Critter Identification

[2B4Him]

First of all, I have no picture of the animal. But, . . .

So, I'm hunting out of a tri-pod stand and I see some movement in tall grass. I watch as it is approaching my location. When it gets where I can get a GOOD view of it (but not time to get a photo), it looks mostly like a house cat - it was dark grey, had a roundish head, and about a 12" tail. However, its tail had rings around it like a raccoon or ringtailed cat. The tail was about twice as thick as most cats' tails, but not as bushy as a fox or raccoon.
Also, the cat seemed to have a little hair at the tips of its ears like a bobcat or lynx.
Location: Coryell/Lampasas County line.
I've never seen a cat with a ringed tail.
Ringtailed 'cats' are not 'felines', so I don't think this could be a hybrid of a cat and ringtailed cat mating.
Thoughts?

[Muskles]

Definitely juvenile black panther.

[Duckologist]

First of all, I have no picture of the animal. But, . . .

So, I'm hunting out of a tri-pod stand and I see some movement in tall grass. I watch as it is approaching my location. When it gets where I can get a GOOD view of it (but not time to get a photo), it looks mostly like a house cat - it was dark grey, had a roundish head, and about a 12" tail. However, its tail had rings around it like a raccoon or ringtailed cat. The tail was about twice as thick as most cats' tails, but not as bushy as a fox or raccoon.
Also, the cat seemed to have a little hair at the tips of its ears like a bobcat or lynx.
Location: Coryell/Lampasas County line.
I've never seen a cat with a ringed tail.
Ringtailed 'cats' are not 'felines', so I don't think this could be a hybrid of a cat and ringtailed cat mating.
Thoughts?

First tell us how many beers you had fore the creature showed up?

[Big pig]

Sounds like a ringtail cat .
Mostly nocturnal, but I have seen one in the day while in a blind

[Mule Skinner]

Miner's cat

[Jason Fry]

Sounds like a ringtail cat .
Mostly nocturnal, but I have seen one in the day while in a blind

Agree. They do look like a small tan cat with a extra large fluffy black/white tail.

[SabreKiller]

I'll bet it was one of these...

They're a lot of fun trying to get OUT of a box blind.

[Ag 89]

it looks mostly like a house cat -

That would be the answer. There are many variations of domestic cats.

[Deerguy]

Only other option may be a domestic ring-tailed coati.

[okrattler]

I'm guessing a feral cat with striped markings down its tail.

[curtintex]

That would be the answer. There are many variations of domestic cats.

None of which I’ve ever seen while hunting. I know people say this every time someone says they saw a cat from their stand. I’ve seen bobcats and ring-tailed cats, but I’ve never seen a regular ole cat while out hunting. If I see a cat while hunting, house cat is not the most likely possibility based on past history. I think the yotes keep em down.[emoji2369]


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[the-butcher]

They're a lot of fun trying to get OUT of a box blind.



[ATTACH]1066889[/ATTACH]

Dang near jumped to my death in west texas on an cold early morning.

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[RifleBowPistol]

I would bet it's a ring tail, quite sure it's a ringtail, by the description.

Years ago, it turns out we had two ringtails living in the top of our house. They woke my wife up early every morning, when they came home. Probably about 5:00 AM to 5:30 AM. They would jump out of a large elm tree on the side of the house, onto the tin roof. I had no problem sleeping through them jumping on the roof, but they woke my wife up every morning. I got to hear about it for months.

Eventually she said they had to go, and I needed to kill them. One night, she heard them leaving the house, when they jumped off of the roof into a large oak tree in the back yard. I ran outside with a flashlight and a 22. Was able to see it zipping through the top of the oak tree, faster than I could run. That thing could move. I have never seen a squirrel cover that much distance that fast in a tree. I managed to get a shot off at it and hit it, killing it. That ring tail was long and skinny, very long tail. I thought that was a big ringtail.

Then a couple weeks later my wife, was very tired of the ringtail still jumping on the roof, and decided she would get up and wait for it outside in the dark. Then some time right about the time the sun was coming up she started yelling for me to come outside, that it was a racoon that was jumping on the roof. I went outside with a 22 to shoot it. She said it had already jumped on the roof and ran down the old chimney, by the time I got outside. She kept saying it was not a ringtail, that it was a racoon. My thought was great, we have racoons in the top of the house. Right as we were about to go in, the critter popped up out of the chimney, I snapped off a quick shot and killed it. It dropped down the chimney. So I had to climb up in the top of the house and figure out how to get into the chimney. Turns out the chimney had been blocked off, just above the ceiling, with thick plywood. I managed to remove some bricks and found their was a large, dead ringtail in the bottom. It did not look anything like the other ringtail I had killed. This one had a fat rounded face and much heavier body. Then a long striped tail, but not as long as the first ringtails tail.

I don't know which one was the male and which one was the female, but I know they were both ringtails, but very different looking critters. The second one, that was in the chimney, looked like some cartoon character. It had a very rounded, cute face. All of the ringtails I had previously seen, had very thin faces. I am sure they were both ringtails and that they were a mating pair. The second one, looked like a stuffed toy bear or some other stuffed toy animal, with a stripped tail.

After that deal was over, I told my wife, in the future, if we had any more ringtail problems she was going to have to learn to live with them. I was not shooting anymore ringtails.

[Ag 89]

None of which I’ve ever seen while hunting.

I have seen 3 while hunting. Including an all white one. Guess it depends on where you are hunting.

[Hills of Texas]

Coatimundi depending on how far south you are