Panther story!

In the early 50's we were loading cotton from a cotton crib near our house on the Rightor Farm south of Helena. There was a large 2 story barn about half a mile from us , behind Delbert and Ruby's house. Someone looked up and pointed at a big black cat slipping from the barn and going to a slew. It was so big it had to be a panther, although it was never confirmed. The panther would crouch close to the ground and claw a little ways , then stop and look around, then start again until it got into the woods. A couple weeks later my buddies and I found a nice percimon tree sure to hold a coon or 2. This was also just across the slew from where we saw the panther. But we decided we needed to coon hunt that night. Three of us, me and the two Galloway boys, who lived near, got out the carbide lights and our guns and took off over to the tree to get those coons. As we were shining the lights up in the tree, there was a loud scream!!! It was believed panthers screamed like a woman and man the hair stood up on our heads and we ran all the way home with one light in front and one on the backside. That was my last coon hunt for a long time. Later we figured it was probably an owl, but was never sure!