Jaguar in Texas

[ROCKET]

Thanks Rocket! I was raised not to hunt endangered species, and respect the majesty of animals. While I would love to have taken a jaguar, the numbers need to be higher to where they are not endangered. I have been working hard to get the Mule Deer numbers up on my place since disease nearly wiped them out. I find that conservation is a huge part of hunting. In order to harvest the species we want as trophies or food, we must first be responsible and ensure the numbers are on the rise so my grandchildren can hunt them in the future. Please don't think I am dropping my rifle and making out with the next tree I come across, but there are so many animals I would have loved to hunt, that just aren't in America any more. I am very excited, I must confess, about finding the spoor of this cat and rigging a trap to capture it if only as an image. That is why I posted this in the first place, was for advise. It is ironic as I have been telling my nephews, and grand children, that hunting is about the experience and not necessarily about the trophy. To know that I am on my place now with a potentially dangerous predator, tracking him or her, and achieving the shot is more adventurous than looking at it's hide on the wall. If one really thinks about things, no matter how great the trophy is on your wall, and no matter how many times you tell the tale of how it got there, no one will ever feel the same as you as it was your leather in brush where it was! I do pray that someday I can harvest one, or at least my grandkids or nephews, legally, as they will know that old pappaw tracked and photographed their trophy's papaw long before they were legal to shoot. Situations like this are what conservation and our sport we love so much are about. I will have my hunt, the only thing missing will be the report of the rifle if I do things correctly. It is ironic to think of the hunt without a rifle shot. Especially knowing that somehow this king of the continent may have chosen my humble ranch in West Texas. If one really thinks about it, what an adventure I'm about to under take! I have no big cat experience, no prior hunts of large cats, and now I have to figure it out on my own with advise alone from those who have. Hollywood couldn't write such a tale. I am excited, and humbled. What a great Country and time I live in!

I am agreeing everything you have written on here.......but I understand now that you want something more with this Kitty cat and seems good to me.

If you want to go further than a cam you can try to catch him.....yes sir and get a pic by his side if you are lucky working with a dart rifle as people do in some places in Central America....... mostly Belice is one of those places.....and you will be amaze to know about the huge Jaguars populations in Bolivia, Brazil and some North Argentina in present time, plus Central America, Mexico included.

Well......if I have a Jaguar in my land and suburbs what I would do and this takes, time, money and work is.........

Have a good group of dogs that usually hunt puma (mountain lion)

Good dart rifle

Many goats live baits

People willing to track in a 50 km radius around

Time and patience......

Maybe you get nothing, you are tracking just a single animal......

First thing to do is find out the path that the cat has.......if the cat complite the circuit you have to set up the baits goats in the trail and when the job starts......the goats must be checked every day..... you have to give them water and grass every day.....the goat must be tied to a stake with a simple rope and pray that the Jaguar sacrifice one of them.......you will need 6 or 8 goats at least to cover the circuit.

Once the Jaguar kill a goat you have to track where hid the carcass.....when you find the dead goat you should replaced itwith another living tied again with a rope in the same place of the carcass and take the dead one out.

One this have done you have to set up a blind for the waiting......but the most important thing at this point is to note where the cat comes out from there because he will re-enter for the exactly same path he comes out, check the wind after this an set up a blind.

Get early in the blind, dont make any noise or move and wait, Jaguar will come.........get people ready at a good distance from there with the dogs group.......if you are lucky and can shoot the dart weait and hear an see what happens, if you cannot see the cat make a radio call and bring the dogs and put them over the fresh trail, yougonna have another chance when the dogs get him and cat climb a tree.......after this, you going to take a good pics, you can release the cat again or call to the authorities......that´s is up to you......!!!!!

Good luck Panielsen......!!!!





Hey Wheels......yes I have photos off course.......but in these times I wouldn´t take the risk of upload a pic of that kind......anybody could say that I got the Jaguar las month, and I would be in serious trouble.

I have not problem to send to you a pic at your word of privacy tomorrow if you want my friend.....!!!!!

 

[Wheels]

Rocket,

Sure sounds like you know your jaguars.

Don't worry about the photo. Hopefully one of these days I will make it to your fair country and you can show me the photo then.

 

[Red Leg]

Some of you know absolutely nothing of private property rights and how they are being taken by our government agencies. You might study up on how people have lost all right to their land due to ESA. Let's be serious for just a moment and realize that a Jag is a tropical animal and does not belong inTexas.
Regards,
Philip

Let me be serious and note that Southern AZ, NM, TX, and southern LA were indeed part of the Jaguars historical northern range. Chenier Tigre in the marshes of South Louisiana was named for a population that survived there into the early 19th century. A very wonderful thing if they may be recovering that range.

 

[Panielsen]

I am agreeing everything you have written on here.......but I understand now that you want something more with this Kitty cat and seems good to me.

If you want to go further than a cam you can try to catch him.....yes sir and get a pic by his side if you are lucky working with a dart rifle as people do in some places in Central America....... mostly Belice is one of those places.....and you will be amaze to know about the huge Jaguars populations in Bolivia, Brazil and some North Argentina in present time, plus Central America, Mexico included.

Well......if I have a Jaguar in my land and suburbs what I would do and this takes, time, money and work is.........

Have a good group of dogs that usually hunt puma (mountain lion)

Good dart rifle

Many goats live baits

People willing to track in a 50 km radius around

Time and patience......

Maybe you get nothing, you are tracking just a single animal......

First thing to do is find out the path that the cat has.......if the cat complite the circuit you have to set up the baits goats in the trail and when the job starts......the goats must be checked every day..... you have to give them water and grass every day.....the goat must be tied to a stake with a simple rope and pray that the Jaguar sacrifice one of them.......you will need 6 or 8 goats at least to cover the circuit.

Once the Jaguar kill a goat you have to track where hid the carcass.....when you find the dead goat you should replaced itwith another living tied again with a rope in the same place of the carcass and take the dead one out.

One this have done you have to set up a blind for the waiting......but the most important thing at this point is to note where the cat comes out from there because he will re-enter for the exactly same path he comes out, check the wind after this an set up a blind.

Get early in the blind, dont make any noise or move and wait, Jaguar will come.........get people ready at a good distance from there with the dogs group.......if you are lucky and can shoot the dart weait and hear an see what happens, if you cannot see the cat make a radio call and bring the dogs and put them over the fresh trail, yougonna have another chance when the dogs get him and cat climb a tree.......after this, you going to take a good pics, you can release the cat again or call to the authorities......that´s is up to you......!!!!!

Good luck Panielsen......!!!!






Hey Wheels......yes I have photos off course.......but in these times I wouldn´t take the risk of upload a pic of that kind......anybody could say that I got the Jaguar las month, and I would be in serious trouble.

I have not problem to send to you a pic at your word of privacy tomorrow if you want my friend.....!!!!!

Lol, no Rocket! I want a game cam pic! Lol No darting, dogs or goats, just a game cam pic. When I spoke of tracking, I meant finding his tracks, trying to identify his routs or paths and set up a camera trap. With my luck, the goat would work loose, run into the blind and bring the jag right on top of me! Lol, not a pretty sight!

 

[flatwater bill]

Two weeks ago, at a dinner at an undisclosed location is South America, I saw several photos of recently killed Jaguars by Chinese "hunters". Our Govt is loving these cats to death by not allowing any importation. Jaguars are viewed by ranchers in Bolivia as vermin, instead of being protected. If they were worth a 20K tag fee, they would be watched, protected. I know one landowner who has shot 11 Jags.................I know another man who has guided hunters to 87 kills. Yes, 87. Unfortunately, their name in Spanish is "el tigre". Now limp dicked Chinese are out for their aphrodesiac bones. Too bad we can't hunt a big male from time to time to save the species. They are an amazing cat. If you look at their bite muscles you will see they are disproportionately large. And when close to lions and tigers, in zoos or animal shows, all three species separate into the 3 great cats, with the others species cowering. A jaguar will not back up from a lion or tiger. It is ready to fight. Old films from the 30's show this clearly. I have been bitten by a Jaguar.................5 months old.....and still painful!...and watched a 140kg male (286lbs) flown out of the Pantanal in a Cessna 206 tied with nothing but a dog chain. I have a lot of fotos and video of wild adult Jags.

Anyway...................I wish the Lone Star Jaguar well...........................................FWB

 

[jeff]

Just like cougars, jaguars were at home in a wide variety of habitat, not just tropic environs.

 

[Panielsen]

That's amazing Flatware Bill. I wish you were able to share the pics, but completely understand why not. If I'm EXTREMELY lucky and catch one on the game cam, the pics will be here.

 

[flatwater bill]

As soon as I get a teenager to help me with the technical, I will post a foto or two of Jaguars (very much alive and well) with yours truly.........................FWB

 

[jeff]

As soon as I get a teenager to help me with the technical, I will post a foto or two of Jaguars (very much alive and well) with yours truly.........................FWB

You don't need a teenager, a nine year old can surf the net and post anything while texting a friend, it's only us old guys that have trouble!!

 

[Panielsen]

OK, so the camera trap is set. Spent the entire day looking for tracks and found one but it is in poor condition. The reason is it is dead smack in the middle of a LOT of javelina track and dung. I placed a 12 ga. 3" magnum next to it for sizing. It looks to be only a partial and older, but it was definitely better in person as I am not the photographer in the family. I also have some pics of the old river bottom on my place. I started down it to look for more pug marks, but started getting that uneasy feeling as I was on the low ground, and this is where I usually find illegal's usually try to evade Border Patrol. Yes, I was all alone for this which didn't make me feel any better. Everyone got "busy" when I asked them to go looking for large cats! Go figure! Lol!

My Camera has been well used and decided to start coming apart on me this trip. Notice the repair job! In any case, this is about 35 yards from the tracks. Hopefully, I can get some pics, but will be replacing it when I go back to check the card. In any case, this is what I did today, so let the debates begin!

 

[Ardent]

Would be a small tragedy to finally have a jaguar back in where it has been extirpated from for a hundred years and more, only to be shot. I love hunting, and I also love wilds and wildlife. A place is empty and a fraction of what it could be without its apex predators present, it is no longer really wild without them. Think hard and talk to your companions about what having it back, if it is, means. Seeing it destroyed immediately in my opinion reflects the worst of human nature. I say this as a hunter of apex predators as part of my living, where the population can sustain it. You have a gem there if it is the case a jaguar has returned, I would attempt to protect it at all costs. You are in so little danger personally that driving to go hunting is most certainly riskier.

Hope you get some pics, you're unbelievably fortunate if you have a jaguar there and a single trail cam pic would put you on the national news. Good luck, and hope the cat is what you think it is, and that it thrives.

 

[dailordasailor]

Any luck?

 

[bbjavelina]

It has to be exciting to have something that rare coursing your property, but no so exciting having it eating/running off all your game.

Probably 15 or 18 years ago two friends, a friends nephew, and I were on an early spring Javelina/hog bow hunt a bit North of Laredo. Shortly after Sun-up, as we stood in the bush overlooking a sendero crossing and an arroyo making a plan we all saw a long tailed spotted cat ambling down the edge of the arroyo. Looking for all the world like he was looking for a good place to nap. Maybe 60 yards out. We were looking into the Sun.

I'll not claim that I know what it was, but it was large. Ocelot? Maybe, but if so, it could have been a world record. I've seen Puma in the wild, and I judged this cat to be a bit larger. Luckily, he didn't offer a shot and was gone within a few seconds.

I've hunted for the last 55 years, or so, and that remains my favorite (non-kill) memory.

Looking forward to some pics from the trial cams and of the pug marks.

Best of luck to you.

 

[ROCKET]

It has to be exciting to have something that rare coursing your property, but no so exciting having it eating/running off all your game.

Probably 15 or 18 years ago two friends, a friends nephew, and I were on an early spring Javelina/hog bow hunt a bit North of Laredo. Shortly after Sun-up, as we stood in the bush overlooking a sendero crossing and an arroyo making a plan we all saw a long tailed spotted cat ambling down the edge of the arroyo. Looking for all the world like he was looking for a good place to nap. Maybe 60 yards out. We were looking into the Sun.

I'll not claim that I know what it was, but it was large. Ocelot? Maybe, but if so, it could have been a world record. I've seen Puma in the wild, and I judged this cat to be a bit larger. Luckily, he didn't offer a shot and was gone within a few seconds.

I've hunted for the last 55 years, or so, and that remains my favorite (non-kill) memory.

Looking forward to some pics from the trial cams and of the pug marks.

Best of luck to you.

I don´t think Ocelote be larger than even small Puma at all......the biggest one We had down here was 17 kilos ( 33 pounds )......if would be a Ocelote, that was the world record for sure.....even I didn´t know Ocelote lives to up North.....but could be if they are in Mexico....same with Jaguar...!!!!

 

[Sand Rat]

There are definantly ocelot in south Texas, the Feds have several radio collard for study purposes.

 

[ROCKET]

There are definantly ocelot in south Texas, the Feds have several radio collard for study purposes.

Good to know that Sand Rat......thanks for the information and glad to see They have a big distribution area in America, from North Argentina to South Texas.......

 

[Sand Rat]

Here is a good video on the ocelots in Texas, it also mentions the last two jaguars killed in Texas during the forties.

 

[bbjavelina]

Here is a good video on the ocelots in Texas, it also mentions the last two jaguars killed in Texas during the forties.

Thanks for the great video. I've yet to see one, but always looking.

 

[enysse]

Are the tracks above possibly mountain lion?

 

[Wheels]

We were on a cruise last week and took a shore excursion (float trip through a cave for those that have done it) in Belize. As we were loading up the bus for the return trip, a spotted cat of apx. 100 pounds crossed the dirt track in front of us. Our guide yelled jaguar. The cat looked immature and didn't have the stockiness of an adult jaguar. I asked the guide if he has ever seen a jaguar before. He said yes he sees jaguars and ocelots occasionally in the area of the country he lives in but this is the first one he has ever seen around the caves.

This was probably the only wild jaguar I will ever see. I never even had the opportunity to reach for my phone but the image is engraved in my memory. Those 2-3 seconds were the pinnacle of the trip for me and well worth the price of the cruise. (The wife will argue that point.) I'm blessed for that brief moment!


I hope you are able to catch the image of a jaguar on your trail cam. The pic would be very special.

All the best.