I'll have to ask my father about the possiblity of it being a Mississippi bobcat. I did mention that I had told his story on a website and that other people were saying they've seen mountain lions around the area too. He'll probably call me in a few days to tell me that he's started the "North East Mississippi Big Cats Perservation Society" or some such thing.
On the issue of the long tailed bobcat, I think that my dad would have recognized two bobcats even with long tails. I say this because he often told the (soon-all-too-boring) story of the time he was "treed" by a bobcat.
Basically he was in a tree stand and had a bobcat walk to the bottom of the tree stand and look up at him. Hardly as dramatic as his "big cat" sightings. As soon as he moved, the bobcat jumped back then looked at my father for a few minutes, wandered a short distance away then ran off. My father contemplated shooting it, and would have done so if it had begun to climb the tree, but elected instead to hold off and wait for deer. Something that the family could eat. (Anyone remember the Jimmy Carter years with stagflation? No jobs and high inflation rates? I remember it because we never had enough to eat. Dad did a lot of meat hunting those years.) He's seen most of the animals that our state has to offer and a couple of animals that biologist tell us don't, or can't, live here.
Unlike his bobcat story, his "Big Cat Story" has the benefit of a witness in the form of my mother who can testify that the whole affair was real and not brought on by some type of wilderness buck fever. Her descriptions are in some ways more vivid than my father's. She describes movement and colors. My Dad describes distances, angles, and what he believes to be the size. My mom indicates the critters were more "mountain lion colored" or "black panther colored" than bobcat colored. We've all of us seen bobcats in the woods at one time or another in our lives and could identify them. I will admit I've never seen the version with a long tail. That could very well throw me off for a quick identification.
My own cat story involves a bobcat that was being chased by a pack of dogs. This took place near the Bryan Food cattle range area on the way to Barton Ferry. Probably a couple of miles from my father's big cat sighting.
Driving toward the south, I saw a bobcat shoot out of the woods on the left side of the road (Douglas Lake Road) and cross the road in front of me....hauling A** across the bare cattle field on the right side of the road. About two seconds behind him was a big German shepard type white colored dog. Definately not a wolf, but similar looking. Behind GermanoWolf was about eight or ten hound type dogs. Some semi big...most about beagle size. Most of them looked like mutts. But they could run...I'll grant them all that. I stopped the truck and just watched them all run across the field, headed toward another stand of trees across the open field. I always wondered if Mr. Bobcat made it. He had a nice lead on them and pretty good speed but he was seriously outnumbered.
One ironic and slightly bizarre image from that chase is still in my mind even all these years later. When the cat was running away from the dogs, he passed within a hundred or two hundred yards of a modern brick home that sits on the west side of this road. The house is "backwards" in that the rear of the house faces the road and it's "front" is the backside of the house. What struck me odd was seeing a pack of dogs chasing a cat...probably a scene that has played out since before the time Man ever learned to use tools....juxtaposed with an image of a modern brick home complete with giant satellite dish. Sort of a "the more things change; the more they stay the same" sort of moment. It makes me feel as if I'm stretching through Time or something when I think about seeing something that Indians probably saw when they crossed over from Asia.
My father reminded me of my story when he was promoting his CoyDog theory to explain the continued Non-Sighting of "his" Big Cats. I told him that he doesn't see them because they know his smell and have learned to associate Brill Cream and Old Spice with danger. :-D :twisted: He didn't appriciate that comment.
As an aside, someone really ought to write a book on just what all people CLAIM to have seen in Clay County Mississippi. So far, I've heard three black bear stories (possible but unlikely), numerous cat stories, some bigfoot stories (some very reputable sources on these stories), 965 Post Death Elvis sightings (he did sing here in his youth at local clubs), about 8000 glowing disk/flying saucer reports but the one I've heard of recently is the best. "Goat legged man with red eyes drinking from the Tombigbee River" story. I'll never camp at Barton Ferry again now that I've heard that story. :grin:
