Sunday night out at the pond my wife and I were shocked to hear a panther scream maybe ten to twenty feet outside our front, partially open window. (If you've ever heard a panther, you know it's a sound that will chill your blood.) We didn't see it in the dark, but heard it continue to wail as it walked north toward the dam.

Is this normal hunting behavior for these critters? Seeking a mate? Should we expect it to return at some point? How dangerous is it to people? Anybody with knowledge & experience, please share.

PS If your neighbor has a yappy little dog that keeps you awake, maybe you could take it for a night visit to my pond...

Yep, they are here in the NE Texas and N. La. I have seen one and saw tracks of another one. I understand an adult might travel 20 miles in a day.

Thanks, Tracy. Probably just passing through. I have concerns about my four grandkids.

I’ve seen 2 of them but never in Texas. Both were while hunting out of state. However, I’ve seen their tracks on my place several times and confirmed their presence with the Game Warden.

Dave, I did the same here in N. La. After my early morning sighting, which was about 30 mi south of Shreveport, It was walking down the center of the rd in front of me. I reported it to local wildlife and fisheries. They confirmed we had them. I believe the one I got a close up view was a young one due to the small size of it head. I guess the total weight was around 60 lbs based on the size of my dogs weight. What caught my eye first was the long length of it's tail.

About 25or so years ago I was elk hunting New Mexico. As I was walking out I found mt. Lion tracks over my tracks. I never saw or heard it but it came along after I did.

I saw one on the side of a mountain in Arizona while elk hunting.

About 20 years ago, I found tracks on my place South of Bowie. I called the GW and he confirmed that there had been quite a few sightings in the area. He also told me that a female had raised a litter in the hills around the Lake.

Local hunter told us that there are two panther known to be in the county. He saw one once, was amazed at the size and stealth. Ever since he always brings 2 guns hunting

Anthropic - I am assuming what you're calling a panther is a mountain lion. I have a love/hate relationship with lions. We deal with them a lot at our cabin. I have had them on our porch, on our driveway, ran into them in the woods and even had one jump on my elk decoy while hunting. I get enough of them on trail cameras to never get comfortable. I think they are an amazing critter and I really admire them, BUT they scare the hell out of me with my kids. My youngest daughter is 50lbs and a lion could snatch her up so quick I wouldn't even know what happened. Needless to say, whenever we are up there on vacation we are always on guard.

My mother in law had a run in with this guy on our driveway in summer 2017. After she started screaming he walked off and happened to go right by this trail camera about 60 yards from the cabin. After I pulled the SD card and got the pic I went up to look at the rock that is right in front of his left foot. It was almost as big as my hand with all my fingers spread out. That cat would be a handful, I don't care who you are..... I've been on the lookout for him ever since.

Wow! We're just gonna have to exercise caution with grandkids, especially at night

The only defense for kids against lions that I've read about, two separate instances, was a punch to the nose, and the animal ran away. Our pet cat will do that too, she doesn't like me as a result (but sometimes shows me love). Saw a cat once on the golf course sneaking behind a family of feral hogs that were on the move. Seen tracks at another course nearby...that could explain the dearth of deer on this canyon bottom course and their abundance in the adjacent suburbia. I've heard the screams at Boquias canyon in Big Bend park.
My understanding is that humans are not on lions table fare, and that lions avoid humans and human activity. We are pretty much their only competitor. But it seems young lions may see opportunity, and old lions, unable to effectively hunt, may take the bait. As a kid I read books of tiger hunters chasing man killer tigers in India. Once taking a human, a disabled tiger stalks humans. I don't recall ever reading about serial man killer mountain lions, Carolina panthers, or pumas, nor even the occasional jaguar.

Our neighborhood of two plus acre lots is overrun with deer. I'd appreciate a mountain lion taking up residence for a while. And the attendant drama of sound as the cat calls and as deer get nailed (supposedly one a week...we probably need two cats prowling). Unfortunately, unlike the coyotes, foxes, pigs and deer, lions don't like fences.

And I even built the cats a pond with some nice oak motts surrounding from wherein they could ambush the parade of deer right there.

I was curious if said 'panther' was a mountain lion.

Is that verified now, or is the Texas cat something else?

Dave a good friend of mine used to hunt up around Muenster, Texas not too far from you. He said one night dressed in camo he wandered down by himself to a stock tank where deer often drink.....so after a few minutes he shined his spotlight across the pond and immediately saw 2 really big cat eyes in the brush....I guess a mountain lion was waiting to ambush deer....he said it kind of freaked him out so he got out of there quick.....he said it had to have seen him coming in and could have been on him before he knew what was happening.


https://tpwd.texas.gov/huntwild/wild/species/mlion/

I will disagree with the part about lions avoiding humans and human activity. That has not been my experience. I will also say they are the one animal I have run into that does not run. Just about every critter on the mountain runs when it sees a human. Occasionally a bear won't run and those are the problem ones. Every single lion I have run into did NOT run from me. It has always been a staring contest for a little bit before they WALK away. Have you ever watched a house cat lay down 20 yards or so away from a dog and the dog have no idea the cat was there? The cat just lays there and thinks "stupid dog". That's the impression I have always gotten in my lion encounters. I have often wondered how many times we have been watched and had no idea.

I would say 99% of the time a full grown man is NOT on a lions menu. However, they are opportunistic feeders and a 50lb kid is like taking candy from a baby.

There were 3 lion attacks in Colorado in 2019 so obviously it's not something that happens everyday. I just think our cabin is a higher risk environment. Kind of like there are places in every state where you are at a much higher risk to get shot.

I read a few yrs ago that the Mt Lions were attacking and killing 7 to 9 people a year while jogging on the eastern side of LA Calif. And after seeing tracks @ my farm I now carry my pistol when bow hunting

I recall seeing the articles about joggers in California.

IIRC, it was more than one person, but maybe less than 5.

Frank, when your @ the pond check for tracks. Look for tracks with no claw marks. Think of a dogs tracks that will most always show claw marks. The cat will have no claw marks unless he is running. When I found the tracks on my farm they looked out of place and were really large tracks (4 of them) I took photo with my glove laying beside the track for size comparison. The tracks were as large as my hand.

Have you guys heard about them jumping fences in CA and grabbing peoples dogs? I don't mean Chihuahuas. They are jumping in peoples fences, even grabbing german shepherds and such and jumping back over the fence. There was a video on the news of one that jumped a fence into someones yard and had their doberman pretty much dead before the owner came out. Luckily the dog came back to. It's on youtube. Pretty crazy.

We live right in lion country. Lots of anecdotes; I won't even begin to relate many here. I'd be writing for hours.

One thing we see, is mule deer are normally in our yard once or twice a day. If a few days go by without deer sighted, we walk the property and often spot lion tracks. Cat shows up, deer vacate the premises.

Several years ago we had 3 domestic geese. We came home from an overnight stay only to find 2 of the geese on our porch deck. One was missing. They'd crossed the "goose proof" fence that was intended to keep them away from the house.

The next night while we were eating dinner, we heard a loud thump against the outer wall of our back bedroom. One of the remaining geese flew in panic down the driveway. Pati went out one door; armed I sent our another door. While she was standing at the front bumper of her Subaru, a lion, carrying a goose, walked by the back bumper and glared at her. Her comment was, "I've always wanted to see a mountain lion, but not with my goose in it's mouth."

Next night found me at the same time sitting on the deck, 12 gauge Specialty Grade LC Smith in my lap. My thought was this classic old side by side has probably never, in its 98 years, had a chance at a lion. I'd talked with proper authorities; they assured me I could kill the beast if it returned. And, biologists I asked said simply firing warning shots over its head would not prove effective long term. I have dissuaded both marauding grizzly and black bears with warning shots.

Well, in 25 minutes the motion sensor light triggered, out stepped the lion at 14 yards, up came the LC as if rising to a flushing quail, and that was it for said cat. The sheriff and fish and game people thanked me. They indicated a cat that fearless of humans was going to become a problem for them at some point.

Fortunately for all, no more cats have come right up to our house.

4Corners - Now THAT is a wonderful story!! I cannot tell you how much I love it, especially the ending!

There are certain critters that you just don't want to have around your property. Lions are one of those critters.

Couple years back a lioness denned up and had a litter a mile or so east of my place. We didn't have any problems here that could be directly attributed to that,
but one of the neighbors lost over 300 laying hens in a very short period of time. The lion was dispatched and no more disappearing chickens. DNR trapped
the litter and hauled them off somewhere. Probably to a rescue shelter so they could be turned back out into the wild once they were big enough to fend for themselves.

I think it is a mountain lion. Call sounded exactly like a lion, not a panther, when my wife & I checked on the phone.

These stories pretty much end any thoughts of raising chickens on our property. Not to mention coyotes, eagles, hawks, raccoons, wild pigs, dogs, you name it.

I have a friend that went hunting in Africa back in the 80's and while lion hunting where the natives were beating the brush, a lion jumped out and killed one of the natives right in front of my friend. They shot the lion but it was after the lion had killed the native. As he told me the story, said the lions scream was extremely loud. Now this was not one of our Mt. Lions here in N. America but still, it was a lion. A lion is a lion. Like a lmb is a lmb weather is a northern or a Florida lmb.

To hear him tell the story it is something to hear.

I was at a guy's property last weekend and he had bunch of guineas running around. He said they help control ticks which I can attest are bad out here...also he thinks they deter snakes around his cottage....but anthropic he said the hawks and eagles have killed just about all his guinea hens.

Predators killed all our guineas. Coyotes even came up on the porch to try and get them roosting at night. Now need to rely on opossums to eat ticks. Biggest threat is Lyme disease. Our 5 German shepherds have not been able to catch any coyotes yet, but its not for lack of trying. A few raccoons have not fared as well...

RAH....so they got your male guineas too?

He said his guineas sleep at night up in a big tree I guess to discourage predators.

I suppose that would help with the yotes, but a bobcat would go right up the tree.

Owls are extremely hard on guineas also. They will land right next to a guinea that is roosted in a tree and kill it.

All my guineas of both genders were taken. They actually held on for a couple years and had multiple batches of babies, but as indicated by others, lots of predators take them; coyotes, fox, raccoons, mink, bobcats, hawks, owls, weasels, etc. We do not have many turkeys either, and other ground nesting birds are equally scarce. Since wood ducks nest in tree holes, they have fared better.

Sorry to hear about Guinea hen slaughter. Would love to raise some, but not just as raptor prey

Wow. Even Canada geese are careful to lay eggs on our island, not main shore. Didn't save their clutch last year, though. Raccoons

Tracy obviously a gun helps, but I wonder if these cats stalk us from behind and we are sitting on an ATV, log, or whatever if they'd have us by the throat before we ever have a chance to draw our gun?

Probably without a doubt

ZEP, I'm sure u r right about them attacking from a place where they are hidden and we may not see them till after they have us. But I still feel better about having a gun rather than an arrow when it comes to personal defense. It sounds a lot like an lmb attacking a large bg. He can't eat it in the first attack but still he tears the bg up so much it may die.

Very true Tracy....much better to have the gun....in fact in some of the attacks in Cali it seems the jogger many times sees the big cat for several seconds before the attack...i suppose the cats are pretty leery of attacking an adult human...so they size us up awhile....and really there are relatively so few attacks on adults every year....that the risk of getting struck by lightning must be far greater.

if I was WBJ and based on his comments here, I'm not sure i would go out without having a pistol on my side. It would not be a 22 pistol but a much larger caliber. There seems to be a big cat or two around his nice place in the Mountains. I would not be scared of being around his place but I would be prepared. I also herd they are pretty good eating with mostly white meat

Yeah I am not at all concerned about one attacking me. The first couple years I hunted out there I used to carry a pistol while hunting, but the same thing always happened. After three or fours days of hiking miles and miles everyday with 30-40+lbs on your back at 10,000' I start wanting to get rid of every bit of weight I could!! The pistol was always one of the first things to go. Elk hunting is a little different I guess. There is usually two or three of us. I feel pretty confident if a cat jumped on my buddy we could handle it and I think he could do the same for me, but again I doubt it would ever happen. I kind of wish it would happen! I bet the movie deal and $$ could be huge! Lol

My only real concern is for little kids. They can just wind up gone and I wouldn't even know what direction to look.

interesting about Colorado mountain lion attack:

Wonder if bear spray in eyes may work

I don't.

I am a firm believer in ft-lbs of energy.