August 2020 Buck of the Month - Released

[afishhunter]

That's what the DNR said when I reported a cougar in the road 100 feet in front of my truck @ 4am.

It was leaving the neighbors yard going into the woods next door.
The grand kids don't tent camp out back now for some reason.

The wolf outside the fenced in area for the dogs was bad enough.
They say they don't exist here.
Ha.

I reported a cougar in Stockton, MO. in '95 or '96 in the field, next to my mum's place.
DNR tried to convince me it was a wolf, which they admit are in the area..
I told them "Sorry, but I know the difference between a cat and a dog. What I saw was a 175 to 200 pound kitty; not a dog.
A few months later, someone ran over a cougar. DNR was forced to admit they were in the area, after all, and the Armadillos had returned, along with a "small" population of black bear. Apparently while checking a Armadillo infestation at some farm, the DNR Agent/Game Warden spotted a her black bear with two cubs. (so much for their assertion "There hasn't been a black bear in Missouri since the 1890's..."
I suspect it was a cougar that got a now late friend's two peacocks. We found cougar tracks around his Bassett Hound kennel (he bred them) the morning after they went more bananas than usual. Never saw the hen peacock again since the day prior to the Bassett's losing what little of their minds they possessed. The rooster peacock went AWOL a couple days later. At least he didn't have to spend the night in his car because the peacocks wouldn't let him get out and run to the house. (Peacocks can be meaner than idiot geese having a bad day.)

 

[bucksway]

I was deer hunting here in Florida back in 2012 in Gulf Hammock. Just past legal shooting hours I seen 'something' in the trail 30 yards away from me. I stared through the scope for 5 minutes trying to make out what it was..I never seen it's head but did see 18-20 inches of tail gently waving. It HAD TO BE a Florida Panther. Folks who spend years in the woods over there lifetime never catch a glimpse of one..

 

[afishhunter]

I was deer hunting here in Florida back in 2012 in Gulf Hammock. Just past legal shooting hours I seen 'something' in the trail 30 yards away from me. I stared through the scope for 5 minutes trying to make out what it was..I never seen it's head but did see 18-20 inches of tail gently waving. It HAD TO BE a Florida Panther. Folks who spend years in the woods over there lifetime never catch a glimpse of one..

Yeah.... Your much more likely to spot a gator, saltwater croc, 15 foot python (that some idiot "released to the wild" when much smaller, after deciding a "pet" python wasn't "cool" after all) Giant African Pouch Rat, Sting Ray, Shark (Nurse, Bull, Great Hammerhead, are the most common) Tarpon, Key Deer, pelican, heron, skunk, raccoon, regular house rats, and big/giant foot across the body spiders, (have one of them (they non-venomous) who needs a watch dog or cat?) hermit crabs, maybe a leather-back turtle ....
At least in the Keys.
(The non-turtle aquatic things from the walk-ways on the bridges and/or beaches)