A Big Mountain Lion

all right guys everyone likes to second guess everything anyone says. i'd still say he hasn't been proven guilty of anything and he did the right thing getting the dnr.let them make the decision as to if its prosicutable or not.
this kind of self judgement is why i don't go to hunt talk we are not a judge or jury, just someone reading things for pleasure. lets keep it fun not sarcastic or judgemental.
i have been within feet of lions and was not scared but let a bobcat that knows what you are chase you and you would launch your arrows too. i never hit the bobcat but i ment to. i have never been as scared of any animal as that.
everyone has there own fight or flight reflex it mother nature at its most intence.
you could be attact by any animal no matter how rare i have been attact by small hawks just for sitting on the wrong rock. the hawk really hit me in the head. i'm glad it was not a red tail the little 2 pounder made me see stars a red tail would cause brain damage.
 

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Okay, so where's all the stories that prove that these lion shootings were unjustified? I read plenty of stories saying that a lion got killed while stalking someone but have yet to read one where the guy was proven to be a liar and just shot it for the heck of it..




I think you don't see a lot of this because it would be almost impossible to "prove". Not much different than if you shot someone and claimed self defense. If no one else was there, it would be difficult to prove it was not in self defense. For a man, they may go to greater lengths to prove for disprove the "self defense" claim. They are not likely to go to those lengths for an animal.

Here is one where they state " he says it was likely a chance encounter with the cat and NOT a "threatening encounter.''

http://www.kxma.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=6277
 
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I think you don't see a lot of this because it would be almost impossible to "prove". Not much different than if you shot someone and claimed self defense. If no one else was there, it would be difficult to prove it was not in self defense.



Which is exactly my point.. For another man to pretty much call someone a liar when he doesn't have any evidence or know those people is just plain ignorance..

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Here is one where they state " he says it was likely a chance encounter with the cat and NOT a "threatening encounter.''



Thanks for the link, but the game warden is the one claiming "chance encounter", not the hunter..
 
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No one called anyone else a liar. This started with a guy shooting a cougar that he says was approaching him at 14 yards. From there it went on to casual swapping stories and info about how cougars often stalk or approach close to people yet how rare an actual attack is. By implication from those statistics, I’d surmise that some of us think that the cat may not have been attacking. Nobody knows for sure but the late cat, and maybe the hunter.

This is a good topic to stay relaxed about and learn a little from each other from the info exchanged, rather than read negatives into posts. And when folks post baloney, as happens every day, each of us has a built in combine to thresh out wheat from chaff. It’s a miserable life if I feel called to speak up every time I disagree with someone.

It ain’t my job to judge the guy nor even to investigate his claim. From my experience, lions follow humans and often get real close to us without attacking. Attacks are rare but happen. Coming in at 14 yards is fairly close. There are cases of guys shooting cougars and claiming self defense when they just wanted to shoot a cougar. There are several ways to connect those dots.
 
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I have had one in close, we have them all over the place where we hunt (relatively speaking) and it scared the pee out of me when she started growling at us, as her den happen to be on the part of the river we were fishing.

What gets me, in states where there is a season, or no season at all, unless you fear for your life, why the hell would you shoot one out of season? Your not going to get to keep it, right, and there isnt much point in shooting a cat and leaving it there. If someone feels the need to do that, they aint gonna be calling the game warden in anyway. So I tend to beleive folks in a situation like this

I dont doubt people go out and shoot things, then leave them where they fell, just because they want to shoot something, but I would like to think those people are few and far between.
 
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i was chased by that bobcat for 75 yrds waving my arms and screaming at it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif I know why it cased me after the fact but while it was chasing me i thought it had rabies. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif
what happened was, i was bowhunting a fenceline cut threw some aspen trees /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gifwhen it jumped out on the trail and started growling at me and troting right at me. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gifif you have ever heard a ticked off cat they can be intimadateing. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
i took my head net off and yelled "hay cat" it kept coming, /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gifnow its at 10 feet and i'm running backwards as fast as i could. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif i started throwing arrows at it hitting right at its feet /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif when i got to the last arrow i kept it in my hand to defend myself with. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/angry-smiley-055.gif after 75 yards it turned off the trail and three kittens jumped out of the tree next to the trail. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smiliesmack.gif
dumb cat if it would have left me alone i'd have never even seen the kittens. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif i never hit the cat but i did try. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif
point is, i have never heard of anyone being attact by a bobcat but i'm sure if i wouldn't have ran far enough fast enough i would have been. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gifso don't misjudge anyone for saying things that don't happen every day /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif.freak things happen daily its just most are not reported. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
i'm not defending what i did i knew it was not bobcat season /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif but i have never been threatened that bad by a human and have never been that affraid of any wild animal. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
if it happened again i would still be shooting those arrows. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
in the end i'm glad i never hit her /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif but during the confrontation i didn't feel that way. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
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Yeah, and it seems like each and every time a lion is taken out of season, the lion is invariably claimed to have been stalking, ready to devour the hapless shooter in the next pounce. 42 feet was the range on this one? Did it shadow and stalk him like a wraith for 3 miles, or did he in reality call it in with an elk call or perhaps walk it down in the snow?

Sorry, but to my mind, 26 reported fatalities in all of NA in all of recorded history, does not even begin to make mountain lions pre-meditating man-eaters, at least not
 
Yeah, go tell that to any one of the tens of thousands of folks who totalled their car last year --some of whom are undoubtedly dead--due to the veritable plague of Whitetail Deer in every state E of the Mississippi (where ML were extirpated a century ago)

Mountain Lions have a purpose--and it's not to eat people.
 
I can assure anyone that doubts whether or not that I am/was being attacked, that if a mountain lion invades my space and doesn't exit stage left when I discover them, that people will be wasting their breath trying to convince me otherwise. I will consider it an attack and react with a counterattack and that usually means bullets.

I won't examine his motives any more than the obvious situaion dictates. If he's too dang close for comfort and he doesn't leave when I make double damn sure he knows I'm not a prey critter then he'd better count on it getting ugly right quick.

I don't deny big cats their space but their ability to carry the fight to their victim in an intensly fast and furious fashion puts them at the top of my list for the "dangerous" category.

Bears and canines don't make me nearly as nervous for some reason. I guess I just expect more warning from them and experience has borne that out in the past for me and what I've read seems to agree.

I've even been stalked by bobcats that gave me the willies... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

$bob$
 
I know this strays from the Mt. Lion a little but after reading cmiddleton's post it reminded me of a friends story. He's what I would call an opportunist when it comes to predators. He's killed several bobcats while hunting other species. When new to hunting spring turkey, he was sitting under a big oak tree, camo'd from head to toe. After calling for a short while, he noticed a bobcat coming his direction from a ways out. He wasn't interested in shooting the cat, he really wanted to get a turkey. When it got within 20 yards he started trying to scare it away. As it got closer, he said he could hear it "growling". He finally shot it at about 10 yds because he felt it's next step might be a leap, right on top of him.
What is percieved as a threat to one man, might not be to another?
 
Nice stats yellow hammer.How did this posting go from look at this cat.And it looks to be mature to a debate on shooting the cat for the wrong reasons. I have lived long enough to know we are not the top of the food chain all the time. Wild and domestic animals kill people through out the world . If they can kill us they will or have at some time.
Predators need to be taught to fear man so they dont eat us as often as they would like.Thats why a good DOW is important, and keeping population density in balance is a good form of conservation and having animals to hunt in what ever form you the hunter do. And keeping them for our future hunters.
 
I'm not about to second guess anyone's motivation for shooting a lion out of season. Only they know if they felt threatened.

LionHos statement about deer made me think of this. I don't know anyone personally who has been attacked or killed by a lion. I have heard of livestock and domestic animals that have been attacked or killed locally but never a human. I do know of at least two local people that have been killed in motor vehicle accidents directly related to deer though. It's not as uncommon as one would think. I think I read somewhere that more people are injured by attacks from deer than any other wild animal too.

Regarding cars and deer, I drive about 90 miles a day back and forth to work through heavily wooded deer country in mortal fear. Those of us that make this drive everyday refer to it as running the gauntlet. Hardly a morning goes by that one or more deer doesn't try throwing it's brainless self in front of my car or truck, sending my lunchbox to the floor. Sometimes multiple instances in one trip.

I usually hit one every other year or so. I hit a buck with my little commuter car last month. Nice little car till then. Looks like heck now. I've had deer bolt out of the woods and t-bone the side of my truck and car too. I've had them run parallel to my vehicle, glance off the side and run back into the woods. My wife has hit two deer with her van in the last 3 years. Everybody I know that lives here has had a "run in" with them. (pun intended) Just part of living here I guess but lord I hate em'. I've come to the conclusion that deer are the only animal dumber than sheep. They are pretty much vermin in my eyes. The body shop in town is doing pretty good though. lol!

I wish the game dept considered any deer running in front or at a vehicle an "attack" so I could put a bullet in them in self defense. Relocating a few lions into some of the high deer population spots around here might be a good thing. lol!

Anyway, sorry to stray from the subject. I'm in no way passing judgment on this fella. Nice job on the cat. Just venting (whining) about how much more I hate and fear deer than lions. lol!

(I came across this amusing article after writing this. )
http://www.thecarblog.com/personal_stori...as_roadways.php

Good hunting
 
Thanks Curt. I enjoy how these kind of topics tend to range around the general subject and its tangents, pretty much like yarning around a fire. The article by the insurance worker who got a first hand sample of deer behaviour around cars was a good read. Cougars that I've seen in the headlights have been in the middle of winter concentrated deer.

I noticed years ago that often mule deer and blacktails will slowly cross the road well ahead of a vehicle, pause in the ditch until the car is almost on them then whirl and dash in front of it. I got in the habit of slowing down even when the deer had crossed the road and was well clear of it. Saved me several collisions with deer. Never have figured out why they T-bone vehicles which they could easily avoid, especially in the daylight. Getting hit is one thing but running into the side of a vehicle??? A friend of mine with a brand new pickup had a fork horn run into the side of his truck and gouge up the driver side door. He was driving by the deer slowly, looking at it on a back road, trying to decide if it was public land and legal to shoot. It was almost funny seeing him wailing about the damage to his new truck as the deer staggered off.

But you ain't seen nothing till you've seen cars hitting kangaroos in Australia. Ask Rainshadow about dodging them. Dead roos every few feet along some sections of highway. Every vehcile outside of the cities has a huge steel jumper bumper of welded pipes extending past the sides and above the hood. Looks funny on a Mercedes.
 
Okanagan,

When a car gets T-boned by a deer the situation is usually that the deer is following another deer across the road. You might not see the 1st deer but it is more than likely there. I had a situation like this happen to me but it was the 3rd deer that got me I let the second cross and looked at them as the 3rd hit me.
 
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