jargo432

Yesterday I was riding a Rails to Trails that I ride often when to my amazement a mountain lion crossed the trail about 500 yards ahead of me. I got to the point where he crossed and slowed down, I was ready to use my bike as a shield, I then saw some buzzards off in a field and could smell something dead.

About 2 miles farther down there is a very small town with only one store/cafe and I stopped in and got a snack and told the lady what I saw. She said that it had been seen a few times in the area over the last couple of years.

Just another reason why I love riding my bike. You never know what you'll see around the next curve.

mdilthey

I don't know what state you're in, but look into telling someone over at your local university. The wildlife people in my program would be jumping for joy to hear about a mountain lion sighting. They're very, very difficult to find on purpose, so the numbers living in the wild are known to be only loosely accurate.

Dave Cutter

You should carry a laser pointer! https://youtu.be/x3BHSt42L0Y

Doug64

You just need to visit Oregon. We had 10 cougar sightings in 2013, and that was just inside the city limits

https://www.facebook.com/SweetHomePo...81246505315848

hueyhoolihan

if it looked like this:


it was probably just a harmless cub. but they can live to be over forty.

now those cougars can be quite a handful if you let them get their claws into you...

SparkyGA

Cougars in my hometown are a bit of a problem. They enjoy the taste of small dogs and house cats and have killed a number of people in the area over the years. That being said, that is really cool you got to see one (from a distance)!!!! Kinda jealous.... I've never seen one

jargo432

It was very cool. It was my first to "see" one. However one time about 15 years ago I got screamed at by one in the dark. That put a stop to me putting out the deer corn in the dark.

andrewclaus

Awesome sighting and a great memory!

I live in cat country and see one once in a while in the "urban interface." But I have yet to see a truly wild cat in the deep woods. I've been very close and have found a fresh elk kill with fresh tracks--I interrupted dinner. I also backtracked on skis once and found large cat tracks in my ski track--that one really scared me.

Most people around here enjoy seeing deer and elk in their yards. A neighbor is a wildlife biologist with some young kids and he's not very happy about it. Large cats follow the deer, he says, and he doesn't really want them around with his kids.

ak08820

Why didn't you take a pic with your phone?

mdilthey

In the Northeast, they're pretty rare. I'm sure there's a ton in Maine, but in Massachusetts, if I remember correctly, it's considered extirpated, but there's still a slighting every now and again.

I am happy for this. I can scare off a Black bear by yelling. I can scatter several coyotes by screaming and flapping. I can do nothing to scare a cougar; if I'm being stalked, I could be getting ready for a fight to the death. It's not up to me, it's up to the cat.

If I was OP, I would have turned around and ridden away pronto. Not worth wondering if the cat has moved on from that area. The mountain lion is one animal I highly respect.

tarwheel 

Personally, I'm perfectly content not seeing any mountain lions or Grizzly bears on my route! I read an article in Readers Digest a while ago about a mountain lion that stalked and attacked a jogger along a paved trail outside Boulder, CO. She climbed a tree and the lion came after her and chewed her up quite a bit. Another one in the area attacked and killed a high school student running on trails in the foothills. These are probably atypical occurrences but scary nonetheless.

andrewclaus

I provided the emphasis on running. Big cats' prey typically runs away, I hear, so many of the human casualties are runners and mountain bikers, typically moving fast, usually attacked from behind. Not always, though. Families with children and pets have also been stalked--chilling. Among cat attacks these were fairly typical, and thankfully not fatal. As more athletes head out into the urban interface, running and cycling, this will become more common. When you see lots of deer, cats may be around as well.

Vintage_Cyclist

When you look at a cougar, you see a cougar. When a cougar looks at you, he sees protein!

antokelly

Doug wonder if Dan spotted many on his adventures im sure he did.
anto,

MichaelW

Seeing wild predators close up is awesome and really exciting. I saw a wolf in Norway, one of only 50.
It is almost impossible to grab a usable photo of a brief glimpse, but do stop and search for paw prints. Photograph them with a scale for ID.

Louis Le Tour

That's why Almightee Gawd gave us pepper spray.

B. Carfree

Yes, cougar sightings are pretty common in Oregon, even for people who never get out. When I lived in the coast range, we had a neighborhood cougar (the neighborhood consisted of four homes and an elk herd scattered over fifty square miles). On one of my favorite rides out near where I used to live my wife and I often have lunch right below a ridge that a cougar hangs out at. The cat's a bit put off by us and always leaves as soon as we show up; we always hear him but only sometimes get to see him.

Apparently their range can be quite large. When I lived in Davis, about twenty miles from the coast range in California, some wildlife person put a location collar on a cougar. He tracked it roaming back and forth between the coast range and the towns near Davis. Apparently, it had some pretty regular rounds that included pet food (sometimes including the pet). To my knowledge, no one ever saw this cat in town, but the gps unit said it was there.

fantom1 

I'm sure you saw the mountain lion, but your distance guessing skills might be a bit off. 500 yards is pretty darn far away to positively ID something unless you're Superman.

md11mx

they're zero lot line yards