In all my years in the woods I’ve only seen one cat, and that was when I was driving home off Wolf Mountain outside of Oakridge, OR, after bow hunting. It ran across the logging road in front of me and disappeared into the reprod.
P
Obey lawful commands. Video interactions. Hold bad cops accountable. Problem solved.
Loved Stumpy Meadows and Hell Hole area . Me and some highschool friends would take an aluminum boat to the east end, and camp next to the Rubicon river . Would usualy stay 5-7 days, and not see another sole . No trouble with lions then , they were legally hunted , but plenty of rattlers.
We might have crossed paths at some point, kenster99. Lots of stories about trout fishing the Hell Hole and the rattlers are no joke.
A few years ago we had 8-10 LEO’s following the crik 50’ from my back door. A couple of guys hanging Christmas lights on a house had watched one walk up the crik bottom and disappear into the cattail swamp. Last year one of our neighbors, coming home from the late shift at the hospital, watched one cross the road in front of her. They are here in the suburbs of Omaha, but seem well behaved enough…
“My horn is full and my pouch is stocked with ball and patch. There is a new, sharp flint in my lock and my rifle and I are ready. It is sighted true and my eyes can still aim.” Kaywoodie
Used to hunt coyotes in this area around Y2K with a .223 Contender. Still remember walking into a gas station and reading the headlines on a newspaper in Placerville about mountain lions spotted in town. In some places we are not at the top of the food chain and there are things out there that will hurt you. Just a thought.
Geno, it seems that spotting one crossing the road at night is where most people get their lion sighting.
I'd love to be able to watch one make a kill on a deer.
Lonnie, saw one take down a fawn on my property, actually heard the death cry first. That same year I had seen 7 on my property alone. Maybe some of the same lion , but many more on my way home . They need to be hunted again , its crazy.
Geno, it seems that spotting one crossing the road at night is where most people get their lion sighting.
I'd love to be able to watch one make a kill on a deer.
I haven't had that pleasure yet, just the road crossing type of encounters. I count myself lucky as I've think I'm up to having seen around 5 total now that way.
And things like this, after getting up from eating lunch on a hunt down near Sedona I walked about 30 feet from where I'd been sitting and ran across tracks from only a day or so before. I kept my eyes a little further after knowing it was in the area recently
The desert is a true treasure for him who seeks refuge from men and the evil of men. In it is contentment In it is death and all you seek (Quoted from "The Bleeding of the Stone" Ibrahim Al-Koni)
Having changed locality, seems I went from being a bit spooked by lions to alligators. Neither make me panicky, but when recreating in areas I know either are likely present, I tend to pay a bit more attention. Especially with the kids and dogs.
While it’s obviously far easier to spot alligators, it’s always the one you don’t see that poses the problems. Unless of course you are a complete idiot. Seems gators get a few of those every year. I’m
“Life is life and fun is fun, but it's all so quiet when the goldfish die.”
Wage, Sounds like you got lots of predator action in your area. I remember when you shared the story of getting a lion while deer hunting. Most people, even those who spend quite a bit of time out and about rarely, if ever, see one. Good going.
Kenster, dang that's sure too bad. Sorry to hear that.
There are a lot of them in South tx, but I've only seen 2 in the wild in my 60 years, plenty of tracks, and occasional road kill. The brush down here is so thick you're lucky to ever see one.
God bless Texas----------------------- Old 300 I will remain what i am until the day I die- A HUNTER......Sitting Bull Its not how you pick the booger.. but where you put it !! Roger V Hunter
Used to run them with a buddy who had dogs so I got to see a fair number of them up close and personal. They seem to be like most cats in that they have a lot of speed but not a whole lot of stamina. The dogs would usually tree them up pretty quickly unless the cat lost them using the terrain. One old tom went down a narrow ledge along a cliff face and the dogs followed. The Tom eventually turned around and killed two of the three dogs before being dispatched with a 357.
Another time we were running trap lines and found one in a set. You’ve never seen fury until you get a choke pole around one of those things neck! They’ve got the look of death in their eyes as they literally tear the hell out of anything within the radius of the chain. It’s Tasmanian devil a la bugs bunny cartoons until they choke down. You have about a minute to get them out of the trap and the choke pole off of them before they come to. I can somewhat imagine what that poor 21 YO and the 18 YO went through. What a horrible experience for them and their family! Our ancestors killed them for good reasons
On the four wheeler earlier today on my dirt road and drove up to what I think was the same female I saw a month ago, just had one cub with her, the little one has grown to about 30 lbs, stopped 20 yards from her and she waited for the cub to cross the grade to the same side she was on and they walked into the oak hammock, She showed no aggression and really no fear. Most of the cats I encounter are kind of ambivalent to my presence. Panthers have never been hunted here so maybe that's why they are so mellow. There biggest threat is getting hit on roads, lose more than a dozen each year in my county.
Agreed , need to figure out how to put that prick and some others on ignore.! They are/ were good guys, one going to school to be a firefighter, the other painting houses and cutting selling firewood.
Very sad. Do you think California's gun laws had anything to do with why they didn't have a gun on them? One was old enough to own a handgun.
Bb
When I lived in Calif.,A person could carry a NONconcealed handgun when hunting. Had to have a hunting license. One could always claim "Just hunting coyotes, sir." As for shed hunting?? I don't know. I always had a handgun with me up in the mountains, whether hunting or not. The liberals have changed a lot of firearms laws since we left in Nov., 1997. I am not familiar with the firearms laws there now.
L.W.
"Always go straight forward, and if you meet the devil, cut him in two and go between the pieces." (William Sturgis, clipper ship captain, 1830s.)