catman, i declined to respond as i do on many of the posts, but since you commemented on my other post i figure i would add my experiences. At my hunting club theres were 4 sightings this year of a black panther(just this year there there are some every year). we found tracks that made my 100lb english lab tracks look like a baby. One sighting in particular came from a 10 year old who was staying at the club with a group of guys the owner was hosting. He came back and told me (as if he thought i would call him crazy) that that morning he saw a big black cat with a 3 foot (or more) tale cross 4 of the plots in front of him (wagon wheel stand). His dad was sleeping and putting him on the lookout but he said he woke his dad but by that time it was gone. This kid never was told about the sightings up there or anything. Also that was the 3rd sighting in 2 weeks. The land is on the savannah river adjacent to plant vogle. My dad also works at plant vogle and has seen on along with many of his co-workers. I wish i had a digital cam when i found the tracks but of course i didnt.
Also i read a few years ago that some kinda of jaguars from florida were radio collared and they tracked them all the way up thought georgia, up the savanah river right through burke county where my club is an ended up capturing them somewhere in SC. I am a firm believer they are in my area, but im 120 miles from yall so theres a bit of a difference
Alot of the guys who hunt at my club have been hunting there for 25 years and see them regularly (once or so a year). But one of the old men up there was telling me about his experience this year in which one walked directly under his stand one evening, i asked him why he didnt shoot and he said he thought they were too beautiful to shoot and he has had a couple opprotunities but has no desire to kill something just to kill. This guy has no reason to lie to me he wouldnt even tell me the stories i had to pry them out of him practically lol. Also my dad claims to have seen one crossing the road early one morning going to the training building at plant vogle (which if u dont know is a BIG area on the river surrounded by thousands of acres of forest). He said it just came out real slow and slinked across the road, said it was black at least 150 with a long curved tail. He said he thought all the guys would think he was crazy when he told them but he was surprised when many of them had seen some too
I believe the released cougars to which Aug refers, was a usfws test where they let let about 5 male western cougars go in n fla. The last one was found to have traveled near 250 miles without generating 1 sighting. Late 70’s or early 80’s. Theres lots of recorded “Tales” in local archives statewide concerning the big cats, and some of even better ones if you strike the subject up with the oldest member of your family. 1779 documents leopard and panther as seperate breeds, john audobahn documents a sighting along the N Santee in 1851. no body ever called them crazy
E-BRAD THIS TRAIL CAM PIC WAS MAILED TO ME BY JERRY RUSHING , OWNER OF CHESTNUT HUNTING LODGE, IN TAYLORSVILLE ,N.C. IF I NEW HOW TO POST IT I WOULD. WHAT DO YOU THINK???
later catman
Catman sent me this photo via email so that I would post it on here. I know nothing of this picture.
Doesnt take an expert to see the implications of a black panthera and what appears could be a milk sack on its underbelly. According to Mr Rushing, his hometown of Monroe NC has seen an escalation of sightings over the last few years. Specifically around the recent drought.
I’ve seen other pictures of big cats from trail cameras here in the east, but this is the most convincing pic yet… I think this is the real deal… a BIG BLACK CAT!!! indeed a panther… needs to be put on the SCDNR panther site…
dixie, when you saw this pic, was it one of those “I know this fella” kinda deals, and did the claim of location correspond with western NC. Been investigating carolina panthers for 5 years now, and I have found its better to ask these nerdy questions now, rather than assume them later.
I live accross the river from aug_fish in Aiken county. I have seen 2 in the last two years. One here in Aiken, one on a very un-populated dirt road in Pelion. The second I got only a small look at, but the first was no doubt a black panther. Watched it run accross a cow pasture for 15-20 seconds untill it hit the woodline. i would guess 125-150 lbs.
Cougar spotted. A story was written in The Toccoa Record Newspaper on May 14th 2009. The story was about a large cat that had been seen by some of the residents in the Black Mountain Road area. Someone had gotten a trail cam picture of the cat and others found tracks of the big cat. Contact: Tom Law the toccoa record news.com
don’t mean to rain on the naysayers parade but there are cougars in South Carolina. Could have been someone’s pet. Could have been wild. But I saw one last fall in upper Fairfield County around 9:30 am (so there was plenty of daylight). Large brownish gray cat with a very long and bushy tail (I’d guess it was around 50-75 lbs.). It ran out in the road in front of my truck. Once it got in the other lane it stopped and watched by truck approach for about 10 seconds before running into the woods. I got to within about 30-40 yds before that happened. I know they are here.
k ulmer, that was a purrrfect tale. I get them all the time. There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to BIG CATS being here in the east. They are from Maine to Florida, out in the wild. Seldom seen but there all the time.
FLATCREEK AND HIS WIFE SAW A LARGE BLACK CAT WITH A SMALLER ONE, THE CATS CROSSED THE ROAD IN FRONT OF THEM, AS THEY WERE DRIVING TO LANCASTER A WHILE BACK.
HAVE YOU SEEN ONE LATELY?
aug_fish you rock.
Southern Alibi 
