Mountain Lions

[SmokinM]

Yesterday I went up behind the house to look and see if weeds have grown enough to spray. I found a fresh cat killed deer less than 200 yards from the house. With weather conditions and the looks of the tracks and the deer carcass I think it was killed Monday or Tuesday. There was a lot of deer left. So at first light this morning I put the sneak on it. No cat but a lot less deer so it had been there in the middle of the night. There is a sharp brushy draw by there. The dog was sure sniffing the breeze coming down out of that draw. I have a feeling the cat with a full belly was laid up in that draw.

He probably wasn't far, a few of those poorly trained coonhounds probably would have mistakenly treed him in just a short while. Your place sounds more like paradise to me every time you talk about it. Hope you are enjoying it my friend.

 

[jehosofat]

CG8 come in. Where are you???

 

[Bestoutwest]

Your place sounds more like paradise to me every time you talk about it. Hope you are enjoying it my friend.

It's funny, but I don't read it that way. Any place where I have to constantly be on guard against something that might eat me is a place I'd rather not be much! :lol: Apparently, we had a couple of young cats near us a few years ago, but the most dangerous animal we have near us are badgers.

 

[Dave]

Your place sounds more like paradise to me every time you talk about it. Hope you are enjoying it my friend.

It's funny, but I don't read it that way. Any place where I have to constantly be on guard against something that might eat me is a place I'd rather not be much! :lol: Apparently, we had a couple of young cats near us a few years ago, but the most dangerous animal we have near us are badgers.

Oh, you don't have to be on guard at all. I have lived and worked outdoor all my life in cougar country. Most of it alone. In the last 100+ years there have been exactly two people killed by cougars in Washington and Oregon. In that same time frame how many people have been killed in car wrecks, random shootings, snake bites, drownings,work place violence, or a whole lot of other causes. You are at a lot more risk just living in your neighborhood than I am of being attacked by a cat here.

 

[Dave]

I have some cows who have taken up mountain climbing. I could see a fence up on top but wasn't crawling up that hill to check out that fence. So I circled around with the quad to the backside for an easier hike up and over the hill. I saw 41 deer on my little trip. As we were hiking up the hill Bear the dog kept sniffing the wind coming up out of the canyon. About 3/4 of the way up the hill I ran into a fresh lion track (It rained hard here yesterday and this track had not been rained on). The track was a hair over 4 inches across. Bear put her nose down and went to following the trail. After about 50 feet I called her back. Armed only with a pocket knife we really didn't need to find that cat today. Up on top of the hill I found evidence of another deer kill. I wish that cat would find a new place to live. Or walk out in front of me when I have a gun. Either one would work.

 

[True Grit Farms]

I can't Imagine walking the woods without a gun, especially woods that have bears, cougars and rattlesnakes.
It's getting very apparent common sense isn't very common anymore.

 

[Dave]

I can't Imagine walking the woods without a gun, especially woods that have bears, cougars and rattlesnakes.
It's getting very apparent common sense isn't very common anymore.

No woods just sage brush and rocks. Bears? Not so much here. Cougars, they avoid people with a passion especially ones who have plenty of deer to eat. Rattlesnakes, been too cold they aren't out yet. Some people are scared of these that there is no need to be scared of. Others have common sense. Playing around up there tripping and falling (some serious cliffs on that hill) would be a much bigger concern than the wildlife.

 

[True Grit Farms]

I'm not that scared of animals, it's more like I'll see something that I want to shoot. Most varmints around here only give you one chance at them if your lucky. I haven't seen any rattlesnakes yet, but I had a gator in one of my water holes already.

 

[Dave]

I have lived my whole life in cougar country. Running cows on wooded pastures since I was 8, 55 years of hunting, 20+ years working in the woods, and a lot of years running a full time trapline every winter. I have spent most of my life in the outdoors. I have seen exactly 6 lions in all those years. Of those only one that could have shot even if I had a gun in my hands. That one I was in a boat out in the middle of a remote lake fishing and got to watch it for 10-15 minutes. All the others were just a flash and gone. I would spend a lot of time packing a rifle for no reason.

 

[kenny thomas]

National Park Service has announced that they have captured 7 male and 11 female lions in South Dakota and have released them in Smokey Mountain National Park. At the bottom of the mountain on both sides is private land. In the first few days 2 have been spotted outside the park.

 

[jehosofat]

I have lived my whole life in cougar country.

Same here, the older I get, the less I like em. :lol: :lol:

 

[Stocker Steve]

National Park Service has announced that they have captured 7 male and 11 female lions in South Dakota and have released them in Smokey Mountain National Park. At the bottom of the mountain on both sides is private land. In the first few days 2 have been spotted outside the park.

Need some Minnesota wolves too.

 

[Dave]

Back when I was trapping a friend caught a cougar by accident. It was basically the NW corner of Mt Rainier park. he called the Game Dept. to turn it loose. They collared it. Two days later it was killed on the road at the Columbia River. That is well over 100 miles as the crow flies with some serious up and down in between.
A year ago here they pinged a collared wolf about 2 miles from my house at 5:00 PM. At 5:00 PM the next day they pinged his location by the Malheur Reservoir which is 40 or 50 miles from here. Those large predators can cover some ground.

 

[cowgirl8]

CG8 come in. Where are you???

I saw the thread title and just had a feeling i'd be mentioned..lol
No sightings of any cougars here in a while.
I did find a large hole in the side of a mound I plan to set a camera at. Not sure what is going in it. There is lots of dirt for tracks at the entrance, but the calves like playing in it and I have yet to get any kind of track going into it...But I know something is going in. Could be a varmint, but this hole is huge....Like a big dog could go into it.

 

[greybeard]

I have lived my whole life in cougar country.

Same here, the older I get, the less I like em. :lol: :lol:

When I was 35-40, they stayed after me all the time.
The older I got, the less they stalked and liked me........

 

[Lrj505]

Have at it Dave. I don't want to call anything capable of eating me.

The call has a remote so I will be about 50 yards away and up hill from the speaker. I am debating the wisdom of packing the coyote rifle (22-250). Maybe I should pack something a bit bigger.

300 Mag if you miss the blast is so loud they will never come around again

 

[Dave]

Have at it Dave. I don't want to call anything capable of eating me.

The call has a remote so I will be about 50 yards away and up hill from the speaker. I am debating the wisdom of packing the coyote rifle (22-250). Maybe I should pack something a bit bigger.

300 Mag if you miss the blast is so loud they will never come around again

I have a 300 but I seriously doubt the sound from any rifle would scare one off for more than a day or two. And who is going to miss? Any standing still cat inside 400 yards is a dead cat. The 22-250 will most certainly kill it. Put one through the chest and it is a dead cat. The trouble is no exit hole thus little or no blood trail. Those wide padded feet just don't leave tracks like a hoofed animal such as a deer. The other choices here are 7x57, 30-30, 30-06, or the 300 Win mag all of which would make an exit hole making it easier to find the cat after I shoot it. The 22-250 is just handy as I have it right by the back door. I have been using it to thin the coyote population all winter.

 

[ga.prime]

I shot at and somehow missed an armadillo from 20 ft away with a 3 inch load of single 0 buckshot from a 12 gauge and he didn't even look up and just went right on foraging like nothing happened. I was holding the gun with one hand and a flashlight with the other.

 

[ga.prime]

:lol:

I shot at and somehow missed an armadillo from 20 ft away with a 3 inch load of single 0 buckshot from a 12 gauge and he didn't even look up and just went right on foraging like nothing happened. I was holding the gun with one hand and a flashlight with the other.

Ill bet 50 bucks you shot right over the top of him

I think you'd win that bet.

 

[greybeard]

I've seen them jump 2' straight up if startled, but they usually hit the ground running.
I knew a guy when I was young that ruined a Packard Patrician automatic transmission when one jumped up under his car while rolling along about 90 with that straight 8 engine. Evidently the dillo tried to cram it into reverse.