Cougar scat near the barn!

[Pilot]

Found a stool about 10 inches long, 3/4" in diameter, maybe larger, with hair in it. Online it looks like mountain lion scat--exactly like some pics. It is on the driveway 25 feet from our pole building which is about 35 feet from the house.

Also been seeing what looks like cat hair balls, but in clusters of 8 or 10 in each location. Basically white in color.

We have 10 acres. Most of the property is timbered with a fair amount of undergrowth for cover. Driveway is 1,200 feet long and until now, I walk the driveway twice a day to get the paper and the mail. Neighbor on one side has 10 ac. timber, other neighbor has pasture.

Went to Oregon's Fish & Wildlife website (no answer on the phone) and it was basically worthless--"if attacked, fight back" "don't worry they won't attack" and a bunch of nonsense written by people who live in town.

A friend of mine saw one doing the slinky slinky on him just outside his house a few months ago. Several hundred miles from our place, but the fact that it was interested in him shows you can't trust the F&W nonsense, not with your life.

Not really keen on lugging my .357 Ruger Blackhawk around whenever I go outside. And having a gun around handy to ammo isn't a good idea with grandkids.

What to do, what to do?

 

[nybirdman]

Sounds like a good time to teach the kids about guns.There seems to be a upswing in the large cats country wide. I live in northern NY state and we have them,but the state won't admit to it.

 

[Rob-D]

Look for prints, that's the best clue.

Cats are basically diurnal, look in the early morning and later in the day.

A hungry animal is a hungry animal. They'll eat you, it was a stupid tragedy but the bear guy who knew everything about bears got eaten. I never trust someone's opinion, "Oh, my dog is just playing with you, don't worry." Well let him play somewhere else.

I'd say don't leave anything around he can eat if it's possible, usually that's not possible with livestock though.

Predatory animals are stalkers, my nephew's dog got taken by coyotes, they passed by one day and he didn't think anything of it. About a week later they got hungry and remembered where his dog was.... no more dog. Watch your animals.

Rob

 

[Pilot]

Grandkid is 2 1/2. Curious about everything. Too early to teach about guns, but would be a nice snack for a cougar!

 

[cowpatty]

We have them here also and like some of the other states, Oklahoma tries to sweep it under the rug. How else does a half eaten 350 lb calf end up in a tree? Maybe we are all crazy....

 

[creekbend]

Perhaps this website may be of some interest to you and informative. www.wdfw.wa.gov/living/cougars.htm

 

[Mousefield]

The cougar population on Vancouver Island is the most dense in North America, and the number of cougar attacks on people reflects that. There are generally around 1,000 reported cougar sitings on the island each year.
Most of the time if they attack humans its kids. Seems every year or two cougars kill a kid and of course more are attacked and injured. Often what attracts a cougar to kids is the high pitch yelling that they do when playing outside, this seems to catches the cougars attention so do keep a good eye on the grandchild. They have also attacked full grown men walking or bicycling. Cougars do have a large territory and travel fast so if you see one in the morning it could be many miles away by night. Best is to always think there is one outside, live cautiously but hopefully not in fear.
A few years ago we saw a mom cougar and 2 half grown cubs about 75 feet from our front door. Next morning the neighbor had the cougar jump the fence and get one of her cats and a bunny that was in the yard in an open pen. A couple of years later I saw one watching me from about 30 feet away in the bush, pretty scary at the time.

 

[Pete Judd]

We have one in the "hood" right now. They have a 25 sq mile range as far as I know. Tough to track. We find out about sightings from neighbors, that are losing cats, dogs, goats, ect. Give the leads to a hunter that wants to bag one. He has gotten two from these tips in the last couple of years. I keep a loaded rifle here in the shop, and another in the house by the back door just in case one shows up, or for the "yotes". Too many of the later around this time of year and hungry, as well as the coon's are on the move.

 

[powerpace]

I live in Douglas County, OR. South of where Pilot lives. Cougar and Bear are all over this area. Two months before I built on this property my neighbor shot one of two Cougar 1/4 mile down the road. It is a nice mount on his wall. In June I looked out my rear window and saw a bear tearing up a log on the hillside 300 ft. away. The neighbor over the hill had one on his porch in May.

I never let my Grandkids go to the barn by themselves after dark. From my house on a hill I can see most of any cover an animal can hide in. When the Deer disappear I know something is in the area. The deer are always here. Same with the Turkeys.

 

[Butcherofwood]

When we had mountain lion problems 20 years ago the Division on Wildlife gave us rubber shot shells. The idea being to haze them into understanding what's food and not. I kept the 870 loaded with one of them followed by a slug and 3 buck shots. Just had to remember that the first shot doesn't count. That doesn't really work with the grandkids though.