Stony -

You might be surprised to know what's stalking you.

As a young'un I spent a lot of time in the swamps and woods with firearms..... many times alone. I heard stories about wild turkeys but I never saw one - much less bagged one - but now 50 years later the state is overrun with them and I've seen them sauntering down the median or sitting beside the road along I-26.... first time I saw that I just about had a wreck.

50 years ago I would hear stories about swamp cats that were blamed for the loss of livestock and small pets, but never saw one. There were times alone in the swamps that I would get that eerie sense of being stalked, though - something you often can't be sure if it's real or imagined until you find evidence - and I never did. When it happens to you every hair stands on end and your sense of hearing is greatly magnified to the point where your own footsteps sound nearly deafening.

I suspect we still have some of those swamp cats - Florida panthers/pumas/mountain lions, actually - and I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear they were also in West Virginia:

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

There were supposedly the natural color and black panthers - the Carolina Panthers NFL team uses the black one for a symbolic mascot.

Frank