My only mountain lion sighting was on a hike on the Coalpits Wash Trail about 10 minutes down the road from Zion Canyon. I heard a rustle in the undergrowth, and turned to see what it was. In just a split second I caught a glimpse of a big tan cat with a round tail running away at top speed. It was over a ridge and gone before I even had time to think about getting a photo.
In hindsight I wondered if it might have been stalking me. I was alone and would’ve been an easy target.
He might have been tracking you but cougars very rarely attack humans.
yeah, cattle don’t scare me normally, we just didn’t know what the hell they were.
Nearly all recorded cougar attacks on humans have occurred in areas with substantial human encroachment, where their normal prey is diminished and they are limited in range by development and highways. Even with that, in many areas mountain lions live in close proximity to developed areas with most human occupants totally unaware of the presence of these large predators. I’ve explained to countless people that there is a substantial population of mountain lions living in within Los Angeles in Griffith Park and the nearby Verdugo Mountains (surrounded by Glendale, Burbank, the San Fernando Valley, and the the Tujunga-La Crescenta Corridor) where people hike and bike everyday with only rare sightings and no reported attacks. In fact, in all of California in the last four decades there have only been four fatal mountain lion attacks on people despite the massive amount of human encroachment and year-round outdoor activities in mountainous areas habituated by cougars. You are literally more likely to get killed in a lightning strike that you are to even see a mountain lion in the wild.
Stranger
Two years ago, we were walking through Arkansas Post National Memorial Park here in, you guessed it, Arkansas. While walking down a trail, about 40-50 yards ahead of us, a very, very large cat crossed our paths and continued into a heavily wooded area. I didn’t get a great look at it, only enough to identify it as a cat and far larger than any domestic cat I’d ever seen.
Mrs. Odesio: Did you see that?
Me: Was that a %#%#^% mountain lion or a bobcat?
Mrs. Odesio: Do you think we should turn around?
Me: Nah. We’re way too big for it to mess with and there are two of us. (Famous last words.)
I tried to find some signs of it where it had run off into the woods, but I didn’t even see any tracks. And while I wasn’t worried it would stalk us, I sure wasn’t going after it. Supposedly we haven’t had mountain lions in Arkansas since the 1920s, but I don’t know how to reconcile that with the fact that there have been more than twenty confirmed sightings of them since 2010.
a young Puma in Central Santiago (Covid-era)
We were just hiking in Switzerland, and you hike through lots of meadows with cows. A few took a liking to us and hopped in our line of hikers and just walked along the narrow trail with us for a while. No way to pass or stop, so we kept going.
Swiss cows can be very big.
If you saw a cat that was much larger than a normal cat, that’s a bobcat. If you see something the length of a sofa, that’s a mountain lion.
FWIW - there has been news on and off of cattle killing touristis in the alps for a couple of years …
yeah, I’m not afraid of cattle but I don’t turn my back on them either. They can crush you like a bug.
Yep. Bobcat. They are scary quick. But usually don’t mess with a grown person.
They sure eat chickens and small pets.
Their cry or call is more like a scream not a bird chirping.
It can be a bit blood curdling. But at least you know it’s not on you when you hear it at night.
One day some years ago, I looked out my kitchen window and saw a full grown wild turkey tom in my yard, quite close to the house.
Then I saw one of the cats – about 8 lbs of cat – belly absolutely flat to the ground, a look of utter astonishment on his face, creeping very slowly closer to the bird.
I think the cat was only trying to get a better look, and had sense enough not to try to tackle the bird, which was twice his size. But I wasn’t absolutely sure; and I was even less sure that the bird, which didn’t seem to have noticed the cat yet, understood that even if it was true.
After a moment of standing there astonished myself, I went out the door at some speed; the turkey flew off as soon as I got outside. I scooped the cat into the house to make sure.
Yes, they are a bit disconcerting. In the last decade or so, farmers have started posting warning signs about mother cows. Some hikers have dogs with them, and, even worse, let their dog off the leash while in a cow-occupied pasture.
Not a good idea. Mother cows are very protective.
To be fair, the owl can’t help it.
Interesting FloatyGimpy. We too go for hikes in National forest. Our property line backs up to it.
Very few cougars spotted up here. Lots of Black Bears and Moose. My ‘neighbor’ (lives down the road.) Came home one night and something was hissing at him from a tree. He thought cougar. Turned out to be a bear.
Attacks are rare, but we still carry Bear/Cougar spray.
What is more common is a bear breaking into someone’s garage/house foraging for food. I’ve had my shed door ripped off by them twice. I’ve since made it more secure, now it’s just claw marks.
First bear I saw was in the back of my pickup truck. When I first moved here I would put my garbage in the truck to take to the dump. Stopped that practice.
When ever I leave the house with the dogs, I make them wait, until I see that everything is clear. I don’t even want deer out there as the dogs would probably chase them.
I found these tracks while elk hunting, I had returned to my truck and found them all around it. After following them for a bit, I went back to the truck and found another similar track on top of my bootprint. Didn’t wait to get a pic and just jumped in the truck. I waited around inside the truck for a while, but the animal never showed itself.
I assume it’s a fairly big cat, but I’m no expert. Maybe it’s something else entirely.
There are the official, highly documented sightings vs. the sightings that may or may not occur that aren’t a official. It’s not like an animal species teleports into the area the microsecond before an officially official sighting, they are always present before it’s official.
So yeah, they could very well be there, even if not officially acknowledged.
Or it was a bobcat that alarm made to seem bigger than it actually was.
Cows are herd animals and cows raised around/conditioned to human presence can start to view humans as funny-shaped cows. They probably just thought they were going along with the herd.
I find any cow to be a big animal.
Blockquote Stranger_On_A_Train
“You are literally more likely to get killed in a lightning strike that you are to even see a mountain lion in the wild.”
Agreed, but death by lightning strike is merciful compared to death by mountain lion strike, especially when the hiker makes the “mistake” of fighting back in those final few seconds and enrages the cat.
Canine, probably wolf. But I could be totally wrong!
@FloatyGimpy , keep listening to and following your hunches! I’m glad you are safe.
Keep it that way, my friend.
The wife, T, says hello, BTW. She too is glad you are safe.