Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Mountain Lions in Texas ... evidence ?

Last year my cousin called me to look at a set of lion tracks near his house south of Gainesville Tx. When I saw them I told him yes it was a nice set of tracks but it had five toes and a good 7 inches across. He couldn't belive a bear had gotten that close to the house. I see lions at least once a year but no bears yet. I wouldn't mind a few bear if they would munch on those damn hogs.

And won't they feel silly when I drag in a dead squatch!

Yes, indeedy. And until then, expect them to keep their secret squatch introductions and plans to destroy America by turning the country over to muslim Squatches a secret. Just listen for the black helicopters - they are out there.

I keep thinking a big jag could live pretty well off hogs, if they ever get established in Texas, and start breeding. Last I heard, though, it was only the occasional roaming male that ever made it into the States.

In the deep jungle, a black jag would still be well camo'd, and he'd have no disadvantage in stalking prey. In the desert or semi-desert I would have to think a black cat would be at a disadvantage, and natural selection would limit their numbers. Mutations do happen, heck white buffalo show up every now and then, but I can see why it would be extremely rare.

They also continue to deny the existence of Big Foot
Yes, indeedy. And until then, expect them to keep their secret squatch introductions and plans to destroy America by turning the country over to muslim Squatches a secret. Just listen for the black helicopters-they are out there.

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Muzzy squatch black opps. To hell with my coffee, I need foil!

There are a few otters in my area (upper Texas coast) and as I watched one crossing a road one morning I was thinking that if someone wasn't sure of the distance, they might easily mistake it for a cat, possibly a big one?

As to the bears, the Black Bear Recovery Committee has helped get enough bears started again in Louisiana that they may be considering a season soon. Many of these cross into East Texas, and there is also a population in Oklahoma. A friend of mine is director of that program, and I asked him awhile back if he thought bears would kill and eat hogs, because I had heard that the parishes in Louisiana with a bear population had few hogs. He told me he'd personally bet on a big hog in such an encounter. He said bears are not big meat eaters anyway, and the parishes with bears and no hogs are just parishes the hogs haven't moved into - YET.

He also feels Florida may have a bear season in the near future.

one of my buddy's 5 month old cougar cubs jumped on my back when i was putting carpet in his house. it knocked me flat, plus they hadn't been declawed yet, good thing it was just playing, hate to think what a grown one could do.

I doubt bears would have an appreciable impact on hog populations. Except that they probably would be competing for some of the same food sources. Now lions on the other hand.....

hogs i believe is one reason we have a good lion population in south texas.

We used to check the stomachs of every lion we killed during hunts down here. I honestly cannot remember one that didn't contain hog hair. Without digging out the hunting log, that's probably 25-30 lions over a ten-year period.

The pioneers definitely had problems with bears killing their hogs and other livestock.

A W. Tx. lion trapper I know caught a bear out by Alpine 3yrs. ago. Although a black bear, he called it Cinnamon. He has been trapping out there for years. He said he really didn't know what he was supposed to do because everybody knows there ain't any bears out there. He didn't want to get cross-ways with the Game Warden. He's by himself as usual. He has plenty rope in the truck and gets the bear all splayed out and tied off, so he can get the trap off and lets it go. He says he doesn't want to do that again. The GW said he should have called and he would have helped. Phone service is iffy to none. I still don't know what the law is on trapping bear in W.Tx.

No bears may be harmed in Texas, unless in self-defense.

I'd take my chances releasing a bear by myself all day long before I took a chance calling a game warden for help.

LOL...I know how things are "released" where you come from.

As long as I've been a cop, I still get nervous around Game Wardens.

No [bleep]. I can never get used to the fact that they will chase you around the world in your boat, to make sure you have a whistle, cite you for not having a life jacket while floating in an innertube, or search your person to make sure you don't have lead shot while hunting waterfowl.

I've seen a black panther in Georgia almost 40 years ago, 1973.
Crossed in front of me on a fairly new stretch of Interstate 95 running thru the Ogeechee River swamp between Savannah, and Richmond Hill/Ft. Stewart.

A bit taller than my bumper, long, slanky, long tail, jet black.

Geo

I've got a whole long story about a set of seized antlers that I finally got back after explaining search and seizure to a game warden captain for about an hour on the phone. If you want an example of absolute power corrupting absolutely, I can introduce you to a couple or three game wardens in north Texas.

But I digress, back to the topic at hand....You know I swear that I saw a black bear track in Broaddus about 18 years ago.

There's been black bears seen in West Texas on occasion. I think one was hit on I-10 a few years ago. In the Chisos mountains of Big Bend, they used to have a bunch of warning signs for the bears.