While 9mm is an option, it is not the main 1st line option for ready access downstairs emergencies
My main concern in a situation like this is not the cougar being on the front porch. The only access to the house from there is through the front door. Realistically, one couldn't even get in through our front window. Unlike the neighbor's, ours is higher, smaller, and somewhat armored. The only thing I care about is that he not get onto our side yard where the dogs may be lounging. If the cougar stays out of there, he can roam wherever. Once he puts a paw into our yard and there exists even the slightest chance he could threaten my dogs, the hail of buckshot will recreate WW1 trench battles.
Last edited by Cecil Burch; 05-17-2019 at 11:23 AM.
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I've been out of town and am late to this party, but . . .
I have been fortunate enough to call two different mountain lions to a hand held varmint call in my lifetime. The events were separated by 38 years!
The first one occurred the vey first time I had ever used a varmint call in my life, and I called a large tom to within 25 yards of my position, which was actually sitting on the tailgate of a pickup truck in full view, with no camouflage clothing, etc. Pure luck. One shot from a Winchester Model 94 in caliber .30-30.
The second event occurred when I called a female to my well-hidden and fully camouflage covered self. The wind was blowing much more than desirable, but the cat came straight to me from over 100 yards away, and I was able to watch her all the way. She pulled up about 15 yards from me where the hunt ended with one shot from a Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in caliber .243.
Yes, I have eaten mountain lion meat. It was barbecued and prepared exactly like chicken, and tasted vey similar to chicken.
I have seen half a dozen mountain lions in the wild, including the two I shot. They are amazing animals.
I've had a few encounters with cougars (Mountain Lions). Only once did one try to close the distance on me.
Their ability to blend into the surroundings is spooky. The only reason I saw the one that worked it's way closer to me was that big honking tail they have. I solved that problem by jumping into my truck.
The encounter that spooked me the most was when I was mountain biking from one canyon to another. It was June, and I had to carry my bike through snow in certain spots above 8500 ft. At one point, I could look back and down on my trail, and I saw large paw prints mixed in with my footprints, they were not there when I walked through 10 minutes earlier. I started wondering how effective a mountain bike would be as a shield. I never saw the cat that day, but on subsequent rides through that area I saw more tracks.
Don’t blame me. I didn’t vote for that dumb bastard.
In order to stop the "cougar"-ing and making Tom keep parsing out posts, I'll talk about my close encounter with a Mountain Lion:
I was out with a buddy in the foothills of the Huachuca Mountains, hunting small predators using an electronic call and a decoy. We were uphill 50 yards or so, ready to rock with our .22 Mag bolt guns (because reasons - can't remember why we were convinced those were the right answer for that application, but we were primarily out for fox and bobcat that day). After a while, we heard a rustling behind us. Looked uphill, saw nothing. Went back to watching the decoy, heard another rustle. Looked back and there, about 30 yards away on a rock was a Mountain Lion that looked about the size of an elephant.
As luck would have it, he was just checking out what free lunch was available (the call apparently worked pretty well on him/her), and, when we turned to face him, he took off like a lightning bolt.
Lesson learned - NEVER go predator hunting in the mountains in AZ without a centerfire weapon (it was illegal back then to take a Mountain Lion with any rimfire, and I heard of more than one hunter who was prosecuted for it). I know I never left my little adobe ranch house again without at LEAST a full-ish size "fighting" handgun... The other lesson is, when operating in lion country, wear brown pants...
And a year later during Exercise Celtic Cross I had one wander into my site, hunker down, and stare at one of my guys who was wrapped up in his poncho liner. While Steve removed the blank adapter from his M16, in the fond hope that either the sound of a blank, or a cleaning rod section propelled by it, would scare a puma away, I called in a SALUTE report...
Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
“It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
Glenn Reynolds
Someone's gotta point out that they are stunning creatures....
Last edited by Greg; 05-18-2019 at 08:17 AM.
Don’t blame me. I didn’t vote for that dumb bastard.
On my trip out to Philmont (A large Ranch in Northwestern New Mexico, near the town of Cimmaron in Colfax County) with the Scouts in 2010 (68 miles, 10 days; hiking through the back country up hill and down dale at age 51 yikes) one evening we encountered some noise while the boys were setting up camp.
I never did get a good look at it but from what the other advisors said it was a medium sized animal larger than a housecat but smaller than the pictures of the Cougars you see here.
Would have have been a Bobcat possibly?
It was the only large animal predator I saw on the trip, thankfully. Our Bear protocol was pretty stringent; they briefed us up very well on hanging smellables in Bear Bags at our Camp Sites and we practiced diligent Leave No Trace, etc.