Stan,
Most people don't believe this but ten years ago I saw a mountain panther in the Nantahala...what the locals call a "painter". They say that no wildcat bigger than a bobcat exist east of the Mississippi but I can assure you I saw it. To keep this on track, the Nantahala and the Unakas mad excelled terrain for guerrilla warfare along about '63. It is still in places the most isolated part of this country this side of the Mississippi.
Cump.