https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gguoyHTEoU

They are all over Texas, saw one not long ago close to my house running across highway

Interesting that they vary their diet that much. We don't have but precious little other game so deer and elk would get the brunt of it here. I wish they would have told us how often a lion kills a deer. I've heard 1 a week.

I know a trapper that sets for lions only, full time. His numbers are truly
off the charts. Of course he has access to thousands of West Tx. acres.

Very cool. A buddy of mine has a ranch near Abilene and I've spent a lot of time there. We've seen, what we think is a fairly large black mountain lion there on several occasions. At first we thought it might be a Jaguarundi, but we it's bigger than either a Jaguarundi or a bobcat. Apparently, mountain lions can have black coloration. Whenever we see it, it's only for a few seconds as the animal seems to be very wary and it quickly runs off into thick cover. We've been hoping to get a photo of it, but we've never had enough time before it disappears.

Good video, but not sure I'm buying that 0% livestock killed thing. I trust these researchers about as much as any other member of academia or politician. Look at the data behind "global warming". They have an agenda. They want these animals. Are they telling the truth? Who knows. . .

The only reason I think they might not kill as much cattle is because it takes time to kill, and you have to deal with a 900 pond mother. I was supersized they eat coyotes though.

Good money in that too!

lots of them down here, have seen them at the botanical gardens on the southside of town years ago.

LOL...

lol someone had to start the black lion up, even though there has never been a documented case of a Melanistic lion.

Here we go...

Never fails...

Lots of big black hogs here about. In the Abilene area. But all mountain lions are tan. Period.

Cool video.

We used to do a lot of lion chasing with hounds, and to me, following a lion track in the snow to see how they go about their business in very interesting.

Several times, we've tracked them right through wintering and calving cattle and the lions would not give the calves or cows a second notice. But then go over the hill and catch a deer.

They catch coyotes more often then you'd think and often eat a good portion. I think many times a coyote would try to sneak in to grab a bite off a kill and fail to realize the lion was laying close by.

We used to have lots of porcupines in these parts and darn near every lion would have quills in them. They kill and eat porkies slicker than snot.

Momma lions with kittens to feed, kill more than lone males. Studies done in this part of the country say they make kills or some sort every week or two. It's not uncommon for young lions to starve to death either.

HIGH NOON,

Fwiw, we DO have "el Tigre" in Texas (and more & more emigrate to TX each year) & Jaguars DO have a "dark phase" that in dim light LOOKS black.
(A bank surveillance camera in Mercedes, TX has taken video footage of Jaguars in the downtown at night.)

Btw, "El Tigre" considers humans only as a slow-moving, easily caught & tasty meal. = ALL jaguars will prey-upon people, if they are hungry & have the opportunity to do so.
(Inasmuch as jaguars often eat monkeys, it's NOT surprising that they will attack/eat people, too. as homo sapiens are primates.)

yours, tex

Mention mountain lion and the black panther stories start flying!

[quote=DarlaG]HIGH NOON,

(A bank surveillance camera in Mercedes, TX has taken video footage of Jaguars in the downtown at night.)

You have a link to documentation? Thanks!

Lol.

My buddy told me he spoke to a biologist in the area that told him that mountain lions can be black. I have personally seen this animal on several occasions - it's definitely black or dark gray and it's definitely bigger than a Jaguarundi or a bobcat. Whether or not it's a mountain lion I cannot say. I guess it could be a Jaguar and I could give a [bleep] if you believe I've seen it or not.

Ok.

If you say so.

I'd sure LOVE to have the name of that biologist.

If he works for the State of Texas, they need to fire his dumb ass.

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:

https://texashillcountry.com/jaguarundis-mystery-texas-black-panther/

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.

poboy you are mistaken with the picture, a similar pic maybe but not this one, no. I have a few other pics from the same area for credibility if need be. this pic is the first time ive posted it anywhere and the owner of trail cam never posted it.

But, but, my buddy's dad's third cousin's ex-wife's illegitimate step son swore it happened!

stxhunter,

NOPE. I have NO idea who /what "mudhen" is other than a swamp-bird that is "duck-like", the nickname of the F15 AF fighter & when I was stationed in Northern VA/DC a very unflattering term for a slovenly/homely girl..

Inasmuch as I've had a few incidents with El Tigre, when I was stationed down in LA at HQ, USASOUTHCOM, I know just enough about them to not want a "close encounter of the 3rd kind".
(For starters, I cannot count the times that a jaguar set off our "intrusion alarms". - I suspect that the local folks' livestock attracted the cats for "an easy meal.)

I had one "visit my tent" one night , as we found his prints at about 0630 the next morning. - Didn't see El Tigre & I was pleased that he didn't choose to "have a snack".

NOT a few peasants in that area have passed out by a campfire, dead drunk & were rudely awakened by being bitten.

yours, tex

Yep...it would be a first....

Ummm.....

LOL.

Don't bother, Greg.

To All,

About 10-12 years ago, a fellow "who had a few too many" called the Bell County TX Sheriff's Office to report that he had seen a tiger in his neighborhood.

Out of curiosity, a deputy responded, to find that the drunk had NOT seen a tiger.
Instead, it was a "more or less tame" cheetah, that belonged to a couple in Copperas Cove & was loose & "out for an early morning stroll".
(The county's animal control officers were called & the "pet" & owners were reunited after payment of a hefty fine.)

yours, tex

Round here we got we call Malaga Mud ducks. Nasty little bastids.

Tex/Darla,

my money is on mudhen for this type of stuff.

YMMV

Barry, I know a couple of the Biologists in Abilene. They may no be the brightest of the bunch, but even they’re not that dumb. 😜

Agreed!

lay em on their side in sunlight, and you can see the spots

Lol, you two fuqkers are in trouble now!!

Nah, were good. It’s just from the waste up.

Poor Jag got shorted aye?

🤷🏿‍♂️

Bwahahaha!

Around campfires I have heard a story of a circus truck that crashed on I-25 in the vicinity of Greenhorn peak. A black panther supposedly was not recovered. There is folklore of people seeing it and seeing it's descendants interbred with the local ones.
I've got some property a few miles from there where I get some photos but no black ones yet.

I don’t know about West Texas lions, but I know for a fact that Wyoming lions kill and eat livestock.

Lonny;
Good afternoon to you sir, I hope that the day down in your part of Idaho was as bright and clear as it was up here across the medicine line.

Honestly it's the first day we've seen that much sun down in the valley for a few weeks so even though it wasn't enough to melt the snow much, I appreciated seeing the sun.

While I've never chased our Okanagan cougars myself personally, a whole lot of my acquaintances have and before they closed their shop a buddy had a taxidermy business just down the road so we got to see a lot of local cats brought in that way.

We had enough cougars a few years back that the Ministry upped the annual allowable harvest to two cats per season, though I can't say I know any of the houndsmen who actually killed more than one a season.

I've got some connections to the local ranching community - have been on a branding crew for more than 25 years now - and honestly can't recall anyone blaming a cougar for a cow or calf kill.

They will however eat horses with gusto and when the winter snows get deep some years they'll kill a fair few. I want to say there were more than a dozen horses killed in the south valley in the winter of '96, but last winter we had more snow actually and I can't recall anyone reporting a horse taken so there you go.

There are less horses around than there were in the '90's I suppose, still I can't explain the difference.

Another poster - Fireball I believe - asked how many deer a cougar will kill and I'd think at least one deer/sheep sized animal a week would be a minimum for an adult cat.

Way back in the day a local guide told me he was chasing a huge tom one valley to the east and it killed 3 adult moose in a couple week period. Now I'd suggest that it would not have killed that many if they'd not have been chasing it perhaps, but that's a guess on my part.

The video sorta touched on how elusive they are and for sure we've only laid eyes on one cougar - and one lynx for the record too - in our years of kicking around the back country. We've seen kills and tracks in the snow, but only saw the one cougar.

That all taken into account, wolves moved in here about a decade back and despite my efforts in trying to see one - calling, etc - I've yet to see one of them too.

Lastly in all the years I've been here in BC - 35 coming up in a month or two I see - I can't recall anyone mentioning a black phase cat, but just because I've never seen or heard of one doesn't mean they don't or can't exist.

Anyway thanks for reading my ramblings on a Sunday afternoon and all the best to you as we hopefully head into spring sooner than later.

Dwayne

Sycamore,

You are FREE to believe or NOT believe anything that you like, including that the dark side of the Moon is made soley of green cheese. = That's called FREEDOM of EXPRESSION.
(Fyi, my money's on our DPS Trooper's honesty. - I've never known him to lie, throughout our college DAZE and/or as a LEO.)


You may also want to look at a TX map & see where Mercedes, TX is, as well as asking our State Game Biologists in Austin for their opinion on jaguars presence in the border areas of southwest TX.
(One of the biologists spoke to our TX Master Naturalist Class last year & stated that "- - - - jaguars are certainly here, including being seen & photographed within the city limits of some of the smaller towns. What is not known with certainty is whether they are actually resident in Texas or only sometimes cross the border to hunt.")

Most of the documented sightings & photos are in the area of less than 20 miles from the TX/Mexico border, between Brownsville & Eagle Pass

yours, tex
TMN Class # 41

Well, you have certainly led an interesting life...

The last supposed record of a jaguar in Louisiana is from Ascension Parish, about 10 miles east of the Mississippi River in 1886. We can't be sure that is what it was, as the houndsmen who killed it referred to it as "an American tiger." They noted that it weighed 250 lbs and was "much bigger" than the native "panther," but that is well within the upper range of weights of large male mountain lions. We don't know for sure exactly what it was, as they didn't bother to mention whether the pelt was spotted, striped or plain.

If you have evidence of jaguars being in Louisiana recently, I am sure that the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (not to mention the Center for Biodiversity) would love to hear about it.

Maybe he was referencing latin america.last jaguar killed in tx was in 1948, along Santa Gertrudis Creek near Kingsville,

Would they shutdown the entire area to protect a possible endangered species?
Would they send in hordes of college kids to study each other?

NOTHING ruins the credibility of a hunter faster than a black "panther" spotting.

Well, they haven't done that here in New Mexico, despite two having been photographed just south of where I live in the last 20 years or so, nor in Arizona where they have one in residence and two more that come and go.

Wait here.....I'll get the pop corn.

There's color phase bears, albino deer, and black coyotes but I've not seen or heard of a different colored elk. Nor have I heard of anyone in my circle that's seen or photographed a black cat up here.

Yep.....lots of them “seen “ around here where even regular mountain lions are few and far between.... But...

On two occasions, oddly enough, within a months time, I saw a bobcat turn from regular coloration to black and then back to regular coloration. Obviously it had to do with the light.

Both times, though it couldn’t have been the same cat because of the distance between sighting places, it was full daylight but the cat moved from sunlight to shadow AND turned its body. The tips of the hairs are black on a bobcat and I’m sure that had something to do with it.

I’ve only seen one mountain lion up close but never examined the hair tips.

In 77 years here in Young County I’ve seen exactly three lions. None were black.

stxhunter,

YEP. At that time/place I was "seconded to" the OAS from HQ, USASOUTHCOM & stationed in South America.
(Was that not clear??)

Our multi-national team was ordered to do whatever was possible to STOP kidnapping of the local Indios as manual labor & as "mules" for the narcotrafficantes, women/children for "slave labor"/sex "partners"/pornography/the "sex trade" & even babies/toddlers for "out of country", illegal adoptions.
AND
Where/When possible to destroy, damage or at least "cause trouble for" the narcotics gangs that worked both sides of the international borders.
(Frankly, we were much more successful in damaging the wholesale narcotics trade than we ever were at stopping kidnapping & sex crimes, if only because our Mike-force attacked/destroyed the fixed locations where illegal drugs were "processed", prepared for transport and/or stored. - Obviously "factories", vehicle loading/parking lots, airfields & warehouses are much more difficult to move about than members of criminal gangs are.)

A COL of the local National Police HQ had the idea of hiring members of families, who had had their women/children raped and/or murdered. = That "contract action force" was first called: "Los hombres de la noche". (Gentlemen of the Night) and/or more commonly: "The Mike-force" or "M-force".
The members of the local Mike-force always called themselves, unofficially/more correctly: "Buscadores de venganza" (Seekers of revenge.)

YES, The Seekers of Revenge got paid (a little over 3.00 US dollars per day each) but most of them would have worked for the team for free. = These were ANGRY & DANGEROUS MEN.

We "team staffers" were quartered with the local Native people with whom we served, ate what they ate & sent 3-man teams out to each hamlet/village to teach marksmanship, teach "small unit" tactics (We soon learned that there was NOTHING that we could teach the native hunters about bush-craft & "hit & run" fighting. - In reality, they taught us.) & thereafter gave each village chief ten Model 1893 Mauser rifles & ammunition & asked him to arm his 10 best hunters to protect their own local area.
(Obviously, the local chiefs KNEW more than we did as to who could best defend their hamlet/village from the narcotrafficantes & border bandits.- EVERY local "village protector" was 100% excited & thrilled to be given a Model 1893 Mauser rifle, which they thought of as "a modern rifle".)

Note: MOST of the local "Indios" had preciously had NO firearm. Other hunters had/used bows/arrows/spears, a muzzeloader or an ancient single-barrel shotgun for hunting. = A "census" of one native village found TWO muzzle-loading/flintlok muskets & less than a 1/2 pound of BP & some "homemade" lead shot.

yours, tex

You're being nice buddy....

Them jaguars are following Tex around, every single one sighted in the US in the last 150 years. ..

It's sooooo hard....

It's akin to these people seeing wild tatankas left over from Buffalo Bill running around the swamps competing with the alligators...

TEX

when you say LA that is the postal abbreviation for Louisiana.

when you say jaguars prowled around your tent in Louisiana, these good people are too polite to tell you you are FOS.

South America is a much better story.

Sycamore

I think you are right.

I hope you are right .

2011


https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/newshound/2011/11/jaguar-spotted-first-time-two-years-arizona

Yes, a few males have shown in southern AZ in the last decade or two for a bit. Some died, some retreaded back to their true homeland south of the border....

Some with 40 miles of mi casa...

Dwayne,

Always good to read your posts. And yes, the weather has been beautiful. Good to see the sun.

Interesting to hear about the lion killing horses in your neck of the woods back in the 90's... Pretty amazing when you think about a lion, even a big one at say 150 lbs, killing a full grown moose or horse that might be a 1000 lbs. Like your area though, predation on cattle seems very limited here.

I've only ever heard of one time where a lion killed a week-old calf and my buddy turned his dog on the track and caught it in short order. It was a young cat.

I suppose lions could be hell on sheep, but what predator isn't hell on sheep?

Considering how many hunters now put out trail cameras in Texas, I would bet that someone, sooner or later, would have a good photo of a big black cat. Yet no one has taken one.

I'll say the same about Jaguars - there are known to be a handful of them in Arizona, but no one has gotten a pic of one in Texas. So I'd probably say there aren't any.

GregW,

Did you REALLY not understand that I was talking about US Army military service in a foreign nation?? - STXhunter understood me.
(Would you care for a "do-over"?)

Do you NOT know that USASOUTHCOM is located (and always has been) in the Republic of Panama, with offices/resident agencies/individual employees in several other Latin American nations?
(Any of the usual Internet search engines is a good tool to use for such things.)

yours, tex

Spell it out for us where you've seen jaguars so there's no confusion...

Lonny;
Thanks for the reply and the kind words sir.

Indeed on the sheep, it seems that just about everything that can eat them does so.

We had our local California Bighorns knocked way back during that winter of '96 by a double whammy of snow bringing easy kills from predators and a pasteruella infection they got from some domestic sheep who were being used to clean up a vineyard.

Anyway on our walk today on a road behind our place we saw a few of them again so that was nice.

Thanks again and all the best to you all again.

Dwayne

Sycamore,

To me at least in this reference "LA" is what we "worker bees" called: "Detached service" in Latin America, as we were ordered to NOT even identify the country where were working. - I have for nearly 2 decades kept that promise, if few other promises.

SORRY that that was evidently confusing to at least a FEW members. - It wasn't confusing to me or I think to most people.
(Also, sometimes, even at 72YO, my fingers work/type slower than my mind does.)

yours, tex

GregW,

SORRY, we were ordered "by higher government authority" to say no more about our place of assignment, than "a friendly nation or nations in Latin America", EVER..
(Since you seem to be deemed an authority by numerous members on jaguars, I feel sure that you can easily guess what nation(s) that I'm talking about.)

yours, tex

Lee24...is that you?

Easy now....grin...

Every year there are people I know here in VA that claim they saw a lion.

Problem is 99.99% say they are solid black.

I pondered on this a long time, as some of the people who claimed to have seen them I wouldn't think would just make up a blatant lie.

I honestly think they are seeing house cats and their minds are tricking them into thinking they are much bigger.

GregW,

Lest anyone else be "confused", as I'm reasonably sure that you are NOT (& have not been), as far as I know WT deer don't eat any sort of grass, as they aren't "grazers", but rather are " browsers", who mostly seek out/eat leaves, tender stems/twigs & other "non-grass" items (like our family's EXPENSIVE "calf creep" out of the calf-feeders on our farm. = Deer really LOVE that stuff but I'd sooner not feed them calf creep.) for example..

Axis deer DO happily eat grass & therefore are NOT usually "competitors for food" with native WTs, unless they are near to starvation..

yours, tex

~ 20 - 25 years ago, a rancher about 20 miles north of Las Vegas had a horse attacked, by a mountain lion, in his corral.
As he was once the head of the Brand Board in NM , and the attack was verified by a local vet, and Game & Fish - I'll believe it.
(Not to mention, I have known him, personally since 1960, or so)

"Old Timers" used to claim lions preferred horse flesh to all other - and I'm talking fellows who would be WELL over 100, if still alive.
I used to know a LOT of old codgers - now I are one!

Holston,

IF the "sightings" were at night-fall or later, I do NOT doubt that the "witnesses" BELIEVED that what they saw was "black" or at least "dark-colored" - You eyes play tricks on you at nightfall & after dark.

It's also POSSIBLE (but unlikely) that they saw an escaped "exotic pet". - I'm always "fascinated" that any THINKING adult would try to make a pet out of a lion, tiger, puma, leopard, bear, oselot or even a bobcat but some "loons" certainly try to tame a BIG CAT.
(Cheetahs are the ONE exception, as "rich people for well over 2,000 years, going back to the Egyptian Nobles have "tamed" cheetahs. = Cleopatra had a PAIR of female cheetahs, that she raised from kittens, for "bed fellows".)

yours, tex

I don't remember losing any horses to mountain lions when I was down on the ranch, but we had a few over the years that showed scars from lions that had attacked them. Lions did kill a few full-grown cows every now and then, and almost always around a half-dozen or so calves each year. When we found a fresh livestock kill, we called our local lion hunter and did our best to take the offending critter out.

We always entertained guests for a week or two in late winter each year for lion hunts, because we did have a lot of them. On average, it took us less than a day and a half to hit a good track and catch a lion. I can remember days when we had two by mid-afternoon.

Roy McBride, the dean of Texas lion trappers, told me one time about a rancher who had three horses in a modest sized pasture somewhere out around Alpine. As I recall, one lion persistently stalked those horses as Roy tried everything he knew to get him, but the lion ended up getting all three horses. I may not have the story exactly right--it was a long time ago that he and I had that conversation-- but that was the gist of it.

You obviously forgot your post from a year or so ago to which I referred.

Trail cams by water troughs. None have been photoed but many reported. It would be a monumental achievement.

GregW,

OH REALLY?? - Would you care to PM me that reference?? - I seriously doubt that I ever said, SOBER, such a thing (I was still drinking lots of rye whiskey back then & could have been "sweet as a peach", AKA "drunk as a lord".) though I would suppose that WT could eat grass if there was nothing else to keep from starving.

yours, tex

Talk to mudhen...

He'll make you look much worse than me....

mudhen,

How many more times do you wish me to tell you to call the TPWD department at the Austin HQ & ask them?? = Each time from this instant on, I'll answer your question exactly in the same words.
(In the event that you decide to ask a REAL TPWD biologist, be sure to come back & admit on forum that they said that I was correct about what i was told.)
Unlike some here, I do NOT claim to be "a retired game biologist", "a professional hunting guide from AZ", "an expert" on jaguars and/or "a trained scientist", as I've said at least 2-3 times in the last week.
(I'm just a retired soldier, former peace officer, shooter & hunter & ZILCH more than that.)

Otoh, what I've said on this thread is FACT, as far as I know it, regardless of anyone else's opinion.

yours, tex

My initial thought was that it was a Jaguarundi. I have personally seen it (very briefly) on 4 different occasions, all during daylight hours. The reason I brought up the "black mountain lion" is because my buddy and his family have seen it a lot more than I have and he said it was a black mountain lion. When I think back to the sightings that I experienced over the years, I don't believe it was big enough to be a mountain lion.

I will suggest that my Bud set up some trail cams.

Edit: Whenever I have seen the animal, it has been near dense groves of Blackjack Oaks.

High-Noon,

Pardon me for LAUGHING but when a buddy of mine set up game cameras at his livestock water tanks on their family's land, the main mammals that he photographed were species : HOMO SAPIENS & obviously "illegal aliens". = One comely YL was reportedly "dressed as she was born" & IN one of the water tanks.
(He did get numerous video shots of deer, coons, possums, a ringtail & lots of feral pigs, etc., too but mostly 2-legged "wildlife".)

yours, tex

Well, the folks that would know at TP&WD don't work on Sunday, but I do have limited access to their endangered species data bases, and a quick search didn't turn up any recent element occurrences for jaguars in Texas. Likewise, by an odd coincidence, I have on my computer a digital copy of the current Jaguar Draft Recovery Plan prepared by a very large international panel of scientists and wildlife professionals from the United States, Mexico and all of the other countries within the current and historic range of the jaguar. I spent some time today reading relevant sections and looking at distribution maps and found no mention of recent sightings of jaguars in Texas. Likewise, distribution maps of current populations don't show any closer to Texas than the southern tip of Tamaulipas, and that small outlying population is apparently postulated on the existence of a particular forest type and not necessarily on recent reports of jaguar occurrence. All of the other existing jaguar populations in the U.S. and adjacent Mexico are west of the Continental Divide and the Sierra Madre Occidental.

If you would PM me the name of someone that can direct me to the photos to which you referred, I would be happy to contact them and educate myself about these recent sightings, and I will share the information with the folks that I know on the Jaguar Recovery Team.

mudhen,

SAME EXACT ANSWER, as I promised: Call the TPWD in the Austin HQ & ask them.

yours, tex

These threads never fail to be entertaining. And enlightening.

mudhen and mark are right about lions attacking horses. They do indeed. I worked one case in Mayhill, NM but the horse lived, but was scratched up pretty badly. Zero doubt it was a lion.

A few months later I was called to another attack about 7-8 miles from there to work a case where a calf was killed by a lion.

Lions do play hell with sheep ranchers though. They can and will kill many in one night. Especially when teaching their young ones to hunt/kill.

It is quite simple to search Google for this image, and I've done it already. This image is unique. (Meaning not posted elsewhere)

i could find nothing on google about any recent sittings in the valley, even called my uncle that lives in Mercedes and he had never heard of one being spotted around there either.

True^^^^^^^^^

We came upon a scene while hunting Mule Deer in the Independence Range in Northern Nevada one year that looked like a box car carrying wool had exploded on a mountain side. It didn't take a wildlife biologist to figure that caper out.

Ranchers kill every lion the can, Eagles too!

Maybe DH has some confidential informants....

http://texascryptidhunter.blogspot.com/2014/08/updated-black-panther-distribution-map.html

It ain't hard to get on this guy's map....

Hilarious....

I was sleeping in my tent and I heard a scream and saw a track the next day!

Guy says well let's put you in the map!

For anyone interested.......Liin Hunter and houndsman, Warner Glenn has an excellent book with some great pix of Jaguars (or the scarcity of) in So. AZ.

You used to be able to order an Autographed Copy directly from him but I'm not sure if those are still available.....or if he's still alive. I have one and cherish it.

https://colablancaproductions.com/products/eyes-of-fire-encounter-with-a-borderlands-jaguar

need to order the book, https://www.amazon.com/Tigrero-Sasha-Siemel/dp/B0006ATIQQ

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sasha_Siemel

https://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/h...-are-wimp-compare-alexander-sasha-siemel

https://www.outdoorlife.com/photos/gallery/hunting/2010/05/jaguar-hunter#page-15

Texdarlaidiot, jump on google and find out if wild rye is a grass.

For twelve years I was one of a group that hunted the same 100k acre ranch southwest of Sanderson for MD for three weeks each Fall. There were 24 mostly experienced Texas hunters in the camp and everyone wanted to kill a lion. We never saw one although their tracks were often encountered. A lot of nighttime varmint calling also took place with fox, coyotes, and bobcats taken, but no lions seen.

We went through three ranch managers and the last one was an experienced lion trapper. He caught six in his first five months on the ranch. Point being that they can be fairly thick and never be spotted.

The ranch management believed they never lost any cattle to lions, but when a bear moved into the West end of the ranch he killed two yearling steers.

Oddly enough, there were three old wether goats left over from a herd they originally had near Beef Canyon, and they survived the lions. I guess deer were easier prey........ or maybe they couldn’t stand the smell.

Years ago TPWD tried to re-introduce desert bighorns to the Trans Pecos area. Black Gap, to be more specific.

There's some desert bighorns in the area now, due to a concentrated effort, but when they tried that in Black gap the first time, the lions thought it was a bighorn buffet..

They killed every single one of them in short order.

TPWD tried to hire the trapper that came to be our ranch manager to work Black Gap , but they wanted him to work for a salary. He offered to work there for a bounty but they turned him down. He and his father are considered my most to be the best lion trappers in Texas.

I don’t know how much they spent moving the Bighorns from Elephant Butte to Black Gap, but I know helicopters don’t work cheap. Their “ investment” of 300 sheep dwindled to less than fifty by the second year.

He would have been a bargain.

This is NOT meant to be argumentative, only a question........I understand the desert bighorn population to be thriving now in the Trans Pecos......No?

And, yes, I know lifelong ranchers down in that country who seldom, if ever see a lion, but are 100% sure they are there.

curdog4570,

100% correct that "helicopters don't work cheap". = For such a major reintroduction project, the TXARNG & TANG aviators/helicopters could/would probably be used for that task. - In the past, the ANG & ARNG assets have done LESS important things for the TX environment.

Some of the oil & gas companies would likely provide air support (for the GOOD publicity) if asked. = FYI, I once, long ago got involved (in a small way, doing manual labor in loading/unloading the trucks) with feeding the starving ducks/geese in VA/MD during an extended/severe ice storm. - I was one of many "sportsmen"/DU members/"ordinary people", who helped pay for, hauled & helped load "bird food" (mostly "cracked corn") for the ducks/geese, that were "delivered by air".

yours, tex

When I hunted leopard in Zambia, one rarely saw them because they are nocturnal and secretive, but it was possible to shoot them by sticking a bait animal up in a tree, ideally against the setting sun and constructing a hide. Estimates were that there were as many as one million leopards throughout Africa, even within the major cities in South Africa, and it was silly to worry about extinction just because most people had never seen them and had no idea where they were.

We do have mountain lions in or near our neighborhood in the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque, though most of the family pets are lost to coyotes.

Norm

I wonder if he still has his Winchester M 70 .375 H&H Super Grade?

curdog4570,

BEFORE "sneering" at ANY member of this forum, I suggest that you go CAREFULLY read what was actually said/asked & answered.
IF you do that, you will LOOK smarter & less SILLY, ignorant and/or moronic. = READING COMPREHENSION is a GOOD thing.
(The member who asked me about "grass" was specifically asking about WT deer eating "coastal Bermuda" grass. Neither of us were talking about "wild rye", "wild oats", trees/bushes, commercial livestock feed or ANY other sort of possible deer rations, EXCEPT "coastal Bermuda grass"..)

Therefore, your post # 13502186 has been carefully considered & DISCOUNTED to its actual value to persons of "reasonably normal IQ" & at least a minimum of actual education. = ZERO, NADA, ZILCH & of NO VALUE whatever.
(Before calling ANYBODY an "idiot", go look in any convenient mirror.)

just my opinion, tex

It's much better than it was when the entire first herd they put at Black gap got eaten.

I saw that TPWD estimates 1200 or so. Not too sure about that number though.

Are you SURE you're not Lee24?

ingwe,

I have no idea who "Lee24" is/was/might be. - Who is that & why should I care??

Are you "Paddler", using another of his many "identities" & "personalities"?? = You seem to repeatedly ask the same sort of SILLY & needless questions, that "Paddler, the leftist troll" does & which accomplish nothing whatever.

Btw, about Midnight last night, my time, I talked by phone to Darla (who is CA right now & taking care of her kid sister, who is in the hospital & "not doing very well"). == As is usual for her, she's been reading this forum (while Valarie was sleeping) & said to me, "Honey, why on earth are you arguing with a handful of idiots, about things that they cannot and do not understand?"
Then she said, "Remember when you argue with a fool, other people cannot tell which person is the fool."
As is usual for her, Darla is 100% correct.= My beloved is WISE & often quite correct, when I'm not.

yours, tex

Warner photographed that jaguar in 1995 in the Peloncillo Mountains, just south of the Geronimo Trail where it crosses Cottonwood Pass--in New Mexico.

Almost exactly 10 years later, he was hunting in the San Luis Mountains down on the Diamond A Ranch (also in New Mexico). He left the guest hunter with his daughter Kelly and two of the Diamond A cowboys, and went looking for a couple of his dogs that had gone off on their own. After a bit, he heard them barking treed and rode up to find that they had bayed up another large male jaguar, just a mile or so north of the Mexican border.

The cat was backed up under a gnarled old juniper in a rocky crevice and was slapping and snarling at the dogs which were emboldened by Warner's arrival. He just had time to snap a few good pictures before he realized that the cat was getting ready to leave--and through the dogs was its only way out. He got his dogs gathered up and gave the jaguar some room, and it high-tailed it for Mexico.

His pictures from that episode are even better than the ones in "Eyes of Fire," but I don't believe that they have ever been published.

mudhen,

Pardon me for asking. = So you ADMIT that there are at least some UNPUBLISHED photos of jaguars in the USA & that therefore demanding where other jaguar photos are "archived" makes your demand of me to tell you where the photos from the Texas-Mexico border are archived LOOK silly & perhaps even hypocritical?

Can you produce the photos that you speak of, so that everyone here can enjoy them? - I would like to see the photos.

yours, tex

The difference the person Ben is citing is has published pictures in recent history that are documented. So he is a creditable source as is Ben. Not being a ass but you're citing second hand information. If a bank camera " i think thats what you said" had caught the images you say they did it would be on the web, and sure my family that lives there would of heard about it.

You are a piece of work!

As far as I know, Warner has made his photos readily available for viewing to anyone who has asked politely. He never tried to hide that fact that he had taken the photos. In fact, he first announced the incident with the second jaguar at a public meeting of the Jaguar Conservation Team and showed a slide or two.

He and his daughter have a guiding business, and Kelly and Warner represented both Pentax and Ruger for years, doing public relations and publicity shots before they both gave it up. Kelly has also sold some of her other hunting photos for covers and illustrations in outdoor magazines, All of their photos are copyrighted, and I assume that if anyone wanted to publish them, they could negotiate with Warner and/or Kelly for the privilege. I have seen the photos in person and have a copies of a couple that were given to me by Warner's late wife Wendy, before she passed away.

The difference here is that I know where the photos are, I know the people that took them and a lot of other people know, as well. If you come out here, I can probably arrange for you to meet Warner and Kelly, look at some of their jaguar photos and talk to them about their experiences.

You apparently don't know where the photos to which you referred are, or who has them, nor have you seen them, yet you cite them to buttress your claims of recent jaguar sightings in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

I need to take Darla's advice and quit arguing with idiots.

mudhen,

You just convinced me that my Darla was 100% CORRECT (as she usually is), too.

ADIOS.

yours, tex

Deer carcass and a game cam should do it for y’all.

stxhunter,

Did it cross your mind that the bank may have NOT released their video to keep from possibly scaring any "easily frightened" customers??
(That would be my GUESS & a GUESS is all that it is.)

When a VERY LARGE Tiger-shark (that weighed well over 1,000#) was caught in Galveston County, some years ago in "a well-known & popular public swimming area" & in about waist-deep water, the local Chamber of Commerce pressured THE GALVESTON DAILY NEWS to NOT even mention the event, lest it hurt the tourist business. = IF an event is not "reported" by the "mainstream press" & wasn't on TV, it didn't happen, in the mind of most everybody.
(Same thing, I would guess.)

In the event that I can obtain a copy of the video (YES, I've asked if a copy can be purchased.), some folks here will be (I would guess) more than a little embarrassed.

yours, tex

Now that's funny....

IIRC....he mentioned that encounter in the book (or maybe the footnotes) but yea....no pictures.

Eyes of Fire is fascinating in it's own right though and like I said......one of my prize possessions since he not only signed it but wrote me a short note on the inside cover page.

And if you can't, YOU should be the one who is 'more than a little embarrassed'. (I would guess).....

They are way past the point of embarrassing themselves.

This just keeps getting better...

Wow, that was a lot of reading to catch up on.

FG, cool about the note inside the book. Very cool. Hope you have someone in your family to leave it to that enjoys these things.

Ingwe sir, perhaps not Lee 24 but instead William (?) of Cermalube fame?

tex/darla/ whoever, Some readers here, myself included, are quite put off by arcane acronyms and abbreviations. I understood LA to mean Louisiana as I was pretty sure there haven't been any jaguar sightings in Los Angeles (LA). And many of us also abhor statements and references to "facts" that are not corroborated in the post and when questioned we are directed to look it up ourselves. I've enjoyed some of your posts in the past, the ones in this thread not so much.

AND QUIT TYPING SO MUCH IN ALL CAPS!!!!!!!

Geno

The old lesson about finding yourself in a hole, you might quit digging.... is lost.

I hear that browser stuff all the time. Someone should tell the deer who keep the winter wheat grazed down to the dirt.

Valsdad; All,

I type to suit me & nobody else. - As far as I know, nobody here has been appointed as "the official monitor" of any other member's posts.
Everyone might also consider the old saying that, "If you cannot say something nice, say nothing at all."

Fyi, my dissertation committee said that my writing style was "somewhat eccentric but perfectly acceptable", so I'd guess that my writing is "OK".
(If you are actually bothered by my "admittedly odd" style & also fail to comment solely "on content", I suggest that you just "scroll on by". - I promise that I wont be offended by you not reading anything that I write.)

Fyi, it's been my experience that old grad school prof was 100% correct, when he said, "Those who seem to be led to make comments on "form", fail to make cogent comments on "content" generally have little of merit to contribute to the conversation. If their comments also fail to illustrate "critical thought", intelligent & educated persons would do well to ignore their inane complaints."

just my opinions, tex

Have you ever jogged up and down the Grand Canyon with Boy scouts?

Ok, clowns. I was pretty dayomned nervous opening the envelope from 23 And Moi.

Ha, PTL, not even a smidgeon of a speck. Hahaha. Screw you bastids.

DarlaG your writing style is less than desirable. I think it’s more like what my low incidence kids would write. All anyone has asked you for is proof to your outlandish statements and stop deflecting answering questions.

I have had a friend in the military as well. He can show proof of his statements...even classified stuff to a point.

No frigging chit?

...before smokeless powder....

Are darla and tex and elkslayer the same person/s ?



mike r

lvmiker,

NO. I'm a 72YO man, my Darla is my wife & a completely lovely lady (in the very BEST sense of the word, "lady").
I don't know "elkslayer".

yours, tex

Dear NMLady,

First, I'm DarlaG's husband, & am using her separate account, as for some reason my "screen-name" & password aren't working..

Also, pardon my curiosity, what exactly are, "My low incidence kids"?

Also, what statements have I made that you have enough knowledge of to deem them, "outlandish"? - Fyi.I signed a "blanket non-disclosure agreement" when I left Latin America & thereafter retired from the military, which is binding upon me for my lifetime.
I take that NDA seriously.

ADDENDA: Ma'am, I'm curious, do you have even one minute of service in the Armed Forces or in police work in Latin America? - The cultural social, law enforcement, crime situation & virtually everything else in those nations is far from any US citizen's experience, who has not been in that culture/environment.
OR
For that matter, do you have any LE experience in the USA or elsewhere? - Law enforcement is far different than any TV show and/or even what you see on the TV news.

If you don't have such experiences, you have no "frame of reference" to make any comment whatever, from a position of knowledge and experience.

yours, tex

huntsman22,

Are you yet another "clueless person" who seemingly cannot comment on "content", so instead you make a mostly useless comment on "style". = As I asked another member, "Would you like a 'do over'?"

Then, should you do that, you can make a comment that demonstrates your ability to think clearly & post something that's worth answering.

yours, tex

tex, please note above text in bold.

Now, please reread this from my post:

"tex/darla/ whoever, Some readers here, myself included, are quite put off by arcane acronyms and abbreviations. I understood LA to mean Louisiana as I was pretty sure there haven't been any jaguar sightings in Los Angeles (LA). And many of us also abhor statements and references to "facts" that are not corroborated in the post and when questioned we are directed to look it up ourselves. I've enjoyed some of your posts in the past, the ones in this thread not so much."

My comments in that paragraph are specifically related to the CONTENT in your posts. And I'd be willing to bet a goodly number of the readers here would consider my comments to be quite "cogent".

example the first: " arcane acronyms and abbreviations." said in regards to your use of the acronym for Latin America. That is CONTENT in your posts, no? I certainly don't know where you went to school, but going back as far as I can remember, even back to parochial grade school English, one is taught not to use acronyms and abbreviations prior to having used the complete word or phrase first in the document lest your reader is not aware of to what you are referring. By the time I was in college ANY paper I had turned in without first having used the word or exact phrase the abbreviation was meant to imply would have been returned to me with red marks for EVERY instance I used said acronym/abbreviation.

example the second: "And many of us also abhor statements and references to "facts" that are not corroborated in the post " said in regards to your statements regarding events that supposedly happened without providing references/information (a web link, a bank name and address, the name of the officer you said you know and believe). Again, I certainly hope that if you indeed did go to college (or even high school), you learned to at least provide said references when requested by someone reading/reviewing your writing.

I understand this is a public forum and as such not a scientific journal, but at times the nature of your statements has a number of the readers here shaking their heads and asking for clarification. If you cannot/will not (Secret Squirrel stuff, non-disclosure agreements excepted) provide the clarification, as in a weblink or a contact person's name, you will likely continue to be called out on it. You could opt to PM the requester with the info if you think it is of such a private nature that the rest of us here should not view it.

Your continued deflections and reluctance to back up certain statements reminds me of the folks here who make blanket statements, such as one I've been trying to get to back up his statement with evidence on another thread.

If you wrote in college (you mentioned a dissertation) as you do now, then your professors/committee did you and society a disservice for allowing you to pass with such CONTENT in your documents. And apparently from your statement above your committee allowed such writing to pass scrutiny. I am betting you DID NOT write your dissertation in the ANNOYING style of using ALL CAPS as often as you do in many of your posts. If it suits you to write that way, go write ahead (intended misspelling?, you guess, perhaps, it, pleases, me)

For your information ( FYI ), there are times when I do "scroll on by" your posts. They are difficult to read at times and some only seem to please you.

Enjoy your evening,

Geno

PS, I took notice that in your reply to me there was an astonishing (for you) lack of over capitalization of words. What's up with that? If you can write that way in that reply, why not most posts?

Valsdad,

Your comment is at least (unlike the vast majority of other member's comments) basically literate & shows that 3rd grade wasn't your best 5 years of "gubmint apruvd public screwl". - Nonetheless, you still focused on how I wrote my comments rather than commenting on the information that my own comments contain.
(Sorry that you evidently have neither the "in the field" experience nor the subject matter knowledge/expertise to comment on the facts presented.)

NO, I am not going to tread any closer to revealing any sensitive & classified data than I have already, as I know of no person, who has commented here, "who has the need to know" more information than I have provided.

yours, tex

As far as I can remember, no one has made any comments or has taken issue with anything related to your military service or law enforcement career. If fact, I don't remember any of your posts that mentioned that you had ever been in law enforcement. And, anyway, neither your military service nor your career in law enforcement nor the opinions of your graduate committee are relevant to the topic of this thread.

With respect to my interest, you have made some statements about recent sightings of jaguars in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. These alleged sightings, if true, would potentially be something that would need to be considered by both state and federal natural resources agencies who are under a court order to draft a recovery plan for that species.

When I asked for your sources, you gave me an unnamed state police officer that you have known for a long time and an unnamed Texas Parks and Wildlife biologist who made some offhand comments at what I took to be a meeting of your "Master Naturalists." Rather than giving me any names and contact information for your sources, you suggested that I contact "headquarters" at Texas Parks and Wildlife. I did so first thing this morning. I emailed the biologist who maintains the state data base that deals with verified occurrences of rare, threatened and endangered species. I copied his response to my email and conveyed it to you in a PM to which you have not responded.

You also suggested that I contact a biologist in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. I emailed the TPWD technical service biologist in Hidalgo County (the county in which Mercedes is located) and I will share his response with you if and whenI get it.

The rest of this thread has turned into an ego trip for you, and you have obviously enjoyed it. However, you really need to relax. The cheese looks to be slipping off the cracker.

Exactly,

thanks Ben,

Geno

mudhen,

So you haven't read the totality of this thread??

As early as post 13501097, I mentioned my military service in Latin America, as well in posts, 14501191 & 13501230. - That was a lot of posts ago.
Further, numerous other members commented on my military/LE service in Latin America, so I have grave difficulty believing that you believe that nobody talked about that service/period in my life OR that you didn't know, unless you ignored or slept through most of the comments,.

yours, tex

Our very own mall ninja.

Holy Cow balls...I just read this entire thread hoping for a confirmation on a Pink Panther sighting. Maybe next year DarlaG. 😎

Low incidence kids are kids with low IQ’s.

I can’t pass the physical for the military as I have an autoimmune disease.

I also noticed your writing style changed upon responding to my statement.

I know what a NDA is, still waiting on prooof. I’m seeing a lot of lip service and no results.

Miss Judy, it is good to see you!

We are all still praying for your family.

You are a rock!

I seen a black cat one time.

Was it hanging out with a pink panther? 😎

Lee24.....
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/3699272/1

tex,
Your wife called, she’s pissed you’re using her account to talk about a big black pussy...Thought you should know. 😎

Ken, I think you are very right on that.

It ain't hard, after reading some of that to match the writing styles.

Creating a sockpuppet, and then creating another sockpuppet as a wife, then only using that username definitely puts us in new, uncharted waters here at the Fire.

Thanks....2 weeks till Phoenix. Sub plans done, copies made for substitute teacher to last 3 weeks. Grocery list started so kids can eat while we are gone. I can email a coworker after that if needed and send lesson plans.

Either your memory or your reading comprehension sucks--or both.

I received a reply to my query to the TPWD Extension Wildlife Biologist in Hidalgo County, the county in which Mercedes is located:

Hi Ben,

Thanks for the email. Unfortunately, I am of little help. I have not heard of anyone with photos of a jaguar or heard of any verifiable jaguar sightings here in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. I'm sorry I can't be more help than this.

Best,
Tony

I'm out of here.

Is anyone surprised?

Unsolicited advice.

Quit.....
while you are behind.
It would be best.

Think it over.

Slave



P.S. or not.

Nope

Mudhen and I, just to mention two who have posted on this thread, are native born Texans. I only point this out to remind “ Tex/darla “ that after reading his very first post on this forum - long before darla was invented - I suggested to him that he was a fraud.

My reason was that I’ve never known a Texas man to assign the name “ Tex “ to himself. Show Business names are the exception, of course.

So, I submit to the forum that Tex/darla considers himself as being in show business with himself as the Star. His penchant for fantasy just reinforces that assumption.

Sorry gang,this has nothing to do with the subject at hand, but everytime I hear about a black panther or jaguar I think of this movie scene. Yeah, Im a sick pup.

Just putting it out there and letting people make up their own minds,Rock.

Lots of similarities.

Well, I did pick this screen name, when I was still living in California. Nevertheless, for tex/Darla, I am guessing Connecticut

I wanna know if anyone is 'embarrassed' yet.....

Don't bet on it.

If that were possible, it should have happened long ago.

in another thread....rooster7 and my self touched on this...….rooster was a little mean about it....but something is off...…..bob

I thought of you before I posted that, Amigo, but that’s a long way from just calling yourself “ Tex “. Anyone with half a brain would figure you as being a Texan living in California just from your screen name.

I’m glad you escaped California with your Texanese intact.

😀😀

You can always tell a fake Texan...

You just can't tell 'em much!

Rumor has it that Toot is 1/2 Texan.

He’s on the commode right now so I’m posting for him. He’ll be back soon.

Sincerely,
Darla G

Too Darla,

You FORGOT "Too rockinbbar," in YOUR post.

Are YOU/ from LA? And, to ALL, since there is some confusion///// LA is LOWER ALABAMA!

Yours,
KoTex

GFY.

Yours, 1/2 tex

Sincerely,

KoTex

I'm sorta surprised Darla/tex/Lee24, whoever, hasn't responded yet to tell how WE ALL are mistaken, that TWDP bio is lying to cover up the sightings as they don't want to know the critters are there as they will then have their work cut out for them and how we are all dissing his/hers/their military/LEO service.

Geno

Too Darla,

You FORGOT "Too rockinbbar," in YOUR post.

Are YOU/ from LA? And, to ALL, since there is some confusion///// LA is LOWER ALABAMA!

Yours,
KoTex[/quote]

RBB
When I was working at the hospital we had a big black guy named Ray that worked on the floor crew. He had a bunch of tattoos, one of which was LA. I asked him one day if he was from California. He said no why. I said you have LA tattooed on your arm. Serious as a heart attack he replied, that stands for Lower Arkansas.

LMAO! suck up!

I like the Big Tex Saloon in Spring Texas

The one with Darla as cocktail waitress?

It’s OK to make fun of imaginary wives.

curdog4570,

Fyi, I didn't assign my nickname to myself.- Instead my first BN commander (COL Rufus H. R______.) gets the "credit", as he said at my 1st staff meeting , "I'm going to call you "Tex", as there is way too damned many people named James, Jim & Jimmy around here. - That's OK with you, isn't it?"

I said, "Colonel, you may call me whatever you like." - The nickname "stuck".
(No brand-new "butter-bar" is going to tell a senior 0-6 "no", if he/she can avoid it. - Instead, as "the new kid", you just want to "keep your head down", "get your feet on the ground" & hope to Heaven that you don't look completely stupid/foolish to "the boss".)
In my case, I was assigned as the Detachment CDR of the kaserne's MP Detachment & was lucky enough to have "inherited" a great MSG E8 as the Detachment NCOIC. - I learned a great deal from MSG Autley.

In case you are interested, rather than just trying to be "too clever" (read: a jackass), I was born in Pittsburg, Texas & raised in Pittsburg & Daingerfield, TX & lived mostly in Morris County, until I went to boarding school in SEP, 1962.

yours, tex

dang Ken,

I should have looked at that Lee 24 link earlier.

And I should have joined this Campfire thing earlier than I did. I see that thread "evolved" into a nice "greatest thread ever candidate" way back in 2010 even.

There is a use for the "Lees" of the 'fire after all.

Geno

Yeah, I know all about being tagged as”Tex “ in the military.

That’s a long way from what I posted about and you know it.

You called yourself Tex here when you could have chosen just about anything.

If you had any sense at all you would hope this thread would die instead of keeping it going.

curdog4570,

NOPE. I think that you are just being NASTY & HATEFUL. - PITY that you are also 100% WRONG about my much-beloved Darla, as you are about most everything else.
(Frankly, I could care less whether you like me or not BUT "if you had any sense at all" you would make a very sincere & abject public apology to my beloved Darla, as she deserves nothing less AND is "well-liked" by many members of this forum.)

yours, tex

Hell, tex, I’ve been enjoying your posts. Don’t quit now.
Best to DG.

Yours, 1/2 tex