You hear about them from time to time; mountain lions in the Texas panhandle. Most of the time it's something that seems almost like an urban legend about one seen in Palo Duro Canyon. Lucky for us, we can see exactly where there have been confirmed sightings.
Are there mountain lions in the panhandle? Well, there are confirmed sightings.
Confirmed Mountain Lion Sightings In The Texas Panhandle
Sure, we've all got that buddy that swears he saw a mountain lion that one time; but honestly, can you trust him? He has a knack for telling tall tales, and it could have just as easily been the neighbor's large breed dog.
So, to give ourselves a real good picture of what we're dealing with, we go to a trusted source of info that we don't have beers with on the weekends. We go to Texas Parks and Wildlife.
According to their figures for the past 365 days (1 year in case you're wondering), there have been three (3) confirmed mountain lion sightings in the Texas panhandle.
Where Have The Mountain Lions Been Sighted In The Texas Panhandle?
Oddly enough, the three sightings have happened in three counties. Those counties are:
- Deaf Smith
- Briscoe
- Potter
Yeah. Potter County made the list, which blows my mind.
The most recent sighting was this year. On Jan 19 of this year, there was a confirmed sighting in Briscoe County. Makes sense. You've got part of the Palo Duro Canyon and the Caprock Canyons down there.
To make things even more interesting, the three sightings in the three separate counties are of only one (1) mountain lion.
So, while there have been sightings, it doesn't sound like there's a ton of them running around all scary willy-nilly out there.
Maybe there's some credence to my beer drinking buddy's tall tales after all.