Top Dog in Texas, page 1

Okay, you can view the rest of my threads/posts/etc to see my varying views on different aspects of this website and the content thereof; however THIS event has got me puzzled. Especially since this event occurred to my father a couple of months ago and he's quite the skeptic otherwise.

To start, let us make it clear that my father is a well educated man with multiple degrees, has a very reasonable and skeptical manner, and is a well trained and avid outdoorsman. He was born in Fairbanks, Alaska in 1959; moved to Ohio in 1968; moved to Arizona in 1972; moved to rural south-central Texas in 1974. As an adult he's lived in South Korea and Germany (with myself and family) before moving back to rural south-central Texas in 1996 where they still live today and where this event occurred. They live near a town called Wimberley, about 35 miles south of Austin and about 60 miles north of San Antonio.

So a couple of months ago, my father was out in his driveway sitting in a chair, smoking his cigar, and drinking a class of bourbon while he watched satellites and stars above. This is something my dad has always enjoyed...he just likes the peace and quiet about it after a long week of work in Austin. In the opposite direction he was facing, directly behind him is a 5' tall fence, then my folks vegetable garden, then the property slopes down pretty steeply to a creek-bed below with a fence just before the creek. At this junction their two of their fences intersect with the neighbors ranch fence as it crosses this creek and continues up along the ridge. I only state these details because of what occurred at or near this fence intersection.

That intersection of fences is only about 150' from where my dad was sitting in the driveway, facing the opposite direction in his chair. So now that you have a good idea of what's occurring, I'll set the stage fom what my dad told me: It was night time, sometime around 9pm, the sky was clear, there weren't any bugs out, etc. It was just a really nice night for star gazing.

From what he told me, he was just relaxing and he had both of his dogs off the patio. Each of their dogs are 110lb Boxadors (Boxer-Labrador Mixes) and are extremely smart and defensive of the property. Now, each of these dogs are born-and-raised country dogs and are 100% unafraid of 400lb ferrel hogs, coyotes, bob cats, porcupines, etc...they just aren't afraid of much. This area is prone to a mountain lion sighting once in a while, but my dad and I have come to the conclusion, after several encounters of our own with mountain lions in New Mexico, that this was no mountain lion.

The Meat: My dad said he heard barking dogs off in the distance and where they live we know the furthest audible dogs are owned by a few neighbors about a mile and a half away in a straight line, but are right along a major creek (dry at this time). He heard these dogs barking begin to fade as the next neighbor closer's dogs began to bark: The distance between these two neighbors is only 1/2 mile, but their property backs up to the same creek bed. Timing between the two barks was only 30 seconds or so. Before my dad knew it, his two large dogs were no longer in the front yard with him, but rather up on the rear deck of his house (8' off the ground) barking like madmen. My dad said the pitch and tone of their barks were something he;s never heard either of them make. He said he instantly felt in fear of his life...he couldn't explain the feeling, but I'm telling you right now even him recounting the story to me a week after it occurred, he was terrified. My dad is 6'4" and 280lbs of solid muscle...a big solid lumberjack of a man. His face and eyes when he was remembering what had occurred showed visible strain and anxiety.

He said as he moved ot of his chair and started for the stairs to the deck about 20' from him, he felt the need to run as the dogs continued to bark in absolute fear. Just as he stepped up onto the deck, he saw the dogs in the porch light, with the hair on their backs standing straight up, tails straight up, heads stuck between the hand rail rungs. Then a bellowing, chesty, extremely loud holler. Not a scream, or a yell...a solid HOLLER. He said it was the most terrifying noise he had ever heard, comparing it to a male Grizzly Bear but scarier. He said it had to have been right there where the fences intersected at the back of the property, just down the hill. Then everything went absolutely silent, even his own dogs. He said the noise, from whatever it was, was so commanding that it was supreme amongst animals, and quite frankly him. It was "the most terrifying noise I have ever heard" is what he repeated two or three times as he recounted this event."Whatever that thing was was so loud, it caused everything else to quit making noise and scared the ever loving # out of these two [pointing to his two dogs laying at his feet in his living room.]"

Now I have no clue what it was or could have been, but he and I both, along with most of our family members have been in the outdoors, alone and in bear country and have heard our fair shares of scary encounters with bears, coyotes, mountain lions, and other similarly intimidating animals. What ever this animal was, it was something that truly terrified my dad and in him recounting this event, it honestly scared me a bit as I grew up in those very woods and creeks as a kid.

What do you guys and gals think of this event? Taking into account everything that I've said, as it's not been misconstrued or distorted in any way. This is verbatim from the mouth of my dad and I have simply written it down for you. I have thought about it, and even gone hiking in the area to see if I could find anything out of the norm or even within the norm and I've found nothing...especially no cat scat along the creek.

Also, take into account that whatever this was may have been traveling quite quickly, assuming it was what the dogs were all barking at, as it traveled 1.5 miles in about 3-4 minutes. This equates to 22.5mph - 30mph. (Please kindly correct me if I'm incorrect.)