The presence of a growling big cat can turn a fun youth hunt into a tense standoff real quick.
Florida panthers are often considered “rare sightings” in the sunshine state. Mature panthers typically can be over six feet long and stand over two feet tall. They usually weigh anywhere between 70 and 150 pounds, depending on the panther’s gender.
Florida’s famous big cat is categorized in the “critically endangered” level, meaning that the species’ population decline is greater than 80 to 90 percent. With their total numbers dwindling, Florida panthers are being seen less and less out in the wild.
The National Wildlife Federation explained why there’s so much concern about Florida panthers going extinct in the wild in the conservation portion of their Florida panther information page:
“The Florida panther is the only subspecies of mountain lion that remains in the eastern United States. Hunting decimated the population badly, and it was one of the first species added to the U.S. endangered species list in 1973. The Florida panther’s current status is listed as endangered.
During the 1970s, only about 20-30 Florida panthers remained in the wild. Today, there are just over 200 left in the wild. They are found in southern Florida in swamplands such as Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve. The subspecies is so critically endangered that it is vulnerable to just about every major threat.”
Florida panthers mainly live along the Gulf Coast of Florida now, and when occasional videos of the rare, elusive creatures are captured, they’re a big deal. They typically surface online, like this clip out of Collier County that was taken during the National Panther Wildlife Refuge’s youth turkey hunt.
Now I might just be looking at things a little differently… but doesn’t the idea of turkey hunting in the National Panther Wildlife Refuge seem a little dangerous? I know that Florida Panthers are scarce, and the chances of seeing one are slim. However, if you enter into the National Panther Wildlife Refuge, the math I’m doing in my head is telling me that your odds of seeing one – or running into one – goes up.
I love hunting just as much as the next person, but would I willingly put my life on the life (so to speak) to hunt some turkeys on land that could be crawling with big cats? I’m not so sure. And might I remind you that this is a YOUTH TURKEY HUNT. Nothing says “Let’s start off Spring right” like bringing a bunch of kiddos into an area with Florida panthers that are probably bigger than they are.
Thought that I would just get my view on the matter out there. I’ll get off my soapbox and get back to the story at hand. This video, posted by the Instagram account “Pilot_App,” shows a Florida panther on the prowl near a ground blind (that the big cat could easily tear into if it chose to). According to the video’s caption, they were using turkey calls to try and draw in some Toms and Jakes… and instead they attracted a big cat.
The sounds this Florida panther makes are terrifying to say the least, and it looks like the wild animal was upset that there wasn’t a turkey in sight once it got to open field:
