gporli01, on 28 June 2012 - 08:10 AM, said:
Does this mean no more mid-ride naps??
Cougar sighting at Walker Valley
Started by
Russhole
, Jun 18 2012 10:29 PM
68 replies to this topic
Posted 28 June 2012 - 02:59 PM
I was taking a mid-day siesta, when this bugger started making a ruckus. I was MTB riding the Vail Tree Farm. The boom stick might be over doing it, on a bicycle...I'm glad I overdid.
Posted 03 July 2012 - 08:23 PM
Russhole, on 18 June 2012 - 10:29 PM, said:
I had decided to do one more loop and left the parking lot headed up Pat's trail. Near the top, I was almost run off the trail by a deer that came barreling out of the bushes. It gets better. A few minutes after I hit the gravel road, I saw a large cat with a long tail meandering across the road around the Twisted Tree trail head on BR-46. It kind of stopped halfway across the road and looked at me. I was about 50 yards away from it at this point, so I charged it in 5th gear. It leisurely moved off the road. I looked back after I got down the road a few hundred feet and it was standing back in the road. The time was about 8:15pm.
The deer scared me more than the Cougar at the time, but now that I'm home, I realize that the Cougar was not scared of me at all. So, if you're alone at Walker Valley in the evening, there's a big kitty walking around.
The deer scared me more than the Cougar at the time, but now that I'm home, I realize that the Cougar was not scared of me at all. So, if you're alone at Walker Valley in the evening, there's a big kitty walking around.
Next time make sure the Sierra Club can video tape you charging an animal on your dirt bike. Another trail closed . . .
NC
Posted 03 July 2012 - 08:25 PM
FinchFan394, on 19 June 2012 - 07:29 PM, said:
Not quite. The animal was long dead. Snopes is your friend.
http://www.snopes.co...ls/mulelion.asp
NC
Edited by NumberCruncher, 04 July 2012 - 06:53 PM.
Posted 03 July 2012 - 08:32 PM
oldgrunt, on 24 June 2012 - 09:53 AM, said:
I would'nt count on that theory. Anone packing who plans on defending themselves from a couger attack had better have eyes in the back their head. Cougers attack from the back and go for the neck. They move silently and move very quickly. Even if you do see it coming you need to be a fast draw, high master pistol shooter to hit it with a kill shot, if you manage to hit it at all. If you only wound it you won't just be a potential meal. The couger will then be fighting for its life. It is always best to travel in pairs in the woods. Only a sick and starving couger would attack in that case.
If the cougar is 100 feet away and you are face to face you have plenty of time to draw a handgun on your hip. They can't close 100 feet that quickly. Now the reality is that they stalk their prey and almost never attack face to face. So if you see one from 100 feet away it will likely slink back into the woods. If you are attacked it will likely be from more like 15 to 20 feet away and from behind where you won't see it coming.
I have seen many black bears, estimates run around 30,000 in the state, but only one mountain lion and that was south of Republic, Washington. There are estimated to be 3,000 mountain lions in Washington State. That is not many which is one reason why they are so hard to spot. Also, they really prefer rugged areas where not many people venture. Another reason they are hard to see is because they are predators. Unlike the black bears in this state that eat mostly berries or scavenge, mountain lions kill live animals and accordingly are always in stealth mode whereas bears just kind of wander around and are not so secretive. I have seen many of the latter in Washington state and have a few pictures to show for it but non are that great as the bears always turn tail and run.
As a side note, I graduated from WSU and since I am a cougar myself, don't quite get it when people talk about seeing a cougar. I went to school with 10,000 of them.
NC
Edited by NumberCruncher, 03 July 2012 - 08:40 PM.
Posted 03 July 2012 - 08:43 PM
pdxhillbilly, on 26 June 2012 - 02:36 PM, said:
I was at a "ranger talk" at a campground and the topic was cougars. He said that from a crouch on flat ground (not in a tree) a mountain lion can jump 45 feet.
I think he was exaggerating. I have heard 30-40 feet is possible with a vertical leap of 15 feet but 45 seems a bit far fetched.
NC
Posted 04 July 2012 - 08:15 AM
NumberCruncher, on 03 July 2012 - 08:32 PM, said:
As a side note, I graduated from WSU and since I am a cougar myself, don't quite get it when people talk about seeing a cougar. I went to school with 10,000 of them.
NC
Well that settles this whole thread then. Cougars are better than Huskies!
Posted 04 July 2012 - 03:51 PM
Im not worried about critters here... Canada is a different story... Ran across this Mama bear and cub riding in Yukon last year by myself in the middle of BFE. Probably wasnt the best IdEa to take Pics
Posted 09 July 2012 - 09:29 PM
n16ht5, on 04 July 2012 - 03:51 PM, said:
Im not worried about critters here... Canada is a different story... Ran across this Mama bear and cub riding in Yukon last year by myself in the middle of BFE. Probably wasnt the best IdEa to take Picsi doubt i'd be able to focus the camera with the awful stench coming from my backside in this situation. i've seen grizzlies, black bears, cougars, and other "dangerous" animals in the backcountry before, but usually from what i thought was a relatively safe distance. that momma in the picture is all to aware of your presence and not very happy about it. spooky for sure!!!!
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