NFR Cougars

Non-fishing related

Clean Willy

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I have yet to fulfill my dream of seeing a cougar in the wild, but did run across this awesome poem while camping out at Lake Ozette last week. Thought others might enjoy it. Cue the way too easy female cougar jokes…

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A friend took on a cougar with his bare hands, the cougar came out of the brush and grabbed his 8 year old son by the head. Tim jumped up and ran 25 feet to the cougar who was trying to carry the boy into the brush. He picked up a softball size rock and proceed to beat the cat about the head until the cat dropped the boy and ran into the brush. A trapper was summoned and said the cat was an adult. Can’t remember if they killed it.
 
I’ve seen one in my lifetime. It bound across the road.
My friend John was on the OP hiking up a trail out of a river and came face to face with a cougar carrying a fawn down the trail.
SF
 
It's been an active year for Cougars out here so far. Saw 2 different ones on the same day, one driving and 2 while working outside. Also saw the same one twice one day, a young male that looked to be hunting small game along the treeline.
Bunny populations are way up after a couple years of not many around, so Cougars are more common with all the good eats bunnies provide I guess.
Game cam pics I see from friends confirm the anecdotal stories locally, there are a lot of them around lately.
 
A friend took on a cougar with his bare hands, the cougar came out of the brush and grabbed his 8 year old son by the head. Tim jumped up and ran 25 feet to the cougar who was trying to carry the boy into the brush. He picked up a softball size rock and proceed to beat the cat about the head until the cat dropped the boy and ran into the brush. A trapper was summoned and said the cat was an adult. Can’t remember if they killed it.
It's amazing what a parent can do! When I was very little, I was attacked by a rooster that went for my head and face. When I screamed my dad came out of the house, started running towards me, then took off his wristwatch and threw it 30 feet or so, beaning the rooster, knocking it off my head, and stunning it. We ate it as stew the next day.
 
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Saw the tail end of a cougar run across the road and down to a fishing access point I had just fished a few hours earlier in Idaho. Didn't fish that spot the rest of the week 🤣
 
You are one lucky soul!
To live in a suburban setting and have the nature we have, very lucky for sure.

Lucky to see them and raise kids in their presence so they learn to appreciate nature.

Even luckier to have no issues nor incidents. ( except for bears in the garbage).
 
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About twenty years ago we decided to take an impromptu trip down to CA to see the redwoods. Our youngest daughter was going to go with us, and since we had no reservations anywhere I threw in a tent and sleeping bags at the last minute. Also at the last minute we decided to take the ferry and drive down 101 on the OP. Once we got off the ferry our daughter kept pointing out places where we could camp - like nonstop. After several hours of a thirteen year old with a verbal camping fixation we topped a small rise in the road near the Kalaloch campground, which as you might guess was commented on from the back seat, just in time to see a full grown cougar cross the road in front of us.

There was no more talk of camping and we drove the rest of the way in blessed silence to a roadside motel.
 
While visiting friends in Port Angeles we were given a tour of the Hurricane Ridge area. A big cougar crossed the gravel road in front of us and after going around a curve in crossed again and we watched it run through a clearcut and disappear into the trees. I had them stop so I could get out and look at fresh cougar tracks but the girls being girls started screaming for me to stay in the car. I insisted the cat was hundred of yards away by now but reasoning was impossible. So I got back in the car. The ground was hard anyway and the screaming stopped. But seeing one was cool.
 
I've only seen one. It jump out in front of the car in front of us on hwy 2. They kept going and we stopped. It was alive but paralyzed. We decided to put it out of it's misery so I started to grab my rifle. Just then a pit bull ran by me and grab the cougar by the throat. The owner followed behind cheering it on. This is with all traffic stopped on a two lane section of the highway. He pulls the dog off and my dad pulls the cougar off the road by the tail. As we are getting in the car and old guy with a Glock walks up. He says "this thing ain't dead" and starts to unload on it as we pulled away. After that my dad liked to joke he grabbed a live cougar by the tail.
 
I had one other encounter. When I was about 8 my family took the boat to the wilderness side of Baker Lake to camp. When we woke up the first morning there where paw prints circling our tent twice. My dad instructed me that we were telling my mom it was a bobcat.
 
Only seen one once, and it was in B.C. I was killing time and decided to see where this particular forest road led. More two lane trail than road actually. As I was driving I was gaining on what I thought must be a deer walking the same direction as I. As I got closer, I realized this tannish colored animal had a long, black tipped tail. About that same time, the critter sensed it was being followed by a Subaru and turned broadside in the road. "Wow, I thought, a cougar!," just as it bounded into the brush and out of sight.
 
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