What was that??

[silvercreek]

Cats of all types are about as stealthy animal as you will find. There is a lot of territory in those mountains. Heck, some soul goes hiking and gets lost. They send out all kinds of folks looking for someone who is not particularly trying to stay unseen, and they still cannot find them even with some idea of where they are. Now imagine an animal that moves as quiet as fog, and is largely nocturnal. I think it is highly possible.

[sammcdonald]

don linzey...out of maryville rf knoxville...here is some info on him
http://www.mountainx.com/features/20...he_green_scene

[Dancing Bear]

Several years ago my friend Andrew and I were hiking from Mt. Collins to the Dome and we came across cat tracks in the snow that were as big as my hand. Mixed in with them were deer tracks and you could see where the deer had skidded and changed directions in a hurry. There was also a long mark in the snow that looked like the cat's tail had been on the ground. We are sure that it was a panther that was after the deer. I called the park service to report it and they asked a lot of questions but were noncommunicable about my questions. So, I believe you saw what you saw.

Mike

[JimmyC]

Found you a wampus cat. If you were outside Newport I'd ask, was it the black one, or yellow one?

[JohnH0802]

Carolina Boy,
Years ago they said that Mountain Lions were endangered in CA because people did not see them very often. Anyway they ended up outlawing hunting mountain lions. Now I have never been mountain lion hunting, and have no desire to do so, but you can only have so many news stories of hikers/runners/back packers getting killed by mountain lions to realize that they actually have an overpopulation problem now. They even had mountain lions stalking school children at recess in schools in the foothills. I spent countless hours in the Sierra Nevada mountains as a youth, in areas were there were documented populations without ever seeing one. I have no doubt that there are mountain lions in the smokies....you are just not going to see them unless/untill they are overpopulated.

I am jealous that you got to see one. Great job!

[Carolina Boy]

Thanks John, I really didn't realize that the exsistence of these animals was disbuted until sometime yesterday. The NC Wildlife magazine issue from Dec 09 actually has a article "The truthiness issue" where it disbutes the claims of those lucky enough to see one in Western NC. Funny thing is that they say it is either a bobcat or a red fox with mange, I can assure you what I saw was neither. I figure if the State acknowledges their exsisitence somebody would be forced to do something so it may be easier and actually better for the creatures to deny their esistence here? I contacted a proffesor in SW Va who talks about the subject so that was interesting to. I guess I can thank the NCDOT people for taking their time clearing the gourge!

[canerod]

Carolina boy what makes your sighting so nice is that it is a perfect description of what a mountain lion would look like.A good friend who is a wildlife biologist in the Adirondack Mts of NY(ten times larger in area than the smokies) told me what turns so many state biologists off is that about 80% of the reported sightings are of "black panthers". There has never been a documented case of a black mountain lion anywhere. They do not carry the gene for black coloration.Jaguars and leopards can be black. My neighbor here in the mountains of the NC Tn. boarder will swear he saw a 'black panther" behind where we live. Your sighting as I have said is accurate and you are lucky.

[PeteCz]

Crap! I've been gone from the board for about 2 months and when I come back I have something new to worry about the next time I head into Upper Deep Creek (beyond bears, boars, guns, snakes, deranged individuals, falling, etc). Now I have to worry about Panthers too...its enough to give you the "willys"

All kidding aside, CBoy that's an awesome sighting....glad you were in the car!

[Carolina Boy]

Thanks Canerod, this thing was tan or light gold, O fcourse my hi beams were right on it as it was on the shoulder on the side of the road I was on (right) so there is no mistake there. To be honest I didn't know all of these animals (cougar, puma, panther, painter, mountain lion, were all the same animal. I was quite ignorant until the last day or so and I actually expected the response to my intial post here to be " yea we have all seen em" so its been quite a interesting and informative response/experience. I will say that with the way this thing leaped from the road to the higher ground, well above the height of my SUV's hood, it is no doubt that these things can take down a deer, not an animal I would want to anger.

[jross]

my dad is one of those that has seen the black panther. I have to believe him, he's my dad! He gets a little irked at those who say it doesn't exist. I can't blame him. I'd be mad too if I know I saw something. And in this case, some thing that "doesn't exist". so Carolina Boy even though what you saw "isn't real" I believe you.

....there are critters that aren't documented, so therefore they aren't supposed to be there. For example, (I think it was) Green Frogs weren't officially documented in my county, so therefore they didn't exist in the county. I'd seen 'em before, but it wasn't "official".