We shouldn't have cougars here at all. An occasional black bear will show up once in awhile, but that's very, very rare for our area. When my son was little, he came inside to tell me that the neighbor's bull was out again on our property. I went outside and found bear scat! About 10 minutes later, my neighbor through the woods called to say we had a black bear and to watch out. That was on a different farm, not here. There have been some rumors that the Eastern Carolina Panther (thought to be extinct) may be around, but no confirmed sightings. My ex (about 30 minutes away) says that they are hearing coyotes over there now with confirmed sightings. The sound we heard was not a coyote. It was feline. Bobcats are in the area, so it was probably just wandering through and not living on our property. I couldn't find any tracks in the open areas around our house. It sounded like it was traveling along our creek in the woods. We may go down there during the day and see what tracks we find. I'm not really too concerned unless it is rabid. Rabies is being reported in the fox and raccoon populations in our area. We have an abundant deer population with quite a few fawns born this year. DH and I noticed that they were not in our meadow around sunset (their daily routine). They had moved down about 1/2 mile to a neighbor's meadow instead. Hmmm...maybe they know something! We aren't outside much at night and Charm (our greyhound) is never outside without us. She won't give chase to anything except her toys. She doesn't bark at anything either. When she is out with us, we are always out in the meadow, not in the woods. There are no streetlights here and our outside lights are restricted by covenants to 75 watts to prevent light pollution (this is a great place for star gazers). We've started turning on all the inside and outside lights when we go out at 11:00pm for Charm's last bathroom break. Anyway, we'll play it safe and see what tracks we find. I grew up in the country, but we just never had a bobcat present a problem.

The deer probably has a fawn stashed nearby. Anything that happens near is likely to be chased off. I saw one outright attack a coyote a few years back, obviously preventing it from getting to where it wanted to go. It was intent on one particular spot. Broad daylight, went on for at least 10 minutes. I have one doe who, for the past two previous years, appears to have dropped a fawn in the same location near my apple trees. Once while working out there I looked up to see her looking at me from about 100 feet away, and actually approach me slowly before turning and bounding off, albeit rather slowly. 15 minutes later, I looked up to see that she'd silently returned, and was much, much closer to me this time. I actually approached to see how clos ethat I could get,and was amazed to get to within almost 30 feet. She, or rather a single doe, was seen many times in the next week or so in the same general area, always with much reduced fear compared to their normal behavior here at any other time of year. Presumably, this week or so is giving the fawn enough time to get some growth on it, to be able to move quickly enough to keep up, and then she's gone, with the normal frequency of sightings, and their immediate flight returning. We have seen a single doe lately, but not yet with the reduced fear. Maybe any day now. It's very strange to see that behavior in this area, where they are normally so reserved. Mule dear often habituate to humans, and maybe even white tails in other parts of the county, but it's very unusual for them to behave so tamely in this area, in my experience.

My immediate thought was a Coatimundi because you said it was larger than a cat. Those ringtail are only a couple of pounds but the Coatis are pretty big and also have a ring tail and could be down in your area of Texas. The males tend to live alone and they are noisy but I don't know what noises they make. There are pics on the web but here's one: http://www.blackpineanimalpark.com/Animals/coati_mundi.htm I got to hold and play with one once down in S. America and he was the cutest thing but very, very busy with the softest little hands like a monkey. Camilla

If it were spring, I'd suggest a grouse. During mating and nesting season, the male grouse, during a display, opens and then snaps his wings against his body. The time spacings between beats shortens with each "flap" and lessens in intensity. The first beat is felt more than it is heard. If you had been sleeping, you first sensation is a pressure wave on your chest. Its a wierd feeling. But, at this time of year, maybe it is an owl.