Cougar attack kills man (Orange Co, CA) UPDATE

The Orange County Register ^ | Friday, January, 9, 2004 | BILL RAMS, JIM RADCLIFFE, JIM FINKLE and TONY SAAVEDRA

[Carry_Okie]

Hows the local deer population?

Where we used to see ten a day, we now see one or two a week. Where we used to have up to a twelve point buck, a four pointer is now rare. I think in part it's the coyotes getting the fawns.

[D Rider]

Where we used to see ten a day, we now see one or two a week.

Ouch! Sounds like your overrun by predators. Can you still shoot coyotes as varmints in CA? I get one or two a year up here in Idaho, usually young ones in the spring. Too bad you can't touch the cats though. Rule of thumb given to my Dad by the former head of the CA Fish and Game back around 1985( I don't remember his name now, long time ago), "If you see a cat, you should shoot it." Like I posted earlier, you should never see one, unless it is sick, injured or old. Maybe I should add or starving, since your deer population is getting thin.

[Carry_Okie]

Can you still shoot coyotes as varmints in CA?

People do. County animal control here is pretty worthless. Fish & Game is almost as bad.

Maybe I should add or starving, since your deer population is getting thin.

If the cats would take out the pigs they might be worth having. Our forests are so dense that in many places you can't see more than thirty feet. The terrain is very steep. That doesn't create a situation where there is likely to be enough warning to drop what one is doing, pull a weapon, and get off a good shot, even when armed. A good dog is a must.

[Travis McGee]

Carry your pistol, and copies of these lion attack articles.

Free Americans have the right to defend themselves on public land, no matter what fat cozy detached bureaucrats may pronounce.

[Travis McGee]

Perhaps. But the man might be alive, and the woman might have her pre-mauling face back.

[Travis McGee]

How many attacks 100 or 50 years ago just didn't go reported? This was a bit pre-CNN. They may have been recorded in the local (non-microfilmed) newspapers as "local man missing" and that's that.

[PoorMuttly]

"This may sound utterly ridiculous (so go ahead and laugh!), but large predatory cats are so tuned to stalking prey from behind that wearing a Halloween mask facing backwards on your head may actually be the most effective method for warding off a potential attack."

This is a famous method used in India to ward-off Tiger attacks.

It works sometimes..too !

[Travis McGee]

Actually a "legal" fighting knife on your hip may be more useful in warding off an attack than an "illegal" concealed pistol you have a hard time getting to with fangs around your neck. Plus, the knife will not run out of bullets. At wrestling range, a fighting knife may be a very plausible alternative to a "forbidden" pistol.

[Travis McGee]

Little appreciated fact. A long barreled .22 rifle firing "longs" doesn't even need a silencer. The barrel itself is almost a silencer. With a scope, at backyard ranges, head shots should present no difficulty in solving a cat problem.

[xsrdx]

At wrestling range, a fighting knife may be a very plausible alternative

While I may find myself in the field without a gun - rarely, but it happens - I will NEVER be in the field without a stout fixed blade.

Certainly not the best alternative to a guide gun or 12ga - distance is indeed your friend when it comes to large predators - but a damn sight better than nothing.

[ZULU]

Good point.

I don't know how you could access old newspapers from the 1600's (if they had them then) and the 1700's. By the 1800's more effective firearms were available.

At any rate, most account today seem to indicate Mountain lions prefer to attack small children, women or small men, and they CAN be driven off by a determined fighter or witness. We're not talking BIG animals here. I think the average cougar goes about 115 lbs. with 150 - 200 for a REAL monster. Lions go well above that, as do Jaguars and tigers.

[Travis McGee]

Cougers are used to attacking and killing 200 pound deer with their patented attack from above and behind to the neck and spine. I don't think humans are out of their weight range. It's just that in frontier days, people always went into the woods armed, and lions learned to fear them.

[farmer18th]

MOUNTAIN LION SAFETY TIPS

Carry a gun.

[rustbucket]

Have you ever heard one scream?

Click on the second cougar head to hear a night scream (courtesy of bd476): MEOW!!!

Don't be confused by the growl that comes up when you open the site. The night scream is different.

[suzyq5558]

thats usually when we would hear then was at night(shiver). it sounds like woman being murdered to me.

[LibKill]

Now we use steel bear box's with a latch that requires a thumb. This should work until bears evolve a thumb or learn to use explosives.

Or until they read it on FR.

[CurlyDave]

Yeah, 13 attacks and 5 fatalities in 114 years in one of the most populous states in the union. What a threat.

Read the article a bit more carefully. There was a second body found near the one of the woman biker.

Evidently this was an unreported kill by the same cat. How many of these kills have there been by all the cats in California? The damn things kill & then hide the body pretty well.

I suspect that a lone human would have no chance at all against a surprise attack by a cat of this size. There are a lot of missing people every year, and while I believe most are due to human causes, the number of unreported human kills by mountain lions could easily be a lot higher than anyone thinks.

[Rocky Mountain High]

My wife and I live in the Rockies and hike almost every weekend. I carry a Glock .45 every time we go out into the "bush". It's very light, powerful and easy to operate. You guys could probably pick a used one up at a gun show for a good price.

Peace of mind, you know...

[Rocky Mountain High]

Also check out "The Beast in the Garden". It's an excellent read about the growing mountian lion population here in Colorado and elsewhere. Great western history too.