Need help confirming this is a housecat.

nchunt101

Ten Pointer
Longstory short my BIL and sister live the shenandoah valley. My sister is a intelligent and sensible person but claims to have seen a mountain lion/panther/polecat/swamp cat run across a horse pasture a few years ago. I attributed this to a momnetary lapse of sanity and wrote it off. Fast forward to yesterday my BIL (also a sensible down to earth person) sends me a game game pic from one of his buddies farms that he truly believes is a panther. I told him it looks like a fat house cat which resulted in somewhat of a heated debate. Any help convincing them to come the their sense would be appreciated.
cat.jpg
 

Muzzleodor

Eight Pointer
All the "looks like a cougar" pics I've seen from areas where they aren't known to exist have the same level of quality as this one, terrible. Probably a house cat.
 

Homebrewale

Old Mossy Horns
I assume the camera is still in the same location. Tell them to take an object of a known length such as a piece of firewood and place it where the cat is walking. That length will help take the guessing out of what size the cat is.
 
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Weekender

Twelve Pointer
I assume the camera is still in the same location. Tell them to take an object of a known length such as a piece of firewood and place it where the cat is walking. That length will help take the guessing out of what size the cat is.

Fantastic advice.
 

HotSoup

Old Mossy Horns
I assume the camera is still in the same location. Tell them to take an object of a known length such as a piece of firewood and place it where the cat is walking. That length will help take the guessing out of what size the cat is.

This....
 

bwfarms

Old Mossy Horns
Nope! They are correct it's not a house cat. It's a feral cat.... which is of the close relation of the house cat and mountain lion.
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
not black enough to be a panther, unless it's one of those rare color-phase one's like the yeti's keep for pets.
 

nchunt101

Ten Pointer
Nope! They are correct it's not a house cat. It's a feral cat.... which is of the close relation of the house cat and mountain lion.

Lies!! I have never seen a feral cat that fat. It blows my mind that normally rational folks like them can be duped so easily.
 

BattleBornNV

Button Buck
Keep going to the tail. I’ve been hunting cats my whole life and that tail is pretty unmistakable. Being as they aren’t common in that area, makes me skeptical, but then again I seen my first moose on the hoof last year where they “don’t exist” too. Right place. Right time I reckon.

Stumbled onto this fella last year and puddled myself. He was 15’ away.
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After my legs woke up I figured out he was in a trap. Nevertheless I saw god for a second
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Eggman

Twelve Pointer
Nchunt101, this looks like no couger I have seen. Most show signs of aging, dress much different, and hang around longer then you want them too.
 

92xj

Eight Pointer
Send them this picture and have them compare the two, if they respond and say they are the same animal slap them both. It's my picture from this summer and give you permission to use.

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View attachment 59540
 
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Weekender

Twelve Pointer
Thanks. It's the engineer in me. I take all the fun out of guessing.

You should've banged the gavel. :)

Reminds me of the scene in Jaws when Hooper wants Brody to go to the end of the pulpit while he takes pictures of the shark. It's the only way to judge size, I guess.
 

Shine

Six Pointer
Contributor
While on the topic... was dove hunting two years ago and saw a light brown animal coming out of the woods across the field. I noticed it was way to light and short to be a deer (but not small) so I began to think it was a mountain lion. It looked to have all the right features to be one but being 400 yards or so away I couldn't be 100% sure. I gave it plenty of time to hopefully leave and went to look for tracks in the muddy field. I then came across these and looking at print pictures it looks like it may be a mountain lion. Whats your take? people have said to seen one in the area but just like the moose post animals appear where they "don't exist"......... now can't seem to upload pictures.
 
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shadycove

Twelve Pointer
Feral cat. Due to the body language/stance, proportions as to tail length vs body length are wrong and it looks like a housecat.
 
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wturkey01

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Send them this picture and have them compare the two, if they respond and say they are the same animal slap them both. It's my picture from this summer and give you permission to use.


Look at the muscles on that thing!!!!! :greenjump:
 

shadycove

Twelve Pointer
Look at the muscles on that thing!!!!! :greenjump:
Where I spend some time out west, according to the DNR, there are 5,000 of these in the river drainage.where I camp most times. It's an area about 40-50 miles wide and about 130 miles long. That is alot of woods until you divide it by 5,000, then it lets you know that you have been watched by alot of cougars over the years.
Not too crowded with people up on top of those mountains but you do have the opportunity to see some cougars. They are big and bad and nothing like the housecat in that photo.
 

wturkey01

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Where I spend some time out west, according to the DNR, there are 5,000 of these in the river drainage.where I camp most times. It's an area about 40-50 miles wide and about 130 miles long. That is alot of woods until you divide it by 5,000, then it lets you know that you have been watched by alot of cougars over the years.
Not too crowded with people up on top of those mountains but you do have the opportunity to see some cougars. They are big and bad and nothing like the housecat in that photo.


During my working career I made about 25 trips to the Rockies and NW states. Usually spending about 3 weeks each trip. In all that time in the woods I only encountered 1 cougar that I actually saw. That was in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area near Missoula Mt. That one was at about 25 feet!!

There's no telling how many saw me however!!!

And I only saw 1 griz but I was in a car while it was crossing the road. That was inside the city limits of Lincoln Mt.
 

shadycove

Twelve Pointer
That's the thing, you never know what is watching you when you are an hour or two off of the pavement [sometimes on the pavement].
For me that is part of the appeal of the big woods.
You have to learn to pay attention to your surroundings or you will pay a big price, every twig snapping could be an apex predator or a chipmunk.
Both elicit a wave of hair standing up on your neck and a pause in forward motion allowing you to really see what is around, animate and inanimate.
Good stuff. Y'all try it sometime.
 
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