Cougars in Yamhill County, Oregon

[Westonium]

There's been cougars around forever around here, but right now we have a problem cougar. A combination of the ban on hunting cougars with dogs in Oregon, cougar population explosion, and more human contact than normal has resulted in what we have today: A tom cougar that doesn't follow the rules.

It chased a deer right past my neighbor while he sat on his deck.
It used MY apple tree in my backyard (50 ft from the house) to attack a ram lamb, jumped it back over the fence under the apple tree (it borders the pasture) and managed to avoid the majority of the pastured area that my great pyrenees sheep dog could get to.

My poor pyr could only bark from the other side of a fence while that cougar began butchering that lamb.

We interrupted it, but didn't see it as we were walking back from the neighbors, me, my wife, my 2.5 year old son, my 7 month old daughter just walking along thinking the dog was barking at us because we were crunching through the neighbors wooded area back to the house not knowing we were passing within about 100 ft of a hungry cougar.

It has been seen several times and I reported the kill to ODFW and USDA.

Our county is one of the few that has a lot of cougars, but no predator control program whatsoever.

Oh sure, it attacks a person, most likely a child like my son, then it will get funded from a neighboring county but until then all I can do is try to find time and friends to help try to hunt the )(*&^*^& thing.

The old timers up here say that when they allowed hunting cougars with dogs, the cougars would steer clear of houses with a couple of big dogs (pretty typical out here), but now they aren't afraid.

The official success rate for cougar tags issued in Oregon dropped from roughly 40% before the dog hunting ban, to 1-2% and most of those are "luck" kills as in "I was hunting elk quietly and came across a sleeping cougar BAM"

Cougar populations exploding elsewhere too?

 

[LMTC]

Haven't seen any in our area, but.....about 8 years ago a farmer some 20 miles away reported one and was ridiculed. Later he found tracks on the edge of a field and called the warden, who confirmed "very large cat."

I have always been a believer in solving problems if you have the means to do so. No need to even make anyone else aware. If you have enough acreage it's always a good thing to have a hoe come in and dig several holes in various locations so they are there if you ever have any livestock you need to bury. It's awkward to dig at the time you need the hole. You probably know which neighbors can keep quiet and which can't. Good luck solving your problem.

 

[RonMar]

We have encounters up here on the peninsula from time to time. They have the whole olympic range and it's wild game to hunt, but of course the pickins are a little easier when the prey is in a fenced enclosure and you are getting a little long in the tooth. If it is perching in fruit trees in the yard while hunting, I think that would be grounds for self defense... Keep your kids close and your guns closer.

 

[mahlers]

We have them all over the place this year (along with Coyotes, Bobcats, and all the other usual suspects). Earlier this summer my neighbor took one out because it had eaten a few of his goats - some expensive breed of goat with no ears. I guess that's why they got eaten - it helps to have all your senses

After they shot it, they called DFG and told them the story, and the warden came out with a truck and hauled the cat away no questions asked. He even posed with the carcass. That was a big cat - 140 lbs, and a female (no cubs yet this season and not pregnant).

Just a couple of weeks ago, I saw one creeping around my property. 99.99% of the time they see us before we have any idea they're around, and they steer clear of people. It's that one in a million, though, that sometimes have to be dealt with in a military sort of way. Personally, I think they're beautiful animals and feel very lucky to have them around. It's the deer, on the other hand, that I'd like to see thinned out in a big way... With the drought that we've been having, all the critters are coming out of the hills to get water from the creeks and wherever else they can find it. Since people like to build where there's water, it doesn't surprise me that we're seeing more this year than before.

 

[EddieWalker]

I didn't know about them becoming a problem in Oregon. When I lived in California, they passed a law protecting them. With population growth, people started coming into contact with them more and more. I've only seen one in my life, but it was very, VERY impressive. I know allot of people in the SF Bay Area are seeing them all the time and trappers are keeping busy killing them.

I forget the numbers, but believe that since they are a protected species in California, with tax dollars being spent to protect them, four times as many are killed every year then the best year on record from hunting them during a legal hunting season. There is no logic to it, just emotions.

Since you can't, and probably don't have dogs available to find this cat, you might want to do it african style. Bait and wait. Most of the time the baits go untouched, but when you find one that's being eaten, you set up a blind and wait for him. It usualy happens at night time, but once one starts eating your bait, he'll keep coming back.

I've never actually done this, but have friends who have. It's very boring and I know some guys who have spent there entire safari sitting in a blind all night long without getting anything, but sometimes, it works.

When I went on my safari, a local rancher called and said he had a leopard kill a calf. We went to the ranch and the trackers followed it's trail to where it had hidden the calfs body. We created a blind and cleared a trail to get there the next morning.

Before daylight, we walked in to our blind and waited for daylight. The leopard wasn't there, but he had been very recently. After looking around, one of the trackers spotted him crouched under a bush along our trail. We'd walked past him at less then 15 feet!!!!!!!!!!! My buddy had the shot and a second before he shot him, he growled at us. It's a sound unlike anything I herd before, or since.

I don't envy your position, but from everything I've ever read and been told, it will only get worse now that he's found domestic animals as a food source. I know a guy in Livormore California, right next to the Lawrance Livermore Lab, who says all the dogs and cats are gone, and they regularly see a lion next to the fence watching them during the day and afternoons.

Eddie

 

[ToadHill]

Believe it or not, I saw tracks in the snow in Western New York last deer season. Neighbor said I was crazy until he went up and saw them himself. It walked down one of my logging trails for about 150 ft.

 

[NSBound]

I know a guy in Livormore California, right next to the Lawrance Livermore Lab, who says all the dogs and cats are gone, and they regularly see a lion next to the fence watching them during the day and afternoons.

Eddie

Neighbours for a mile or two around here were missing cats too, and everyone thought it was coyotes that were the guilty ones. One day a Department of Wildlife guy was relocating an osprey nest from the top of one pole to the top of another, and he found 13 cat collars in the nest, and another 9 spread around the base of the pole!! True story.

 

[bigballer]

the coyotes have been very active in my immediate area (1/2 mile radius), the begin to bark and howl late at night, we know they are out there when the dogs start barking.. haven't seen any cats (or heard of any) but protected or not if they endanger livestock they are fair game, to be honest it wouldn't matter to me if they were protected..

 

[Westonium]

It killed a lamb this morning. It caught one with its head through the part of the fence that has the old horse fencing with the bigger squares and it's head must have been through it to chew on some blackberry leaves.

The cougar broke its neck and tried to pull it straight through the fence with no success. My pyrenees must have run it off because other than missing a piece of its face and a cut-open belly that looks like someone reached through the fence and used a scalpel, it was intact. Definitely cougar based on location and circumstance. I only happened upon it on my tractor drive down to the barn to get some hay for my upper pasture sheep. I didn't have my contacts in and I have a bit of astigmatism. I've been carrying a .32, so I made sure I had it chambered and in my dominant shooting hand and checked it out. No sign of the cougar, but I wasn't taking chances. That cat doesn't appear to be very afraid of people.

I am allowed to shoot it - even if I didn't have a tag. Since I've already reported it killing livestock, it is fair game. No caliber restrictions. But, just to keep it simple - I have a tag for it. So I can sell the carcass for fur or whatever if I like.

I haven't hunted the thing because I have a bunch of things on plate that are taking higher priority, but I should have more time soon.

I have a nice 30-06 with a leupold scope, but I wasn't convinced it was totally sighted in when I went elk hunting last year and was trying to tune it in a field after a failed hunt. I hope to have some time to do that tomorrow. I have the lamb in the big freezer and I will use it for bait if I can get the rifle dead on. It will be about a 200yd shot, but I can make it from my back deck. The cat won't have good sight of me, but I will of it.

We've lost all our barn cats, 3 sheep to predators this year. This has not been a good year for us livestock wise.

 

[LMTC]

Best of luck with the situation. I've never had to deal with cougar, but even the feral dogs we have to deal with would, I fear, not be stopped cold by a 32 caliber handgun. I believe I'd want a 44 or 45 in a handgun in cougar territory. And a good sheath knife. Never want to get to that point, but it could save one's life. Anyway, good shooting to you.