There is a Mountain Lion somewhere behind my house.
My dogs where going ape shit and I went out and called them in. Oh my. The Mountain Lion scream is bone chilling. Really. At first I thought it was a woman screaming, but no. I listened, that wasn’t quite right.
Then I remembered something about how these big cats sound. Found it on line. Shit. Yup, that’s it.
There have been few deaths (25) since 1990. But this is basically in my back yard. It’s where my wife walks the dogs. I’ll remind her to take the bear spray.
Black bears don’t worry me much. They do break into cars, but they have never suffered more than a scratch and muddy foot prints. But they are coming out of hibernation and will be hungry.
A mountain lion is a whole nother thing. Dogs are locked in for now. we have a fenced yard and they can’t get out, but of course a lion could get in.
A neighbor had a bear in a tree last summer. But the fact is, if anything, we are invading their territory. They have been here a hell of a lot longer than we have.
I’ve seen hundreds of mountain lion tracks since I learned to ID them decades ago, but I’ve never actually seen one. They are remarkably timid animals and except under the most extraordinary circumstances (like small pets or children negligently left unattended) don’t want anything to do with humans or their animals.
My area is lousy with them. I have at least 3 times seen them strolling along my driveway, heading down to the pasture where the deer hang out. A neighbor once caught one lapping up a pot of chicken broth she’d set out on her porch to cool.
I never go out at night without a flashlight to make sure it’s safe for the little wiener dog to have his final pee of the night, and always on a leash.
I don’t worry about them much. The only cougar attack on a human in my state was about 50 years ago (if memory serves). The cat attacked a youngster who’d just gotten off his school bus and was walking home in broad daylight. It didn’t kill him, thankfully. It was about a mile and a half from my house.
Whenever I see a big cat so close, it’s always a bit of a startle! But as @enipla points out, we’re in their habitat, along with the bears, so what else can we expect?
Mountain lions have instinctual fears of wolf packs and bears. A couple of good-sized dogs will scare the lion. Let them bark. A good-sized person, who is upright and noisy, will trigger the lion’s fear of bears. Mountain lions don’t look for trouble; let it know you’re there and are a predator, not prey, and it will go elsewhere.
Of course, there’s also the occasional mountain lion who is too ill or injured to get away. I’ve read about people treeing a lion, but that’s risky. One-on-one, the lion won’t lose a fight against anything not a bear.
I’m just happy the Siamese cat has been domesticated (sorta).
They would make fearsome wild animals.
I don’t think I need to worry about cougars, so much. It’s been a coupla years since there’s been a sighting.
Lots of bobcats. All you ever see are tracks and hear the night noises. They are smoke cats. They disappear.
Yep. Take care when they around, that close. Carry the bear spray and a big stick.
I’m a little concerned that the dogs will break, and chase it. And then may find that it wasn’t such a good idea.
They are good dogs, but if that chase instinct kicks in, and they chase, not much you can do.
They do have training collars on when outside, but we don’t really have to use them. The collars both vibrate, and shock (I’ve tested it on myself). If they get in chase mode though, watch out. I’ve seen that when walking them on our road. If a car drives up (we get maybe one a day), forget about it.
When I was 15 or so my father and I did a river trip down the Rogue in SW Oregon. We stayed over a day at Tacoma Bar and that morning hiked up to the top of the ridge to visit an old miner’s cabin. We had my dog, an exceedingly stupid Samoyed, with us. As we were coming back down the trail I rounded a switchback and caught the hind end and tail of a mountain lion disappearing into the underbrush. My dog with his atom-sized brain, who was very much not on a lead, saw it but thankfully just watched it vanish and then immediately forgot about it. Since the only way back to the river was down the trail and dad was already far ahead of me, I had no choice but to grab the dog’s collar and keep on heading down, hoping for the best. Of course I had no bear spray or bells or any of the usual gear that are standard recommendations nowadays.
I remember getting back to camp and being just furious with my dad that he’d gone so far ahead instead of staying with us up on the trail.
As an adult and a scoutmaster for my son’s Boy Scout troop, one of my cardinal rules for hikes was “slowest person takes the lead” as well as ensuring that every boy had bells on their backpacks and hiking poles. That day on the Rogue taught me the importance of that. It’s also something few if any scoutmasters teach, much to my chagrin.
I was running with my husky early one morning, and we saw a coyote 25 yards in front of us. My dog was on a leash attached to a belt around my waist, but she lunged, the buckle snapped, and she took off after the coyote. Fortunately, she couldn’t catch it and gave up after a block.
Pound for pound, she could have taken the coyote. But she would have been trying to play while it would be considering it a fight for its life, and that wouldn’t end well for my dog.
Against a mountain lion? My dog would be lucky to last 10 seconds. Yup, keep your dogs inside. The mountain lion will almost certainly run away, but if it doesn’t…
Huh. Yeah, I remember that. Guessing no one will ever mess with that dude.
Father time is catching up to my though. We want one story living. I’m actually looking forward to mowing grass instead of plowing snow. I’m sure I’ll come to regret that part, but the snow has become more than we can handle really. When I had my hip replaced, I hired a guy to plow for the season. I pulled his stuck ass out 3 times.
My Wife says she likes mowing grass. I’m going to hold her to that Kidding, but she snow-shoes with the dogs. It is incredibly hard work.
Back to mountain lions, dogs have been calm this morning and afternoon. It may be in another county by now.
Glad it seems to have moved on. Also glad that in my part of Colorado Springs we mostly see deer, foxes, skunks and racoons about in the backyard. Far less of a problem, though my Bengal cat frequently chitters at the deer, because he is certain he’s a mighty hunter! Very much like in this short (0:57) video (same breed, not me or my cat).
Probably so. We haven’t had moose in our yard in about 2 years. But they liked to graze the ‘grass’ over the septic field about 30-40 feet away from our front deck. They would idlily look over at you when you where sitting on the deck, then go back to munching.
When somethings not afraid of you, there’s a reason for that. They know they can kick your ass and go on with their day.
They didn’t worry me much though, I started naming them. My wife and I would let each other know when they where about, don’t want to startle them or have the dogs get involved with them.
Dammit, I can never load pictures into Discourse. Working on it.
That photobucket link is demanding a login. There ought to be a way for you to adjust the security on your bucket to allow public access. Might need a different url as well.
Kidding, but she snow-shoes with the dogs. It is incredibly hard work.