a walk in the woods will never be the same

[big jon]

[stevie]

Cool, did the cat win?

[taloft]

Nice pic! That is a big kitty.

I hope that was taken with a good zoom camera. Whenever I see a pic like this I think of John Belushi in "Continental Divide" saying, "Nice kitty." Just before the cat rips him a new one. Did the cougar complete its stalk of the deer?

People forget that a grown Mountain Lion can jump 20 feet with little difficulty. Use the zoom for those Kodak moments. They often weigh 150 lbs. and can get as big as 200 lbs on a good diet. Where did you run across your furry friends?

[big jon]

pic

i got this from my nighbor his friend sent it from orgeon it was one of those game cams, my wife wont let me keep the pic in the house because it creeps her out,and it kindnda freeks me out to?

[bu-bye]

Its the great circle of life

Nice pic.

[Pthfndr]

That's an AWESOME pic. The cat is obviously down wind of the deer, and the deer appears oblivious to the presence of the cat.

[taloft]

i got this from my nighbor his friend sent it from orgeon it was one of those game cams, my wife wont let me keep the pic in the house because it creeps her out,and it kindnda freeks me out to?

That's good to hear. I didn't think you would be stupid enough to get that close. I wonder what happened when the flash on the game cam went off? Probably startled the cat worse than the deer since it is the only tense one at that moment.

Tell your wife not to worry, there have only been 13 cases of Cougar/Human physical contact in the last 115 years in California. Only 6 of these resulted in deaths. Although, 3 of the 6 happened in the last 12 years. There was even a 76 year period of time during the 20th century when no attacks were reported. Of course, dead men tell no tales. No worries Pthfndr, I'm sure the deer figured it out a split second later. Here is a link for more info. about the California attacks. Links will also provide info. for U.S. and Canada. Thanks again for sharing, that is a great pic.

http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attacks_ca.html

[Pthfndr]

That's good to hear. I didn't think you would be stupid enough to get that close. I wonder what happened when the flash on the game cam went off? Probably startled the cat worse than the deer since it is the only tense one at that moment.

No worries Pthfndr, I'm sure the deer figured it out a split second later.

I'm sure it did! That picture speaks louder than words about how stealthy the big cats can be. To get that close to it's prey. It's the one you DON'T see that you'd have to worry about.

[big jon]

That's good to hear. I didn't think you would be stupid enough to get that close. I wonder what happened when the flash on the game cam went off? Probably startled the cat worse than the deer since it is the only tense one at that moment.

Tell your wife not to worry, there have only been 13 cases of Cougar/Human physical contact in the last 115 years in California. Only 6 of these resulted in deaths. Although, 3 of the 6 happened in the last 12 years. There was even a 76 year period of time during the 20th century when no attacks were reported. Of course, dead men tell no tales. No worries Pthfndr, I'm sure the deer figured it out a split second later. Here is a link for more info. about the California attacks. Links will also provide info. for U.S. and Canada. Thanks again for sharing, that is a great pic.

http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attacks_ca.html

well we live in lion country with quite a few spotted less than 300 yards from the house,and the deer leg found just down the road,cant says i blame her

[taloft]

Yeah, that's a little too close for my taste as well. I can't say I blame her either. Holding a BBQ must be hell on the nerves.

[chris]

looks like a pretty decent buck or would have been a decent deer. if this is a mountain lion they are part of the reason the deer population in this state is in bad shape. ask a game warden how many deer they kill a year. but it is natrure but they are not managred anymore. but i would have loved have seen that. great picture.

[TrailerparkTrash]

over the past years of predator calling, I've called in a couple mountain lions and a black bear. It really gets your hair to stand up on end when you light the area up and can spot a lion looking at you.

The lions have never charged, in fact my buddies and I actually jump up and make noise and the lions have run off. But, we're always aware that it could be close by stalking us.

It's very exciting and thrilling to get that close to a big cat, the very few times it's happened. What's more thrilling is the times we've called something in at night and can only see it's eyes in the brush....no knowing what kind of predator it is. (We won't shoot until we are sure of our target).

[Rumpled]

there have only been 13 cases of Cougar/Human physical contact in the last 115 years in California. Only 6 of these resulted in deaths. Although, 3 of the 6 happened in the last 12 years. There was even a 76 year period of time during the 20th century when no attacks were reported.
http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attacks_ca.html

Do you think any of these facts have anything to do that lions haven't been hunted in CA since 1972?
There are now many generations of lions who have no reason to fear man.
We are just prey now. A dude got eaten and a woman attacked less than 2 crow miles from the desk I type at now.
I believe that a lion eats 1-2 deer per week. (and even bighorn sheep in the right areas)
On the low end that's 50 plus deer a year. Multiplied by 6000 lions ( I think that's low as well) and lions take more deer in CA than hunters.

[taloft]

Do you think any of these facts have anything to do that lions haven't been hunted in CA since 1972?

There are now many generations of lions who have no reason to fear man. We are just prey now. A dude got eaten and a woman attacked less than 2 crow miles from the desk I type at now.

I believe we are more of a threat to them than they are to us. If they didn't fear us encounters would be much more common. We always were prey, physically we have never been a good match for cougars. We just have thumbs. Actually, both attacks happened on the same day by the same lion. DNA tests on the dead lion showed traces of both victims. It is very sad, and very rare. During the attack, that lion was able to drag the girl and her friend, who was hanging onto her legs, 30 feet off the trail! They are very strong. She was a former marine and a fitness instructor. obviously no one's cup cake.

I believe that a lion eats 1-2 deer per week. (and even bighorn sheep in the right areas)
On the low end that's 50 plus deer a year. Multiplied by 6000 lions ( I think that's low as well) and lions take more deer in CA than hunters.

What can I say, they are better hunters than you or I. We also have tag restrictions. Fortunately, the predator/prey relationship is self correcting. As Deer are depleted so to are the Mountain Lions. The 6000 lions also include the Yuma Puma and another subspecies, the numbers in the Santa Ana range are a veru small part of that number. Thanks in part to human encroachment, and the fires. All that being said, I don't see any problem with a reasonable number of tags being issued every year for the harvesting of Cougars. Provided we don't drive them to the brink of extinction, like we did before.

[tzahoy]

If you want to learn more about the mountain lion and the huma/predator/prey relationship there is a great book called the Beast in the Garden by David Baron. It's a very interesting and entertaining read and explains alot of the phenomena we see with mountain lions today, and the inevitability of what will happen if we don't manage their population. It reads a little like a murder mystery, and will give you an appreciation for this very well equipped predator.

If you ever see one consider yourself lucky. Very few of us see them, but a lot more of them see us. Don't overestimate your ability to scare one off. If one decides your a good meal, and you're unarmed you realy don't have a chance.

Great pic by the way!