60+ year old thread.

We have cats in our neighborhood and in the open space next to our house. Kinda big cats...

One of these walked past our front door a week ago and another was in our back yard a while back



Those guys, plus the coyotes in our neighborhood take a toll on the outdoor cats


However, they are not the apex cats around us....These cats are



Both photos are not by me, they are by local individuals.

 

I've got a cougar sighting on my bucket list. With all the big cats around here, and all the times we get out into the wild, you'd think I would have seen one. Smelled them... but no sightings. Cripe, I've seen stuff here that isn't even supposed to live here, but not a single cougar.
I guess I'll just have to settle for seeing the old lady. She's half a year older than me and I give her crap about it half of the year.

 

I’ve not seen a cougar this year but it’s still August

 

Many years ago while on a combo trout fishing/deer scouting trip in the Tahoe national forest I was stalked by a cougar. It was definitely scary. I was armed with a 44 mag but it was still a long stressful hike back to camp. Also saw one in the same area while I was deer hunting. I don’t think he knew I was there. Bears, mountain lions and 2 legged predators are the reason I’m always armed when I go afield

 

Wow, great pictures. We're taking care of our son's Bengal cat while he is in the process of moving; according to the vet, he is only three generations removed from the wild, and yeah, some times you can definitely tell there is something wild going on in him. The key to keeping him calm is providing him with lots of stimulation; we've found putting him in our collapsible wagon and toting him around the neighborhood calms him down a lot. This picture was from earlier today:

 

I carry all the time. I don't pack a 44 because it can't be concealed. Not sure my old bones or my ears could take the abuse anyways. But yeah, I'm not sure if being out on a hike or being in a grocery store without a weapon would be a great idea. Of course I've never seen anything I needed it for, but I believe in the Scout motto...

 

I’m ccw and also have a Utah ccw which gives me reciprocity in 30 plus other states. Always carry my Glock 19 9mm. When in the wilderness I generally carry a 357mag and when in grizzly country carry a 44 mag. Actually when I was stalked by the cougar I was carrying a 357. That was back in the 80’s. Didn’t get my first 44 mag until 1987 when I went back packing/trout fishing in the Montana Bear Tooth wilderness (grizzly country)

 

Once mountain biking on a single track that had tall dense foliage on both sides I was stopped dead in my tracks by a huge Bobcat in the middle of that trail that was barely wide enough for my bike. That cat stood its ground and just stared at me, showing its teeth when I tried to scare it off with my bike......It won, I drug my bike through that foliage and went around the beast.

 

Might have had a cub or a kill just into the bush. You might have found out if you chose the wrong side to go around... lol

 

I like 357s. I just bought a lever action Rossi with peep sights. Nice saddle gun to go with the hip mounted Ruger. If a bear can get through them he deserves what he gets.

 

On a 12 mile hike in Glacier National park I rounded a bend on a narrow trail and found a 20 something girl on her knees sobbing. She had just been bluff charged by a Grizzly moments before. I stayed with her until a group came down and sent her with them back to camp and I continued on up to glacier.

The threat of a real Grizzly attack was in all our minds for a photographer had been killed and eaten by a Grizzly sow and her Cubs about two weeks earlier in the park.

I foolishly felt I was safe because I had my 357 magnum in my fanny pack....Ya, I know, illegal to have firearms in National Parks...Silly me.

A few hours later I saw my one and only Grizzly. It was massive and I was alone. I realized my 357 would not make a dent in that critter, that's why the Lewis and Clark expedition members were terrified of the bears out west, their guns couldn't kill the Grizzlies. That huge critter just ambled along, payed no attention to me.

I got home and went to our local gun shop and traded up......