EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

We made a round this morning and came across two deer carcasses.  The first doe was fresh but still, only bones and a little meat were left.  Obviously, the ribs and bones looked "nawed" on and I assumed coyotes. 
We found the 2n doe not 200 yards from the first, but this one was really fresh.  Probably killed sometime after midnight?  Only the hind quarters had been eating on and possibly some of the internal organs?  We examined her head and found a puncture wound just behind her left jaw bone, below the ear, there was another underneath her right jaw bone, towards her chin, and her neck was broken at the base of the skull.
Too much distance between the bite marks to be a bobcat and both were adult deer, so I'm think it was a mt lion?  We saw one on the ranch several years ago, but as far as I know, that has been the only sighting there?
This was in Atascosa County.

There's cats there. I know a few guys in that area that used to run them all the time with July's and walkers.

    no tracks to see ??    I would be there at daylight and throw the hounds down if it was me  , just saying    ;D ;D

Were they covered up??? I dont care what anyone says, i have seen 1 in my life with my own eyes and i was sober as a judge, it was in jefferson county. Nome tx to be exact. I dont doubt it at all.

They weren't covered up.  The first one was being picked over by the buzzards.  We passed fairly close to the 2nd one early in our hunt, probably within a 150 yards but we were upwind from the kill.  I have a feeling the cat was at the kill sight at that time and spooked.  We didn't find it until we were heading back to the truck an hour or so later.  And when we pulled up, the dogs were loaded on the 4 wheelers, they were tired, we were tired & hungry, and I honestly didn't think about turning dogs lose at the time.  The ranch wouldn't let me shoot a cat anyway, but I tell ya, I would love to let my Kemmers get on one run it to tree.  Picture and video time!
We started hog hunting at 8 and it was probably around 1:30 by the time we foun it.  The sun was now out, after the rains, and it was pretty warm.  But I bet that cat didn't go too far?
I took pictures, just haven't downloaded them yet.  Will try to do that here before I go to bed.

Got the pics ready.

(http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w89/bushwacker361/DSCN5662800x600.jpg) (http://s174.photobucket.com/user/bushwacker361/media/DSCN5662800x600.jpg.html)
(http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w89/bushwacker361/DSCN5663800x600.jpg) (http://s174.photobucket.com/user/bushwacker361/media/DSCN5663800x600.jpg.html)
(http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w89/bushwacker361/DSCN5664800x600.jpg) (http://s174.photobucket.com/user/bushwacker361/media/DSCN5664800x600.jpg.html)

Oh wow!

We have a black panther that passes through here at least once a year. Couple of our neighbors confirmed seeing it too, so we know we aren't crazy, lol.

That first pic is crazy.....it looks like someone cut straight lines with a dang knife, that is so wierd.

no claw marks on body or bite marks on neck.

I didn't flip the body over and give it a full examination.  I saw the puncture wounds shown in the pictures and figured those were the bite marks?  The majority of the neck was already stiff, but the head moved freely in all directions, it was clearly broken about two verteberte down from the skull.  I assumed it was a big cat but I don't know that for sure.

Cats don't eat much guts.  Big brown cats are everywhere. We had one hitting our axis herd a few years ago.

Goin by how far apart them puncture holes are on it's neck/head, that sure appears to be done by a big cat. Guess we'll never know for sure though. That's what I'd guess though!

The buzzards were on it when we found it, they probably were after the guts? 

Game camera on the kill may give u an answer

I see this on a dayly basis on 2 or 3 of the ranches  i work this time of the year about 90 percent of the time if cat the first kill would be coverd. Not saying its not lion they are every where but more often than not its coyotes feeding a den full of pups depending on age of pups might have to be feeding bitch also witch means him and support females have to kill double to keep every body fed  seen em kill 160 class bucks to get it done.

DSmith, born and raised in Pleasanton growing up and working cattle all around your area all the way to Pearsall we ran across cats sense the 70`S. I live up here in the Dallas area these days but would love to hookup and drop the dogs with you and get some this summer if your up for it.

Looks more like somebody shot too me

We had one killed on our land and i have pics of tracks and have seen several different cats and i live in huntington in angenlina county biggest track was 4 3/4 long 4 2/4 wide could fit a dr pepper can in long ways but just a lil would hang out side ways

That is what I was thinking. That is a good shot. I am not saying it is not a cat but the pics make it look like it could have been shot with a small caliber weapon.

Id have to argue, IF it was shot it was ALMOST a good shot lol. A good shot even with a caliber as small as a .22lr placed a 1/4" below the jaw facing head on  will drop a deer in its tracks everytime...... ;)

Well this defiantly looks like a lion kill. They kill by crushing the wind pipe. They will bite only one time in the throat because the do not have to re-grip. They are a precise killing machine. They do not always cover up there kill or eat it. A lot of times a male will kill for the fun and just leave it for the scavenger's to eat. Also the mother will do the same thing when she is teaching her young to hunt. I also showed a good friend the pictures and he said it sure looked like a lion kill to him also. He has been hunting loins since he was big enough to follow his father through the mountain's of Colorado in pursuit of lions. He is one hell of a hounds man!   

22 shorts will do the same...

It may look like a 22 hole, but it wasn't.  I've seen 22 holes and those holes were not from any rifle.  Did I mention the neck was broken?  And if this were a small tract of land, I might have considered a bullet at first, but this ain't your uncle's 100 acre deer lease we're talking about.  These two deer were miles from a border fence, as in about 3 miles.  So a road hunter is out of the question and I think we can rule out someone on foot.

This is what killed the deer. A friend took this 180 pound lion in Colorado in January.(http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/05/28/y3aqatag.jpg)

Thanks Rick B, that is a nice cat there. 

I talked to the ranch foreman this morning and he said has seen big cat tracks in this particular pasture recently and only about a half mile from where these deer were found.