So, how do ya go about trapping a black panther ?

[JDarvall]

Uno those black panthers that people are spotting, running about the Blue mountains....well aparently there's one up here as well!....just off Kyogle here, at Green Pigeon.

Had a birthday party today for my eldest daughter. And a single mum brought her daughter along, who owns a farm out there.

We got talking whilst the kids were stuffing their faces....And apparently...... she's being terrorised by a one! :D (brilliant!) ...AND she was quite serious...

...she says that for months she's being hearing cat like sounds at night. Sounds that she can't place as being anything else. Didn't think anything of it until she saw it. And her daughter saw it too ....as high as her legs (10 year old) with a thin long tail...she came running into the house screaming :-....I believe her storys true.....somethings definetly scaring her, and it ant no horny koala......but I don't know about it being a panther.

But still shes managed to convince some panther expert down South to travel up especially to check it out.

She's scared, but she's really quite excited because she's broke, and (so she tells me)....she can get something like 20 grand if she captured it. :o.

So I've been asked to trap it..:p...serious. She asked me to trap it, hinting that I'll get some percentage of the earn when I do.....

but I don't know how to trap a panther. Do you ?

[Burnsy]

No idea how to trap one but I see you on the news when you do:2tsup: My guess is that it would not be real easy.

There are plenty of stories over here about similar cats, old farmer I use to visit you to swear that he had seen on half a dozen times. There are reported instances of big cats being released from circuses into the wild over here during the depression.

Good luck mate.

[bsrlee]

Probably a HUMUNGOUS feral moggie - Yes they DO get that big. If its a 'tom' then a double cage trap - like they use for trapping Indian Mynahs. Smallish inner cage with female moggie who is 'receptive' with food & water, larger outer cage of weldmesh with spring loaded door & IR beam activator. Wait a week or two after large cage is built & installed for the human smell to reduce, then 'bait' with the Femme Fatale & wait. If nothing else, it should thin out the local population of stray toms & possibly some foxes.

If its a feral female, tough.

[Cliff Rogers]

Bowl of milk with a dozen crushed panadol in it. :2tsup:

[Fuzzie]

Aside from all the denials, I really can't believe one hasn't been caught yet. Maybe its like UFO's and Roswell, there's a conspiracy out there!

I know what a feral cat looks like and what I saw on a Gippsland track on the way to the Bogong high plain in 1986 definitely wasn't an average moggie gone bush!

Now I live in Queensland, I haven't seen a Yowie yet, but I have seen a humongous fox up at Springbrook.

[JDarvall]

Ta. panadol. :D


Probably a HUMUNGOUS feral moggie - Yes they DO get that big. If its a 'tom' then a double cage trap - like they use for trapping Indian Mynahs. Smallish inner cage with female moggie who is 'receptive' with food & water, larger outer cage of weldmesh with spring loaded door & IR beam activator. Wait a week or two after large cage is built & installed for the human smell to reduce, then 'bait' with the Femme Fatale & wait. If nothing else, it should thin out the local population of stray toms & possibly some foxes.

If its a feral female, tough.

jeez, you know your stuff. .........IR beam activator ? you joking ?

I've heard of overgrown moggies before, but not ones as big as a panther ....

I'll make up a cage and see how we go. was thinking of just having the door activated by a lever at the bait. Thats how I caught a few ferrals in the past. Borrowed the Rangers cage, and afterwards just dropped the thing in a trough.

[JDarvall]

I know what a feral cat looks like and what I saw on a Gippsland track on the way to the Bogong high plain in 1986 definitely wasn't an average moggie gone bush!

.

...what you see ? black ?

[Cruzi]

Feral cats get quite huge and have a different body shape to your average moggie gone bush, the shoulders are much larger for one example.

A farmer out South Western Qld used to pay us a 6-pack per feral we shot for him, and they always surprised on how big and mean they looked.

[Fuzzie]

...what you see ? black ?

Yes. Jet black. I think it was a larger body to head ratio that made it look different. We were on foot and saw it on the move loping out of forest and across open land about 250 metres away. It was clearly of significant size.

[johnc]

There was one huge "panther" shot in the 70's in Gippsland that turned out to be a large dog on inspection. Certainly feral cats get huge on native tucker and I've seen one monster moggie that was big by even feral standards. The story I remember most, again from the 70's, was a bloke who saw what he swears was a panther in the hills near Licola standing beside a stream at night lit by a full moon. His car had broken down and he was walking back to Licola with his girl friend. Now I don't know if it was really a panther but I am dead sure he did and it scared the daylights out of both of them.

Don't know what you'd trap them with but I'd want chain mail and a heap of tranquiliser for the cat if I did catch one. .303 would be one option but it interfers with the bring it in alive to get money objective.

[Geoff Dean]

Haven't seen a panther, but on one hunting trip near Licola in Vic High country saw cat paw prints in the snow that were the size of my outspread hand.

Packed up and went somewhere else.

This thing would have been huge.

Don't care if you think I'm a pussy, I don't hunt things that hunt back.

Don't hunt at all now, have other priorities

[Priemsy]

Just built my own trap a couple of weeks ago, wire cage with a trip door. results so far, two stray moggies that won't kill my wild life around here anymore. Allso a small Aussie raven which I let go cause he's part of the scene around here.

Paul

[K_S]

Bowl of milk with a dozen crushed panadol in it. :2tsup:

I was told by a birdkeeper to use aspro - if you want to get rid of the cat???
Maybe both???

Whatever you do keep us posted - any gap in communications will be taken as a win for the puss:D

[Gra]

Can I suggest very, very carefully:D:D

[Brown Dog]

Bowl of milk with a dozen crushed panadol in it.


I like Cliffs idea but, according to our local paper...the "kenthurst panther" likes 17 years olds and live stock....so maybe you will have to stuff a cow full of panadol....or a spotty teenager :D

[Cliff Rogers]

Best of luck trying to stuff a cow with a spotty teenager. :D

[bsrlee]

I believe that its the paracetemol (sp?) in Panadol that gets rid of the cat - and not very nicely either.

The cage trap is for those who want a live critter to flog to the media - a dead one is MUCH easier to arrange.

Yeah, a mechanical release like a tipping floor would work, but you want something that closes FAST and can't be forced back open with teeth, paws etc. and won't move around & spook off the 'customer' before he's all the way in - therefor a chook shed sized cage.

[JDarvall]

therefor a chook shed sized cage.

thats a big cage....

I see what you mean about closing the door fast and tight.....but I don't think I've got the expertese (how do you spell that) to work out IR Sensers ....etc. So, I'll have to rely on gravity. Got any mechanical ideas on how to make a lever sensitive......uno, that doesn't take much to activate a door laiden with rocks ?

had a weird dream last night.......was skipping around the bush in a safari suit with a butterfly net over my shoulder, yelling ......puss puss ! here puss puss ! :?

[Fuzzie]

Maybe the dream is telling you to take a lead from the old Tarzan movies. Dig a big hole and stake a goat at the bottom. :D

[JDarvall]

:D.... ok. :D who knows.

[Gra]

Maybe the dream is telling you to take a lead from the old Tarzan movies. Dig a big hole and stake a goat at the bottom. :D

All you will catch then is Al:U:U

[bsrlee]

For the gate, I think a couple of re-cycled springs & some rope/cable would do the trick. You could make a simple no-return ratchet that either runs on the mesh or in a simple ladder on one side.

As for the release, a simple tipping floor would be best - make it fairly large so he gets well in & provide a stable platform at the 'back' for him to jump onto when the floor does drop. For the lock to keep the door open - two plates, one pivoting out of the door track and the other tied to the tilting floor mechanism. When the floor tilts it pulls the string which pulls the plain plate out of the way of the pivoting plate (this is how most modern bolt action rifle triggers work). The lock pivots, the spring pulls the gate down FAST and the ratchet makes a hell of a noise which should scare the target away from the opening.

Its up to you to figure out what to do with it now:;

[TEEJAY]

Not all panthers look like a dog :)

[JDarvall]

For the gate, I think a couple of re-cycled springs & some rope/cable would do the trick. You could make a simple no-return ratchet that either runs on the mesh or in a simple ladder on one side.

As for the release, a simple tipping floor would be best - make it fairly large so he gets well in & provide a stable platform at the 'back' for him to jump onto when the floor does drop. For the lock to keep the door open - two plates, one pivoting out of the door track and the other tied to the tilting floor mechanism. When the floor tilts it pulls the string which pulls the plain plate out of the way of the pivoting plate (this is how most modern bolt action rifle triggers work). The lock pivots, the spring pulls the gate down FAST and the ratchet makes a hell of a noise which should scare the target away from the opening.

Its up to you to figure out what to do with it now:;

Thanks mate. Have to get my head around making this cage. Thanks for the tips. (on how to catch a panther :rolleyes::p) can't believe I'm doing this.

[Cliff Rogers]

Remember, if there are no pics, it didn't happen. :D

[namtrak]

She asked me to trap it, hinting that I'll get some percentage of the earn when I do.....

but I don't know how to trap a panther. Do you ?


Well you head down to Penrith with a six pack and hang around a taxi rank.......

[Allan at Wallan]

Just a revival on your stories.

My son-in-law and I were four wheel driving in the Kinglake
area a few months ago on a back road.

As we came around a corner a jet black animal lumbered
into the scrub. It was certainly not a kangaroo or wallaby
and was far too big to be a dog. We only had a fleeting
glimpse of it before it disappeared.

The walking action did not resemble a kangaroo type
animal but more of a cat.

It certainly had us talking about it for some time.

Allan

________________________________________

One good turn deserves a quality piece of wood.

[nev25]

There was one huge "panther" shot in the 70's in Gippsland .


Hey John I spent my teen years in sale there was always talk of a Black Panther around the Longford area.

[Woodlee]

Uno those black panthers that people are spotting, running about the Blue mountains....well aparently there's one up here as well!....just off Kyogle here, at Green Pigeon.

Had a birthday party today for my eldest daughter. And a single mum brought her daughter along, who owns a farm out there.

We got talking whilst the kids were stuffing their faces....And apparently...... she's being terrorised by a one! :D (brilliant!) ...AND she was quite serious...

...she says that for months she's being hearing cat like sounds at night. Sounds that she can't place as being anything else. Didn't think anything of it until she saw it. And her daughter saw it too ....as high as her legs (10 year old) with a thin long tail...she came running into the house screaming :-....I believe her storys true.....somethings definetly scaring her, and it ant no horny koala......but I don't know about it being a panther.

But still shes managed to convince some panther expert down South to travel up especially to check it out.

She's scared, but she's really quite excited because she's broke, and (so she tells me)....she can get something like 20 grand if she captured it. :o.

So I've been asked to trap it..:p...serious. She asked me to trap it, hinting that I'll get some percentage of the earn when I do.....

but I don't know how to trap a panther. Do you ?


Over sized Moggie trap with foot trip and a drop down door .
My trap has a trip plate at the dead end which is connected to a lever that pulls a rod ,which allows the door to drop .I just have a bait on the floor ,some chicken bones or sardines .

If the moggie goes to the bait I have it set up so it has to step on the plate to get at the it.Once the moggie steps on the plate the rod slides back and the door drops straight down , no escape . A 22 z to the head and its all over. Fertilizer .

I caught the neighbour's blue heeler one time , when I let the dog out it was the same shape as the trap ,sort of a long rectangle .What had me beat is how the dog turned around in the trap , unless it backed in .


Some useless info ,
A black panther can either be a Jaguar or a Leopard ,both cats have the melanistic gene that cause them to be that colour .It's the yellow colour in the coat that is over come by the darker melanin , they still have the spotted coat which can be seen in bright sunlight.


Kev.

[Earthling#44-9a]

Big cat story #99546-45k
I remember years ago driving up the Collie hill (WA)one night and seeing this big drum shape bang on the white line in the middle of the road. I thought it was a log or a weird size drum(60l). As I was about 10m away from it the top turned and this huge cat was looking at me! And I mean HUGE. It definetly wasnt no panther, just an extremely large feral cat.

Goodluck with the trap and I imagine a chook would make a great bait.

[tarn]

Hi,

Frankly i don't believe all the panther stories - our eyes & minds play tricks on us. But if you are serious about catching cats - feral, panther or otherwise, I've got a few tips that may help. I started a PhD on feral cats a while back but changed topics in the end...but i did do a bit of literature searching & some trapping for radiotracking so know a wee bit about it. Cats are visual predators and actually have a poor sense of smell until they are right on top of whatever is making the smell. But they are famous for being curious... So use a visual lure like a bunch of white chook feathers suspended in the trap, maybe something sparkly to bring them in close, or even one of those toy mice you get in pet shops, then have the food bait, like dead mouse or rabbit, for the smell to lure them all the way in. In my case I just used dead white lab mice hanging off a hook in the cage trap. visual lure & bait all in one. Worked pretty well for the short time i was doing it. If you wanted to make a trap just scale up a cage trap with a treadle with the lure/bait hanging off a hook that the cat has to enter all the way in to the trap to tug at it. Also cats can be fussy - so make sure the bait isn't too rotten, unless there's a drought on & they are starving & in that case they just aren't that fussy.

And please carefully plan what you intend to do with your "panther" BEFORE you actually catch it. 5 kgs of off feral moggy is scary enough if you want to do something with them while they are alive instead of just shooting them. So I'm pretty sure that 40+ kgs of off panther is that much scarier. Many wild animals calm down if you cover their eyes or put them in a hessian bag. Cats don't.

Best of luck. it would be great to have some actual proof.

cheers
tarn

[Buzza]

A contract shooter I used to shoot for, had a feral cat skin in his shooting hack everywhere he went. When he was running out of cash in a bar, he would take bets on the size of the cat he had once shot, and when all the bets were laid, he would take the punters out to his his hack and unroll the skin hangin it from an eye hole, on a roo hook. Five feet long from nose to tip of the tail and tabby. It was shot by him out of Hawker in the Flinders Ranges, South Australia. We used to get enough money for both of us to continue until closing time. :2tsup:

We used a .222 over long distances for feral cats, because you can't get near them usually. :)

[wheelinround]

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24095791-5001021,00.html
http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,6170307,00.jpg
Sydney's 'big cat' sighted again


July 29, 2008 02:32pm

THE fabled "Hills Panther" - a giant cat said to roam as far as Lithgow - has been sighted yet again.
The latest sighting occurred in Berowra Valley at Hornsby Heights on Friday, July 18.

A Hornsby Heights resident, who asked to be known only as Kate, told The Hills Shire Times her husband recently caught sight of a huge cat in bushland behind their property.

"It was on a Friday afternoon just after lunch and we were working in the garden," Kate said. "This animal moved very, very quickly and it leapt too.

"We could see the haunches. It seemed to be a greyish colour from the very quick siting we had and the surprise of it all."

Kate believes it could well be the same big cat that has been spotted by several people in the Hills district.

"I think it's probably the same cat as the one from the Dural-Kenthurst area and it has gone for a wander into Berowra Valley," she said. "I would like to see it again. It's just fascinating me."
Cryptozoologist Rex Gilroy has told The Hills Shire Times the sighting could be connected to other big cat sightings as the animal has been known to follow the scrubland which goes all the way into the outskirts of the Hornsby area.

However Melbourne-born big cat conservationist and New York-based Panthera Foundation executive director Dr Luke Hunter said the evidence available was not enough to support the theory.

For his reasons, read The Hills Shire Times (http://www.hillsshiretimes.com.au/article/2008/07/29/3102_news.html) story in full here.

[namtrak]

The photo looks doctored to me, check out the shadow.

[Woodwould]

It doesn't look 'Photoshopped' to me; comparing its size to the size of the pavers, it just looks like a domestic grey tom cat! :rotfl:

A panther's paw would cover a good half of one of those pavers.

[Clinton1]

Nahhhh mate, those are 1000mm square pavers.