scouting around my house in white salmon for deer and seen a black cougar

[Arteman]

I have never seen a black cougar, but I for sure seen a jet black deer and two of them.  Also in the Kalama area when i was a kid a deer ran across the road so my father and brother ran in after it while I sat in the truck, while sitting there a spike buck walked out in the road and stood there for what seemed like forever, I remember it like it was yesterday, very white on the nose and around the antlers and eyes but the rest as black as can be.  My dad and brother didn't really ever believe me and then after some years went by, I was hunting by now but still young, once again in the Kalama area with my dad and brother again a black fork n horn buck with a doe normal colored ran up a high bank above the truck into a clearcut along some jackfurs and before my dad could get up the steep bank they had ran into the furs, needless to say from that day on they believed me, don't remember the exact location, ill have to ask my dad but wonder if both sightings were close, and maybe from the same genes.

[marlin]

I saw a very large black cat in Tx around 2001, outside my tent in the morning when I got up to pee.. I had a .22 pistol on me and tried to take some shots as it ran away.. No luck.. I assume some sort of Puma or something. I had heard of them being around.. That was the only one I ever saw. I really wish I brought my shotgun out of the tent instead of a .22.. That was about 100 mi west of ft worth tx on property that I own.

[colockumelk]

To my knowledge- there has never been a documented black cougar in North America.  I heard a report of one this summer up here in PO county.  There is a possiblity of a defect called melanism- that culd create a black coloration in a lion.

According to the National Geographic and the Atlanta zoo you are wrong.

For many years people saw Black Panthers.  They were even put on the endangered species list.  It was thought to be in the Panther/Cougar family.  Some thought they were Black Pumas (aka jaguars) like they have in South America. 

Then biologists got a hold of one.  Later on DNA testing found that it was  simply a cougar/mountain lion/catamount with a genetic skin disorder which someone previously mentioned as melanoma or something like that.  Oh then they got a breeding pair which made a normal baby cougar.  They are not on the endangered species list anymore since the "black panther" isn't a species. 

[sebek556]

black panthers are not endangered, they are all over the south and east just look on you tube 

[blacktail luv]

Ive heard of quite a few people who have seen the "black" cougar in question.  He has been seen from snowden to husum but I havnt heard anything recently, I guess it's still around.

[400out]

Pretty cool.  Have you seen any bigfoots too....... 
 

I think someone isn't a believer 

[colockumelk]

BMM 

[bigbeamhunter]

I live up in snowden on burdion seen two others cats up there ..talk to my neighbor and he told me to watch the hillside behind his house the black one and a brown one are the 3 or4 times a week..

[runamuk]

BMM 

CCC

[lewy]

myself and two buddies were archery deer hunting near danville one year, and in route to our area, when we seen a jet black cougar out milling around in a cut alfalfa feild. we got to watch it for 5 minutes or so. we had permission to hunt the property but cougar season was a few weeks out so we couldnt shoot him. wasnt a huge cat, probably 90-100 lbs, but it sure was cool to see. this wasnt a flash of something going across the road, we had binos trained on him for some time at 150 yds or so. i researched it when i got home and found the same as was stated earlier, that there has never been a recorded harvest of one.....its only a matter of time until one gets shot or ran by hounds or caught on a trail cam....

[SemperFidelis97]

If anyone really wants to see a black panther just wait until next november there is sure to be a few around heres a hint set up near a voting booth using old white women as bait

[seth30]

until I see a black cougar or bigfoot on the ground with a hunter standing over it , I will beleive.

[Alchase]

  Cougar
Illustration of a black cougar, 1843[citation needed]There are no authenticated cases of truly melanistic cougars (pumas). Melanistic cougars have never been photographed or shot in the wild and none has ever been bred. There is wide consensus among breeders and biologists that the animal does not exist.[citation needed]

Never documented, never photographed, never shot, not one ever..........Skamania county will probably create a law to protect them, lol 
 
 

[WAcoyotehunter]

To my knowledge- there has never been a documented black cougar in North America.  I heard a report of one this summer up here in PO county.  There is a possiblity of a defect called melanism- that culd create a black coloration in a lion.

According to the National Geographic and the Atlanta zoo you are wrong.

For many years people saw Black Panthers.  They were even put on the endangered species list.  It was thought to be in the Panther/Cougar family.  Some thought they were Black Pumas (aka jaguars) like they have in South America. 

Then biologists got a hold of one.  Later on DNA testing found that it was  simply a cougar/mountain lion/catamount with a genetic skin disorder which someone previously mentioned as melanoma or something like that.  Oh then they got a breeding pair which made a normal baby cougar.  They are not on the endangered species list anymore since the "black panther" isn't a species. 

Cool!  Can you share that link or atricle?  I would love to find one with my hounds.

[Alchase]

Melanism (also known as melanosis; from Greek: μελανός, "dark-colored") is the occurrence of an increased amount of dark pigmentation (as of skin, feathers, eyes or hair) in an organism, resulting from the presence of melanin. It is the opposite of leucism and albinism, which occur because of a lack of melanin or other types of pigment.
 
The cougar's original class, Felis Concolor, had more than 20 subspecies, including the Florida Panther as felis concolor coryi. The scientific community reconsidered their taxonomy based on skull, dental, and coat studies and concluded that there was no longer enough difference to justify so many subspecies. Initially, it was suggested to have only one subspecies, Puma concolor couguar. However, in 1993 after further analysis of DNA, they were reassigned to 6 subspecies. Some groups still recognize the former subspecies, but with the new Genus – Puma. The results of these studies are controversial, particularly due to the previously endangered status of certain subspecies.
 
While many refer to a “black panther”, the two cats commonly referred to as a “black panther” are either a black leopard or a black jaguar, and actually have spots, visible in bright light. They probably had normal colored parents and siblings. A black cat is melanistic, black fur and black skin. There has been no evidence of a melanistic cougar, in spite of many rumored sightings.
 
You would be rich if you had pictures, or at least be in the next Jack's links Jerky commercial, lol