Hunter Attacked by Cougar; Shoots Same

[alsaqr]

A bird hunter was charged by a cougar; his military police training immediately took over. The hunter dropped his shotgun, drew his 9mm and dispatched the animal:

"I dropped my dad's 100-year-old double-barrel [shotgun], I don't even remember doing that, and went for the sidearm that I carry with me underneath my jacket," Gorney told the Minot Daily News. "My instincts as a military law enforcement officer took over. There was no thought process. It was self-defense."

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mor...tain-lion/ar-BBYp10k?li=BBnba9I&OCID=AVRES000

 

[Highland Lofts]

Things happen, you need to be preparred and have the mentality to act fast.
Great ending for both involved, he gets to go pheasent hunting again and he saved around fifty deer a year in that area.

 

[Bfh_auto]

While I don't understand dropping your weapon to draw another, he made it out alive. That's all that counts.

 

[buck460XVR]

While I don't understand dropping your weapon to draw another, he made it out alive. That's all that counts.

^^^ I thought the same thing immediately. Cougars aren't that hard to kill, a load of pheasant #5s to the chest would have been plenty, especially with a coupla dogs there too. That's another thing that surprised me, is that the dog's presence did not impact the cougar. Most adult cougars are well aware of dogs and avoid them with a passion when they are with humans.

 

[whughett]

Are Cougars Rabies Carriers. I’m suspicious like others here.

 

[Jeb Stuart]

Story smells. Why does this guy even have a cell phone in his hand and then have to place it in his pocket when his dog goes on point.If even true, was the cat sick? Going after the dog? Something just not right.
A great story for feeding the Freenzy crap on the internet. Zombie Mountain Lions attacking hikers, hunters, campers.
About time for a caliber war, which gun to carry, how many rounds to carry and on and on and on.

 

[Highland Lofts]

About twenty-five miles from our place here in Western Washington a guy had two of the blue heeler dogs and took them out back of his place to run. The dogs went out in the over grown hay field and he heard them carrying on and then some yeeping for one of the dogs. The other dog ran back to the house.
He went back to his house to grab a gun and went looking for the other dog. He found it with a cougar eating on it. By the time he leveled his gun on the cougar it was gone.



About a year later in the same area a woman was home home with her two young kids. It was durring the summer. Thier dog was out in the fenced in yard and started yeeping and came running in the house through the dog door with a cougar right behind it. She was in the living room with one of the kids, the other kid was in bed sleeping. She grabbed the kid and ran in a bathroom and called 911 while the cougar was in the kitchen killing the dog. Luckly the other kid didn't wake up durring the encounter.
It didn't that long for a Sherrif deputy to show up and take control of the situation.
Cougars will take down dogs.

A kid that was working at my friends dairy farm has a brother who had a 1,200 pound riding horse that was attacked & killed by a cougar.

His neighbor had a riding horse as well that was attacked about a week later and was maimed so bad they had to put it down.

Cougars are sleek killing machines, last year two peolle were killed out here by cougars and a few more attcked that lived to tell.about it.
There was a cougar attack I believe in Colorado where the guy strangled the cougar to death.

 

[Jeb Stuart]

Cougar wrestling is starting to become very popular. Was at a fair one time and they had a bear wrestler. Bear would let the wrestler win.

 

[wankerjake]

They rarely attack people. It does happen of course and we should be mindful while out in the woods, but I’m always skeptical of stories like this. Not saying everyone is a liar, but it’s a good way to absolve yourself of an opportunistic or illegal killing of a lion. I think most of the time that’s what’s really going on with these types of things. Hunter sees a cat, hunter shoots cat, hunter doesn’t have tag, hunter says it was stalking him, everyone says wow!

Also, as others have stated, dropping a shotgun for a pistol is the exact opposite of what I’d ever do. Had that cat been stalking me It would have caught two barrels of bird shot to the face before the 9mm came out


Also, that’s a big ass female lion. Over 100lb female cat according to the article

 

[buck460XVR]

Story smells. Why does this guy even have a cell phone in his hand and then have to place it in his pocket when his dog goes on point.

They rarely attack people. It does happen of course and we should be mindful while out in the woods, but I’m always skeptical of stories like this. Not saying everyone is a liar, but it’s a good way to absolve yourself of an opportunistic or illegal killing of a lion. I think most of the time that’s what’s really going on with these types of things. Hunter sees a cat, hunter shoots cat, hunter doesn’t have tag, hunter says it was stalking him, everyone says wow!

My first impression after reading the story was the same as the above two impressions. Cat holds like a pheasant when pointed by a bird dog? Then gives the shooter enough time to put his cell phone away, drop his shotgun and pull out his handgun and take the time to make a precise shot.......all with a cougar just ten feet away.

 

[crestoncowboy]

That's another thing that surprised me, is that the dog's presence did not impact the cougar.

I have very little experience with cougar, I've only seen two. One in the road as a kid and the other last year while walking my dog. They arent common at all here. We have plenty of bobcat, fox, coyote and a few red wolf. I walked by a small thick rose briar and after I was past it the cougar ran out the same way I came. Was bigger than my 80ish pound pit and we walked by it within 5 feet. Paid absolutely no attention to us or was asleep or something idk.

Me and the same dog got startled by a bear the same year. I walked out into a field looking at the cattle. One small black calf was on the other side of the small tree in the field with the rest of the cattle and I even talked to it. When I walked out the calf was a small bear. It bawled and ran away but I decided that that dog is a sorry hunting partner. She never paid attention to any animal except a chicken that is dumb enough to get in her lot.

Both was in blooming season for the fruit trees. I wonder if pollen doesnt affect them like it does some people.

My first impression was also why drop the shotgun.

 

[Patocazador]

I don't necessarily agree with the naysayers. If I had a shotgun and wanted to kill a cougar illegally, I would certainly use the shotgun first and the puny 9mm handgun as a last resort.
The one statement that sounds fishy to me other than dropping the shotgun was he carefully introduced the fact that the 9mm was concealed under his jacket. In some states having a concealed pistol is OK while hunting but using one blatantly and non-concealed would be a violation.

 

[crestoncowboy]

puny 9mm handgun

But according to the interweb,
"Modern advancements in bullet construction" have made everything under a 460 magnum obsolete.

And just to mention, in the two cases I mentioned above, with the bear I walked out on I did throw up my 300 mag i had in my hands and never thought of my 329. I watched the bear retreat through my scope and if he had attacked i could have stopped him even from the 10 feet

In the other case i don't recall which rifle i had slung but most likely a varmint rifle but i had my 44 on my hip and would have been cougar poop long before i ever remembered it was there.

 

[.455_Hunter]

So how many folks on here have ACTUALLY seen a mountain lion over the sights of their sidearm?

I have, a few times, and it was fortunately not necessary to fire. My father has, as well, but shifted aim onto the tree next to the cat's head to avoid killing the animal. These were encounters, not hunting.

 

[Bfh_auto]

In the other case i don't recall which rifle i had slung but most likely a varmint rifle but i had my 44 on my hip and would have been cougar poop long before i ever remembered it was there.

Funny you say that, I've had confrontations with people and forgot my ccw.
Luckily it wasn't needed.

 

[crestoncowboy]

Funny you say that, I've had confrontations with people and forgot my ccw.

Well in that case that i mentioned by the time I knew I wasn't alone it was an orange butt and a long tail going the other way. We just don't have anything around here that will harm you in the woods that can hide behind a rose briar. Pretty much just bear and I would have seen it there. I looked around the briar for a carcass or something. I'm not sure what the cat was doing in it. I may have even put more faith in my fearless pit bull than she deserved. Both of us were pretty embarrassed that day I believe. Lol

 

[alsaqr]

Mountain lion attacks in the US and Canada:

http://www.tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attacks_mcginnis.html

 

[WestKentucky]

Any critter intent on taste testing you is a very intimidating critter. Domestic, wild, cat, dog, bear, shark, all are disturbing. Get out without bite marks and you have done your job. Just hope you don’t end up in the courtroom for doing it. Lawyers aren’t cheap, and pisspoor charges sometimes stick. No matter what though, when your on the menu you had better be quick on the trigger and true with aim.

 

[TikkaShooter]

So how many folks on here have ACTUALLY seen a mountain lion over the sights of their sidearm?

Until recently, we've only seen them on the game cameras and a huge track. According to the game warden, the one on camera was 75# ±5# and the tracks were a 135# ±5# cat.
Last week, we saw one cross a road and head up a steep hill by steep I mean 50° to 55° off horizontal. I've read a mountain lion/cougar can hit 40 to 50 MPH. After seeing it, I was seriously impressed with its speed.
According to the Tueller drill, a human can cover 21' in 1.5 seconds. However no human can hit 40 to 50 MPH and a big cat can.

 

[jmr40]

Unless there is more to the story that comes out later I have no reason to doubt it happened just as told. But my instincts would have been to fire the shotgun instead of dropping it and reaching for the pistol. Glad it worked out for him, but I'd have thought the odds would have been better with the shotgun.

To the best of my knowledge there are no mountain lions in GA, although from time to time people claim to have seen them. But while turkey and duck hunting I have been stalked by both bobcats and coyote who came to the calls. I've spotted 3 that came in and once they got close enough to figure out I wasn't a duck or turkey they left. Probably others that I never saw.

Once while walking into a beaver pond to duck hunt I almost stepped on a bobcat. It was a full moon on a cloudless morning so I didn't need a light. I saw movement literally inches by my right foot and the animal ran across the trail behind me and in front of my hunting partner. I couldn't see enough to identify it, but my friend said bobcat. We guessed that it heard us walking in and waited in ambush thinking we were deer.

 

[alsaqr]

Cougars often travel very long distances. i have seen two cougars in my lifetime, one over the sights of my .50 caliber muzzleloader. While trailing a wounded hog down a wide ravine i looked up. About 20 yards distance a large cougar was sitting on his haunches, switching his tail and licking his face.

The OK wildlife folks were very protective of their cougars. A local horse breeder lost a couple mares to a mountain lion that also wounded a stud horse. The man called the game commission and was threatened with arrest if he dared shoot the cougar. The game commission person said their cougars wore tracking collars.

There were several complaints to the legislature and the law was changed. It is now legal to shoot cougars that threaten humans or livestock.

My deer lease mates are getting game camera photos of a cougar.

 

[Highland Lofts]

That's where SSS comes in to play.

 

[<*(((><]

I don’t know about rarely attack people. We’ve had our fair share of maulings of kids, hikers, hunters, etc here in Idaho. But in the sense of the word, I guess one could say rarely; but it is always on my mind when in the wilderness just like coming across a sow with cubs is.

I know Washington, Oregon and Colorado have made the news with lion attacks. They even happen to runners and bikers down near San Diego in California.

 

[Milt1]

I'm going to drop my shotgun and grab a pistol under my jacket, yeah right! If true the cat must have been 100 yards out when he saw it!

 

[hq]

That's where SSS comes in to play.

Let's pretend none of us read that, as it usually locks a thread in an instant.