Have you actually seen a mountain lion while outdoors?

[kneedownnate]

First off, I know this may likely be better suited for the outdoor section, but that sections only sees a small amount of traffic vs chit chat, and it's not a hunting related question per say.

Spawned from a recent conversation with a dfg higher up in which he stated mountain lion populations have been declining over the last 5 or more years.

Talking to other hunters or hikers, it seems that some people spend many years outdoors and never ever see a mountain lion.  Not having kept track, I'd say I've seen 12-15 so far, with a personal best of 3 in one day.

What I'm curious about is first, have you seen a mountain lion in the wild?  Second, have you seen more than one, and if so, assuming you're seeing them in the same general area or type of area in the same basic scenario, have you noticed more or less in recent years?

And I apologize ahead of time, but "cougar" references will be deleted to keep the thread clean and simple 

[locked 4x4]

I have seen quite a few.  When I was a kid growing up we had a mother and cubs that hung around our house for a while.  In the last couple years I havent seen any but on some property where we hunt we see lots of signs of them and during mateing season you can hear fighting each other.  awful sounds.  I think its one of those things where there is a bunch of them for a few years then it drops off and then there back.  Wild pigs seem to do the same thing.

[abnormaltoy]

I've seen two. One was across a rain swollen wash in the mountains east of town from me and the other was about 50yds ahead of me  (thankfully) chowing on a javelina.

[yota4x4sc]

ive seen 2... a baby one and a bigger one

[46&2]

I've seen at least a half dozen but I know I've been in the presence of way more than that.

[kneedownnate]

That's kinda what gets me about how many I've seen and how close some were.  Biggest one I've seen I thought was a deer at first, it was just that tall.  It was walking nose to the ground down a dirt road I'd walked recently, saw it when I finished the loop and came back to the truck by the gate.  Kinda funny to know something was after me but just a little too late 

[COToy91]

I have seen one and it killed 20 of the 21 goats on our land.... Decided that it was to comfortable coming so close to the house and out buildings and did a stake out with a rifle. Ended up being in the bushes less than ten yards away that night. It disappeared for a while and then came back and killed the last goat a few weeks ago.

[abnormaltoy]

A nice sized bobcat just walked past my bedroom window...'zat count for anything?

[BoG-ToY]

nate, I saw one up the road to digger bay marina

[46&2]

Hell a couple years ago I saw one run across the street in broad daylight in the middle of downtown Grass Valley. Looked young, must have been enjoying backyard poodles.

[abnormaltoy]

Hell a couple years ago I saw one run across the street in broad daylight in the middle of downtown Grass Valley. Looked young, must have been enjoying backyard poodles.

Never been there, but that brings to mind something like...downtown Possum Junction! 

[NorCalToy]

Iv seen mtn lions twice one while riding a quad another tinme in the truck while out crusing around in the forest.

But while quad riding iv seen many signs of em...kinda creepy when your tracks less than 5 minutes old have big cat tracks over them already...

[Rockcrawlintoy]

seen once once. hell i spent 4 months workin in the woods and never saw one.

[BoG-ToY]

NCT yeah that sounds kinda freaky, makes you wonder if he was following you?

[bleakhorizon]

they are very elusive and do not like human interaction, not to mention one mountain lion has a territory that can exceed 100 sq miles (although not around here).  But as with all wildlife, as we keep expanding our urban areas we are encroaching on there areas.. So either we will see them or there numbers will suffer... likely both..

Myself i used to live in the woods. and have been witness to countless "close calls", and have been stalked many of times while in the brush.  And let me tell yea, if you have been in any dense woods at all you have prob been in close contact with a cat....they will stay in cover even if you walk right up to the bush there hiding in and piss on it..

that all being said. there is a local "hot spot" per say that i have witnessed multiple cats (which is rare) that seems to be an area that they really like... i have seen cats, or seen there presence for as long as i can remember.  which for some reason has not been effected by the introduction of a new park, or multiple clear cut or thinning operations.  

I myself have seen prob 2-3 dozen (prob multiple repeat sightings), be it blazing across the path ahead of me or just plain walking through a farmers field..... And infact have "detained" a kitten whos mother was hit by a log truck until the state police got there (got a Polaroid round here somewhere, feisty lil )...

on that note, prob the biggest i have seen was about 14 miles from Tillamook up highway 6.... was no crap, from white line to white line nose to tail, prob not the biggest but i would love to stuff that and throw it on my mantle lol....


prob why we cant get no damn deer to shoot round here.... there all getn eatn lol

[bleakhorizon]

i mean damn
this one might be fake



these ones...not so much




of course these are extreme examples.

[BoG-ToY]

man those pictures just brought back all my fears about beinng out in the woods like I am sometimes

[redrocket93]

Got this an email a while back. Dude had no idea that the cat was even there. He used a tripod and timer on his camera to take the picture.

[BoG-ToY]

when did he find out???/

[redrocket93]

when did he find out???/

The next day when he viewed the picture. According to the story.

[BUDDERS]

Got this an email a while back. Dude had no idea that the cat was even there. He used a tripod and timer on his camera to take the picture.

That's scary as hell right there 

I remember playing a game called "lion hunt" (kinda like group hide and seek) back in Jr. High with a church youth group when I spotted a mt. lion in a tree up above where my friend was hiding.  I was freaked out.... and he was only 20 ft. from it and didn't see it untill he started moving around a little and then he heard the cat move in the tree.  I don't think I've ever seen someone's eyes get so big!  This cat looked like it weighed about 100 lbs or so.

[abnormaltoy]

when did he find out???/

Just seconds before he started filling his shorts. 

[Stocker]

Got this an email a while back. Dude had no idea that the cat was even there. He used a tripod and timer on his camera to take the picture.

Like a lot of emails, it's a great story, but.... http://www.snopes.com/photos/hunting/stalking.asp

[BoG-ToY]

shoulda linked the picture from the biology link

[46&2]

Yeah that picture is Photochopped.

Also I've gotta say the sounds they make are probably some of the strangest and freakiest sounds I've ever heard a wild animal make. My four freakiest encounters were:

Sitting in the woods, at about 1am in my 4runner with the top off and encountering a female with cubs. She warned me with what I can only describe as a sound similar to what I'd expect a dying tweaker to sound like, twisted. I didn't see the cubs or the mother, but two days later the paper reported sightings of a lion and cubs in the same area I had been two days prior. I think I smashed right up to her den or something.

Camping at a secret lake. Drunk at 3 or 4 am and one of only 3 people still "awake" I noticed a pair of eyes in the moonlight a few hundred yards away across the lake that progressivly got closer, and closer until I turned my truck on and revved it for like 20 minutes. People were spread out all through the area asleep, many alone, so who knows what would have happened had we all been asleep. We had no dogs with us either. Next morning we canvased the area and found several sets of large cat prints where it had made its way around the lake towards our peninsula.

Wheeling at Greenhorn, CA. We had a group of about 5 or 6 rigs. We stopped at the top of the old Mini-Rubicon to piss before heading back to camp around dusk. Everyone else went back down, but I went up and over the top to go a different way. I crest the hill and about 30 of 40 feet away is a lion crouched in a dip in the rocks. We had all just been milling around for like 20 minutes with this thing just yards away at the top of the hill. Seen many a lion at Greenhorn but this was the first time (I knew about) where the lion had been observing us very close by and more or less during the daylight.

Lastly and freakiest was snow wheeling at night about 2 years ago. I (foolishly) broke off from the group to clear some fresh tracks, and got stuck. Girlfriend and I had to walk about a mile before one of my friends turned around to see what happened to us. After we hopped in his rig he kept going the direction we had been walking in to turn around. Literally yards up the road around the next bend, we came across a full grown mountain lion that quickly dissapeared into the woods as we rounded the corner. We drove along side my gf and my tracks and the lion had been following us for at least half a mile.

[bleakhorizon]

She warned me with what I can only describe as a sound similar to what I'd expect a dying tweaker to sound like, twisted.

LOL... now thats prob the most unique description i have ever heard lol....

It is very spooky to hear them.... i had one on top of a chicken coop about 40 yards away from me (pitch black of course) let out a scream, sounded like a little girl screaming, but was damn loud....  its hard not to run to the house in a situation like that lol...  but your best not too

[BoG-ToY]

yeah, kinda sucks, Ive played with them up at the bandon petting zoo.... and man oh man do they love the game... big EXTREMELY playful cats... curious about everything, and LOVE to play with toys.... Ive got vids of something pouncing my daughter through the chain link

[kneedownnate]

Got this an email a while back. Dude had no idea that the cat was even there. He used a tripod and timer on his camera to take the picture.

A friend linked this pic on facebook a couple weeks back and I called bs then.  Glad to know I was right  

Most I've seen were smaller to mid size and likely not that old, but the one sniffing my tracks was a monster!  I went running after it with the video camera but couldn't get it on camera as it laced in and out of shallow ravines on the hill, then decided it wasn't a good idea to continue following it as I neared a completely blind corner, figuring it could be waiting just around the corner for me.

[Burl]

About 3 years ago I was riding my super moto to Reedley college and half way to Pine Flat lake just below the Trimmer Ranger Station a very large female with two adolesents crossed Maxon Rd. right in front of me super scary because I ride my bike and Jog on that Road as well. Havn't done that again.

[Cheesemaker]

My mom gets basically all the wild cats in her yard.  And they will make your hair stand up, and balls suck up when you hear one let it's presence be known.  


What's nice to know is if you see the elk or deer in her yard, your fine.  But if you haven't seen them for a month or so, then expect to be packing heat when you are outside.