On our old ranch in Llano County, TX there's a landmark known as Panther Rock.
My Grandfather, Paul McLeod grew up in that country & on that ranch. He was born in 1909.
He told me that himself & a lifelong friend killed a black lion up on that big granite mountain when they were both young men.
His friend Ted Bode had cat hounds, & did until the day he died. Ted would still go up there for 45-50 years looking for another. He was limited to only bobcats & fox after that fateful day though.
The story was well talked around each time we gathered for a deer hunt. I grew up listening to that story, as well as others from the old guys.
To my knowledge, and I knew my grandfather really well, he never stretched the truth, nor lied. He was not that type. He was very well educated & was a teacher for awhile.
I tend to believe that they DID kill a black cat up there.
What the cat may have been, is another thing....Nobody imported leopards or such to central Texas back then.
One possibility would be that it was a jaguar out of Mexico. I know that they can still come up. I think a black "jag" wouldn't be out of the question.
But, as I think on it now, as an adult, I wish I had asked more questions back when they were alive. (I asked plenty as it was though...)
I know he killed a 9 point doe, a buck with 5 legs & a couple of natural stag bucks in his lifetime as well.
I killed a natural stag on that very ranch. I know it had a very large percentage of non-typical bucks as well.
Perhaps the older ones that came before us know a few things that we don't.
Since a child, I never doubted that there large black cats out there. Whether I'll ever see one, or one even exists today, who knows?
Barry
