I think I might be able to match that story :)
Our cats wouldn’t set foot outside the house the other evening, something very unusual. The next day a neighbor called and warned us to watch out, there was a montain lion outside his house the night before!
I believe that. I used to live in the deep woods in Washington State. We had about 12 acres that backed up to a 1000 acre state forest preserve. My woods had a network of trails that laced through the woods behind my house. My dogs and my cats used to walk with me on the trails while I picked up fallen branches and laid them to the sides of the trail to mark the way. The trees were mammouth — 2nd growth timber. The land had been cut in 1900 and had not been touched since.
I was always hoping to find a natural spring that I could encourage to become a small pond. There was a large swampy spot where unusual foliage grew, unlike anything else on the property. I crossed a fallen tree to go explore that spot to see how much water was there and found large foot pints in the mud. My husband said they probably just from a wandering dog, but I thought they were much larger.
The interesting phenomna is that none of my animals would accompany me to that spot. The cats would scramble up a tree and yowl, and the dogs would stay on the trail and bark. I’d cajole them and try to get them to come with me, but they wouldn’t budge.
We sold the house and land to the State Forest Service and moved to Wisconsin. When we went back a few years later to see what they had done with the place, there were maps of my trails in a hand out box and signs posted in the parking lot saying:
“Beware of Panthers.”
Chills ran up and down my spine.