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[bobf <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

Wow, what a great story , Bev.  Maybe you'll see it one day, but not in a 
threatening situation.  There were tales of Black panthers (long tail, like 
you describe), but I never saw one.  Thanks for the story..................

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--- On Thu, 1/1/09, EarthNSky <erthnsky AT bellsouth.net> wrote:

> 
> I'd been missing some ducks and geese a few years ago,
> so I looked out
> my back door one night just to check on the few geese I had
> left.  I
> could see them out by the barn, but they were moving around
> more than
> usual-something did not look right, so I grabbed my pistol
> and
> highpowered flashlight and went out to investigate.  About
> halfway to
> the barn, I heard what I can only describe as a big cat
> vocalizing, and
> he was very, very close.  It sounded like he was 10 feet
> away, so I
> froze and shined the light around.  I was near the
> greenhouse and garden
> fence, meaning that at the closest the cat was probably 75
> feet away on
> the other side of the garden, but it sounded like he was
> right next to
> me.  I never saw the cat, but he did 'yell' at me
> once more to show his
> dissatisfaction with my presence.    I had a gun in hand,
> but was so
> scared I backed all the way to the house, remembering that
> they attack
> from behind.  I spent the rest of that night listening to
> wave files of
> wildlife, and I can tell you that I heard the
> 'impossible'.  I heard a
> mountain lion, not a bobcat.  There are not supposed to be
> any
> cougars/panthers/mountain lions around here, according to
> the DNR.
> However, locals believe there is one or more in the area. 
> There have
> been sightings of large black and brown cats with long
> tails.  Just a
> week prior to my encounter, one was seen crossing the road
> two miles
> from my house.  The day prior to my encounter, the guy
> across the road
> claims he saw it when it walked close to his
> 'campfire'.  He drinks a
> good bit out by the fire, so I am less inclined to believe
> him, but
> enough people around here claim to have seen a mountain
> lion for me to
> believe that they do pass through these woods occasionally.
>  Whatever
> it was that yelled at me was a silent mover..must have
> walked on the
> fallen trees because I saw no tracks the next day.  I never
> heard steps
> sticks breaking or anything like that, either. Stealthy
> stalker...
> Trust me, had I seen a cat that night-any wild cat-even a
> feral
> housecat, I would have shot it in a second.  I was SCARED.
> 
> Bev
> 
> -- "The world is my country, all mankind are my
>  brethren, and to do good is my religion."
>  Thomas Paine (1737 - 1809)