Here in Georgia, just about every land owner I've spoken to has a story about seeing a panther. About 20 years ago, I was scanning a field with a spot light on my families 100 acres and saw a set of eyes that appeared to be about 6 feet in the air. My first thought was "It's one of the cows or horses that have gotten into the lower field". I walked out behind the barn for a better angle and turned the light back on, sweeping the same section of the field. I noticed that whatever it was, was sitting on top of a round hay bale that was located next to the woodline, over looking the field. Then my thought was "coyote" or "bobcat". I lowered the halo to get a better view and was shocked to see what appeared to be a huge panther slowly stand up on the hay bale, then jump off and walk into the woods. Needless to say, that gave me hesitation to go out hunting on my tract of land for quiet a while.
I never did see it again, nor did I ever see any tracks. I have however in the years since then heard piercing screams every now and then on several properties I hunt, all of which are at night.
DNR and others here in Georgia can say what they want, but we do have a small (but active) Florida panther population that has migrated north. I'm fully aware that they are federally protected and I have no desire to ever put one down. However, if I'm hunting and I see one that is showing too much interest in me, I'm putting rounds out. The scary thing is, that if one is showing a lot of interest in me, I'll probably never know it until I'm being dragged off, never to be heard from again.