I can report with confidence that almost
our entire population is on the loose
Thank you
Posted on 06/10/2011 8:03:41 AM PDT by george76
*snicker*
They don’t like carrion very much.
Hmmm. Yeah, the sleeping bag will dry.
I take it you quit reading before you got to the last line on the sign. :)
I am thinking that the Scouts deserved a special badge. Not sure for what... wild animal sighting ability, able to hold one’s urine all night till their eye teeth were floating.. something! Kudos for doing such a great job and keeping them safe. I am sure when they returned home and told their families of their “adventures”, there were some prayers of thanks!!!
I hope the good folk in CT know the "don't shoot till you see the whites of their eyes" only applies to redcoats. Cougars fall under the "don't shoot till there's a toothmark in your children or wife. Partner too, I guess, unless it's your pet or livestock in which case it belongs to the cougar.
There is NO safety in numbers if the cougar is hungry. A boy was walking with a party of 8 or 9 adults, happily holding daddy’s hand when he was snatched by a hungry cougar.
When the other adults attacked the cougar it dropped the boy and left. This happened on the “nature trail” above Boulder, Colorado.
That boy was rather more fortunate than Scott Lancaster, who was attacked, killed, and eaten within sight of his high school in Idaho Springs, Co.
When gunpowder speaks, beasts obey.
“...unless it’s your pet or livestock in which case it belongs to the cougar.”
Better don your flame suit -The Cat Ladies are gonna get you for that line. As an example, an animal whacko named Wendy whatever, an employee of some big cat panderers club named Shinapu, cinapu ????, said that it was wrong to shoot to protect your pet from a cougar. The resulting flood of hostile email from cat lovers crashed their server.
Dog lover were similarly outraged.
“Sleep well...”
Wiki: The Catamount Tavern was a tavern in Old Bennington, Vermont, USA. Originally known as Fay’s House, it is marked now by a granite and copper statue placed in 1896. It was built 1769 and burned in 1871. During the tavern’s 102 years of existence, it was the site of many important events in Vermont’s colonial and revolutionary history.
It was, for instance, the site of the public hanging of a Loyalist, David Redding. Arrested for horse-theft, he managed to escape while being transported to Albany, New York. But he was re-arrested very soon and taken to Bennington, where, after a trial in the tavern, he was sentenced to be hanged in a field adjacent to the tavern. A local merchant, John Burnham, delayed the execution by pointing out that Redding had been tried by six rather than twelve men. Colonel Ethan Allen advised the crowd depart to return the day fixed for the execution in the act of the governor and council, adding with an oath, and according to Dr. John Spargo who wrote a book on the hanging which can be found in the Bennington Museum library, “you shall see somebody hung, for if Redding is not hung, I will be hung myself.” Upon this assurance, the uproar ceased and the crowd dispersed. Redding was sentenced to hang on June 11, 1778 and his bones, after many years of being used for research and being kept in a drawer, were laid to rest 200 years later in the Old First Church Cemetery.
The name Catamount Tavern came about when Grantees from New Hampshire posted a stuffed catamount on the tavern’s signpost to repel the New Yorkers who claimed their land. The Catamount served as headquarters for the Green Mountain Boys while making their plans against the New Yorkers and the British. Ethan Allen planned the capture of Fort Ticonderoga here; John Stark planned British General Burgoyne’s defeat here, eventually leading to the Battle of Bennington. The Catamount was also the meeting place of Vermont’s only form of government then, the Vermont Council of Safety.[1]
The idea wasn't safety in numbers.
I'm at Philmont and I not only don't have a gun, but I'm not permitted to have one. What I do have is a group of frightened Scouts, and I'm responsible for them. If one has to go out of his tent to pee in the middle of the night, then I'm going to be out there too, even if my hiking poles aren't much of a weapon.
Second, the noise was to let the mountain lion know we were there. Our first sighting on that trek occurred when we spooked a mountain lion from its kill on a night hike from Harlan Camp back to Deer Lake Mesa. Me? I'd assume that a mountain lion would hear a group of Scouts hiking up a four-wheel drive road, no matter how tired and quiet we were. But he either didn't or he didn't care, until we came within twenty or twenty-five yards.
So I'm giving the mountain lion plenty of notice that we're there so he can leave before we exit the tent.
If he wanted a Scout or a Scout leader, we were there. But the place was teeming with mule deer - live ones and the skeletal remains along the hiking trail, often with drying flesh still present.
I’m not sure what effect jingle bells would have on a mountain lion. ...might scare ‘em off, but bears surely love those bells. Mountain lions around my place don’t bother anyone, because most of the retired and government employed residents stay in their houses 24/7 (except a rancher and me working outdoors). LOL!
Even if you are out at night and don’t have a flashlight, look behind you frequently. Mountain lions are the most powerful animal on the Range, but mountain lions in sparsely populated areas are also very skittish. As for firearms for defense, because of the way mountain lions strike (from behind and extremely fast, one bite, one kill), about the only person who would have a chance at that would be one who can pull, point and fire accurately at close range like lightening.
BTW, I do vaguely remember a news story of a rancher, who shot a mountain lion that had bit his dog a few times. ...over ten years ago, IIRC, maybe in the foothills somewhere near the Springs. Campers and hikers should be aware that they are numerous up here. For some reason, the big cats do like visitors—maybe because there are so many people around parks and the like? ...and maybe because those folks are new and different...not sure.
I am somewhat bewildered by some of your post, hence my questions.
“I’m at Philmont and I not only don’t have a gun, but I’m not permitted to have one. What I do have is a group of frightened Scouts, and I’m responsible for them. If one has to go out of his tent to pee in the middle of the night, then I’m going to be out there too, even if my hiking poles aren’t much of a weapon.”
“I’m at Philmont and I not only don’t have a gun, but I’m not permitted to have one.” What is Philmont and why are guns prohibited?
“What I do have is a group of frightened Scouts, and I’m responsible for them.” How can you be responsible for preserving life if you are disarmed? Especially, since the scouts are in known large bodied predator habitat? IIRC, a man was killed and eaten by a cougar at Pinos Altos, NM.
Hiking poles are pretty much useless against a cougar during a killing frenzy.
I have dealt with the issue of students in places where there were large bodied predators for the last 30 years. Did I ever carry against the law? ME! Do such a thing!
On advice of counsel, respondent sayeth nothing.
My suggestion is that you review the new laws which allow CCW permitees to carry on Federal lands. If the Boy Sprout Managerial Nomenklatura is hoplophobic, I’d suggest not risking lives and also suggest a loud campaign to change said rules.
Good luck with life at the nexus of Libtard regulations and hungry large bodied predators.
While cougar are ambush predators, and do often attack from behind, they are adapted for, and experienced on, long necked prey like deer.
Having a gun which is easily drawn probably will make the difference between life and cougar scat status.
The large majority of attacks show a far longer process of killing the human than the “one bite” theory would have you believe.
Even if the cat does sever your neck blood vessels, you will have at least 15 seconds to draw and fire before losing consciousness, and/or the ability to move your muscles.
LOL! I love that movie!
The Mrs
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.