Mountain lion kills mountain biker in Washington

[bcp]

More story here:

Two attacked by cougar identified; wildlife officials say predator was ‘emaciated’ | The Seattle Times

Bruce

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

I can testify it worked twice on my local black bear. The third time he looked up at me, and went back to what he was doing. He was about 25 feet away from me, on the other side of a chain link fence.

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Yours might be a little more accustomed to people, as chain link fences seem to suggest a more "suburban bear." Ours are mountain bears. I can only report my own experience, YMMV.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Yep, just keep in mind, I'm not anti hunting by any means.

Generally, it's the hunters who want to preserve what they have for land and animals, and want to protect that for future generations to come. Yes, there are some dirt bag hunters who give all hunters a bad name, but you find that in all areas of life.

Yes. I have the luxury of not killing. If it was a question of survival I'd do what I had to do, with regret, never with pleasure.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

Amen. I just don't have the heart to kill any more. I want to see and photograph the beauty of nature, not destroy it.

Bless your heart. I would only kill out of necessity. I will never understand doing it for sport or pleasure. Sorry I just can't.

 

[Firemanbuck82]

DNA testing is being done.

Cyclists Tried Scaring Cougar But It Attacked, Killing 1 << CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

When rescuers arrived, it took about half an hour to find Brooks, who was dead with the cougar on top of him in what appeared to be a den-like area. An officer shot at it, and it ran off. Several hours later, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife agents used dogs to track it to a nearby tree. They shot and killed it.

Authorities plan to match DNA taken from the animal with DNA from the victims to be certain they killed the right cougar.


Bruce

And if it wasn't the right cougar? What then, oops, sorry?

As of this point, it was a one-off attack (dead cougar notwithstanding); a predator chasing fleeing prey. It's not like there have been a series of depredations by cougars in this area. This was eye-for-an-eye killing of the cougar by humans. A biblical concept of which the cougar community doesn't really have a working knowledge, so it's not going to work as a deterrent.

I would encourage all to read "The Grizzly Years" by Doug Peacock. A former Green Beret medic who came home from Vietnam and had difficulty assimilating back into "normal" society. He sought out grizzly bears in Yellowstone and in Glacier; wild places where he knew that he wasn't the top of the food chain. A friend gave him a film camera, and he set about filming bears in the backcountry. He had several very close calls with alpha bears, but he talked (yes talked) his way out of the situations and the bears turned and left. He didn't carry a weapon. It is a great book about a man's journey from a horrific war to spiritual redemption in the wilderness, and the ability to be among alpha predators without feeling the need to kill them when threatened.

 

[Doofy]

Bless your heart. I would only kill out of necessity. I will never understand doing it for sport or pleasure. Sorry I just can't.

I hunted for meat when younger but lost the urge to kill. I never thought of hunting as a sport. We hunted to eat.

 

[Molalla1]

I hunted for meat when younger but lost the urge to kill. I never thought of hunting as a sport. We hunted to eat.

Yep, the only reason. . .but sure was good eating.

 

[goeduck]

100lb emanicpated cougar (should have been 140lbs per the article) with all of the deer and elk we have around here....???

 

[Tractor Seabee]

Predatory animals are very fast if they are on the attack. If they are after you; I doubt you can clear leather or unsling your rifle or shotgun in time to be effective before they are on top of you. It would take a combat experienced shooter ready and on point to beat a cougar or bear on the draw; then you become the predator instead of the animal. I used to hunt camp and fish a lot in my younger days in AZ and OR. Seen a lot of bears and a few cougars; scared all away or they ignored me, maybe I was plain lucky. Found rattle snakes to be more dangerous. Waking up and finding a snake trail across your bedroll makes you wonder. Had bears prowl camp at night but they skedadeled when we banged on the pots.

Ron

 

[Jstpssng]

Predatory animals are very fast if they are on the attack. If they are after you; I doubt you can clear leather or unsling your rifle or shotgun in time to be effective before they are on top of you. It would take a combat experienced shooter ready and on point to beat a cougar or bear on the draw; then you become the predator instead of the animal. I used to hunt camp and fish a lot in my younger days in AZ and OR. Seen a lot of bears and a few cougars; scared all away or they ignored me, maybe I was plain lucky. Found rattle snakes to be more dangerous. Waking up and finding a snake trail across your bedroll makes you wonder. Had bears prowl camp at night but they skedadeled when we banged on the pots.

Ron

Read the article I linked to in post #55. It's a lot more detailed than anything else I've seen and disputes many of the comments made here. They made loud noises, which scared him off but he returned, attacking one of the riders. It's pretty certain that it was the same animal; they tracked him to the den where he had dragged his victim, and one of the deputies shot at him and missed.(Which fits very well with your comments.) From there they tracked him until they killed him.