Summer 1993 Midnight Canyon in Carlsbad Caverns National Park. I once poked a stick in a crevice where I saw bird feathers near. There was a really loud hissing noise coming out of the small cave crack. Later I found out that mountain lions or wildcats have been reported in that area. Reflections later....Probably on the long list of stupid things you do in your life... Bill ----- Original Message ----- From: <speleoste...@tx.rr.com> To: <Texascavers@texascavers.com> Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 6:56 AM Subject: [Texascavers] About big cats
> From TagNet: > > Big Cats > By: Gary Stewart (Gadsden, Alabama) > > I wanted to comment on the big cat story I just read and relate some of > my experiences. The only mountain lion encounter I have had was in > Steele, Alabama west of Gadsden in 1979. There was a cattleman in that > area thet was offering a $1000.00 dollar reward for the killing of a > "black panther' that had been killing his cattle. Myself and 2 friends > decided we would try to collect on the bounty since we were young and > stupid and I had just returned from overseas in the Navy and need the > money. We were several miles up into an area and new we were close > because you could smell where it had marked its territory. We went up > into a boxed canyon with very steep (200 ft +/-) walls on both sides.We > never could see the cat but when it let out a cry it made the hair on > the back of our necks stand up. It was at this point that we decided > that we had made a serious mistake and got the hell out of there. I > moved to Texas in 1981 and worked as a test technician for a turbine > company. I lived in Tomball just north of Houston way out in the middle > of nowhere in a trailor. When I came in from work one day the pit bull > Nasty was raising hell barking. As I got out of the car and went to go > inside I looked up and he had treed a mountain lion in a big pine tree > next to the trailor. I freaked out and went inside and all I could find > was a loaded 10 gauge goose gun. I ran outside and raised the shotgun > and just as I shot it leapt from the tree and I have never seen anything > move that fast as it took off. I went to work the next day and was > telling everyone and they all said I was crazy and accused me of being > on drugs and seeing things. It was sighted again a few months later at a > farm down the road from me and shot at by and old guy who also missed > from about 200 yards away. I still don't think anyone ever really > beleived me though. When I move back to Alabama I went through a divorce > and went back to college and got another degree. I went to work for TVA > in 1987 and lived on Hwy.117 leaving Stevenson Al. in the Coon Creek > Preserve. My kids were only about 5 or 6 at the time and were playing > out in the yard when I looked out the kitchen window and there was a > large bobcat coming straight at them from across the field. I ran and > got my 357 pistol and ran outside and shot and hit next to it from about > 40 yards away and it took off, scared me to death. I lived in Stevenson > for 8 years and in Skyline for 4 and spent alot of time in the mountains > and saw quite a few bobcats and cayotes and one wolf I think. I saw some > kind of a mountain cat once and I'm not real sure what it was but it > wasn't much bigger than a house cat but colored like a mt.lion. My son > even ran over a 8 foot alligator in the road going down the backside of > the mountain from Skyline toward Neversink near some old catfish ponds. > It was in the Scottsboro paper and I still have the picture somewhere > for those who choose to dis-beleive. I have also been chased and treed > by wild hogs on several occasions and have a couple of scares from those > encounters too running through a barbed wire fence and briars.We even > lassoed one with a caving rope and tied in to a tree, God's truth. I > have had many encounters with big rattlesnakes (eg. Walls of Jercho) and > have several skins to prove that too. My point is if you get out way up > in the mountains away from civilization you might run into alot of > things you don't see anywhere else on a normal basis. I always take my > Glock with me when I get way out like that but it's really for > protection only. I have had more problems from rogue hunting club > members around the Big and Little Coon and Martin Wildlife areas ( eg. > Iron Hoop, Bluff River) than I have form the 4 legged and no legged > predators.Those guys are really crazy!!!, but those are stories of there > on. They just take there hunting leases very serious there even when > it's not hunting season. Look out and read the signs cause they like to > ask if you can read at gunpoint. Yes I'm still crazy after all these > years. As always cave friendly and leave nothing but tracks in the mud. > NSS 38127 Gary Stewart stewar...@aol.com > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > Visit our website: http://texascavers.com > To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com > For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com > --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
