Aggressive Mountain Lions

[FJK]

32 minutes ago, The_Patriot21 said:

In my state if you see a mountain lion within like 50 feet of you, you are legally allowed to shoot it as it can be assumed if it's that close, it's hunting you.

My experience with mountain lions is that you usually don't see them. 

[The_Patriot21]

2 hours ago, FJK said:

My experience with mountain lions is that you usually don't see them. 

Not typically unless you are very observant or they want you to. Had a game warden one time who told me roughly 80% of people who spend time outdoors on a regular basis have been followed by a mountain lion at least twice in their life and never know it.

That's the thing with mountain lions... unlike a lot of other animals, they have zero fear of humans. The reason we don't see more attacks isn't due to fear, but the fact that mountain lions A: find us boring and B: are actually lazy hunters....they arnt likely to go after us when theirs easier prey available.

Though they have been known to hunt for sport.

[FJK]

3 minutes ago, The_Patriot21 said:

Though they have been known to hunt for sport.

I've seen at least one incident of that, a lion killing a caged goat, in a cage immediately outside of a house, and not even bothering to take a bite out of it after ripping it open.

Just killing for the fun of killing it would seem.

[Anne2]

1 hour ago, FJK said:

I've seen at least one incident of that, a lion killing a caged goat, in a cage immediately outside of a house, and not even bothering to take a bite out of it after ripping it open.

Just killing for the fun of killing it would seem.

What surprised me is the video advised to maintain eye contact? Hmm, I would have thought not to. I thought I had heard that about bears.

[The_Patriot21]

2 hours ago, Anne2 said:

What surprised me is the video advised to maintain eye contact? Hmm, I would have thought not to. I thought I had heard that about bears.

Actually no...eye contact is correct. One has to understand the mentality.

With bears, especially grizzly bears, the vast majority of attacks are because the bear feels threatened. Your either in it's territory, or between it and it's cubs. If you act aggressive or fight back, it's just going to kill you. Instead you just want to play dead. If it thinks your no longer a threat, it will leave you alone so you play dead. Some black bears will hunt you when your hungry, and in that case you want to fight back...but unless you know the difference between a hungry bear and a cornered bear, your better off playing dead.

Mountain lions, don't have the protective instinct bears do. If it's after you, it's because it's decided your prey. It's not going to stop if you play dead. If you run that makes you even more interesting and it will chase. 

But, like I stated earlier mountain lions tend to be lazy. If it thinks your to much trouble it will leave you alone. Eye contact, make yourself look big, make lots of noise. If you don't have a gun carrying a big stick. This will chase off most cougars. However in extreme cases, especially if local food is sparse and it's really hungry it may attack anyway...in which case fight with all you got...it may kill you anyway but your chances are higher if you don't.

 The mentality between bears and mountain lions are way different. It's always best to know what predators are in the wild and how they operate before ever venturing into the wild. And having a buddy is usually a good idea to. Mountain lions will rarely if ever, go after groups of people. Grizzly probably won't care...but you will still have someone to call 911 lol

[Anne2]

4 hours ago, The_Patriot21 said:

Actually no...eye contact is correct. One has to understand the mentality.

With bears, especially grizzly bears, the vast majority of attacks are because the bear feels threatened. Your either in it's territory, or between it and it's cubs. If you act aggressive or fight back, it's just going to kill you. Instead you just want to play dead. If it thinks your no longer a threat, it will leave you alone so you play dead. Some black bears will hunt you when your hungry, and in that case you want to fight back...but unless you know the difference between a hungry bear and a cornered bear, your better off playing dead.

Mountain lions, don't have the protective instinct bears do. If it's after you, it's because it's decided your prey. It's not going to stop if you play dead. If you run that makes you even more interesting and it will chase. 

But, like I stated earlier mountain lions tend to be lazy. If it thinks your to much trouble it will leave you alone. Eye contact, make yourself look big, make lots of noise. If you don't have a gun carrying a big stick. This will chase off most cougars. However in extreme cases, especially if local food is sparse and it's really hungry it may attack anyway...in which case fight with all you got...it may kill you anyway but your chances are higher if you don't.

 The mentality between bears and mountain lions are way different. It's always best to know what predators are in the wild and how they operate before ever venturing into the wild. And having a buddy is usually a good idea to. Mountain lions will rarely if ever, go after groups of people. Grizzly probably won't care...but you will still have someone to call 911 lol

Ah yeah, I remember watching something about "looking big" with such animals. Interesting.