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Is it me? Is it real?

J

Jeff Collins

No Longer a Member
Roving the Teme recently I came upon some very fresh tracks that I hadn't seen before! A quick rough measure and these prints where approximately 4 inches across, what I couldn't understand is that there where no claw marks like a dogs. I generally fish until an hour after sunset, that evening I heard strange noises, not small but something within close proximity.
I made noises and shone my very bright torch in the noises direction. Usually if a fox/badger or deer is around they flee. This thing just kept close by.

I know there are rumours of big cats but has anything like this happened to anyone else? ?
 
I very much doubt whether a big cat (and apparently there are some in Worcestershire), would come anywhere near a human. They'd smell you a mile off!!

That's a not a dig at your personal hygiene Jeff!
 
There was supposedly a big cat spotted on the Swale at Asenby.
Not sure how accurate the report was as the guy did like to partake herbal remedies.
 
Jeff did you take a photo as this would help in recognition...as for a big cat there is absolutely no evidence that any are roaming free and both badger and wild boar prints are about 10cm but a badger should have claw marks.
 
Terry Simner said:
4" across!!!!???? It would have to be a lion or a tiger!
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Guess you don't get what approximately means.

John Care I've spent time on the bank and heard allsorts. When this happened the wildlife went quiet. It was spooky. I didn't hear anything not a thing.
 
Terry Simner said:
4" across!!!!???? It would have to be a lion or a tiger!
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A Teme tiger? Nah, no such thing. :)

But seriously, Jeff, your instincts sound as if they're in tune. The mind boggles at what could be out there. I would expect, though someone else to come across it, and/or disappearing livestock.
 
Jeff Collins said:
Guess you don't get what approximately means.
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What was the ground like where the tracks were? If it was mud, or soft from rain, then it's likely that their size and shape would be slightly exaggerated.

Also, and I'm not saying "it was just a dog", but some small dogs have very big paws. There must be other otherwise unthreatening animals that leave imposing tracks.
 
There have been a number of big cat sightings in my neck of the woods usually Puma /Panther sized creatures . I firmly believe that they are out there . I am aware of a local vet who saw one .There was a report on the Yorkshire Ouse thread 2014 by a BFW member . You will find that farmers / land workers [ who are most likely to see them given their occupations ] tend to keep quiet and just arrange for them to be shot given their penchant for lambs etc
 
Steve Lewis said:
What was the ground like where the tracks were? If it was mud, or soft from rain, then it's likely that their size and shape would be slightly exaggerated.

Also, and I'm not saying "it was just a dog", but some small dogs have very big paws. There must be other otherwise unthreatening animals that leave imposing tracks.
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The ground underneath was gravel with very firm silt record the print
 
Paul Dowgill said:
Jeff did you take a photo as this would help in recognition...as for a big cat there is absolutely no evidence that any are roaming free and both badger and wild boar prints are about 10cm but a badger should have claw marks.
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There have been plenty of sightings of big cats Paul, certainly in Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. A friend and his son saw one leap across the road in one bound a few years ago. It then sat and looked at them in their car. It was a tawny colour and I know of, and have seen, a very large tawny coloured cat skin that allegedly came from a big cat shot near Long Compton. There is absolutely no doubt that big cats are out there, the Forest of Dean in particular being home to many sightings. I would think Jeff could well be right in his suspicion that that is what he heard. It is the one thing that makes me uneasy when night fishing. I couldn't care less if a hundred headless horsemen came past, or a dozen vampire witches arrived, but the thought of a panther like creature watching me in the dark is extremely unsettling. It doesn't help that one of my favourite books is Man-eaters of Kumaon where the author, Jim Corbett, is very descriptive in the tension involved when you know you are being stalked by a man eating tiger or leopard!
 
Jeff Collins said:
Roving the Teme recently I came upon some very fresh tracks that I hadn't seen before! A quick rough measure and these prints where approximately 4 inches across, what I couldn't understand is that there where no claw marks like a dogs. I generally fish until an hour after sunset, that evening I heard strange noises, not small but something within close proximity.
I made noises and shone my very bright torch in the noises direction. Usually if a fox/badger or deer is around they flee. This thing just kept close by.

I know there are rumours of big cats but has anything like this happened to anyone else? ?
Click to expand...

I had a similar hair raising experience on the Cherwell about 20 years ago Jeff. I was fishing opposite an Island about eleven o'clock on a starry September night. The island is very overgrown with both willow and brambles and I wasn't surprised when I heard something crashing through the foliage. I imagined a deer or a goat, of which there were a few on the opposite bank, was making it's way down. The noise got louder and closer and then whatever it was stumbled into the water. There was some thrashing about while it presumably got out and soon the noise was directly opposite me. The river was only about 25 feet across so I shone my torch but could see nothing, nor did I pick up it's eyes. It then moved downstream of me about ten yards and I heard it enter the water and start wading across. I moved quickly to shine my torch where the sounds were coming from to identify this mysterious creature but, bizarrely,there was nothing to be seen! I am not easily frightened at night but I decided that was a bit too weird and got out of there pretty quickly.To this day I can't understand how something that was obviously of some size could fail to show up in my torch beam half way across a narrow river!
The Cherwell has history for creepy happenings and Tony Miles has written about an alarming experience in one of his books. That was also by an island but not the same one I was fishing near.
 
Paul Dowgill said:
Jeff did you take a photo as this would help in recognition...as for a big cat there is absolutely no evidence that any are roaming free and both badger and wild boar prints are about 10cm but a badger should have claw marks.
Click to expand...

Badger prints will normally be no wider than 6.5cm.
7cm would be an exceptionally very large badger.
10cm is totally unrealistic.
IMHO
 
They don't stand a chance round here - the burbot eat 'em:

COtZ6oA.gif
 
Jeff Collins said:
Roving the Teme recently I came upon some very fresh tracks that I hadn't seen before! A quick rough measure and these prints where approximately 4 inches across, what I couldn't understand is that there where no claw marks like a dogs. I generally fish until an hour after sunset, that evening I heard strange noises, not small but something within close proximity.
I made noises and shone my very bright torch in the noises direction. Usually if a fox/badger or deer is around they flee. This thing just kept close by.

I know there are rumours of big cats but has anything like this happened to anyone else? ?
Click to expand...

If you think of it like this....
How many people have seen a live Badger? not too many I suspect, but there are bloody thousands of them out there...
If there were 1000th the number of Pumas say, then there'd be 1000 less opportunities to see one.
I like you have seen the tracks of a Big cat local to me, the prints were of a size to match my dog.....and he weighs in at 50Kg!
Also a local gamekeeper has seen one, that and the wild wallabies we also have.....
With the exploding numbers of Muntjack deer all over there'd be plenty for them to eat too...
I think though the cat would give any human a very wide berth.....

Andy
 
Mike Hodgkiss said:
There have been a number of big cat sightings in my neck of the woods usually Puma /Panther sized creatures . I firmly believe that they are out there
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On the Derwent, you know something is up when all the sheep are no longer in the fields and the farmers are around at dusk and into the night shining their lamping lights across fields from the road as if looking for something.
 
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