Don't Poo Poo the Cougar

naked said:
So what is the best way to deal with a cougar?
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If attacked, same as a black bear. Fight back. It is possible to bluff them by holding your arms above your head and make yourself as big as possible. Don't corner them, don't run away. From all accounts that I've read, they die pretty quickly when shot, as others have pointed out, the problem is knowing that they are coming for you...

Tigers attack from the rear also, and one trick that I learned from watching nature shows, is wearing a hat with a neck covering, and painting a mean face on it. The theory is that the cougar (or tiger) sees the face, and doesn't know that it's your back. It's worth a try!
 
naked said:
What is the minimum round that you would consider using against a cougar if it had to come to that?
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I hike with a Kahr PM40 (because it's light and very concealable), but, if I had cause to expect an encounter I'd much rather have at least a .357 Mag.
 
Some of you may have missed the last post I made to my Pajarito Trail thread. This explains my sudden interest in cougars:

Ironically, on the day I took the hike described in this thread, my GC hiking partner was running a trail on North Mesa (the location of my home), and encountered a large male cougar coming his direction on the trail. Joe stopped and picked up a large branch as the cougar kept coming. Finally, at a distance of about 35', the cougar broke from the trail and disappeared into the brush.

Later that day Joe went to Santa Fe to buy a compact 380 that he could carry in his pocket while running. He also enrolled in our local concealed carry course. Joe had encountered the same cat before, but never had he gotten so close. :eek:
 
I heard that a professor at Univ. of Montana was studying the remains of a mature wolf and determined that the base of its skull had been crushed by a cougar's jaws. If they can get the drop on a wolf and kill it, they are pretty accomplished predators.

DancesWithKnives
 
We run across cougars while deer and elk hunting in Eastern Oregon. While they are potentially dangerous because they are incredibly strong, they represent very little danger to humans. Great horned owls have killed people also (jogging with pom pom knit hat at night). Young cougars can be a problem for pets in rural towns. Cougars are very territorial, and young ones cannot establish themselves in their natural habitat sometimes - already taken.
 
OK
Dumb question probably ..

do cougars come in black ?

I think I seen one if they do ... in Aus , near Armidale NSW .
 
There is a lot of discussion about melanistic cougars (and jaguars and leopards) on the web. Here's a typical excerpt:

Melanistic cougars

There are no authenticated cases of truly melanistic cougars. Black cougars have been reported in Kentucky and in the Carolinas. There have also been reports of glossy black cougars from Kansas, Texas and eastern Nebraska. These have come to be known as the North American black panther. None have ever been photographed or shot in the wild and none have been bred. There is wide consensus among breeders and biologists that the animal does not exist and is a cryptid. Sightings are currently attributed to errors in species identification by non-experts, and by the memetic exaggeration of size.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther
 
Not hard to kill with a gun---bare handed is another matter altogether.

I was thinking if you are out hiking--that a hat with eyes on the back would reduce your chances of being stalked by a lion---never tried it so I wouldn't know for sure.

A few years back we had a young lion not 200 yds for one of the busiest intersections in town---he was scratching at his reflection on a mirrored office building---OPD wound up shooting it before the zoo people came out---they fixed him up and and now he lives at a zoo----not sure if its here or somewhere else.


http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1636&u_sid=2029262
 
omaha-beenglockin said:
I was thinking if you are out hiking--that a hat with eyes on the back would reduce your chances of being stalked by a lion---never tried it so I wouldn't know for sure.
http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_pg=1636&u_sid=2029262
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I saw a program on Animal Planet about tigers that were attacking honey gatherers who had ventured into their territory. The honey gatherers tried wearing masks on the back of their heads, and it seemed to work initially. But, after awhile, the tigers figured out the trick and resumed their attacks.
 
Over here on the rock where I live a Cougar once wandered into the Empress Hotel in Victoria...talk about un-invited guest, check it out on google !!!
 
Myal said:
OK
Dumb question probably ..
do cougars come in black ?
I think I seen one if they do ... in Aus , near Armidale NSW .
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Do some googling Myal we have lots of big cat sightings in Australia :) It could have been a panther.
 
one trick that I learned from watching nature shows, is wearing a hat with a neck covering, and painting a mean face on it. The theory is that the cougar (or tiger) sees the face, and doesn't know that it's your back. It's worth a try!
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posted by sodak


In Cougar bars and saloons, that's known as a "two-fer." Gets you a free round.


:D
 
featherstone, that's freaking scary. 12 feet high, nearly takes the guy out. You could barely see him until he took the guy. I'm not going to India.
Cat sightings in Australia? Wouldn't be surprised at all. Tigers and especially leopards are widespread across Southeast Asia. Saltwater crocodiles also are. Yes, there are salties in India. And lions were once widespread across Asia. Now they are only left in the Gir wildlife preserve in Gujarat. I wouldn't be surprised at all if there were big cats in Australia, although they probably wouldn't be cougars.
Esav, thanks for the clearing up about hyenas. I wouldn't want to face one, though. They have incredibly strong bite forces, are fierce predators, and I'd imagine they have more stamina than lions. Yes, they are predators, sharing the keystone predator status with lions and crocodiles. Lions often scavenge more than hyenas.
Hell, I don't think I'd even want to fight a lynx.
 
The place I grew up has the highest incidence of cougar attacks in the world (I remember the Empress Hotel cougar!) and I have seen lots of them. They are very beautiful. I am sure they would be dangerous if they wanted to be. I would be a lot more worried about pets or children or small women (or maybe dwarves or midgets) than about myself, though. It is not very common that they attack fully grown humans, even on Vancouver Island.

It does happen, of course...but I would be more worried about tripping and falling and breaking my neck than about cougars - I would guess you are statistically a lot more likely to die from a trip/slip than a cougar attack.

I could be wrong but I would guess your odds of dying in a cougar attack are similar to your odds of drowning in heavy rains. I would not take a cougar lightly, but that predator has too many legs to make my "things I don't trust and might want to shoot" list.
 
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