Dangerous animal defense and avoidance

According to both Louisiana and Mississippi game and fish departments we don’t officially have cougars, despite me seeing tracks and sent markings trees in Louisiana and a one dragging a deer from the side of a back country hwy one night.

 

Yeah, Missouri Dept of conservation denied it here for years, but just recently acknowledged that they are are here, but rare.

 

That has to be tough for states' DNR to decide when to get the ball rolling on roaming predator species like that. We run into the same thing here in IL. There are yearly cougar sightings, and they get captured or killed by farmers yearly as well. But since they roamed in from out of state they haven't made it official on the list of IL species. Current IDNR stance is basically "we will pass laws and get into conservation issues when there is a confirmed viable breeding population."

 

When I worked for my state’s fish and wildlife service they knew there was an pocket population of cougars in Louisiana, but denied that they existed to the public because supposedly acknowledging them means they had to set up a management program for them and that costs a good bit of funds to get established. That’s typically why lost states just claim cougars found dead on roads or on trail cam pics are migrants from western states according to what I was told.

 

Yep, I heard the same thing here.

 

Makes sense from a budget standpoint, but sucks a bit for the cougars.

 

My wife and I stood down a mountain lion that was stalking/approaching us while hiking the PCT. Pretty surreal experience. The textbook stuff worked for the most part (looking big, maintaining eye contact, making noise, backing away slowly). It never did run off though. Just pulled up 15feet short of us. Anyway, I wrote down the encounter after the fact and can post it up if y'all want.

Most of the other dangerous type animals I've run into were black bears (who took of when I yelled "where's my money bear!"), rattle snakes (easily walked around), and Africanized hives of wild bees (pretty wicked stuff here in AZ).

 

Figured it would get them running a lot faster than just "hey bear!" as most of the bears I run into don't have any money...

 

Yeah it does, and it also sucks for the rural folks that everyone thinks are crazy that have seen and heard them for decades. I think there’s also the aspect of academia not wanting to have to retract pronuncing the eastern cougar extinct.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-bear-attack-theoret-coroner-report-1.5074154

 

That's a shame. Extremely rare, but that doesn't console the family. I feel awful for her husband coming back to find that.

 

Another attack in BC , young cougars this time

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/cougar-attack-on-vancouver-island-sends-child-to-hospital

 

Mauling here in NM. There’s been a few. He didn’t panic when his gun wouldn’t go back into battery from bear fur. Cleared it and took the shot that probably saved his life.
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2...ttack-finally-stopped-by-a-glock-10mm-pistol/

 

just to keep us all up at night....look at this cat

 

We have not taken any hiking vacations in Montana recently. When we did I took a Freedom Arms .475 Linebaugh either using the 400 grain Hornady or some 440 grain Buffalo Bore. If I ever shoot up the ammo that I have for it, I will sell it and carry one of these .45 Colts. The Bisley will handle heavy loads but the birds head(I replaced the hammer)conceals a little better.

 

Lawd!