Defending against cougars, the bears of the woods

Recently someone was killed by a cougar in Washington. Apparently while the cougar was busy attacking his cycling buddy, he attempted to flee. That triggered the chase and kill instinct of the cougar, which then left his buddy to go after him.

What are your tips for defending against cougars?

It appears that unlike for defending against bear attacks, you can no longer bring a .22 to shoot your buddy in the knee so you can flee.

Yeah, read about that one! I'm in Washington now but luckily not in cougar country. Probably awareness and a sidearm?

Do not turn your back if you see them. Do not run. Fight tooth and nail with anything you have.

This was the first cougar related fatality since 1924 in Washington. Running was evidently a mistake. Stand your ground and make yourself look as big as possible...

Here is a documentary on how it´s done ;):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpI_Foef7-o&t=70
Application in real life may be a tiny bit harder.
In news about victims that survived with fairly small injuries the stories had in common that the people fought back and the buddies attacked the cougar with all the could weaponize.

The bikers stood their ground, even using a bike as a weapon at first. This was a determined lion. Most attacks in WA end as soon as the person puts up any kind of resistance. One mom snatched her little one from the jaws of a cougar after pummeling it with a water bottle. Puma-ling.
http://www.khq.com/story/11079274/officers-tracking-cougar-that-reportedly-attacked-child

There has been an increase in Mt Lion attacks in Washington State in the last 20 years. When the lion population gets too dense, the young starving lions get more desperate. They speculate this one was so hungry it wouldn't give up. Some methods of lion hunting, and numbers allowed to be taken, have been reduced in recent years in WA state. Some think this may be having the effect of an increase in attacks. Others say less hunting makes for more stability.

Pepper spray has worked for one biologist we met presenting wildlife information a cub scout camp. On three occasions he said.

Yelling worked in this situation
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/outdoors/...-while-camping/

Mt Lion hunters can legally use smaller caliber centerfire cartridges for taking than deer hunters can in WA state. 22 caliber for lion, 24 for deer minimum.

As I understand it, the cyclist who sped away (and was killed) did so to draw the animal away from his companion, whose head was in the cougar's jaws and being shaken side to side.

So, he was hardly "running away," but rather trying to help. Tragically, his ploy worked -- at a terrible cost. I wasn't there, so I'm not inclined to armchair quarterback. Coming across a cougar that aggressive and persistent in broad daylight is the equivalent of a UFO.

Aren't bears the bears of the woods?

Just for perspective, how many have died as the result of encounters with dogs? honey bees? various insects??

Be alert for mountain lions,for sure, but they aren't the only hazard out there. Statistically, they are trivial.

I have encountered exactly 2 cougars in all my years of tramping around the outdoors.

The first one was way too close for comfort and left me spooked for quite some time. The second was a bit further away and it was a privilege to see such a magnificent animal for a few long seconds before it bounded away.

As HM mentioned, plenty of other threats out there that will take you down and snuff out your life in an instance, before an extremely rare chance of a cougar attack ever will.

If you live around honey bees, dogs, or various insects.

If you live around other hazards the risk goes up for those.

Here is the bear researcher that just got munched by hanging around bears.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/anim...m=.a925374acfea

I liked the comment below about how she should have been carrying ANTI-bear spray. She just had bear spray, a common mistake.

I always go with the odds when planning.
Facts rather than fear.

I have only seen two myself. But have several friends who have been stalked. One in California, others in WA. Those cats are out there and they are thinking about you as possible pray, at least in passing.

I think wildlife management practices have changed and that has led to the increase in MT LIon incidents we see in WA state in the last 20 years. The numbers of cats has increased, the methods of take and number allowed to be taken have been reduced. Scientists tell us the population is self regulating as the excess cats are chased off by the others, which leaves them starving (like this cat that attacked the bikers) and roaming in populated areas.

Like hikemor mentioned, bees could get you first. With the honey bee die off and the cougar (and pit bull) populations on the rise, some of those hazards may switch places in the stats.

My favorite climbing area (Baboquivari Peak, SW of Tucson, AZ) is prime mountain lion country. I have observed cat tracks covering my ascending trail while on descent the same day (stalking or curious?). A rancher observed that he had never raised a colt to maturity in the 30+/- years he had been living there.

A local feature on the peak is named "Lion Ledge," for obvious reasons. Over the years I have made more than seventy ascents, many involving overnight camps.

I have never seen a kitty cat, although I am sure they have seen (or smelled!) me.. Babo was first climbed in the 1890s and is now a popular destination - one of the few Arizona peaks where a rope is required to reach the summit. Over the years there has been at least one climbing fatality, but none due to kitties (nor injuries, either, for that matter.

The Babo kitties must be well fed - lots of coatimundis, rabbits, and colts to feast on. Besides climbers are tough and stringy.

Times have changed since I was there. Many more problems with drug smuggling and other border issues than with cats.

Other ranges is S. AZ have populations of mountain lions and encounters are quite rare. No fatalities that I know of...

This is one reason I am somewhat blase about dealing with wild critters. I was active in SAR here for decades, and fatalities from falls and drownings were common. We lost seven in about twenty minutes one fine spring day due to a flash flood - took the rest of the week to find and recover their bodies.

I spent a couple of weeks in 1995 solo camping on the Eastern edge of the Grand Canyon National Park and had a mountain lion check me out every night. I had some borrowed night vision goggles and could see her sitting on the next hill looking at me. I found new tracks around the area every day. I did build a barrier of sorts with branches around my bed down area, but she never bothered me. Saw her once during daylight hours with a cub. There were so many mule deer, elk and antelope around that I did not present a more appetizing meal.

I got up close and personal with a lot of wildlife on that trip, it was excellent.

I'll bet your experience was more common than we realize. Cats are very unobtrusive. Cool!!

As my friend always says: "If you have not ever and unknowingly been stalked by a cougar, then you have not spent enough time in the outdoors."

Of course, this also depends on where you live as not all areas are cougar habitat.

A lot of us may be closer to cougar habitat than we think. There is a viable cougar population in the Santa Monica mountains, adjacent to metropolitan Los Angeles. In my own community, I have seen coyotes, the furry, four legged kind, roaming the city streets...

I remember a news story once that described a mountain lion being tracked in downtown LA.

Coyotes are fairly common in SOCAL. My dog and I have been shadowed in the neighborhood park (which sits at the edge of a wildlife sanctuary/ravine) on morning walks but the ‘yotes generally keep enough distance from the human (me). OTOH, given the opportunity, they’d take the dog in a heartbeat as they have taken other small dogs and neighborhood cats who thought to get back to nature by hunting rabbits... and the hunter becomes dinner.

A cougar here would get a wee bit more attention.

And this - a bear wandering around in a peaceful oceanside socal community:

http://www.keyt.com/news/ventura-county/large-bear-found-wandering-ventura-neighborhood/747805069

Looking at the last few years, Wyoming is the state that has the most deaths due to lightning. Yet more people have been killed by bears in Wyoming in the same time frame.

Alaska of recent decades, Lightning 0, bears 16

Yellowstone since it's creation

"To put it in perspective, the probability of being killed by a bear in the park (8 incidents) is only slightly higher than the probability of being killed by a falling tree (6 incidents), in an avalanche (6 incidents), or being struck and killed by lightning (5 incidents)."

https://www.ammoland.com/2018/05/bears-or-lightning-which-is-more-deadly/#axzz5H5xFhlNw

Mountain Lions are here and they scare me. There have been no sightings in my city but one has been caught right next door and another spotted even closer. https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/big-cat-caught-officials-nab-cougar-in-southern-ontario-town-1.1910607

I prepare as if they are here already. Walking sticks, whistles, staying together as a group. We have coyotes, and expect bears not too far from home, so many of the same precautions are at play. The kiddos and I practice getting big and loud and scaring them away every time we hit the trail, trying to instill good habits young. It makes me more seriously consider how far I let them roam when we're out in the wilds. Their situational awareness is limited to what other people are playing with or eating, so mine is already on hyper-drive.