Spotted my first cougar…

[iggie]

I haven't seen a live one. I have seen one road killed. The most impressive thing about the tail was the thickness.
I have waded the upper Sol Duc in a fog, When I went back upstream there were footprints and a belly print filling with water.
That made my hair stand up.

 

[Tallguy]

3 sightings over the years, total time seen was about 5 seconds. They move fast.

Best non sighting: a friend and I were walking out of the NC water on the McCloud R. at dusk. I was maybe 200 yards and 4-5 minutes ahead of him. Got to the caretaker cabin there and 5 minutes later when he got there he asked me if I had seen the dead, steaming, disemboweled, bleeding warm deer stretched out across the trail just down the river. Nope! My best guess is I startled the deer and it looped back around me where a cougar ambushed it, then waited for my buddy to walk by it before it dove in for dinner. We had serious headlamps scanning the bushes and close walking together as we hiked the last 1/2 mile to the car...

People who seem to know say the gun option is pretty useless if you get attacked. They ambush from behind going for the neck, I am told it's better to carry a large fixed blade knife to stab it off you if you had to. In a couple lion rich places I go i have made sure I had a fast open knife easily within reach.

 

[Yard Sale]

You dont hear about a lot of cougar attacks, but people go missing in the woods all the time.

BS. People don't go missing in the woods al the time, and if a cougar attacked somebody on a trail you'd find evidence pretty easily.

 

[Pink Nighty]

BS. People don't go missing in the woods al the time, and if a cougar attacked somebody on a trail you'd find evidence pretty easily.

The expression is definitely a bit tongue and cheek, but the nature of cougar kills leaves less evidence than other kills. Its rarely a chase, so the area is confined. They generally attack from the back and end their fights quickly, so minimal struggle. Finally they bury their kills to hide them from scavengers. Quite effectively too. I once came across a half a mule deer near chewelah that only had a hoof visible outside the pile of leaves and dirt the cat had buried it in. Move the sticks and theres 80lbs of critter you couldnt see.

 

[Scudley Do Right]

When I was young my parents took me camping by boat to the far side of Baker lake. We set our tent up right next to the lake. When we woke up the next morning there were paw prints right next to the tent circling it.

The only one I have seen was on Highway 2 just above Skykomish. It jumped on the road and got hit by the car in front of us. We hit the brakes and got out. Traffic was stopped both ways. It was paralyzed but not dead. I was grabbing my rifle out of the truck to stop it's suffering when a pitbull went running past me and grabbed the cat by the throat. The owner was egging it on for a few seconds then grabbed his dog and said it was dead. At this point we just want to get the fuck out of there. My dad grabs it by the tail and drags it to the shoulder. As we were getting in the truck an old dude with a Glock walks up. He says "this thing ain't dead" and starts popping rounds in to it as we were pulling away. It wasn't huge, maybe 60-70lbs but the tail did stand out. It was half the length of the cat. After that my dad liked to joke that he grabbed a live cougar by the tail.

 

[M_D]

My only sighting was about 10 or 15 years ago. I was camped with the family at the Spotted Bear boat launch, south fork of the Flathead river. My oldest and I were on the gravel bar fishing in the early evening when our attention was drawn to something that had entered the water about 100 feet down stream. The movement and head silhouette was different from a deer or an elk so we stopped fishing to try and figure out what it was.

The tail was a dead giveaway when it walked out of the water on the far side. It stopped for a minute to shake off before trotting into the brush and like Scudley noted, the tail was about as long as the body...plus the cat curled the tip up just like in a Disney movie before disappearing from view.

My wife and I heard one crying and moaning once when tent camping at Pacific Rim Nat'l Rsrve on the west side of Vancouver Island. The part that made it funny/memorable was that whoever was in a tent not too far away was FREAKING OUT! My now 31 year old son was not even a year old at the time and whoever was having kniptions in the other tent was certain the cat was coming in to get 'the baby in that other tent'

 

[Draketake]

Interested in Cougars? Read Beast In The Garden.

@Richard Olmstead, this book is set in your old stomping grounds. You may already be aware of the happennings, if not I think you'd dig it.

The book documents some fascinating and horrifying exploits of Cougars.

Be safe all.

Bob

 

[Zak]

I have never seen one, but once when I was tent camping in NH I heard the most bloodcurdling scream really nearby and I think it was a catamount. Scared me silly! I had my hand on my sheath knife the whole rest of the night.

 

[Long_Rod_Silvers]

BS. People don't go missing in the woods al the time, and if a cougar attacked somebody on a trail you'd find evidence pretty easily.

You got me thinking....how often do people go missing in the woods?

Didn't find much - and frankly didn't look too hard, but thought this was interesting.

Why hundreds of people vanish into the American wilderness

In April 2017, Jacob Gray rode his bicycle during a rainstorm into Washington state’s Olympic National Park and vanished. The 22-year-old’s bike and camping gear were discovered near the Sol Duc Ri…

nypost.com

 

[krusty]

You got me thinking....how often do people go missing in the woods?

Didn't find much - and frankly didn't look too hard, but thought this was interesting.

Why hundreds of people vanish into the American wilderness

In April 2017, Jacob Gray rode his bicycle during a rainstorm into Washington state’s Olympic National Park and vanished. The 22-year-old’s bike and camping gear were discovered near the Sol Duc Ri…

nypost.com

I've read the book mentioned in the article (Cold Vanish). Interesting read. I don't believe any of the recovered remains (sometimes found years after disappearance, in the same area initially searched, but simply overlooked) involved deaths caused by wild animals. Usually hypothermia, drowning, falls, or foul play.

A walk in downtown Spokane (especially at night) is much scarier than being in the sticks with wild critters.

 

[iveofione]

They are all too common here on the frozen tundra. About 3 years ago the Kalispel Tribe trackers were looking for a cat in my area with their dogs and eventually treed it and darted it on my road. They took blood samples, gave it some shots and fitted it with a transmitter. I got to touch it and was amazed by the size of it's paws and length of it's tail. About 10 days later the tracker was back at my door asking if I had seen the cat. He had a receiver in his hand and looking at it said: "It's right around here somewhere..."

Last winter he was back and warned me that my nearest neighbor to the south-about a half a mile-had 3 cougars on his porch that morning. With all the snow, tracks are often spotted along the road and around the barn. I never walk to the barn at night without a huge spotlight and never go anywhere without bear spray. I also wear one of those foam neck braces when I walk, both as a reminder to keep my head up and to provide a scant amount of protection if attacked.

And last year as I was returning home from the post office a massive cat ran across the road in front of me and down the driveway and disappeared behind the house. I'm hoping that the huge flocks of turkeys and hundreds of deer are keeping them fed but I am still nervous when I am out alone. Which is all of he time really.

 

[krusty]

They are all too common here on the frozen tundra. About 3 years ago the Kalispel Tribe trackers were looking for a cat in my area with their dogs and eventually treed it and darted it on my road. They took blood samples, gave it some shots and fitted it with a transmitter. I got to touch it and was amazed by the size of it's paws and length of it's tail. About 10 days later the tracker was back at my door asking if I had seen the cat. He had a receiver in his hand and looking at it said: "It's right around here somewhere..."

Last winter he was back and warned me that my nearest neighbor to the south-about a half a mile-had 3 cougars on his porch that morning. With all the snow, tracks are often spotted along the road and around the barn. I never walk to the barn at night without a huge spotlight and never go anywhere without bear spray. I also wear one of those foam neck braces when I walk, both as a reminder to keep my head up and to provide a scant amount of protection if attacked.

And last year as I was returning home from the post office a massive cat ran across the road in front of me and down the driveway and disappeared behind the house. I'm hoping that the huge flocks of turkeys and hundreds of deer are keeping them fed but I am still nervous when I am out alone. Which is all of he time really.

@iveofione I like your tundra predators much better than the ones we have down here in Spokane.

 

[krusty]

I have never seen one, but once when I was tent camping in NH I heard the most bloodcurdling scream really nearby and I think it was a catamount. Scared me silly! I had my hand on my sheath knife the whole rest of the night.

I generally use the name 'catamount' (New England term) when referring to mountain lions, because I enjoy the blank look on people's faces when hearing that name. Calling it a 'painter' (SE American term) is even better!

 

[Roper]

It turns out that since WA banned hound hunting of cougars their population is on the rise. Along with an increased encounter in suburban areas.

 

[Yard Sale]

Pretty interesting article on predator-prey

Preliminary findings from Washington Predator-Prey Project indicate whitetail population is 'neither increasing nor decreasing'

It was a hot and cloudless day when Taylor Ganz found the dead deer, its fly-ridden corpse already pungent in the August heat. Neither fact discouraged Ganz, a PhD student at the University of Washington who was there, much like a detective in a homicide case, to figure out the how, the when...

www.spokesman.com

 

[NukeLDO]

We've got one up on Mill Creek Rd in Walla Walla between the fire station and Kooskooskie. Have seen it on the hill behind the house, caught it on trail cam once, and saw it in the front yard about 2 months ago. Shocking how big they are.

 

[Smalma]

Have been fortunate enough to see two in the wild; both in the Cascade foothills. See their tracks regularly along the Sauk and upper Skagit and more than a few times when back tracking on my path to the river I have had their tracks on top on mine. There were clearly had been following me.

Once while doing some bull trout work I had hiked about 7 miles up a wilderness stream and on the way out in order to get back to the car before dark I opted to take a short cut through the old growth forest over a low pass that would cut more than mile off my trip back to my truck. After passing through the gap and starting down the hill I sudden got that "funny feeling" with my hair standing up. Stopped and was quickly looking around trying to identify the source of that feeling. Seeing nothing took a step a felt uneven "ground". Looking down discovered that I was standing a deer carcass cover with salal brush! Needless to say made really good time for the next 1/2 mile of so with frequent looks over my shoulder!

 

[SurfnFish]

around June cougars start appearing here in Sunriver, can be seen in the evenings at the local pub watering hole

 

[Long_Rod_Silvers]

After passing through the gap and starting down the hill I sudden got that "funny feeling" with my hair standing up. Stopped and was quickly looking around trying to identify the source of that feeling. Seeing nothing took a step a felt uneven "ground". Looking down discovered that I was standing a deer carcass cover with salal brush! Needless to say made really good time for the next 1/2 mile of so with frequent looks over my shoulder!

This is why I don't like cats. Have had that same feeling before up in the forks of the Tolt, eventually spotted the cat across the river on a high bank watching me.

I don't like big cats. They're sneaky fuckers.

 

[SilverFly]

25-ish years ago my Dad and I camped one memorable October weekend on the upper Klick at Stinson Flats. The river was running somewhere between mocha and latte, which might explain why we had the place to ourselves. An hour or so after dark we heard something outside the tent. Next morning we found kitty prints the size of hamburger buns next to ours where we took our waders off.