This is not a recent sighting, it took place when I was a teenager. It was in 1985. I used to love to go hiking and we lived very near to some government owned property,it had a few areas that were off limits but most areas had public access.
We lived in Menifee County, in Kentucky. The property I'm speaking of is located at the top of Fagan Hill, which is actually a mountain.
I used to go hiking on our land and other family owned properties,but I also went on the govt. property from time to time.
I was hiking at approximately 5:30pm on that day. I had just left the road and entered the woods, in fact I could still see the gravel road from where I was.
I was at the base of a big rock formation and was making my way around it to find an easy way to climb up to get a better look around. I was on the lookout for snakes,lizards,even bobcats, as I had startled one in a cave the week before.
So, when I heard a noise from somewhere above me that sounded like a cross between a purr, a growl, and a bird chirp, I pretty much expected to see a bobcat as that was the only thing I could think of that even comes close to that wierd noise.
Boy, was I wrong. I looked up and was actually standing under a ledge ( an outcropping of the rock ). I decided to slowly step backwards until I could see what was up on the ledge. In hindsite I realize that was a stupid thing to do and had the cat been so inclined I probably would have been a very easy target at that point.
When I got out far enough to see what was up there (probably about 15 feet away) it was not a bobcat. I know what a mountain lion looks like and at first thats what it looked like axcept for the fact that it was black or at least the head back and tail were black since it was literally lying down on the ledge I couldn't really see it's chest or stomach.
I was so shocked that I just stood there for a minute and it surprisingly didn't move at all except to twitch its tail and move its ears which I took to mean "you need to leave" and so I backed away very slowly but always facing it, all the way back out of the woods and down the gravel road.
Afterwards I thought about what it looked like and for the most part it really looked like a black mountain lion except that its head seemed to be just a little too broad and its eyes looked more deep yellow instead of yellow-green though I guessthat could have been the light or the fact that the fur was black and not the normal tawny color.
Everyone thought I was crazy because the Dept. of Wildlife said there were no mountian lions in our state. Well, I have seen several of the regular tawny ones over the years and so have many other people. So, maybe they don't know as much as they think.
One thing I know is that what I saw definitely wasn't a house cat
at the close distance I was, I know exactly how big it was (head to haunches about 3 1/2 to 4 feet). And laying there looking all lazy eyed it was actually very pretty. I'm just glad that for whatever reason it was not in the mood to hunt right at that moment. |
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