I found a better photo of what could be the same animal, and this one shows claw marks

Probably just a big domestic dog, but jaguar print photos look too similar for my taste.

Oh, well, I've not been eaten yet, so I'll still roam the woods looking at birds. Maybe the cam (a Non-Typical Cuddeback Capture) will help me with bird captures as well as scoping out the night life

You do know that tracks get larger over time.

The melting snow no doubt distorted the tracks, but I didn't like the look of the 22 to 36 stride, in-line, like a cat.

The young man who saw the animal a year ago described it as a "black cougar" about the size of a fox hound, kind of heavy, that came right up behind him while he was deer hunting, so I decided it could be a half grown black jaguar that had either escaped or was turned loose.

I have been thinking for years about using a trailcam in the woods, so at least that inspired me to finally order one. I know that photos from these are usually poor, but the reviews on the one I ordered were positive.

A year ago I bought a Cuddeback Expert which takes super sharp color photos. I used it to capture shots of the wild animals that visit our yard to eat the dog kibble we put out for the bluejays and crows. Crows are the only birds I got, but we have some really good shots of coyotes, racoons, skunks, possums, and a flying squirrel.

Hi Rachel,

An escaped animal stay near human as food provider and people can see it often. You may believe in the " black jaguar " if you want but personnally i would doubt.

Hunters around here use this sort of cam and get good color pictures even at nite.

[img]http://inlinethumb34.webshots.com/5025/2974810420038525701S600x600Q85.jpg[/img]

Luc

Sorry,

May be this way.

Luc

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1356755}}

I'm sorry-I couldn't open your links.

I've been hearing "black panther" stories from people around here for years, and the reason I actually listen to them is that locals are fond of purchasing exotic animals. Our neighbors across the road kept a lion cub in a corn crib until it was too big, then "got rid of it." People tell me that someone up the road had a full grown lion in his barn for years.

Plus, I saw one once. Or something.

I was driving on the interstate just outside Morehead about ten years ago with my kids and saw something black standing on the edge of the woods near the interstate. At first I thought it was an Black Angus calf.

Then I saw it had a long tail and thought it was a statue of a black panther.

Just then, the animal switched its tail. I began yelling to my kids to look, but by then the car was passing it and they never located it.

I have no proof, of course, since no one else saw it, and size is hard to judge at a distance. Whatever it was, I at first thought it was a calf, so it likely wasn't just a house cat.

Well, I'm looking forward to seeing what my cam captures anyway. There's a high wind storm headed this way that has already caused enough damage east of us for KY to bring in the National Guard, so I may not be able to post for very long. We have our generator but our DSL could go out.

Hi Rachel and all,

Sorry for the link. I'll try to do better when I get a few minutes.

Take care of you.

Luc

We got the trail cam this afternoon (!!!) and we've been putting it together but the wind storm is getting close; one national weather service alert claimed gusts up to 100 mph in some places and there are tornado warnings.

A sudden gust hit right after I'd climbed down my usual tree on Narnia Ridge and nearly blew my parrot off the branch where I'd put him to wait for me. I managed to get Pandy and scoot down the mountain through the woods-three dogs at my heels, but by then the wind was quiet.

Still, DuBois cut branches near the house and I dismantled the bird bath, wedging the top into a plastic chair jammed into the corner of the deck. The bird feeders are swinging and the wind is roaring so I'll bring them in soon so they don't break the glass.

If the power stays on, we might test the new trail camera this evening and install it tomorrow.
I'd better send this before the power goes out

If I had a buck for every local "black panther" sighting discussion I'd heard over the years, I'd be able to buy everybody on here a complimentary trail camera. Rachel, at least you used the term "black jaguar", which is an actually occurring animal. I don't even try to explain the differences anymore , the fact that your chances of being bonked on the head by a meteorite are better than seeing a "black panther". People in my area seem swept up in a kind of big cat hysteria, and from the stories there is one lurking in wait behind every bush and fencepost to pack off someone's chilluns.
It's confusing enough to try to explain that although there's one kind of big cat (mountain lion) that is actually returning to former ranges but NEVER occurs in a melanistic form, we cannot totally write off the existence of a couple of other big cats that DO have a melanistic form and "might" be around if the local drug/gang boss got bored with them (or the amateur zoo operator/illegal collector got too many to feed and opened some gates).
Instead I usually ask if a person has an e-mail address and then direct them here:
http://www.naturealmanac.com/cougars/faqs.html#links

some people might read up and learn a thing or two, and the rest were fools to begin with and will believe what they want to anyway. Hope that meteorite hits them hard.

And as Rachel noted, one of the easiest ways to instantly rule out big cat is the presence of claw marks with the exception being where the cat was pursuing game or otherwise trying to maintain its footing or balance.

Rachel, I can't wait for the first good snows to come so I can do what you do, head out and start tracking. THere is such a silent story in every set of tracks! SOme of the hardest decisions to make in the winter snow are when to drop one trail and pick up another because you never know what twists and turns you are leaving! Rather like putting down a really good book before finishing the last chapter.
While it was no cougar, I did have the good fortune to come across a VERY fresh bobcat track the first day after our last snow fell. Bobcats are making a big comeback here in our area, and I am especially curious about them. I trotted along that set of prints for over a mile and a half hoping for a glimpse, but the sun went down and the darkness forced me to give it up. It was a REALLY cold trudge back to my little speck of window light in the woods, but I had to smile thinking about the things I had seen, how at every overhang in the creek bank the cat had stopped and checked for roosting birds.

one more thing: trailcams are really painless to set up and use, but I don't have any experience with the newer digital ones. Mine is an old 35mm old fashioned variety but it still works. HAs a bit of trouble with temperatures below the 35 degree mark, and occasionally I have condensation issues on the lens cover. Also, took a whole roll full of good, boring sun rise shots before I realized the heat/infrared capabilities mean careful positioning. Perhaps the newer models have allowed for this somehow?

The young man who claimed he saw the animal on our land called it a "black cougar," and that it came up behind him while he was waiting behind a deer blind and swatted him in the leg. He said he turned around, saw it, yelled, and shot at it with his deer rifle but the animal ran away.

I'm the one who kept questioning him. I asked the animal's size, weight, i.e.-was it "heavy" or "slender," and he said it was "chunky." I asked how big and he indicated a height and said it looked like about the size of a Fox Hound. I was trying to ascertain if the "black cougar" was an escaped half grown leopard, or half grown jaguar. These exotic animals can be purchased online, so it was possible.

The poor guy was so spooked that he gave up hunting on my land (I had given him permission), plus he didn't seem to know anything about big cats and didn't use the term "black panther"-which could include either a melanistic leopard or a jaguar-and didn't seem to have anything to gain from the story. He's a quiet, steady young man I've hired before to clean up debris.
Since leopards are from Asia/Africa and jaguars from the southwest-now mostly south of our border although they used to range over all the lower western states-if he did see such an animal it would have to be an escaped pet.

Around here, locals are constantly out in the woods hunting, riding horses, or taking care of their stock so they see alot of wildlife. I keep hearing tales of cougar sightings and an occasional black one (there are no black cougars, of course, but they don't know that) but if I hadn't seen something that resembled a "back panther"-the one I saw would have been a black leopard since it was slender- I'd have thought they were pulling my leg. I'd heard coyote stories for years, which I didn't believe, before I first saw one here.

Well, something laid down a huge, long-striding track past my pond so the trailcam might catch something. Or it might be somthing boring like a large single-footing dog. I'll set up the camera and see for myself.
Or not!

After the wind subsided, we tested the trail cam, a Non-Typical Cuddeback Capture, and strapped it to a pine tree near the trail where we saw the huge tracks, but also where I've been seeing Red Fox, deer, wild turkey, and coyote tracks as well, although the coyote typically would go through there every 24 hours to 2 days, according to tracks in the snow.

First photo was of the probable maker of the dog tracks seen on my Feb. 8 post in this thread..a large brindle dog-possibly a Pit Bull cross {{gwi:1356759}}From Cuddeback trail camera photos-wildlife on Picazo Farm pond trail

then our neighbor's medium-sized dog the next night {{gwi:1356761}}From Cuddeback trail camera photos-wildlife on Picazo Farm pond trail

The camera took my photo when I approached to change SD cards, so at least I knew it was working correctly {{gwi:1356762}}From Cuddeback trail camera photos-wildlife on Picazo Farm pond trail

but I was wondering when the wildlife would put in an appearance. Was the camera scaring them away?

When DuBois brought in the SD card from last night I was gratified-there were the makers of some of the tracks I'd been seeing and following all winter

2-2-09, Pond trail, wild turkey tracks, 12:25 p.m.

2-16-09, Pond trail, wild turkey hen, 12:57 p.m. {{gwi:1356764}}From Cuddeback trail camera photos-wildlife on Picazo Farm pond trail

1-31-09, Lower field, possible Female Red Fox tracks, 5:38 p.m. (I just found these photos, there's no reference point)

2-16-09, Red Fox, 7:36 p.m.

2-1-09, Lower field, trotting coyote tracks, 11:08 a.m.

2-16-09, Pond trail, coyote, 10:43 p.m.

I'd love to have a trail cam one day, I think it would be so interesting! Unfortunely I don't have the best place to set one up so I'd have to use it at the lake or something and run the risk of it getting damaged or stolen? I don't have a clue where as to start looking for one at?

I read reviews on Amazon.com, and the Non-typical Cuddeback Capture was the cheapest one that actually worked well I could find at the time. It has a place for a padlock, but I don't see what could keep someone from cutting the strap.
Users claim that there are plenty of nights critters hanging around your house if you put one near your garbage can, though.

Poorfish.com has a $250 Bushnell Trail Scout Camera w/night vision that includes cable lock on sale right now for $119 and even does video