Protection from Dangerous Animals

[BlkKnit]

Originally posted by Halo
mT, is your dog a match for a mountain lion (recalling the famous clip of mule stomping a cougar, but uncertain how alive the cougar was before the mule got it)?

Rip, I can see a mountain lion equating a pack of dogs with danger, but single dogs?  I would think most cougars could easily take most dogs individually.

Yeah, but dogs naturally run in packs, I figure a mt lion would know this (they are very well read ).  Where theres one there are surely more.

So Cal (Kern Cty / Bakersfield area) in my youth:
Hunting around lots of big black bears, but never saw one, just fresh tracks and other "sign".  Coyotes would often ring the house (they do that here in Arkansas too).

Here in Arkansas, we got black bears too.  mt lions are officially non-existant here, but there a few around and seem to migrate through annually.  Wild hogs, copperheads and other snakes (had one get in the house a couple of years ago), big waterhead pitbulls are popular with the local meth heads.  I have guns.

[storch]

Originally posted by BlkKnit
Yeah, but dogs naturally run in packs, I figure a mt lion would know this (they are very well read ).  Where theres one there are surely more.

So Cal (Kern Cty / Bakersfield area) in my youth:
Hunting around lots of big black bears, but never saw one, just fresh tracks and other "sign".  Coyotes would often ring the house (they do that here in Arkansas too).

Here in Arkansas, we got black bears too.  mt lions are officially non-existant here, but there a few around and seem to migrate through annually.  Wild hogs, copperheads and other snakes (had one get in the house a couple of years ago), big waterhead pitbulls are popular with the local meth heads.  I have guns.

I gotta call BS.  the public edumaction system in california can barely teach humans to read (call lazs exihibit "A").  there is absolutely no way a so cal mountain lion learned to read in california.  now the florida panther might be an exception. those california ones?  not a chance.

[midnight Target]

with all the tree huggers in CA throwing money at the animals, the Cougars here can afford a private school education.

[eagl]

Plus mt lions gossip.  A lot.  They just seem to "know things".

My Dad responded to a call of a mt lion wandering on a freeway.  He tried to herd it off the road with his patrol car but it just kept walking down the middle of the road.  He remembered that mt lions are terrified of people and might not know what a car was, so he drove out in front of it and got out of the car.  Big mistake.  The lion walked right up to him, gave him a tiny glance, and kept walking.  My Dad knew from the same "expert" that he'd better not move 'cause a mt lion inside about 30 ft can get to you faster than he could draw his weapon and fire a shot.  So he got really lucky.

They trapped the lion and it just went to sleep in the cage.  Turns out it had been hit by a car and had a concussion.  The next day after it had slept off the hangover though, you couldn't get within 20 ft of the cage without it going beserk.  The fish and game guy told my Dad he should have gotten a lottery ticket after work because he was the luckiest guy on the planet for about 60 seconds.  The lion *should have* torn his throat out just for being there, but it was too dazed to attack.  The lion was otherwise uninjured (after getting hit by a car going 65-70 mph) and they let it go in a remote area a few days later.

[BlkKnit]

Originally posted by storch
I gotta call BS.  the public edumaction system in california can barely teach humans to read (call lazs exihibit "A").  there is absolutely no way a so cal mountain lion learned to read in california.  now the florida panther might be an exception. those california ones?  not a chance.

Hay, thay tout mee how two reed and spel

[john9001]

"Phil Anderson, dog wrestler, jujitsu fan."

dog wrestler?

[lazs2]

I have only had problems with dogs and a wild boar that had been shot and was wounded by the guys I was with.   the dogs were have all been shot with one of two different 44's and the boar was killed with a ruger super blackhawk...  I believe all were killed with 250 grain lead semi wadcutters.

Dogs are the worst problem around here.  I have heard of mountain lions but never seen one in the wild...  I usually carry a smith 340 pd in .357 on hikes but fear people or wild dogs more than mountain lions or bears.

storchita... I learned to read in catholic school but... you have a point about public school.   Where did you learn to read by the way?

lazs

[Ripsnort]

Originally posted by eagl
Plus mt lions gossip.  A lot.  They just seem to "know things".

My Dad responded to a call of a mt lion wandering on a freeway.  He tried to herd it off the road with his patrol car but it just kept walking down the middle of the road.  He remembered that mt lions are terrified of people and might not know what a car was, so he drove out in front of it and got out of the car.  Big mistake.  The lion walked right up to him, gave him a tiny glance, and kept walking.  My Dad knew from the same "expert" that he'd better not move 'cause a mt lion inside about 30 ft can get to you faster than he could draw his weapon and fire a shot.  So he got really lucky.

They trapped the lion and it just went to sleep in the cage.  Turns out it had been hit by a car and had a concussion.  The next day after it had slept off the hangover though, you couldn't get within 20 ft of the cage without it going beserk.  The fish and game guy told my Dad he should have gotten a lottery ticket after work because he was the luckiest guy on the planet for about 60 seconds.  The lion *should have* torn his throat out just for being there, but it was too dazed to attack.  The lion was otherwise uninjured (after getting hit by a car going 65-70 mph) and they let it go in a remote area a few days later.

I figured I finish "the rest of the story" after the release of that mountain lion:

Barbara Schoener, 40, a friend of my sister and a long-distance runner in excellent physical shape, was killed by an 80-pound female mountain lion in Northern California on the American River Canyon trail in the Auburn State Recreation Area. No one observed the attack, and hence there are conflicting hypotheses about what occurred.

Barbara's husband Pete Schoener says that the lion was probably hidden on a ledge above the trail and pounced on Barbara as she passed underneath the lion. The lion knocked her down a slope and she was badly wounded, but she fought the animal with her arms before she was killed. Then the lion dragged her farther before eating most of her body.

The accounts in the paper said that investigators theorize that the lion surprised her by sneaking within 20' behind her on the tight trail and then ambushing Schoener, knocking her 30' down an 80° slope. Indications are she already was badly wounded but briefly fought the animal there before the lion finished the kill.

The trail is part of the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run trail. Barbara was the first person in California in the 20th Century to die from a mountain lion attack.

[storch]

Originally posted by john9001
"Phil Anderson, dog wrestler, jujitsu fan."

dog wrestler?

maybe you haven't met mrs. anderson?

[Hornet33]

Well growing up in SW Oklahoma we had the odd mountain lion but they were pretty rare. Rattlesnakes on the other hand were a dime a dozen. Got bitten once and it hurt like hell. Spent a few days in the hospital over that one. Accidently cornered an armidillo once too. You really don't want to do that because those little bastards can get mean real quick. When I did go out though I'd usually have a .22 pistol with me. Really all you need for those types of threats.