MandoTom2 - Posted - 12/21/2019:  16:15:03

I forgot to write about this one...

I was coming home from the music store two weeks ago on Monday about 7:30 P.M.

I was on Highway 21, going north and had recently passed Elephant Rocks State Park.

I was parallel to Buford Mountain (a true ridge mountain in every sense, an Ozark mountain).

It was dark and there were no other cars around...

Suddenly, something that looked like a black cat streaked across the highway (both lanes) in front of me, maybe 30 feet out...

When it's back paws were still on the white stripe on the right side of the highway, it's front paws were about 2 feet from the double yellow line in the center of the highway...

It was indeed dark outside, but I was looking straight ahead of me on a straight stretch and it ran straight through my headlight path, like I said, maybe 30 feet in front of me.

My brights were on.

That thing had a tail that must have been close to 2.5 feet long.

We do have Bob Cats around here...

I saw one of those fairly large fellows across from our driveway, heading into the woods last winter. Again, at night, but he was also right in my head lights, not 20 feet away.

We live about an eighth of a mile from the base of the southern end of Buford Mountain (of the Ozark mountain range), and I've only heard stories about mountain lions.

When I got home, I looked up 'black panther', and supposedly, there is no phylus or genus (category) for such an animal, i.e., there's no such animal as a 'panther'...

Supposedly...

They said that a black panther is actually another animal in the large cat (mountain lion) category and that Leopards, Lynx, Jaguars and other similar large cats sometimes have black coats. They said on those animals, it's not uncommon to still be able to see the spot patterns on them in the daylight if you're close enough.

This fellow appeared absolutely black with my head lights shining right on him.

I went back to the music store the next day and told my story to any one who would listen.

All of those guys have lived in the area for most of their lives and said they's never seen one, but that they'd heard stories about sightings of local black panthers, some as close as the outskirts of Farmington, MO.

Farmington is about 30 minutes directly east of us (the music store is in Farmington).

A smaller bear got hit on Highway 67 about 20 miles and 20 minutes south of Farmington in Fredericktown, MO last year this time.

So, we do have wild life down here...

I feel very fortunate to have seen this fellow.

For me, it was a once in a life time experience.

I had to wait 59+ years for this one.

Tom

Edited by - MandoTom2 on 12/21/2019 16:43:34

MandoTom2 - Posted - 12/21/2019:  16:38:13

They hunt at night...

This is interesting...

Up to 7-8 feet in length...

Black Panther (Cougar, Leopard, Puma, etc.)... - CLICK HERE...

Tom

Robert - Posted - 12/23/2019:  06:45:32

My late neighbor went to his grave telling us he'd seen one in the back of our property. They are rare but apparently seen in the Southern Appalachians.

MandoTom2 - Posted - 12/23/2019:  10:25:51

They're very solitary animals according to what I've read...

Supposedly, they only get together during mating season...

I also saw a video that spoke of black panthers in the state of New York...

On the fringes of society and close to the woods...

Around here, there are hundreds of thousands of open woods acres with quite a few large ridge type mountains.

I still feel very lucky to have seen one...

The only other person I know who saw the one over by Farmington, MO saw theirs at night also...

Well, there's plenty of possums, skunks, armadillos and the like around here to keep 'em fed...

Tom