I would think advertising folks would be all over this...

[2ltdjorn]

Sir do you have any special skills that set you apart from the competition?

After escaping death with my own bare hands, I enjoy a cold bud light.

You name it... it could be sold!

Any other ideas?


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nyt...-lion.amp.html


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[Burlington]

Wow quite a story ! Understand his hesitation nevertheless to go public about it though.

[Yoda_Eating_Pizza]

Originally Posted by 2ltdjorn

Sir do you have any special skills that set you apart from the competition?

After escaping death with my own bare hands, I enjoy a cold bud light.

You name it... it could be sold!

Any other ideas?


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nyt...-lion.amp.html


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That's the guy I want in my hiking group. With his bare hands, too.

Originally Posted by Burlington

Wow quite a story ! Understand his hesitation nevertheless to go public about it though.

It's probably only a matter of time before the PETA ilk start making threats.

[Blansky]

Originally Posted by Yoda_Eating_Pizza

[i]

It's probably only a matter of time before the PETA ilk start making threats.

There's radicals in every group, but personally I'm a fan of organizations that stand up to torture and abuse of animals.

But that's just me.

[blufinz52]

Originally Posted by Blansky

There's radicals in every group, but personally I'm a fan of organizations that stand up to torture and abuse of animals.

But that's just me.

Same here. Well said.

[GradyPhilpott]

You certainly have to admire a man who could survive such an ordeal.

It would, however, behoove those who venture into the wild to be sufficiently prepared, so as not to have to depend on one's own bare hands.

I suspect that an attack by an older, larger cat would not have been survivable.

[Rock]

I wonder if he was aware he was in Mountain Lion territory. If so, it seems risky and possibly irresponsible behaviour. If not, I don't think animal cruelty issues are relevant here.

[Burlington]

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mount...b0e5e313ca79e9

Turns out it wasn’t so much a lion, as a cub.

[Tape]

Originally Posted by Burlington

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mount...b0e5e313ca79e9

Turns out it wasn’t so much a lion, as a cub.

Low play it as you like but a 40 pound wild cat that sees you as food is no minor issue.

[superdog]

Originally Posted by Tape

Low play it as you like but a 40 pound wild cat that sees you as food is no minor issue.

Yeah.

40lb cat is 40lbs of muscle, claws and teeth. Minimal experience. But still no mean feat to survive that ordeal.

[Masteryacht]

Even being that small, it’s a desperate, scared wild animal and I’d be willing to bet it could kill more unarmed people than unarmed people could kill it. It was fight back or die for the guy.

[GradyPhilpott]

It was initially reported that the cat was young and weighed less than 70 pounds, so this news while more accurate, doesn't diminish the feat of fighting off a mountain lion of any size and age.

[CRM114]

Originally Posted by Rock

I wonder if he was aware he was in Mountain Lion territory. If so, it seems risky and possibly irresponsible behaviour. If not, I don't think animal cruelty issues are relevant here.

Does that mean you believe that animal cruelty issues ARE relevant here if he knew he was in "mountain lion territory"?

Perhaps you aren't aware that Mountain lion/puma/cougar "territory" is basically almost every square inch of space west of the North American continental divide to the Pacific Ocean, from Northern Canada, through the US, and down into Mexico and Central America.

If one steps out of the front door into their own yard living in Santa Fe or Boise or hills around L.A., one is in mountain lion territory. The range of an individual cougar is anywhere from 20 to 350 square miles, and there are somewhere between 30,000 to 40,000 of them in the western U.S. Also, cougars don't live in groups/prides like African lions sitting around in bunches, they're solitary animals like tigers, territorial vs each other, so therefore spread out and constantly roaming.

Saying it "seems risky and possibly irresponsible behavior" to walk around in cougar territory in the western U.S. is akin to saying it "seems risky and possibly irresponsible behavior" to go walkabout, surf, swim...hell, live... anywhere Australia because there could be a snake, croc, shark, jelly, blue ring octopus, pack of dingos, pissed off 'roo, or psycho cassowary somewhere within a million square miles that one could have an encounter with whether one walked into it or it crawled/slithered/swam/ran into you.

[77T]

Bear spray is the answer for hikers/runners on trails in areas prone to sightings. Works just fine...

And a well prepared runner needn’t “choke out” a cougar (now that’s a double entendres if there ever was one)



https://youtu.be/jpB7jrJ7Zds


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[CRM114]

Originally Posted by 77T

Bear spray is the answer for hikers/runners on trails in areas prone to sightings. Works just fine...

And a well prepared runner needn’t “choke out” a cougar (now that’s a double entendres if there ever was one)
https://youtu.be/jpB7jrJ7Zds

Plenty of well-prepared people have been killed or mauled by cougars. Cool vid, it worked that time, but they don't always show themselves at that distance. They're apex predators after all, know how to hunt without being seen, and the only reason the one in question was able to be choked out was it was a young/little one so it's erroneous to say with confidence that one needn't ever resort to doing what the guy did.

[timedate]

how would this claim be validated?

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by GradyPhilpott

It was initially reported that the cat was young and weighed less than 70 pounds, so this news while more accurate, doesn't diminish the feat of fighting off a mountain lion of any size and age.

it was an orphan apparently, a kitten, and probably hungry.

IMO that makes it extra dangerous because its starving and hasn't been taught how to hunt etc.

Not trying to put human emotions into an animal, but if it was a person the word would be desperation. Desperate people do crazy things.

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by Rock

I wonder if he was aware he was in Mountain Lion territory. If so, it seems risky and possibly irresponsible behaviour. If not, I don't think animal cruelty issues are relevant here.

My family has property in montana. It is on the rocky mountain front and is one of the only places AFAIK in the US where grizzly bears naturally migrate across the continental divide. Much of the surrounding land is a grizzly bear preserve. Am i not allowed to go there anymore?

Bears are way more scary than mountain lions. I would absolutely kill one if it charged me.... just not with my bare hands

[Burlington]

Originally Posted by GradyPhilpott

It was initially reported that the cat was young and weighed less than 70 pounds, so this news while more accurate, doesn't diminish the feat of fighting off a mountain lion of any size and age.

I had missed in the original news report it was a juvenile and made the assumption it was a fully grown Mountain Lion.

Originally Posted by Tape

Low play it as you like but a 40 pound wild cat that sees you as food is no minor issue.

Originally Posted by superdog

Yeah.

40lb cat is 40lbs of muscle, claws and teeth. Minimal experience. But still no mean feat to survive that ordeal.

Originally Posted by Masteryacht

Even being that small, it’s a desperate, scared wild animal and I’d be willing to bet it could kill more unarmed people than unarmed people could kill it. It was fight back or die for the guy.

Originally Posted by tyler1980

it was an orphan apparently, a kitten, and probably hungry.

IMO that makes it extra dangerous because its starving and hasn't been taught how to hunt etc.

Not trying to put human emotions into an animal, but if it was a person the word would be desperation. Desperate people do crazy things.

The additional information about the circumstances reframed the story somewhat for me, from an amazing feat of human survival (albeit unfortunate for the lion) to more of a tragic one, involving a poor, orphaned, terrified baby cat. Maybe im just too sentimental having grown up around cats at home.

It does go without saying some animals, irrespective of their size can be dangerous. One must look no further than the humble mosquito for that.

[AzPaul]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

My family has property in montana. It is on the rocky mountain front and is one of the only places AFAIK in the US where grizzly bears naturally migrate across the continental divide. Much of the surrounding land is a grizzly bear preserve. Am i not allowed to go there anymore?

Bears are way more scary than mountain lions. I would absolutely kill one if it charged me.... just not with my bare hands

I've backpacked through some of the most beautiful country there is, all across the western US, and much (if not all) of it has been lion country. There are effective ways of minimizing your chances of an encounter with cats that I always felt comfortable with. Brown bears, on the other hand, are a whole other thing. If it's grizzly country, I didn't go. Not as a hiker, anyway. Shame too, because I would have loved trekking the Wind River region.

Maybe my caution was too exaggerated, but I know I'd have never felt comfortable carrying food with brown bears around.

[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by AzPaul

I've backpacked through some of the most beautiful country there is, all across the western US, and much (if not all) of it has been lion country. There are effective ways of minimizing your chances of an encounter with cats that I always felt comfortable with. Brown bears, on the other hand, are a whole other thing. If it's grizzly country, I didn't go. Not as a hiker, anyway. Shame too, because I would have loved trekking the Wind River region.

Maybe my caution was too exaggerated, but I know I'd have never felt comfortable carrying food with brown bears around.

Bear country is beautiful. Precautions are a must for sure though.
There are enough of them around that I don’t sleep in a tent during certain times of the year. You see them sometimes but more frequently hear them which is actually scarier as you don’t know where they are




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[AzPaul]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

Bear country is beautiful. Precautions are a must for sure though.
There are enough of them around that I don’t sleep in a tent during certain times of the year. You see them sometimes but more frequently hear them which is actually scarier as you don’t know where they are




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Very nice photo

[77T]

Originally Posted by tyler1980

You see them sometimes but more frequently hear them which is actually scarier as you don’t know where they are

Whenever I was on AT dayhikes, or tent camping along the Blue Ridge, we wore little bells.

It was far more important for them to know where we were.



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[tyler1980]

Originally Posted by 77T

Whenever I was on AT dayhikes, or tent camping along the Blue Ridge, we wore little bells.

It was far more important for them to know where we were.



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as long as they are down wind, they know where you are. We always would laugh at the tourists with all the bear bells. I get the concept, but i have to think that normal walking noise or conversation is enough so you dont surprise one.

Hiking by myself when it would be a lot more quiet i may consider it even if the bells would drive me crazy

bear spray is also ridiculous. They have to be really, really close for that to be effective and a charging bear you have less than a second. As an absolute last resort fine, but i would like to have a bit more space when i was trying to stop it

[Paul_I]

Originally Posted by timedate

how would this claim be validated?

They’ve located the carcass already, perhaps read the articles.

[superdog]

Originally Posted by Burlington

I had missed in the original news report it was a juvenile and made the assumption it was a fully grown Mountain Lion.










The additional information about the circumstances reframed the story somewhat for me, from an amazing feat of human survival (albeit unfortunate for the lion) to more of a tragic one, involving a poor, orphaned, terrified baby cat. Maybe im just too sentimental having grown up around cats at home.

It does go without saying some animals, irrespective of their size can be dangerous. One must look no further than the humble mosquito for that.

Tragic for sure.

[kneedeep]

Hiked that same area many times and you first have to be aware you are in their (wild animal) territory, they are not in yours, then be super vigilant and finally have some type of last resort plan.