Cougar

[Beej]

Tips on coping with a cougar in your yard? Anyone had to deal with mountain lions before?

One sighted sitting in the flower bed right outside our bedroom window early Saturday morning. Confirmed today through tracks and scat by animal control. They gave us tips, but I'd like to hear from others too. Deer have a trail right through our yard...

[DrMoab]

Shoot it with your .45...Oh thats right...you can't have a .45

I love the USA!

:D

Can you have fire crackers up there? A good loud one would scare it away.

Also they hate dogs.

[goodburbon]

I doubt you're willing to throw hot lead at it so, in your case you may try fireworks:explosion . If not that then....... appeasement? Offer it one of your spare fat chicks and hope it eats you last.

[HaleYes]

http://www.catclinic.co.uk/acatalog/images/getoff.jpg

[Beej]

Canada's not as bad insofar as gun laws as we like to complain about. However, I'm sure its the case for you as well that its illegal to discharge a firearm within city limits. At any rate, it would also be considered poaching, just like it would in the states. So, no, I won't be shooting at it. A well-placed slingshot pellet might work though, so thanks for the idea...

[DrMoab]

Canada's not as bad insofar as gun laws as we like to complain about. However, I'm sure its the case for you as well that its illegal to discharge a firearm within city limits. At any rate, it would also be considered poaching, just like it would in the states. So, no, I won't be shooting at it. A well-placed slingshot pellet might work though, so thanks for the idea...
I live in the City and shoot foxes out back of the house all the time that get into the chicken coup.

True though about Poaching. Its legal to kill them if you are in direct danger of being eaten...That has been a pretty hard thing to prove though.

Whenever there is a cougar shooting without a permit(we are allowed to hunt them with a permit) they run it like a murder scene....Forensics and all.

[GSequoia]

Is it on blocks?
http://www.geocities.com/classiccougar/68cougar3.jpg

[Beej]

They would investigate it like that here too.
Earlier this year an elderly guy about a half mile away shot a deer on his farm. His neighbors reported him and they charged him with discharging a firearm within city limits, and poaching.

He was released on probation with a stern dress down on not shooting animals in the city, even if they are eating your garden. They also confiscated his weapon.

I was talking to his long-time neighbor about the incident and he said that a new neighbor was the one who reported it. The old guy said, "I've been shooting deer on my farm every year since the 1940's, why did they arrest me now?" :D

[Beej]

Is it on blocks?
http://www.geocities.com/classiccougar/68cougar3.jpg :laugh2: haha, prick! I laughed despite myself...

[87manche]

live trap perhaps?
if you trap it will animal control relocate it for you?

[RTicUL8]

...Also they hate dogs.

Actually, they like the small ones::chef:

http://www.howlinmoonbakery.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/ketchup.jpg


Beej:
You need to pee all over your yard - to mark your territory.
(have your wife take pictures):laugh:

[OverlandXJ]

Residential neighborhood....with children? Wouldnt animal control be required to relocate it to protect the community and the animal in question?

If not they have no right investigating a dead animal when someone may have been protecting life or property.

[GSequoia]

Residential neighborhood....with children? Wouldnt animal control be required to relocate it to protect the community and the animal in question?

If not they have no right investigating a dead animal when someone may have been protecting life or property.

Good point.

Just yell out, as loud as you can, "It's coming right for me!" before you shoot.

[riverfever]

I never understood why people that live in Mountain Lion country would leave a dog outside all the time. A lady I work with just had her Akita/Dalmation mix attacked very badly. It lived but it was ripped up. The cat was not actually seen but based upon the size/location of the wounds it was deemed a cat attack. That same cat was seen roaming a nearby school yard during the evening hours. DOW didn't do anything and I don't think they should have just b/c of the dog. If that cat attacked a human then the DOW would intervene. I think they would also get involved if the animal in question showed no fear of humans.

What about motion lights Beej? We had them before we moved into the new house. It was nice. I'm sure if you just saw that cat...it's at least been in your yard a large number of times.

I'm totally against removing the animal unless it does present a problem to humans. It's supposed to hunt...regardless if we build new homes on it's territory. One of the neat parts of living in a remote community. I'm more afraid of lightning than the kitty's.

Another thing:
What about looking at the problem from another point? If you could deter the deer from moving through your yard, you could probably minimze the amount of cat presence. Maybe you don't want to and like seeing the deer but I still think that cat's been in your yard for a while now. Don't they say that if you're one of the lucky ones to see a cat while hiking or something...it's been seeing you for hours?

[8Mud]

If it has a kill in the area, it may attack, if it feels cornered it may attack, if it's a juvenile they are often dumb and are likely to do anything. I hunted Coyotes and would occasionally have an encounter with a Puma, which was hard on the dogs. I accidentally cornered one and had it come right at me, three rounds of buckshot right to the face and it still ran right past me and out of the canyon. They don't die easy.
I'd put up a trip wire and a canister of Bear sized pepper spray. They get used to a lot of things, loud noises, flashes and other stuff, but never get used to being skunked.
If you've never seen a Bob Cat or a Puma in a trap, don't even concider it. They go absolutly nuts and often injure themselves seriously.
A small fire extiquisher, CO2 driven powder type, filled with Thai pepper, works well for most anything.
I sure wouldn't confront it, aggrevate it or even show myself any more than necessary. The more succesfull (or non painfull) contact they have with humans the worse things get. They get more brazen and just become bigger pests. If they equat the smell of man with serious discomfort, it's actually better for everyone concerned.
I've used pepper spray succesfully on, racoons, Bear and Wild Boar, I don't know why it wouldn't work on any animal smart enough to make the connection. With less success on Deer, they just move 25 yards up wind and keep right on eating your garden. I sprinkle the leaves of there favorite plants with ground pumice, they either get tired of the crumching noise or there teeth get ground down to the gums. :)

[87manche]

Actually, they like the small ones::chef:

http://www.howlinmoonbakery.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/ketchup.jpg


Beej:
You need to pee all over your yard - to mark your territory.
(have your wife take pictures):laugh:
man, that's not cool.
I'll never let my wife dress up rocky like that.

[TRNDRVR]

I'd wrassle it down with my bare hands and then kick its ass for shitting in my garden.




Yeah......That's what I'd do. :confused1

[Glenn B]

I'd wrassle it down with my bare hands and then kick its ass for shitting in my garden.




Yeah......That's what I'd do. :confused1

I think a common "friend" somehow hacked your account. Mark, shame on you.

[RichP]

We had one here a few years ago, I was working around the yard and felt like I was being watched. Went in the house thru the kitchen door and quietly grabbed a .45 and put it behind my back and walked back out. He was right at the corner of the shed, I figured about 200lbs of cat. I let him or her go and called animal control, they thought I was nuts 'There are no cougars in the poconos' so I said 'OK, then it's legal to shoot them ?' They quickly sent a warden over who measured the prints and then commented 'well, that explains some of the missing dogs and cats'[so much for the no cougars in the poconos line]. They had traps on trailers out for about a week but never got it, got a few bears though.. never seen it since, I figured it was someones pet that got loose... I wish it had gotten more of the feral cats though..

[xjblue]

Don't they say that if you're one of the lucky ones to see a cat while hiking or something...it's been seeing you for hours?


I've often worried about that while hiking, looking suspiciously behind me and up the trees just in case etc. Never spotted one while hiking but I'm pretty sure the only time I was lucky enough while doing something (while also lucky enough to be holding my 35mm slr) the cat was having a bad day, it's mind on other things, like when you've been driving but don't remember paying attention to the road for a strech and suddenly you look up to see an idling Jeep right in front of you...it was windy that day and it came from up wind of me and from out of sight in the scrub below the trail, suddenly hopped up on the trail in front of me and took several paces towards me before it noticed and froze in place with an Oh crap look... I was thinking Oh crap a cougar, followed by Oh crap I'm holding my camera in my lap why am I not taking a picture yet, followed by Oh crap my lens cap is on, a quick shot and a moment later it was gone.


full frame image
http://community.webshots.com/photo/69844379/1157872677043863621JWuPOQ


cropped version
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/xjblue/Cougar02.jpg

[XJ Dreamin']

Watched a show a couple of weeks ago about cougars on Vancouver Island. Basically, they know what they're doing in their own range and your ass is out in the wind if they take an interest in you. Although you're way more likely to die from other causes, living in cougar country is a crap shoot and there's not much you can do to deter one if it's already in attack mode. One guy killed one with a 3" Gerber, but that was after it had already latched onto his head. The expert consensus on the show was: if you see it, it probably is not hunting you (not to say it won't start hunting you later); and, if it is hunting you, you won't know it until it hits you.

[RichP]

Some reading for you edification :D
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/cougar/attacks.html

http://www.cougarinfo.com/attacks3.htm

http://www.cougarinfo.org/

[XJ Dreamin']

Think about how cougars hunt. They sit in ambush waiting for prey to walk by. Traditionally, that prey has been deer, but actually it doesn't much matter: whatever walks past the ambush is at risk.

If you could calculate an individual deer's probability of ending up as a cougar meal (given deer population density vs. cougar population density - i.e. how often does a deer cross a cougar's path) and adjust to reflect your own exposure (hiking trip once a year vs. jogging through the woods every morning), you should be able to figure out your life expectancy fairly accurately.

[footdale]

If it is an urban cougar (http://www.urbancougar.com), then you are going to have to take a different approach. They too can be seriously dangerous and definitely need to keep an eye out for they are known to sneak up and overpower unsuspecting prey.

[RichP]

If it is an urban cougar (http://www.urbancougar.com), then you are going to have to take a different approach. They too can be seriously dangerous and definitely need to keep an eye out for they are known to sneak up and overpower unsuspecting prey.

My wife would not appreciate my bringing one home, an urban that is.
http://www.urbancougar.com/images/Si_Specialty_107.jpg

[8Mud]

Cougars usually hunt at hight, if you see one in the daytime, it's likely really hungry. Or been flushed out of bed by something. I've seen quit a few at a distance, just as it gets dark, with my binoculars. Most any I've ever seen avoid dogs, when they can, they are moving when a dog gets closer than about 4-500 yards. But heck, get anything hungry enough and it will eat whatever is available.
I once had a list of wild animal attack statistics. If I remember correctly, the Whitetail Deer topped the list in the US. Over here it's the Elk and the Wild Boar as a close second.
http://i1.tinypic.com/2604py9.jpg
I was hunting with a buddy, he is kind of short but built like a tank (he delivers welding bottles all day long). We were walking back to the Jeep and a Boar pops up out of the brush, 4-5 inch tusks 300 pounds and puts his front feet right in the middle of my buddies chest and kind of look him in the eye. My buddy kind of grabs him by the head and tosses the Boar sideways. The Boar kind of trotts off, with attitude, snorting and looking over his shoulder. I guess it wasn't a serious attack, but just a dominance thing (or maybe he was horny :) who knows). Wild Boar aren't big fat slow moving animals like a domestic pig, they jump over fallen timber like a rabbit and go right through barbed wire fences. I've heard they have turned into a real problem in the North central US.
In the outskirts of Berlin, not to long ago, they shot a Boar that had learned to knock little old ladies off of there bicylces and steal there groceries, no chit it was widely reported.
Things get crazy, when wild animals loose there fear of man.
I don't really know where all it's all heading. The movement to integrate (share living area) with wild animals. I guess when they start snatching children off of the playground, the trend will be reversed.