Black panthers in the USA

[GoldenBrain]

Those feral pigs are no joke. They're a huge problem here in Texas which is why there is no license required to hunt them. They are good eating though if you capture them and feed them for a few weeks to take out the gamy flavor.


Syn, I didn't take you for a trophy hunter, but I'm still glad to hear you say it. I REALLY hate that sh!t! I have no problem hunting for food, but hanging dead carcasses on our walls just seems morbid. Oh, hey, thanks for stoping by…take a look at our wall of death. No thanks! I shot a whitetail deer in SE Oklahoma about 30 years ago with 42 points. The thing was absolutely beautiful, but was really old and probably wouldn't have made it another year. This was a ground tracking hunt like always. I made it to within 25 yards of that deer, and smelled something musky, looked to the right and there it was, up on it's hind legs eating from the trees. It actually startled me, and for a moment I hesitated because it was just amazing to look at, but I needed to fill the freezer with meat so…BOOM! I still have friends and family that give me grief for discarding the so called trophy. I give them the finger!

[Kellen Bassette]

I shot a whitetail deer in SE Oklahoma about 30 years ago with 42 points.

I'm assuming your taking some creative liberties here?

[Kellen Bassette]

Sorry for going OT, but IMO, the population of wild pigs has gotten way out of hand in some states, to the point of them ruining farmland and also adversely affecting native wildlife. Although they were brought here hundreds of years ago by the Spaniards, and much later others were brought over from Russia/Eurasia for hunting, they are now quite a problem. And culling them is not easy, as they can be very elusive and hide really well. Not to mention they reproduce very quickly. There certainly aren't enough large predators to control them, and they can be extremely dangerous to boot.

There non-native, so I think you can hunt them anywhere, anytime, in most States that have them anyway. Trouble is, they are still spreading into new areas. As So Co was saying, the lack of large predators has really screwed things up. It irritates me when people are against programs to reinstate predators in their former ranges, where there is enough wild land to support it. Concerns for attacks on people and livestock are absurdly overblown, but old prejudices die hard in some places.

[Syn7]

Well, we all have smart phones now, so it's a non issue.

It's amazing to see how far and fast we've come. It doesn't feel like all that long ago when having a video camera was a luxury. I'm thinking about getting one of those go-pro's. I do a lot of stuff that would be fun to film. Not to mention mounting on various flying machines.

42 points is crazy pants! You sound like a fisherman!

[GoldenBrain]

I'm assuming your taking some creative liberties here?

No sir! It was a full 18 points with the rest being non standard gnarly points all mixed in and twisted throughout the 18. It really was the coolest rack I've ever seen, however it was so knotted up with all those points that the antlers wouldn't even have made decent knife handles. I field dress all my deer so I don't have a live weight, but field dressed it went over 300 lbs. It's been a while now so I think 302 was the number but I could be wrong. It definitely went over 300 though. Oklahoma is full of these large whitetails. The ones here in Texas are a bit smallish so they regularly import from Oklahoma to beef up the stock. The one I saw recently on our property wouldn't have dressed out at much more than 120 - 150 lbs. Sorry, I get a bit long winded. Maybe my handle should have been motormouth...

[GoldenBrain]

Well, we all have smart phones now, so it's a non issue.

It's amazing to see how far and fast we've come. It doesn't feel like all that long ago when having a video camera was a luxury. I'm thinking about getting one of those go-pro's. I do a lot of stuff that would be fun to film. Not to mention mounting on various flying machines.

42 points is crazy pants! You sound like a fisherman!

I swear I would have taken a picture if there had been an iPhone in my pocket back then. Speaking of fishing, I did catch a 590 lb bass one time… hahahaha, just kidding.

Back then, in about 1989 or so when I shot that deer we only had a VHS camcorder. My parents still have that thing in a box somewhere. I saw it a few years ago when they moved here from Fl. It's hilariously large. I mean bigger than the largest component in our entertainment center and weighs about as much as one of those old VHS players. We really have come a long way since then. I imagine there are many who may read this that have no idea what I just said. HUH, VHS?


I've taken several bucks with nice racks, but truth be told I learned a long time ago that doe meat is much better. It's not as tough as the old bucks, so I normally only take a doe on last day doe day. Sometimes we get to take two in a season. They are still pretty hefty in Okla., so I'm fine with loosing a little weight for better meat.

With all that said, I don't even care to hunt them much anymore. I have been trading for American Buffalo meat that my Choctaw buddy grows in Okla. That stuff is just amazing and super lean without all the problems of too much vitamin A.

[SoCo KungFu]

This is probably better in the environmental protection page, but since feral pigs were mentioned here.

http://www.pnas.org/content/99/2/791.full.pdf

Not just interesting because of the pigs, but because it had multiple indirect impacts throughout the system. This is the kind of stuff people mean when they talk about the things that are difficult to study, and we can't know, when they tell people not to do x, y, or z on their property. Or like people up here that are live baiting with southern crayfish, and those crayfish are now wrecking the banks and causing all sorts of problems.

[Syn7]

How bout those snakeheads. I know it's a real problem inland, but so far my area has had very few sightings. But conservation is terrified of these things. They drained a lake(man made) based on a reported sighting or two. Found some turtles that weren't very suited to our climate(apparently, I'm no turtle expert) but no snakeheads. Those lil bastards are badass!

[SoCo KungFu]

How bout those snakeheads. I know it's a real problem inland, but so far my area has had very few sightings. But conservation is terrified of these things. They drained a lake(man made) based on a reported sighting or two. Found some turtles that weren't very suited to our climate(apparently, I'm no turtle expert) but no snakeheads. Those lil bastards are badass!

Yeah, people are worried about that one. But unlike some say, it will be preyed upon by eagles and such as juvies. Its the adults that cause the issues. Its too early to tell the ultimate effects. Although, as was the case in the paper I posted above, we can't really predict what could happen. It took 150 years before the feral pigs ended up in the extinction of an island species. Most people think of pollution only in terms of chemicals. What they don't realize is that the absolute worst pollution we have brought to our systems has come in the form of invasive species. Its also the one that, once started, is nearly impossible to correct. Asian carp has people worried too around here. Some think that it won't be able to invade Lake Erie because its too cold for them to reproduce. But with temps increasing, who can say what will be the case in 30-50 years. Especially if another nuclear plant is built somewhere feeding into the lakes adding more thermal pollution.

[Syn7]

Nothing like that over here. We got mad hydro and far less people. Not that we don't contribute to heat pollution, we mos def do our part.

I guess losing all our manufacturing jobs to asia does have a few positive side effects. I can still see the sky, so that's good. I couldn't imagine living under a smog blanket.

Maybe it's too cold here for snakeheads, I don't know much about them. I just hear that as far as invasives go, these things are serious. Interesting story to follow though.

I think people worry so much about changing the environment because you can't just go back, but not all unintended side effects are bad.

[GoldenBrain]

Invasive species are a real problem but some have been brought back under control. I'm sure it's not many, but the TX longhorn comes to mind. The Spanish brought them over and in time they went feral which is why they have such long horns and are extremely robust and disease resistant. You don't have to give a longhorn antibiotics to keep it healthy which is not the case for other types of cattle. They are not as fatty as the others either which costs at the scales, but they do save a bunch of money in vet expenses so maybe it evens out.

I don't see how we can correct water dwelling invasive species like the snakehead, however I hear they are really good eating and some are capitalizing so maybe they'll over fish them out of existence.

The feral pig is not going away anytime soon. Even if we did get them under control some ******* farmer would find a way to let some out so the problem would just start over. The best thing we can do is hunt them into manageable numbers. I say we should give the meat to the poor folk out there but sadly nobody has to do anything with them so many farmers just let them lie where they die.

[mickey]

Greetings,

Syn7's questioning about how my relative couldn't tell the difference between a panther and a cat got me thinking.

I called two daughters of that relative in separate phone calls and asked about the cat they had and this is what I got:

1- They BOTH corrected me and told me it was a panther.

2- When it was young it was bigger than a puppy.

3- It had short black hair and a very long tail.

4- Had very large paws.

5- Enjoyed leaping up on things.

6- Had yellow eyes.

7- Had long fangs longer and thicker than a regular cat. The words "like a vampire" was used.

8- When it sat down, it was incredibly upright, with a straight spine.

9- Did not walk like a cat at all.

10- Would not stop growing.

11- It started to chase the owner around the house.

The aforementioned has humorous touches of Little Red Riding Hood all over it. When I got the info, I was laughing. One thing that I noticed is that the animal did absolutely no harm to anyone and it had ample opportunity to do so. Additionally, the two people called are still cat lovers. They would know the difference, even if it took hindsight.

I thank Goldenbrain for starting this thread and Syn7 for raising questions about my family "history". They sparked my interest in learning more about that "cat" and, boy, did I learn more!

Thank you both,

mickey

[GoldenBrain]

Greetings,

I thank Goldenbrain for starting this thread and Syn7 for raising questions about my family "history". They sparked my interest in learning more about that "cat" and, boy, did I learn more!

Thank you both,

mickey

You are welcome my friend! ***Places right fist in left palm and takes a courteous bow***