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Your Cougar Encounters

4130biker

4130biker

PM me about Tantrum Cycles!
May 24, 2007
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Either cougar type is acceptable for our purposes here in the lounge, but I'm actually posting to hear your stories about encounters with the actual animal.
My biking-animal encounters are limited to black bear, deer, elk, and coyotes, but I'm fascinated by mountain lions.
The video below of this biker's encounter with a cougar is pretty nuts...
I cringe to think what would have happened if he hadn't seen this guy in the grass!
 
W

wiscodh

Monkey
Jun 21, 2007
833
121
303
4130biker said:
Either cougar type is acceptable for our purposes here in the lounge, but I'm actually posting to hear your stories about encounters with the actual animal.
My biking-animal encounters are limited to black bear, deer, elk, and coyotes, but I'm fascinated by mountain lions.
The video below of this biker's encounter with a cougar is pretty nuts...
I cringe to think what would have happened if he hadn't seen this guy in the grass!
Click to expand...
Oh. Fuck that. I would a shat me pantaloons
 
Jozz

Jozz

Joe Dalton
Apr 18, 2002
6,001
7,616
SADL
Had one of those encounters on Porc Rim in Moab, 20 feet away and growling... I was not in my happy place...
 
Jozz

Jozz

Joe Dalton
Apr 18, 2002
6,001
7,616
SADL
johnbryanpeters said:
How did you handle it?
Click to expand...
The kitty was under a shrub at the side of the trail, I was waiting for Karine when I heard it, and saw it. Big effing cat looking at me. I got of my bike putting it between me and the angry feline. Nervously walked away 50 feet farther, looked back and the cat was gone. Karine came rolling by and I did not yell or anything cause I didn't want her to stop at the wrong place. When I told her what I saw she pedaled away so fast I could not keep up! ;)
 
JohnE

JohnE

filthy rascist
May 13, 2005
13,521
2,133
Front Range, dude...
We had one come on base when I was stationed in Washington...was hanging out in the housing area. They got a "professional" hunter to come and take him out. I had to laugh as every redneck wanna be hero came out and wanted to shoot up the housing area to kill him.

I ride the Auburn Rec Area alot, there are watch out for cougars signs there...never took them seriously before. Found out recently that a runner was killed by a cougar there a few years back. I am never leaving the couch again...
 
jackalope

jackalope

Mental acuity - 1%
Jan 9, 2004
7,685
6,083
in a single wide, cooking meth...
And *that* is why they make light sabers...Wut? They don't make those yet? Then how 'bout an enduro jet back? Surely Dakine makes one by now.

I actually had a few relatively close encounters with various fur demons when my I was on my honeymoon in BC...

Large bear doing bear stuff (fuzzy bottoms is in the middle of the picture) -



Until Mr. Teddy Bear noticed me...



Poop was jettisoned as I beat a hasty retreat (my wife had long abandoned my dumb ass and was nowhere to be seen).

We stopped and climbed up the big rock face in Squamish on the way back to Van, and came across this little kitty...which is obviously not a coug, but it was still kind of disconcerting to see it prowling around (that thing was bigger than it looks in the pic)



Obviously no pics, but I found this fairly spooky...a tracking path of a boat sized great white shark (my parents place is at Murrels Inlet, and I was in the water during the days she was cruising by)

 
CBJ

CBJ

year old fart
Mar 19, 2002
13,080
4,797
Copenhagen, Denmark
I thought the wise thing would be to scare it away instead of filming himself and the cat. Reminds of the guy who got killed by a bear in NJ this year taking pictures of the bear as it was coming towards him.
 
stoney

stoney

Part of the unwashed, middle-American horde
Jul 26, 2006
21,966
7,813
Colorado
I unintentionally chased a cub down 'the crack' in Bay Area. It's a once you're in, you're going fast and not stopping. Thing was screaming and running like hell. Had a buddy not moving as fast a few minutes behind me. I was pretty sure we were going to be eaten. Never saw the mother.

Another when I was still in SoCal riding in Whiting Ranch (where the biker and jogger were killed and attacked accordingly) came around a corner to see a cat in a hunting crouch at roughly eye height on a trail cut to my side. Started screaming and yelling to disrupt it and let my Dad know. Haven't ridden there since, especially since the attacks (also I don't have a bike in SoCal).
 
dan-o

dan-o

Turbo Monkey
Jun 30, 2004
6,499
2,805
While poaching Mt Tam at night on a figure 8 shaped loop my buddy and I were stalked by a couple mtn lions. Was decidedly uncool.
 
velocipedist

velocipedist

Lubrication Sensei
Jul 11, 2006
560
702
Rainbow City Alabama
Riding in Japan I had a few close encounters.

Fall evening ride at night light up a wild boar rootin for food in the middle of the trail, fly past it gives chase for 1km until I cross a small stream.

20 some odd macaques watching from the woods as a single alpha pounded his chest and vocalized. Glad they dont like team work.

In either case calmly exiting what you perceive to be their "territory" as quickly as possible seems to me the only option.
 
Jm_

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
19,931
10,522
AK
CBJ said:
I thought the wise thing would be to scare it away instead of filming himself and the cat. Reminds of the guy who got killed by a bear in NJ this year taking pictures of the bear as it was coming towards him.
Click to expand...
Cats hate to be filmed, you should have done that.
 
Blown240

Blown240

Monkey
Nov 19, 2013
443
290
stoney said:
Another when I was still in SoCal riding in Whiting Ranch (where the biker and jogger were killed and attacked accordingly) came around a corner to see a cat in a hunting crouch at roughly eye height on a trail cut to my side.
Click to expand...
Thats crazy! Ive been riding Whiting regularly since 1995 and have never seen one there. Lots of deer and the occasional rattler, but never a cat.

Once a buddy and I were following a cub down the Luge until we realized how incredibly stupid that was.
 
johnbryanpeters

johnbryanpeters

Hero
Sep 27, 2001
36,688
18,051
Making moss sad in New Haven, Vermont
Jozz said:
The kitty was under a shrub at the side of the trail, I was waiting for Karine when I heard it, and saw it. Big effing cat looking at me. I got of my bike putting it between me and the angry feline. Nervously walked away 50 feet farther, looked back and the cat was gone. Karine came rolling by and I did not yell or anything cause I didn't want her to stop at the wrong place. When I told her what I saw she pedaled away so fast I could not keep up! ;)
Click to expand...
I have used the bike between me and critter, but only on dogs.

jonKranked said:
i want a pet mountain lion
Click to expand...
It's on my wish list.
 
jonKranked

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
88,147
26,487
media blackout
one time at platty i hiked over to the double side since they were running the triple, can't remember what trail i was on but came around a blind corner to a huge ass black bear. scared the hell out of both of us, bear took off running. it was close enough that i could have hit it if i reached out.
 
jstuhlman

jstuhlman

bagpipe wanker
Dec 3, 2009
17,250
14,018
Cackalacka du Nord
i have felt the distinct presence of the local chupacabra during solo night rides at our local trail. it lives in a concrete bunker at the base of the mountain. even captured it on camera stalking my son a few years back . . .
 
rideit

rideit

Bob the Builder
Aug 24, 2004
24,353
12,252
In the cleavage of the Tetons
I have seen a few here, both riding and trailbuilding. The sketchiest was when a 140 # or so (according to my friends that were behind me) got on my rear wheel and 'chased' me down the trail for a few hundred yards, entirely unbeknownst to me. I say 'chased' because in reality he was just trucking down the trail to get away from the group coming behind me, I think. I had to stop for some blowdown, in which case if he were really after me, he would have caught me there. I never saw it.
 
4130biker

4130biker

PM me about Tantrum Cycles!
May 24, 2007
3,884
450
Jesus, this thread is terrifying!
Almost forgot.. I was on Mary's peak in Oregon, riding north ridge and it was almost dark. It feels remote because you really can't hear traffic in the distance, see lights, or anything even though it's pretty high relief from the surrounding valleys. I have two friends with me, one who can keep up, and another who is a beginner and we stop frequently for him.
So Justin and I stop right after a techy bit to wait for Will. We both hear a loud growl, and we looked at each other thinking, "oh haha, he's fucking with me". After a few seconds of "that was you, right??", we started looking around us and up the trees for the thing. Ten seconds later, Will rolls up and eats shit right on the techy root wad! We still can't spot whatever growled, Will is down and holding his knee like Peter from the family guy, and Justin and I are like "get the fuck up dude, let's go!" Which of course took Will a while to grasp why we were rushing him.
Rest of the way down, we put Will in the middle and made a shitload of noise the entire time, riding at a much slower pace. Everything was fine, but it still creeps me out, and I'm super glad I wasn't alone. The likely candidates for the growl was either cougar or black bear in hindsight...

TL;DR scary animal growl in the dark with a long ride out
 
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JohnE

JohnE

filthy rascist
May 13, 2005
13,521
2,133
Front Range, dude...
While hiking above Estes Park Co one summer I came upon a large boulder. As I passed it I heard a thump, looked back and was staring down and being stared down by a bobcat...we stared each down for what seemed like a week, until he decided I was too brawny and cool looking to take down and headed off down my back trail. Was a pretty cool experience, especially because he didn't try to eat me.
 
kidwoo

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Aug 25, 2003
42,146
13,344
Squirtin ketchup n' mustard on charred flesh
I've seen one riding a bike that at first thought "holy crap that's a big coyote". Got closer then had to do the bike over head dwid dance while screaming in english (the cat's native tongue). I walked away.

Then more recently I've seen two kits crossing the road as I rounded the corner on a dirt road........never saw mom.

Fuck those things. Cats suck.
 
Kanye West

Kanye West

220# bag of hacktastic
Aug 31, 2006
3,767
501
I was hiking down lower Romero Canyon in Santa Barbara recently with my gf near dusk. We would hear a few slow footsteps behind us every time we stopped. Knew right away it was a cat. This went on a few times so we knew for sure what we were hearing, so I turned around and stalked it back. As soon as it heard loud fast footsteps and noises coming towards it, it scampered off real quick up the hillside. I saw a long tail leap up into a tree, and that's all (it was getting dark). We boogied out of there fast after that.

That's usually all you get to see of them - just a long tail disappearing into some brush, and not much else around the mountains with a 3' long tail...

As you can see in the video, unless they have total control (the element of surprise), they won't attack a full grown human standing upright, or unless they're REALLY hungry. You'll never look one of these things in the eyes if they're attacking you.

That said, I still generally wouldn't recommend my strategy.
 
Serial Midget

Serial Midget

Al Bundy
Jun 25, 2002
13,053
1,897
Fort of Rio Grande
Way back in the 80's I was a busboy at The Warehouse Inn in Parker Colorado and worked with an older waitress named Ruby. Once a year Ruby would throw a huge all night summer party at her house in Kiowa.The year I was invited Ruby had 3 mountain lions as pets which she kept caged outside her house. This is as close as I have ever been to a really big cat, they pretty much just layed around and followed you with their eyes.
 
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