What to do if encountering a Mountain Lion?

[Dr. Snubnose]

Found this little bit of advise interesting, thought I would share, even though I don't think there are any mountain lions on Long Island NY....come to think of it there aren't any mountains either..LOL......Doc :D

WHAT TO DO IF ENCOUNTERING A
MOUNTAIN LION?

DO NOT HIKE ALONE: Go in groups, with adults supervising children.
KEEP CHILDREN CLOSE TO YOU: Observations of captured wild mountain lions reveal that the animals seem especially drawn to children. Keep children within your sight at all times.
DO NOT APPROACH A LION: Most mountain lions will try to avoid a confrontation. Give them a way to escape.
DO NOT RUN FROM A LION: Running may stimulate a mountain lion's instinct to chase.
DO NOT CROUCH DOWN OR BEND OVER: When in mountain lion country, avoid squatting, crouching or bending over, even when picking up children.
APPEAR LARGER: Raise your arms. Open your jacket if you are wearing one. Again, pick up small children. Throw stones, branches, or whatever you can reach without crouching or turning your back. Wave your arms slowly and speak firmly in a loud voice. The idea is to convince the mountain lion that you are not prey and that you may be a danger to it.
FIGHT BACK IF ATTACKED: Many potential victims have fought back successfully with rocks, sticks, caps, jackets, garden tools and their bare hands. Since a mountain lion usually tries to bite the head or neck, try to remain standing and face the attacking animal.

For more information, visit the DFG mountain lion Web Site at http://www.dfg.ca.gov/lion/index.html

[clovisc]

and whatever you do, don't stay in this cabin! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT5cc_kfY7s :D

[Michael Cook]

:spyder: Oh, man! I've wasted so much of my life on red dead redemption! :spyder:

[tonydahose]

i recall Sal saying that he would want the temperance if he got caught by one, i am sure he would upgrade to the temperance II these days.

[Tank]

Several years ago I was at the end of my hike at dusk and encountered a mountain lion that jumped down on the trail about 100 ft ahead of me. I slowly picked up a big stick and started waving it above my head and jumping up and down and yelling at it. After about a minute it jumped down the bank on the other side of the trail and out of sight. I think I was more scared walking past that part of the trail than acutally seeing it. I swear I could still hear it in the creekbed below as I walked by. The advise given really works. In hind sight I wish I would of had a camera and took a shot of it.

[SolidState]

I haven't hiked alone since my first encounter with one while walking alone. I saw a youngster stalking me which meant mama wasn't too far off. I made it obvious that I saw the youngster, but did not want to threaten it or get big and angry because I didn't want to spur the mother (who I didn't see) into a defensive/attack mode.

I spent ten minutes clutching my knife (a meager delica) and my bowels while trying to get back to civilization alive. I have never felt so much like I have to poop myself as I did while confronting the very real possibility of being a quiet dinner for them, or a feisty fight for the mother. The worst/best thing is that they like to jump down on you from the trees and you won't see the adults coming till they crush your spine with their enormous weight from 20 ft up.

I got out of it simply by acknowledging the animal at every turn and never turning away from it. I haven't gone back in those woods without my handgun since.

[enduraguy]

I've never encountered a large potentially dangerous animal in the wild before, but I like the ideas posted above, along with the simple concept of carrying a large caliber handgun. I don't get the tree hugger types who would rather try to not hurt a wild animal in hopes they will survive if they just curl up and play dead.

[Dench]

Bullets seem to do the trick good.

[Handwrecker]

I've always been told that with big cats you hold your ground and stare them directly in the eyes. Make them think they're the prey, not the other way around. Only problem is cats are ambush predators, and chances are they're going to try their best to not let you see them.

[gac]

<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/aeXYQhzCkU4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[psychophipps]

We actually had some nut on the Olympic Peninsula try to get attacked by a cougar on purpose so he practice his UFC-type moves on it...alone of course. He got attacked, got it's back, and choked it out Ok. In the middle of this process, as the cougar groggily, but rather strongly, started to struggle when he had barely begun releasing the hold, it suddenly occurred to this guy that he was lying on his side on a dirt trail with a very dangerous animal that woke up much faster from being choked than humans do. Oh yeah, and he was in the middle of nowhere if the cougar (aka the Fuzzy Death Machine in his grasp) decided to be rather upset about the whole incident. Oops? :rolleyes:

He ended up being fine, but it was certainly an entertaining story about how idiotic people can be.

[tonydahose]

the biggest critter we have around here is a racoon andhere is how i handled that situation. if i was around cougars i'd have a minigun strapped on my back..lol.

[I_like_sharp_things]

That is all good advice including carrying a gun but please tell me I wasn't the only one who thought of this:

[marcdurant]

Actually a very timely topic. My wife is a wildlife biologist and lately she's been tasked with checking bait sites for lion activity. That's right, they dump a deer carcass out in the woods with a game camera on it, and she's got to go check it every morning as soon as the sun comes up to see if there's a lion around. She's got pepper spray, but I've started going along just to keep an eye on things.

Current knife of choice is the warrior or the rock salt, although I've actually been thinking about a spear of some sort. Something that could stay in a sheath until out of sight of the parking lot, then get installed on a "walking stick".

[gunnut35]

Yall have it all wrong.
You curl up into a ball, soil yourself, and roll down the nearest hill. :)

[Donut]

I just want to know if I poop myself is that going to deter the lion or attract it.

Curious minds want to know!

[Dr. Snubnose]

I just want to know if I poop myself is that going to deter the lion or attract it.

Curious minds want to know!

Oh don't worry about poop...just feed the nice lion some donuts and you'll be fine....Doc :D

[Dr. Snubnose]

So I'm like 14 years old....my parents buy the first home built in a Florida community, known today as Spring Hill....45 some odd miles north of Tampa. Since there wasn't any other houses for miles I figured I'd do a little hunting, since there wasn't anything else for a 14 years to do there. I strap on three throwing knives and take my trusty slingshot with me. (I'm talking a real sling shot, not a wrist rocket, but a swatch of leather held together with two pieces of string leather on each side, David and Goliath style. So I am stalking this weird creature called the flying squirrel...it doesn't really fly but has extra webbing under it's armpits to kinda glide from tree to tree. Kinda fun to stalk. I enter a clearing and out from under the brush about 50 feet away I am under attack Full Charge) from a large wild boar making extra-terrestrial noises, yes it wants to eat me for lunch. I never knew how to climb a tree but under the circumstances I learned real fast...The Boar, a small pig they called it 320lbs. (by the way FWIW I don't think anything 320lbs is small). had treed me....luckily two hunter shot this wild pig after I watch it kill two of their dogs, a lab and weimerinena (SP) with two swipes of it's claws...They shot it in the head with a .30-.30 and a .357 mag contender and it still ran one hundred yards before falling dead. It was then I figured the woods were not a good place for me to be with my sling-shot and throwing knives. So off to home I go, on my way home I viewed six black panthers rolling around on a sand dune...about 30 yards away, they didn't bother me...but it seemed to make me quicken my stride just a tad. It became more like a record breaking Olympic srpint....LOL. Once home I convinced my father to go buy some guns...we went to the sporting goods store in Brooksville Fla. where he bought a shotgun and a Colt Detective Special in .38 Special. We had fun shooting the next day at home made targets nailed to a tree. The next morning my dad calls me to the back of the house...he has a diamond- back rattler (poisonous) he is holding up in the air on the end of a wooden garden rake saying to me do you know what kinda of snake this is, (city boys in the country, what do you expect) he managed to push his way through the screened porch and was sliding and slivering around the swimming pool walkway...I screamed hold em right there....ran inside grabbed the shotgun loaded it with 00 buck, had my father throw the rake away from him as I shot two rounds and killed the snake and destroyed the rake as well. From that moment on I never went back into the woods, and have always had a sidearm strapped to my side, when vacationing in Florida....Doc :D

[SolidState]

I spend a lot of time in the woods. I spent most of my life in Wisconistan where you only have deer, bear, coyotes, some wolves, possum and raccoons. I'm not afraid of any of that. Now that I'm in Oregon, there's lots of stuff that can take me in a fight.

Since I've been here I've encountered mountain lions, bobcats, raptors of all types, bears, and sharks. I've been involved in wildlife rehab for a few years now, and I've wrastled quite a few animals with nothing more than some leather work gloves, a towel and some chemistry goggles. I've wrastled a bobcat, 5 bald eagles, 10 owls, 4 osprey, 2 vultures and countless raccoons/possums. I'm not scared of much, but I am scared of mountain lions.

By the way, pooping yourself is like putting icing on a cake for mountain lions. Once you poop, they know they own you and that you are prey, hence my previous story. Keep that in mind.

[tonydahose]

after seeing this video i had to post it in this thread. that lady has a brass set IMO.

http://www.gadling.com/2011/05/01/what- ... 3%7C211996