We’ve had several cougar attacks recently on Vancouver Island. A 62 year old man near my town was taking a hike several months ago. While resting under a cliff, a cougar jumped him from behind and crunched his head as well as popping out one eyeball. The senior citizen had the presence of mind to put a half nelson on the cat , pull out his pocket knife, and slit the throat. He then managed to walk a half mile to get help from loggers. He was interviewed on TV last week, finally out of danger.
You were in some danger, but how much can only be supposed. Southern pumas normally only eat smaller animals like rabbits but one could always make an exception, I guess. In which case: yea, you’d both probably have been SOL, unless it went for you first, and the other guyhad the time to get his gun out. In the Pacific Northwest, it’s common for 150-lb pumas to kill 750-lb elk and (smaller) moose.
Scary stuff indeed.
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A friend of mine who lived up in Kodiak Alaska had a .44 mag. I asked him if that was for the bears, and he said “Yeah, but the first thing you want to do when you get it is file the front sight down…that way it doesnt hurt so bad when the bear shoves it up your ass”.
I don’t have any real knowledge on cats, only what I have read, and most seem to say the things that were mentioned here. Sounds like you guys did the smartest thing at the time.
Bears though. Been there. In Montana on an Elk hunt, I was on the side of a small mountain when a grizzly wandered across a small clearing in front of me about 50 yards away. I think I fell down the mountain into camp I was outta there so fast. Don’t think the bear ever saw me. The bears I was used to seeing until then would be called quite the porky bear if it tipped the scales at 350. This think looked like a bus.
But at home in MN, I was out wandering the woods behind the house one day and heard a small chuckle. I look to the side and there was a black bear, kinda leaning against a tree, picking his teeth with toothpick. I think he was wearing a purple fur flop hat. He looks at me… “Yo whitebread… looks like you on the wrong side of the tracks”. I say, “Easy Mister… just passing through. I can see I’m disturbing you, so I’ll just turn around”. “Mmmmmm… I preciate it, but I still gotta make you pay the toll fee”. I puff up and get nasty… “The hell I will”. “Bring it on boy”. And he very quickly started coming at me. I yelled and waved my arms. He yelled back, grinned, and kept coming… A little faster now. Survival experts be damned, I started running like hell. The chase lasted maybe 50 feet before the bear stopped. If he’d really been upset, I would have been toast.
About two months later, in another area, I got a bad feeling. I look to the side and see another bear, flipping a silver dollar. I think that one had a pink fur flop hat. “Yo whitebread… You on the wro…” That was all I heard. That chase lasted about 50 feet as well.
Looking back on those two times, I honestly think the key survival tip is to crap yourself immediately. I love a good steak, but no matter how hungry I am, if someone coated it in warm dog butter from the yard just before I took a bite, I wouldn’t be too hungry for a while. It also lubricates your buttcheeks and gives you an extra 10 mph when running away.
300 lb mtn lion? I’d laugh at him/her. Hell, even I don’t weight that much! And you saw it in the wild? Lucky devil. The are very reclusive. Proably less than 150 lbs as others have mentioned. They are normally afraid of humans and we are not on their diet. Our smaller dogs are. Normally they will do everything they can to avoid you. You may have been approaching cubs, requiring a live appearance to successfully frighten you off.
Since you were in Arizona, I should mention that the more remote parts of Southern Arizona are within the historic range of the Jaguar, which has been sighted and supposedly photographed within the past few decades in Arizona. Now don’t go blabbing it on the web as this comeback is something of a secret. And don’t go looking for it. You are on the Jaguar’s menu.
I just want to second what I am Sparticus said. I camped in the territory of a female cougar several summers and only saw her or her cubs very rarely. On the three occasions I did see her, she left in a hurry, heading for the nearest concealment. Her cubs (I’m guessing they were yearlings at the time) were a little more curious about me and one actually stood about 50 feet away and watched me for about 15 seconds before following mama down the trail.
The cat in the OP seems to have been taken by surprise and wanted to make sure you didn’t attack it while it backed away.
First of all, you only play dead with a grizzley bear, it doesn’t work with black bears, you are prey to them. The same holds true with cougars, if they are stalking you, you are on their menu so fight as you have never fought before.
I donno, I think you would be better off carrying a sheath knife, You wouldn’t have the time to open a pocket knife in most circumstances. I carry bear spray, which is a pepper spray product made for the purpose. It will shoot a fog of spray out to about 15 feet. It is supposed to stop a charging bear. I expect to use it as a last resort if charged by a lion.
Two guys are hiking along a cliffside trail, when they suddenly come upon a mountain lion. One guy slowly eases off his pack, takes out his tennis shoes, and begins to put them on. The second guy says, “Whattya doin’? You can’t outrun a mountain lion.” The first guy says, “I know. I just have to outrun you.”
In my case, I think my screaming would probably scare him off.
