Cougar encounter on pack out - shots fired

[horshur]

The cat needs the deer to flail and turn..nearly all cougar encounters end up head on. If they are so fast why don’t they just take you out from behind out of sight? Especially a guy with a pack on. The cat nearly always takes a deer in the “pocket” quartering too, deer flails away opening up its neck and rendering itself defenceless for a second ...if you have handled horses you will understand where it is safe to be and you have a measure of control.
the cat isn’t going to “break” because you shot...it is waiting for you to “break” don’t break! It is unnerving cause they don’t even acknowledge a warning shot...they are in the “zone” .taking a offence and moving towards them is more effective to get them to turn there eye and move off..
statistics bear out that they have almost never killed or maimed and adult male.

[Big Lew]

Hindsight is usually of high percent, so carrying a bright headlamp is a good idea in order to both
clearly identify and aim at a potential threat. After finding several horses and cows shot in the bush,
and knowing someone shot at glowing eyes in some of the cases, panic and adrenalin can distort or
make people do things they wouldn't have done if they were clearly aware of a situation. Don't know
just how certain you were in thinking that animal was a cougar (sounds like it most likely was) but I
have had horses, cattle, and even deer stay and stare at me even when I hollered at them. Don't know
if they would have done so if I had fired a shot in warning though.

[Steelpulse]

Yes I was wearing headlamp and a good one at that. Was only picking up the eyes though the entire time

[LuckyHorseshoe]

I wonder if the light blinding the animal in these stories has anything to do with why they did not move. Cats eyes being so much more night sensitive than ours. I wonder if that has anything to do with why they did not move, the "deer in the headlights" factor

[Arctic Lake]

The cat needs the deer to flail and turn..nearly all cougar encounters end up head on. If they are so fast why don’t they just take you out from behind out of sight? Especially a guy with a pack on. The cat nearly always takes a deer in the “pocket” quartering too, deer flails away opening up its neck and rendering itself defenceless for a second ...if you have handled horses you will understand where it is safe to be and you have a measure of control.
the cat isn’t going to “break” because you shot...it is waiting for you to “break” don’t break! It is unnerving cause they don’t even acknowledge a warning shot...they are in the “zone” .taking a offence and moving towards them is more effective to get them to turn there eye and move off..
statistics bear out that they have almost never killed or maimed and adult male.

Horshur This is interesting but I'm not sure if I get it totally. So you say the cougar need the deer to flail and turn. Then you say nearly all cougar attacks end up head on . Not sure I get it. To me flailing means when the deer is in a struggle legs going every which way . Could you elaborate ?
Arctic Lake

[horshur]

Flail..swing away.

[horshur]

I wonder if the light blinding the animal in these stories has anything to do with why they did not move. Cats eyes being so much more night sensitive than ours. I wonder if that has anything to do with why they did not move, the "deer in the headlights" factor

no they are same in daylight.you can throw things at them,fire a gun over there head and they are still locked. Move toward them is best way to get them to break

[Big Lew]

no they are same in daylight.you can throw things at them,fire a gun over there head and they are still locked. Move toward them is best way to get them to break

I agree...as I related in an earlier thread, I had a couple of potentially critical situations with cats
while riding my horse in our local mountains. On one occasion, a large cat was hiding amongst
huckleberry bushes on the top of an old growth stump right by a partly overgrown logging road
we were traveling on. The horse sensed danger which alerted me to look ahead and I saw it's face
and then it's crouching form almost within pouncing distance. It had the most intense star I've
seen as it was locked on to my horse. I spurred the horse ahead at full speed while hollering and
that cat was out of there faster than lightning.

[Bugle M In]

Yup, moving towards one, all though not an instinctive move on a humans part, actually works best.
Yelling at the same time as you make steps towards him helps.
But I understand the OP perfectly, and also have been stared down for minutes, only several yards away from me.
Gun was up, and I just couldn't believe he was actually considering it, or so it seemed.
Yes, cougars taking off at 1st sight seems what shouldn't happen and does, but it seems there are way more of these
type of encounters now, as OP describes.

Good on you, and uhmmm, where the pics of the deer!, congrats by the way.

[mpotzold]

A scary encounter scenario!

Our second cougar encounter was when Eve was cooking dinner inside the camper. We were just north of Gang. There was a campfire ban & the grass was fairly high. The camper door was open & as we were ready to eat the smoked pork chops we heard this bone chilling scream near the camper. I grabbed the double barrelled 12 g. & fired just above the cougar's head using buckshot from around 20 to 30 feet away. The cougar instantly turned around & quickly disappeared never to be seen again.

Exactly what it sounded like!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqk_RjlJ46g