotes.


A lot of the Texas guys know Wyman Meinzer.

mudhen,

NOPE . A DPS trooper, who I went to college with, has seen the video & told me about it.

You could also call the TPWD HQ & ask one of the TX game & fish biologists about "our new emigrants with spots".. It's NOT a secret.

You may take his/my/TPWD's word or NOT, as pleases you.

yours, tex

lol do realize who you are talking to tex. I think mudhen knows more about Jaguar's than 99%of folks.

Nah, not him Rog.

Geno

14%wild hogs; that's a win win

Large male lion hit by a car in northern Minnesota recently.

https://www.outdoornews.com/2018/12/10/mountain-lion-found-dead-in-northern-minnesota/

I found this quote and several similar quotes on the internet: "Throughout its range, no melanistic (black) mountain lion has ever been documented by science."

Maybe what I and my buddy and his whole family have seen on his ranch is a dark phase Jaguar or perhaps a Jaguarundi, which is probably more likely.

This is a Jaguarundi:

more than likely a Jaguarundi, i've seen one in duval county, also a lion can look darker than it it actually is in poor light conditions.

funnest black panther story i've been involved in was one of my buddy's, he swore he'd seen one twice out of a certain blind on a place we would hunt. i hunted that blind and low and behold a big old black house cat crossed the sendero.

not in texas but west virginia, my uncle let a guy hunt on his property and he got a trail cam pic a few years ago. the area is known to have black panther sightings for 40 years, what do you think about this pic. to me its a adolescent black panther but to each his own.


https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/galleries/13499963/just-curious#comments



also there is a local girl I know that got a pic of one on her trail cam about 60 miles from where this pic was taken, showed it to the game wardens and they spent 6 months trying to catch it

zoom in on it and it looks like big house cat.

head and shoulders look a little blocky for a house cat, and the tail is longer and thicker than a normal house cat. but again that's just me, you may be right or you may be wrong, I honestly don't know for sure.

Yep

Not to whip a horse carcass, but that pic has been accredited to every
southern and western state over the years.

Nothing stinks like skinning a cat full of half dissolved deer meat.