Cat question (cougar)

legn4

Over the last 2 years my friends & neighbors have saw a big cat.About 5 or 6 sighting's within a 2 mile radius of my home. I haven't, but these people have no reason to pull your leg. If you ran across a super kitty out in the woods or backyard whats the best advice? With a good deer pop. would that explain no lost of livestock?

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Work'n like a dog all nite

wipala

Cougers are spreading their range all over the place. A lady jogger was killed in L.A. a couple of years ago. Most big cats are shy and you won't see them up close you are more likely to hear them. They are beginning to show up in North Eastern Oklahoma.

280win

Here in eastern washington the deer and elkleave the area when the big cats show up.

280win

Here in eastern washington the deer and elkleave the area when the big cats show up.

groundhog devastation

We're stating to hear of them in SW VA too. They have been seen twice on one of my hunting leases 1.5miles from my house. What makes me beleive they are here is that another person saw them twice over the ridge on the other side of the mountain. Neither of the persons who saw them knows the other person and had not told them about it. I hope I get the chance to see them!! I hope when I do I'll have the digital camera!!

Norman Dog

If you encounter a big cat, try to be confident and make yourself look big. Stand your ground, open your coat, raise your arms, move to a higher position like on a rock or stump. Try not to turn around and run. Usually, a cat wants easy prey. So, don't look easy and don't look or act like prey.Now, if you are looking at a mother cat and her kittens are around, all bets are off!

Otoman

I saw a Mountain Lion 2 miles south of Oxford Kansas about 17 years ago, I thought it was a large dog walking across the road ahead of me. When I got to where he had crossed the road I got out of my car and looked and there he was in the ditch. He turned around and growled at me and then jumped over a barbed wire fence and walked off into the woods, as I quickly got into my car. One of the few people that believed my story was my dad and some customers that have seen them at their Rock Quarry near Sun City Kansas. I have pretty much quit telling the story because of people making fun of my story when I tell it...It is true and I know a bobcat from A mountain Lion, Puma, Cougar, what ever you want to call it. Old Honest OTO/////

KIMBER: Pistol du jour

Norman Dog

It is illegal in a lot of places to hunt mountain lions, so the lion population has continued to grow and incursions into populated places are becoming more frequent.

I was deer hunting in a not-so-remote area of the Sierras one year when, in the afternoon, I saw lion tracks over my own tracks that I had left that morning. It was a wake-up call that maybe I wasn't the only one at the top of the food chain in the forest.

sodbuster

Every word that Norman Dog said is EXACTLY the correct
things to do it you encounter a big cat! If you're in cat
country,don't let your small children out of your sight.
The cats see them as easy prey because of their small size.
Also they love to ambush. We've also had many sightings
here in the outback..several within a mile or two from town.


It's not the number of your stars that count,,it's the size of your moon.

smokinggun

If a cougar is attacking you and you don't have a weapon take your thumb and put it in the corner of his mouth so that you are pushing his cheek in between his teeth. He will be biting his own cheek and this causes him to stop.

stanman

I'd say Normandog & Sodbuster have it right. Smokinggun,,if all you have to fight with is your finger,you might as well use it! It would just be hard for me to shove my hand in a lions mouth.... ON PURPOSE!!
Absolutely right about the small children. If there's a big cat around, children are not safe, so don't kid yourself!! Take some small ones to your local zoo or wildlife park and notice how the cats are absolutely mesmerised by them, seriously, it's pretty scary!
I used to live in a part of the Olympic Peninsula where cat problems became almost routine, and one thing became clear. If you're having a close encounter, you've already got a serious problem!! It's not as if you just stumbled upon the animal,,,, he's there because he has been stalking you and the moment of truth is at hand. You have to convince the cat that you have the ability to lay a serious injury on him. Cats are much smarter than bears in my opinion and will not risk injury unless they need a meal awfully bad. Thats why they'll kill a 300 pound domestic pig but won't take on a 40 pound bull *!! I've heard a large stick makes a threatening deterent and should always be carried when in cat country.
Of course, if yer packin ..... GRAB LEATHER!!


My wife?.........Sure!My dog?..........Maybe!MY GUNS??........NEVER!!!

guns-n-painthorses

Yes, they are here in western Iowa as well. The DNR kept saying "no, that was a bobcat you seen" untill a old lady ran one (cougar) over and killed it. No denying it after that! They are spreading at a very fast pace, and that's a fact.

Here in the great state of Iowa, they are fair game and are not protected!

Here kitty kitty kitty!

MEEEEEEEOWWWWWWWWWW

dobieman0690

We have been hunting lions for 25 years and the first thing to do when confronted with a lion is shot the cat or throw something at them a big tom will challange you if you dont try to be agressive

smokinggun

stanman,
That's what you should do if the cat already has you. In other words you are dead if you can't stop the attack. You don't put your hand in his mouth, what you do is put his cheek in his mouth using your thumb. It really works, I saw a man on TV that was attacked and even though he got messed up real bad he would be dead if he had not tried that maneuver. To complete the story, I think someone shot the cat after he got it off of him.

Theguncounterkid

Growing up in eastern oregon, ive had more than a few close calls with big cats. One word of advice...there SNEAKY. They WILL see you long before you see them. And if there hungry, they will stalk you and scare the living bejesus out of out when you turn around and spot them a few yards behind you. Usally they wont try to take an alert prey, but now that hunting them with dogs is a no-no, all bets are off. The new generation has little fear of man, and attacks are up.
The best thing to do is be alert and carry a handgun! A 230gr .45 bullet does wonders to there dinner plans!

He Dog

I'm not easy, but I'm cheap! Oh, sorry! Actually there have been sightings (complete with photos) of Jaguars in Southern New Mexico and Arizona in the past few years. It is probably an indication of good habitat management that these large cats are no longer declining, and are expanding population and range, but obviously the inevitable clashes with humans will be more common. Norman Dog gave good advice! Many of the cougar attacks on humans have been on joggers. Your first instinct is to run, but the safest thing to do is look bigger and meaner!

Iconoclast

We have a few of them in NH. The official party line of the F&G Dept. is that they are large feral house cats or bobcats enlarged by the hysterical sensationalists. But the individual officers, off the record, readily agree that they are around. I saw one almost thirty years ago; from nose to tip of tail, it practically covered the whole (small, dirt) road as it crossed in front of me. We have a good deer herd, but there have been reports of injured / lost farm animals attributed to their activities.

legn4

Thanks all, I will stay on my toes.

Work'n like a dog all nite