Cougar habits-experience with cougars?

[MAX-24-Dean]

We have cougars around here. OP was probably very lucky that he was not attacked. MANY years ago I lost six barn cats in one week. Not eaten - just ripped to shreds. Hunters have bagged some really large cats just five miles west of me.

Been here forty plus years. Never worried about cougars/mountain lions. However - I don't go out and wander around at night either.

I used to go out to the barns at night, 600'. Heavily forested with pines, oaks and fir trees, plus some underbrush. Not doing that anymore in the near future.

 

[/pine]

They hang out in bars near college campuses...

...Oh sorry wrong species of cougar...my bad...!

 

[cqaigy2]

Once during deer season up in the Cascades, i was walking just off the ridge line on a game trail. I thought i heard something a ways behind me, so i stopped walking and whatever it was stopped too. I got a bit more quiet walking and i heard it start back up. Stopped, it stopped. I changed direction up toward the ridge line and cross over and just a bit below, walking back the way i came. When i thought i'd come close to the distance where i thought i'd heard the noise, i crossed back over down to where i'd been walking and in the same direction. I could see where a deer had stepped on my tracks walking the same direction, along with a largish cat. Seems like everybody in the woods was taking turns following me around.

 

[Jstpssng]

The police office actually told me the community built in 1940's inside the city limits is historic bear habitat and people are the intruders...

To be honest, I get tired of this rationalisation- er, logic. Many times the animals which it is used for is doing better because we moved in; whether by removing other predators, or more likely; simply by enhancing habitat for that particular species.

 

[ponytug]

Once during deer season up in the Cascades, i was walking just off the ridge line on a game trail. I thought i heard something a ways behind me, so i stopped walking and whatever it was stopped too. I got a bit more quiet walking and i heard it start back up. Stopped, it stopped. I changed direction up toward the ridge line and cross over and just a bit below, walking back the way i came. When i thought i'd come close to the distance where i thought i'd heard the noise, i crossed back over down to where i'd been walking and in the same direction. I could see where a deer had stepped on my tracks walking the same direction, along with a largish cat. Seems like everybody in the woods was taking turns following me around.

Funny story.

Having watched predators hunt, I no longer worry about twigs snapping or brush sounds. I know no animal predator would ever make that much noise. I get worried when it gets quiet. "It's quiet, it's too quiet..."

All the best,

Peter

 

[deserteagle71]

To be honest, I get tired of this rationalisation- er, logic. Many times the animals which it is used for is doing better because we moved in; whether by removing other predators, or more likely; simply by enhancing habitat for that particular species.

^This!

Anyone who reads the journals of the pioneers who first crossed the western states can tell you that those first explorers darn near starved to death many times - had to eat their own horses/mules - because there was simply no wildlife around to kill. The notion that the country was teeming with wildlife before the white man moved it is simply wrong...except in the case of buffalo. Even today, around here if you want to see abundant wildlife go check out any farmer's or rancher's fields.

In just one field alone...count the mule deer.

 

[cqaigy2]

Was reading Nat Geo article and one study estimated there were more deer in US than ever before. Seems deer like urban areas, pretty much protected and lots of food.

 

[Dftodd]

Was reading Nat Geo article and one study estimated there were more deer in US than ever before. Seems deer like urban areas, pretty much protected and lots of food.

We vacationed a couple years ago in Ruidoso NM in the fall.

There were mule deer and elk hanging out all over the town.

Thought a person was nuts when they said if you wanted to see elk, go to the school soccer fields at dawn.

Well we got up and ran over there at dawn. Saw probably 150 plus elk hanging out in the soccer fields, school parking lot and golf course next door

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

Our last feral cat showed up today, very skidish, looking everywhere and sniffing the porch for the cougar smell.

A friend came with his hounds to check for dead game that the cougar might have covered up. Didn't find anything on our property. We haven't seen any vultures here either, so no indication as to why it acting like it was protecting its kill.

The cougar was dispatched 80 feet from the house by local law enforcement. Just laying behind some cedar trees.
It hung around to long for comfort, after it backed me into the house.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

On a lighter note, my wife said we need a rifle just like the one the officer used. Stating "it was so quiet".

Nice S&W AR with a red dot and suppressor, that is sold to law enforecment only.
Told her I could get something very similiar though, until I told her the price. So got my hopes dashed.

 

[gsganzer]

I frequently go night stalking for feral hogs in the TX hill country. That area is sheep, goat, cattle and deer country so there's a lot of predator control going on, but I'm still surprised there's such infrequent sightings of mountain lions. We get our fair share of coyotes, fox and bobcats, but I haven't seen a mountain lion yet. I believe there's been a recorded sighting in every county in TX.

They're an incredible efficient animal and are like a fur covered bag of razorblades. Rattle snakes and an encounter with a mountain lion are the only two things that concern me when I stalk at night. I imagine you wouldn't even know a cat was there until he was clamping his jaws around your neck.

 

[Citydude]

We have them here but I've never seen one but on the game cams. Like others, I have an led flashlight that I use to scan the area before letting the dogs out.

 

[ponytug]

@MAX-24-Dean FWIW: "When Mountain Lions Are Neighbors"

All the best, Peter

 

[Rockbadchild]

Never seen one but in northern Ontario we are starting to see them more and more and the ministry said that they are cougar from the USA visiting. You did the right thing do not turn your back on it and do not act like a prey... In India they wear these mask on the back of their head and nobody who had a mask on the back of their head as been kill yet since big cats hide in trees and jump on your back...

Face Masks Fool the Bengal Tigers (Published 1989)

www.nytimes.com

 

[Rockbadchild]

This is what the guy looked like, very nice coat. He was dispatched by law enforcement/game department.
Edit: This picture was taken approx. 2 hours after my first encounter as law enforcment showed up.
At 5:30am it was still pitch dark here when I pointed the flashlight in its direction and saw it.

Picture was taken at 7:30am

beautiful cat, I surely rather see it from your camera then mine lol

 

[Rockbadchild]

A while back I was hunting deer in western Ontario just North of Minnesota boarder and I found a beautiful ridge with an awesome view of the valley below. So, I sat there to be on the lookout, then all the sudden I hear a hissing sound!! it gave me goose bump. I slowly turn around and there was nothing. I don't know if it was a lynx/ bobcat or cougar but never saw a thing, I must of stole his hunting spot, I figured I should stay there it must be a good spot lol

 

[m1garand762]

My mind went to the other kind of cougar

 

[dmccarty]

Too many years ago, decades actually, I read a good many of the Fox Fire books. In the books, there were stories about cougars aka panthers, or the more interesting work, painters.

I thought there was a book of only cougar stories but I can't find it on Amazon.

One of the two the stories I remember was about a man walking on a trail along a creek. A cougar followed him down that trail for miles and the man was rightly concerned that he was going to dinner. Years after reading the story, I was hiking up that very same trail....

Did not see a cougar, but we hiked along three trails that took one back to where one started the hike. Along the trail going back to where we started the hike, we did see some bear cubs, momma bear, and the deer momma was trying to get for dinner. We were between momma and the cubs and we made sure to make some noise after we saw the cubs...

The other story was about a woman who was attacked and killed by a cougar.