The Florida Panther

Once in a while he would go ice fishing with his Uncle’s in their launch.  They would stay out several days and fish till they filled the hold.  As they filled the hold, they layered each catch with ice till the hold was full and then they came back in. 

That was as much to keep the fish moist so they didn't dry out as it was to keep them cold, and to keep them from spoiling.

Isaac Henry bott Richburg poling
his mullet skiff in Cedar Key 1900

They towed their skiff boats behind the launch; they used them for running out their nets and catching the fish. 

They slept, cooked and ate on the launch.  Chetter did a lot of the cooking and he was heavy handed with the pepper.  But if anyone complained, they had to do the cooking for awhile.  So, there were hardly ever any complaints.

And usually after the evening meal they always told scary ghost stories.  This was mostly for the benefit of the younger men.  They would swap stories till the tide was just right to drop the nets and fish.  One such night, they were in the Wacasassa River near the mouth.  Chuck told me “It was so dark in there you couldn’t see the man rowing in the boat next to you, he said we maneuvered by sound.”

Leotis (Bum, Odie Boy) Collins

Just before they left the launch Leotis (called Bum or Odie Boy) had been telling a tale about a big “Florida Panther.”  He said, “The panther comes to the river to drink and lays in wait to jump you, and he’s has been known to kill and eat grown men.”  By the time they got in their skiffs to go fishing, the younger guys were scared half to death.

They were rowing along as quietly as possible, listening for fish breaking. Bum suddenly stood up and threw his let-er-go toward the bank, and at the same time without his knowing, he had rowed up under a fork of a tree limb that was hanging out over the river and it caught him.

One limb slid under each arm and lifted him clear of the boat; at the same time the let-er-go hit a big bull that had come down to the river to drink.  The bull let out a bellow and Bum let out a scream that chilled the blood.

Chuck rescued Bum; his lower body was dangling in the river.  Bum still had the screaming memies, but everybody else was laughing so hard their sides hurt and they were teasing him about almost getting caught by that “Big old Florida Panther!” 

They had to go back down the river a ways to catch his skiff; it had drifted down river with the current while Bum was hanging in the tree waiting for Chuck to rescue him.

The power’s that be, refuse to admit that there are Florida Panther in our woods and hammocks up there, this area being known today as “Florida’s Nature Coast.”  But there most definitely are! 

And have been for many years, long before they imported the Puma or mountain lion which are basically the same cat, and there still are some originals in the Gulf Hammock! 

Too many people have been seeing them for too many years!  People who grew up in the area, and know those woods and hammocks like the back of their hands. 

A Florida Panther Track

One of the Wildlife Officer’s who worked in the area quite some time back and before any Panther was ever imported, took pictures, and made plaster casts of the tracks.  But those in power refused to admit that they were panther tracks.

There are also a few Florida Black Bear still in those woods too.  My husband decided before he died, that it was political. 

If the Power’s that be, admitted there were Florida Panther there, they would then have to force the timber companies to cease the destruction of their habitat.

To be continued