Cougar habits-experience with cougars?

[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.