I usually hunt in NW Louisiana, but had a great opportunity to hunt a National Forest in East Texas over the holiday. This part of National Forest is bordered by private farmland on the West, owned by my wife's Grandpa. I normally rifle hunt the farm a few times per year with my daughter. Toledo Bend Reservoir and a bayou make up the South and East borders of the National Forest. Basically, nobody ever hunts there because they would have to trespass, take a boat or a really long hike to get in there. I went out Christmas Eve to do some scouting and was pleasantly surprised by all the activity out there. I saw 4 doe and 2 yearlings within an hour or two. I found several scrapes and licking branches and a couple of rub-lines. Keep in mind that this area has a major hog problem. Normally, hogs will scrape the bark off of cypress trees and rub their bodies on the sap to keep the bugs off of them. I found several trees that were larger than your average buck rub. They weren't cypress or a sap producing tree that would lead me to believe they were hog markings. Take a look at the picture and give your opinion. I threw the 5 gallon bucket in there to give you an idea of the size of the tree.
There are rumors of mountain lions in the area, but the TPWS deny they exist in the area. ALL the big trees that were rubbed/scratched that I found are in the same path as the sappling rubs and scrapes.
Maybe there was mountain lion trailing a buck. If you have a trail cam you could set it up and see what walks by.
Kdwp (KS) denied the existence of mountain lions in the state, right up until the authenticated video by a bow hunter on scene. Also talked to a former Wyoming Ranger who was part of a trap, tag, and release operation between the two states back in the 90s. KDWP still says our cats aren't residents, they are just migrating through.
