Big Cat

[TexasJerseyMilker]

That is a very good thing to know. That must be why in Curry county Oregon you still see a lot of hounds riding in the back of pickup trucks.

 

[Travlr]

Yes that would solve the problem but FAT CHANCE the lib lion kissing voters are going to let that happen.

Meanwhile, how about illegally hunting with a silent breed of dogs? The baying of hounds in the woods and hills is what gives their location and purpose away.

Hard to trail hounds if you can't hear them. Maybe use Basenji with GPS collars?

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

Cougar attacked a person day before yesterday 50 miles from me. The state will track it down with hounds and kill it. They called me buddy that's famous for his dogs to track it. He told them to pack sand if he can't run them when he wants only when they want.

He's moving to Idaho!

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Basenji with GPS collars?

African Rhodisian Ridgebacks hunts lions, usually in packs.

 

[Dave]

I think everyone here has seen a cougar at one point or another. A good percentage of us have shot one. But I have never heard anyone express concern about safety around them. I have had a number of people tell me they won't come here because of the rattle snakes. People here say they are nothing to be scared of. Just aware of. But the wolves who have moved in are a different story. There have been a couple people have run ins with them. Those people who ride the hills east of here all pack guns when they are working up there.

 

[puzzled in oregon]

This is the second cougar I killed. The dogs ran it off a goat kill.
The first cougar I killed was an accident.

 

[Dave]

The one I killed January 2022. It was laying under a juniper just across the road from the end of my driveway. It is a small one. About 2 weeks later one of the neighbors killed a 196 pound male up by his place.

 

[Ky hills]

I think the wildlife depts. go about things in the wrong way, they seem to deny things until they aren't deniable and sometimes longer.
Here we had black bears move into the area several years before they acknowledged them. When they did finally acknowledge their presence they said oh it's just a random young male that wandered far from its typical range.
At that point locals were seeing mothers and cubs in person and on game cameras.
I've had several close run ins with bears but they always have run the other way.
There was only one instance, where something came towards me very close it was during a time of a lot of bear activity so I presumed it to have been a bear.
I was picking beans down in a field where we used to raise tobacco. It's been a hay field for many years since and occasionally I'll have a garden down there. I was on the outside row next to a fence line thicket that's grower up in trees and bushes very solid during the summer. I could hear somewhat back then and heard a commotion in woods a little ways off. Heard it getting closer, I could hear the weeds and low bushes breaking. I was getting somewhat nervous and just froze where I was. Whatever it was got about even with me about maybe 8-10 ft away and let out a growl and didn't hear anything else.
Another time I was down there I was spraying generic prowl or something like that and heard a commotion sounded like branches breaking and saw a tree swaying back and forth. I figure maybe a bear ran up the tree and fell out.
We've seen cubs run up trees like that since.
I believe that even if there is a remote possibility of an animal like a mountain lion being in an area, the wildlife depts. should be open about it to prepare people and warn them to be open to the possibility. When it comes to those big cats I would think being aware would be better than being oblivious to their presence.

 

[puzzled in oregon]

196 lb. cat is impressive.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

It's children they are stalking and going after. Heres another one https://katu.com/news/local/2-more-...weeks-after-cougar-stranded-on-haystack-rock#

 

[Ridgetop]

I believe that even if there is a remote possibility of an animal like a mountain lion being in an area, the wildlife depts. should be open about it to prepare people and warn them to be open to the possibility. When it comes to those big cats I would think being aware would be better than being oblivious to their presence.

Reports to animal control or Fish and Game when livestock has been taken or dogs killed gets you a pamphlet in the mail "Living with our Wildlife Neighbors".
We are in the southeast foothills of the San Fernando Valley in southern California. We are only about 20 minutes from downtown Burbank. Technically it is inside the city limits of Los Angeles - no guns allowed. We are surrounded by acreage and through a couple acres of open land we back up to the Angeles National Forest and the Tujunga Wash. We are inundated with coyotes - Burbank city park has signs warning about coyotes. We get cougars every year since they are protected in California. They eat people's pets and livestock. We even have bears wander in occasionally. California cougars are not afraid of people, guns or anything - except packs of dogs. They have been protected too long. Californians have been told that they will not be hurt by cougars, bears, coyotes (who have been attacking children in parks and dogs on leashes). The Walt Disney movie industry has not done any favors to logical thinking about predators. The people who demand safety for wild predators and no hunting laws have never seen one in the wild, or lost livestock. Most of the PETA and animal rights people don't know anything about the real thing.

I enjoy watching predators on National Geographic. We live with them in harmony with our sheep because we keep several livestock guardian dogs. I would hate to see all the predators eradicated, but I have no problem with hunting them when they are killing livestock or endangering people.

We have had them come into our yard from the deep ravine behind our house. One stalked a young man who was doing some brush clearance for us. He thought it was our neighborhood bobcat till he saw the long tail. Luckily, he revved the weedeater at it and since he was a football player and big it ran off. Our dogs chased another one out of the ravine into the yard. When my son came out of the house, he saw it perched on our fence before it headed off across our pasture with the dogs in pursuit. The neighbor in the house across the road has seen them strolling on the coyote trail just below our pasture fence. We have no deer left in the area.

About 20 years ago we had 3 different cougars in the neighborhood. One was hanging out near the junior high school watching the children as they walked home from school. Another killed a couple large dogs. If wasn't until a man was attacked riding his bicycle that the Fish and Game did more than tell people to "Be Aware". I told my children when they went out at night to take the dogs with them and if the dogs went after anything to run for the house and let the dogs take care of it.

That same year a woman in the west end of the Valley came home (to her residential neighborhood) and as she was getting out of her car saw a cougar approaching on the sidewalk. She did what the animal rights people tell you - raised her arms up and shouted. She was turning to go to her front door 50 feet away when it charged her, and she scrambled back into her car. It jumped on the hood and clawed at the windshield! She was trapped in the car honking the horn until neighbors looked out and called the police who chased it off.

That list doesn't show the woman who was running on a San Francisco trail and was killed by a cougar. She had 3 young children. The cougar had 3 cubs. There was a request for donations to help the surviving offspring which raised thousands of dollars. For the children? No. The money was raised for the orphaned cougar cubs.

A tagged cougar was found injured last year. He had been around for years in the Santa Monica Mountains. He was euthanized due to injuries and disease. A big memorial was held for hum costing thousands of dollars! Hundreds of people went.

A friend in Texas Hill Country breeds working Anatolian livestock guardian dogs and goats. A big cougar was killing calves and sheep in the area. It made the mistake of coming after his goats. His Anatolians killed it - it took 5 of them. It was a huge male - 9' long. The dogs had some injuries but recovered.

I will say this - If you hear dogs after a wild cougar, their warning bark actually makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. It happened to us on another occasion when our 2 dogs ran off a cougar from the goat pen.

Live and let live I say, as long as they don't come after me or mine.

 

[libertygarden]

If anyone is from NE TX, for a while I have heard rumors, even seen fussy trail cams video of big cats with long tails. My neighbor claims to have seen one twice in the last 2 months by a pond on my property. I'm not sure what to make of it. I'd be more afraid of a pack of dogs though.

 

[Ridgetop]

Where are you in northeast Texas? We are around Yantis/Sulphur Springs. We keep several Anatolian LGDs for the sheep.

Those big cats can travel several miles on their own patch of hunting turf. I believe that there are big cats everywhere whether we see them or not. Lots of stray dogs and cats for them to eat. Lots more people on "ranchettes" getting pet goats, etc. Those cats are almost invisible in brush and move silently. Saw a picture posted by someone on vacation who posed her child under a sign warning about mountain lion danger. The family told friends while showing them the vacation pix that it was all hype since they hadn't seen a single one in that area. The friend was looking at the pix and noticed a cougar laying up in the brush right behind the child! LOL Just because they don't walk down the street .in front of you doesn't mean they are not around. The Fish and Game authorities don't want to tell people big cats are coming into an area because they are afraid it will cause fear. If there are no resident large predators in an area a youngster will relocate when seeking new territory. Instead of reintroducing wolf packs, cougars, and grizzlies into livestock areas, I think they should introduce them into Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Austin. Places where PETA will welcome them.

 

[libertygarden]

Where are you in northeast Texas? We are around Yantis/Sulphur Springs. We keep several Anatolian LGDs for the sheep.

Those big cats can travel several miles on their own patch of hunting turf. I believe that there are big cats everywhere whether we see them or not. Lots of stray dogs and cats for them to eat. Lots more people on "ranchettes" getting pet goats, etc. Those cats are almost invisible in brush and move silently. Saw a picture posted by someone on vacation who posed her child under a sign warning about mountain lion danger. The family told friends while showing them the vacation pix that it was all hype since they hadn't seen a single one in that area. The friend was looking at the pix and noticed a cougar laying up in the brush right behind the child! LOL Just because they don't walk down the street .in front of you doesn't mean they are not around. The Fish and Game authorities don't want to tell people big cats are coming into an area because they are afraid it will cause fear. If there are no resident large predators in an area a youngster will relocate when seeking new territory. Instead of reintroducing wolf packs, cougars, and grizzlies into livestock areas, I think they should introduce them into Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Austin. Places where PETA will welcome them.

Right above you, between Cooper and Paris. The video I saw was from a trail camera on a friend's property in Whitewright.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

This morning my husband and I drove then hiked up to the mountain spring that is our water supply. It requires frequecnt checking and managing. I was surprized when he took a gun out of his tool bag. He said he always has that with him up here.

 

[Dave]

Those big cats can travel several miles on their own patch of hunting turf. I believe that there are big cats everywhere whether we see them or not. Lots of stray dogs and cats for them to eat. Lots more people on "ranchettes" getting pet goats, etc. Those cats are almost invisible in brush and move silently. Saw a picture posted by someone on vacation who posed her child under a sign warning about mountain lion danger. The family told friends while showing them the vacation pix that it was all hype since they hadn't seen a single one in that area. The friend was looking at the pix and noticed a cougar laying up in the brush right behind the child! LOL Just because they don't walk down the street .in front of you doesn't mean they are not around. The Fish and Game authorities don't want to tell people big cats are coming into an area because they are afraid it will cause fear. If there are no resident large predators in an area a youngster will relocate when seeking new territory. Instead of reintroducing wolf packs, cougars, and grizzlies into livestock areas, I think they should introduce them into Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Austin. Places where PETA will welcome them.

Travel miles is an understatement. Years ago a man I knew caught and held a mature cougar in a coyote trap. He call the game dept to turn it loose. They drugged it and put a collar on it. This was north of Mt Rainier National Park Two days later it was hit and killed by a car along the Columbia River. That is 130 miles as the crow flies. Through serious mountain range and several big river drainages.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Good riddance. Cougars have huge territories. The problen is they overlap.

 

[TexasJerseyMilker]

Young cougar sighting prompts alert in Northwest Bend neighborhood

A young cougar was spotted in a Northwest Bend neighborhood late Saturday morning, and police are asking people to be on alert and protect their pets.The young

katu.com

' Young' can still carry of children.

 

[Ouachita]

You've heard nothing until you've heard a chupacabra in the night.

I missed this post, much like I do many things in life. One thing I've never missed is the sound of my darlin when she has a burr under her saddle. She would make your chupacabra sound like a lullaby.

She keeps it real, and interesting. I don't know what I'd do without her supervision.