Re: Cougar attack? (was: Hello everyone)

[Guest guest]

Tom:

> If your were to encounter a mountain lion or wolf, for example,

chances are you would do one of three things:

> 1) Run

> In which case you would trigger the " follow, trip, kill " instinct in

them and they would chase you down and attack.

> 2) Instinctively assume a defensive posture, which means you would

be slightly hunched over, fists balled, muscles tensed.

> In which case the mountain lion or wolf would view this as the

classic " preparing to spring " stance and the animals, figuring that

the only chance it has against you would be to spring first, would

attack.

> 3) Instictively assume a " fear " posture (i.e. the frozen in terror

stance) which would mean standing straight, muscles tense, mouth

open, eyes wide.

> In which case you would be attacked. Dogs bare their fangs when

about to attack, and your open mouth and tensed jaw would be

regarded as inflamatory and aggressive. The same with cats.

So, what to do then? How about moving towards in a decisive offensive,

perhaps taking off your jacket and waving it in the air so as to seem like

more of a threat than you really are?

Have you ever been in such a situation, btw?

> Big birds can sometimes be creepy. In college I was lying in the grass

reading a book near the pond, and when I looked up, I was surrounded by

Canadian Geese who had all " snuck " up on me very quietly. Very scary (until

I stood up).

What a Hitchcock! :-o

Inger

[Guest guest]

> So, what to do then? How about moving towards in a decisive

offensive, perhaps taking off your jacket and waving it in the air so

as to seem like more of a threat than you really are?

>

> Have you ever been in such a situation, btw?

>

> Inger

For cats:

You're instincts are mostly correct. Don't approach it. That will

only work for a moment. The cat will quickly evaluate whether or not

you're bluffing.

What you want to do is make yourself look as big as possible, and

make as much noise as you can. Don't bend over or squat. You will

make yourself into a smaller target that easier to attack.

Without bending, see if you can grab a big piece of would or other

object and wave it wildly at the animal. If there is nothing

available, grab some stones and throw them, but be quick when you

bend down to pick them up.

Begin walking backward very slowly and carefully and attempt to put

distance between you and the cat. Never turn your back against the

animal until it's out of sight, and then keep looking back over your

shoulder. Don't run, even if you think it's out of sight. It's

probably stalking you.

For wolves: Not sure. Probably the same defensive tactics, but I

don't think they will work. Wolves are much more persistent.

I have faced a coyote before, but they are rather meek. We have them

in the woods near our house. I met the poor thing on the trail one

day and we stared at each other, and then he got off the trail and

walked around me, looked back over his shoulder, and trotted away.

Tom

[Guest guest]

Whenever I would go hiking, I would always have a long walking stick. This was really more of a quarterstaff since it was about 5 feet long, but it was more functional than a regular walking stick since you could do more things with it, like vaulting streams and such. I also carried a machete to deal with heavy brush and things like that.

One time not far from here I ran into a black bear. This was what in the military is called an "oh crap" encounter: I was walking down a logging road and it came out of the brush about 30 feet in front of me and we both saw each other at the same time. My first reaction was a bit of a startle and I think so was the bear's. After that it hissing and looked a little aggressive. What I did was whirl the stick around once and held it up over my head, arms up and said things to the effect of "go away", though not so polite as that. I think the sound of the stick and my making myself look bigger must have worked since it walked off. Had it come at me I would have used the stick first and then the machete if it got past that. But fortunately it didn't come down to that.

[Guest guest]

:

> Whenever I would go hiking, I would always have a long walking stick. This was really more of a quarterstaff since it was about 5 feet long, but it was more functional than a regular walking stick since you could do more things with it, like vaulting streams and such. I also carried a machete to deal with heavy brush and things like that.

Sounds like a good idea.

> One time not far from here I ran into a black bear. This was what in the military is called an "oh crap" encounter: I was walking down a logging road and it came out of the brush about 30 feet in front of me and we both saw each other at the same time. My first reaction was a bit of a startle and I think so was the bear's. After that it hissing and looked a little aggressive. What I did was whirl the stick around once and held it up over my head, arms up and said things to the effect of "go away", though not so polite as that. I think the sound of the stick and my making myself look bigger must have worked since it walked off. Had it come at me I would have used the stick first and then the machete if it got past that. But fortunately it didn't come down to that.

Phew, eh? :-)

We don't have cougars or black bairs in sweden. A few wolves and brown bears reinplanted after we'd wiped out the entire population, but the risk of running into one is microscopic. Worst you'll find here is a badger. :-)

But I had the weirdest experience with a moose this summer. It was like a half-grown calf being down on its front knees grazing when we came driving by late in the evening. We stopped to have a look at it, and it got a bit uneasy and started to trot off. But then its curiosity got the better of it and it turned around and walked towards our car a bit instead and just stood there for the longest time to check us out. I thought that was rather cool.

When I was a teen, a moose once came into our suburbian garden to eat all the apples we'd left on the trees. Our cat was sitting on the fence and my mom still has a picture of the moose going over to sniff the cat. :-)

Inger

[Guest guest]

Inger,

That's interesting. We don't have moose here but we have other things. Last winter we had deer come through the backyard several times. This is odd since we live on the edge of town, but the lots here are sort of large and a creek runs behing the houses that connects forests on either side of this subdivision. Mostly what we seen though are things like squirrels, raccoons and the occasional opossum. The bear was a rarity in the extreme for this area. They are usually well to the west closer to the foothills and mountains. For all I know, it might have gotten on an open boxcar and been stuck when the train started up, then bailed out when it slowed. A major railline does pass close to here and there is a sharp bend where the trains have to slow down. Either way, I haven't heard of any more around since then, and this was about 16 years ago.