And another anecdotal, true cat story. When we were teenagers, in the '60s, two friends of mine, brothers, had built a makeshift tree stand up in a large tree to try and kill a deer on their Dad's farm about three miles from here, and near the Savannah River. One had a gun, the other a good flashlight. Their plan was to stay up the tree until after dark, if need be, and spotlight the deer and shoot it. They heard leaves crunching after dark and the sound got under them, but seemed to make noise on the tree they were in. One brother shined the light down and a panther was climbing the tree towards them, directly beneath. It startled the cat about as much as it did them, the cat ran aways, then it got quiet. They stayed up that tree for a looong time before getting up enough nerve to climb down and walk home.
SRH
