I have lived and worked my entire life in cougar country. In both Oregon and Washington over the last 125+ years there as been one person in each state killed by a cougar. Driving to the grocery store is a whole lot more dangerous. Walking down the street minding your own business in any city in the country is a lot more scary.
Whatever. Between logging, cowboying, and running long line trap line I have spent the better part of 50 years in the woods nearly every day. I can count the times I have seen a mountain lion on my fingers and have fingers left over. If packing a knife or gun makes you somehow feel more secure go for it. But walk the city streets are far more dangerous.There are a lot of people simply reported as 'missing'
That beaver was probably 3/8 of a mile from the house. In years past I have had them kill deer within 100 yards of the house. Light snow in the winter I have found their tracks on the bridge in the morning. The bridge is less than 200 yards from the house. January '22 I shot one just across the road from the end of my driveway. Same month my neighbors dogs treed one in his yard. Another neighbor has seen seen them walk through his yard on several occasions. Yet no one has had one stalk them, kill calves, etc. They are hard on the deer and bighorn sheep population but other than that they are a none issue.
It's still nice to have a dog around... if for no other reason than it's more likely the cat will go after the dog than after you.
We think that the cat the neighbor's dogs treed in his yard saw one dog and was thinking dog for dinner. Turned out the neighbor has 12 dogs. The Border Collies said climb that tree you cat.
Amazing how much those cats can eat at a sitting. A thirty pound beaver would be pretty much gone, as you well know.
I few years back I found a fresh cougar killed deer. It was in a good place to sneak up on. So every morning and evening I went there but I never saw the cat. In 3 days the entire deer was gone. This was a full grown mule deer.
Aliens....
They're sneaky, I've only seen 3 in all my years.
Use to have one of those Johnny Steward predator calling tapes that was mountain lion screams. If there was a new guy in hunting camp someone would slip away from the fire in the evening. Put that tape on. There was enough of a delay that he would be back to the circle around the fire when the sound kicked in. The new guy would get the fire between himself and the screams real quick.
