Gatto ...

Invasive Swamp-Yakin' 101; this channel in the back
of Smith's Slough is now impassible!  I wonder if I'll
ever be able to friggin' paddle through this area again?

    Howdy!  Hope all is well with you and yours, and I “Pray” that one of my earlier posts didn’t cause any decline in my readership.  I tend to get into a rant when it concerns somethin' I'm passionate about.  In the future, I’ll try to stick to the subject at hand: slough-stalkin’ ... so I figured that sooner or later I’d have to post this particular story.  Y’all know what a gatto is?  It’s Española for cat.  ¡Si, hablo Española, cierto?!  Let me translate; Y'all do speak Spanish, right?  Sad to say, I don’t really ... at least not as much as I actually should.  I’m Greek; which, if you think about it, is sorta-like a Mediterranean-Mexican; but I don’t speak much Greek ... what’s more Spanish.  I’ve made some poor choices in life, and one of ‘em was takin’ Latin instead of Spanish in high school.  There was this cute little Italian girl that I was sweet on, but I don’t think she had too much to do with me almost flunkin’ Latin!  See?  As usual … I’m gettin’ off track again, and alcohol ain’t the factor!  So, let’s talk about my gatto ...

 

     As mentioned in an earlier blog entry OPERATION: Pull-Out! my buddy from Uncertain called and told me of some possible big cat-tracks he found behind his property in the Caddo Wildlife Management Area (WMA).  So after scoutin’ the area one afternoon, we found (and casted) some pretty impressive big cat-tracks that surrounded a dried-up pond.  While I was down on my hands & knees mixin' plaster and castin’ … I got the doo-doo chills!  It was so dang thick back up in there, I couldn’t help but think that a big cat could’ve been close by and watchin’ us.  I told my buddy to keep an eye out, and he just laughed and said, “Why?  I ain’t scared.  If a big cat comes, it’s goin’ to get you.”  I asked, “Why?” and he replied, “’Cause a big cat is always goin’ to take-down the slower prey.”  I said, “Really?  What makes you think that my fat-ass cain’t outrun you?”  He just looked down at his rifle and gave me one of his classic, smart-assed replies, “’Cause I’d just shoot you in the leg and pass your fat-ass up!”  Y'all just gotta love my buddy!

 

     Again, as mentioned in OPERATION: Pull-Out! I had purchased a Moultrie® Game Spy M-80 Infra-Red Game/Plot Camera and decided to deploy it back there.  I had also contacted that area’s local field biologist as well as TP&W’s game warden/field biologist about my casts.  Both pretty much-well told me that, #1. - I could not have a game camera bolted to a tree in the WMA; #2. - that the tracks I cast were canine, not feline; #3. - that there were no large cats in the Caddo Lake WMA, and #4. - that there was no such thing as a black panther.  Really?  To Hell y’all say!  Well, that game warden/field biologist eventually found and removed my camera from back there, although she was nice enough to let me have it back.  When I finally got home, I was lookin’ through all them pictures on the SD card when I found this ...

Notice how low to the ground and how long this animal is, as well as the sway in its back.
This appears to be a signature "cat on the prowl" profile. Also, notice the time and temp!

     What the Hell is this?  Is this one or two animals; a couple of beavers, maybe?  I kind-of doubt it, but I guess I’ll never know.  My opinion is, it appears to be the continuous shape of one animal.  Compared to the other local wildlife I’ve filmed at night, whatever it is, it’s black; not gray, not tan, but black.  Check-out the night shots below taken by that same trail-cam showin' a deer and then a coyote.  Both of those animals appear gray ... not black at night.  What I'm callin' my "mystery shot" definitely shows a long, black animal.  But there's a problem; you just cain’t tell what kind of black animal it actually is.  It damn-sure ain’t no feral hog!  And compared to the daytime picture of the doe (below) that’s about to bed-down in front of the camera, whatever it was, it was long ... at least compared to that doe.  In my opinion, it looks like a cat stalkin’ somethin’ out there in them woods!  Hmmm, to tell y’all the truth, this is kinda-like one-of them-there “blob-squatch” photos, like the ones some folks try and pass-off as “Bigfoot” … ‘cept it ain’t that blurry!  Actually, since all you can see are a couple of black humps, maybe its some sort-of East Texas, forest-goin’ version of the Loch Ness Monster!  Chuckle-chuckle, y'all!  But, Hell; I cain’t seem to catch a break for nothin’ …

 

 

 

     Texas Parks & Wildlife Department’s stance is that there ain’t no such thing as a black panther.  Really?  Try tellin’ that to my daddy, who grew up in East Texas and used to live on the Texas-Louisiana border in the little town of Bon Wier.  I’ve heard him tell us about when he was ten years-old walkin’ home from church and seen black panthers in them woods.  “No such thing as black panthers?  The Hell you say!  When I was a kid, I could remember me, my sister & two brothers gettin’ stalked on the way home from church.”  He elaborated, “We walked the railroad tracks on the way home and they would follow us through the edge of the woods.”  I asked, “So dad, they weren’t just cougars?” He replied, “Nope, they were solid black!”

 

     Now, what my little brother and I saw in the late 70's was a large black cat; cougar-sized … but it was not a cougar.  We were on a family friend’s ranch which is in between Marquez and Buffalo, Texas off of Highway 79.  While fishin' a cattle tank one evenin' … we heard a couple of screams, the kind that made all the hair on the back of your neck stand-up.  Our friend said, "Okay, boys … time to go; the panthers are out."  Now she didn’t say cougars, she said panthers.  My little brother and I thought she was just funnin' us; you know, kinda like snipe huntin' or boogers … nope!  That next mornin' when we went to fish, she showed us large cat tracks on the bank of the cattle tank, as well as some smaller tracks (cubs).

 

     That afternoon, my little brother and I were walkin' in them woods between the main house and the cattle tank.  I'll always remember this; I had my trusty Crossman 760 .177 cal. pellet rifle, and my little brother had his Daisy one-pump "shake & break" BB gun.  It was after lunch and was too-dang hot to fish, so we took off into them woods.  While on a densely wooded-trail, a very large black cat jumped across about 40-yards in front of us!  We were friggin' terrified, and that was the longest-dang walk in the world back to our friend’s house!  Matter of fact, I was so scared, I had walked the majority of the way backwards.  That night, we were supposed to go thin-out the armadillos that were diggin' under their turkey barns … but all my little brother and I could think of out there in the dark was comin' across that big black cat!  My little brother remembers that big black cat; however, he constantly laughs at my son and me about our (in his words) "Bigfoot" encounter.  Yuck-it up, bro; if you ever see somethin’ that awesome … I’ll be sure and post it for ya!

     Incidentally, in February of 1996 … my wife, 2½ year-old daughter and newborn son were comin' back from Ft. Worth from my little brother’s weddin'.  We had stopped to eat outside of Centerville at a place called Momma Mike's (which, from what I've heard is no longer there).  The inside of Momma Mike's had wall-to-wall wild-game mounts, and pictures everywhere in-between.  While waitin' for our food, my wife was feedin' our son a bottle, and I had our daughter on my shoulder showin' her all of the animals.  There were photos of celebrities who had stopped there; folks like Willie Nelson, Tanya Tucker, Jerry Jeff Walker and ZZ-Top.  And there were lots of game pics; but one photo in which I'll never forget was of a hunter standin' under a ranch gate holdin' a rifle.  Hangin' from the crossbeam of that gate was a very large, soild-black cat.  And sittin’ against that same wall in a booth eatin’ were a couple of game wardens!  I wonder how many game wardens ate at Momma Mike's back in the day?  And, I wonder how many of 'em actually paid attention to that old photo?  I did, 'cause it made me think of how close Momma Mike’s was to our friend's ranch ...

     Now if any of y’all out there remember Momma Mike’s or the picture of that solid-black cat hangin’-up in there, please gimme a shout via e-mail me or submit a comment.  And speakin' of which, comments are always welcomed, moderated and I'd never post anyone's personal information.  But, y'all please keep in mind that if somebody comments anonymously, I have no idea how to get back ahold of ya!  My e-mail address is located on the bottom of this site for your convenience.  Now, if y’all wanna know more about black panther sightin’s or have a personal encounter you'd like to share, please visit the Texas Cryptid Hunter’s site at http://texascryptidhunter.blogspot.com/.  I bet that Mike Mayes would love to hear from y’all ... he's the go-to guy on large black cat sightin’s.  And Mike ain’t no arm-chair researcher … he gets out in them woods and does his time in the grime as well; so please be sure and give his site a look-see!

     In closin’, I’ve prepared a diagram of the cast that I had made to show that this print was left by a feline, not a canine.  Accordin’ to what-all I’ve read and personally witnessed, canine tracks are more conical-shaped and pointed towards the toes, while feline tracks are round; and if you can draw a symmetrical “X” through the track, it ain’t no canine!  On top of that, feline tracks have three lobes on the rear of the pad, and canines only have two; so, how many do y’all see?  A while back, I showed my cast to outdoor enthusiast and writer Chester Moore, Jr. as well as Terri Werner of the Tiger Creek Wildlife Refuge.  They were guest speakers at an Extreme Wildlife Expo held at one of our local Bass Pro Shops.  Both Chester and Terri agreed that this track was left by one very large cat!  So why was that local field biologist out near Uncertain, Texas as well as that TP&W game warden/field biologist in Karnack tryin’ to convince me otherwise?  Are they hidin’ somethin’ about what’s lurkin’ ‘round out there in them woods?  Or are they just bein’ all hush-hush on acknowledgin’ the existence of black panthers?  Now don’t y’all get excited; I cain’t (yet) prove that the cat that made the track that I had cast was black.  I’m a workin’ on it, but first, I gotta figure-out another way to conceal and legally secure my cams out there in them woods.  Bein’ the persistent ‘lil pecker that my wife claims me to be, y’all just hide & watch … ‘cause I’ll definitely be comin’ up with somethin’ real soon!  Until next time, y’all be safe this huntin’ season … and God bless!