Hungry Cougar

[wolfbait]

Hungry Cougar

https://bb.methowvalley.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9154&sid=212fa059411de4723c48de31a2fdb9f5

[Bango skank]

Within sight of the owner?  Cougar was chased away??,  shoot the damn thing!

[MADMAX]

with what a ski pole ?

[Skyvalhunter]

Within sight of the owner?  Cougar was chased away??,  shoot the damn thing!

[pianoman9701]

Guns are bad, but he did call the police.

[boneaddict]

REminds me of a story from a couple years ago, ok a decade.   I was snowmobiling up Texas creek looking for deer to photograph.  It was deep soft stuff.  I came over a rise and bumped a cat off a fresh kill.  It was a nice 4 point buck.   I made a pass and headed back towards home.  I ran into this lone female cross country skier coming up my track.  I stopped to warn her what she was about to ski into.  She had a little ankle biter with her.   She made a big deal to tell me about the gun she had in her backpack.  I think she was trying to impress on me she could take care of herself and of course there was her attack dog.  I told her that her dog was more or less going to attract a the cat and her gun wasnt going to do her any good buried in her backpack.   She made a big deal about being brave and nothing scared her.  I smiled and I left.   I came back the next day to work on the cat an any coyotes that might have discovered the kill and apparantly she made it about 10 more feet before turning around.

Moral of the story....your cute little snapper will attract all sorts of predators.   

Ask Idabooner about his cow dog running back at full speed right between his legs with a bear hot on its tail.

[Idabooner]

Ask Idabooner about his cow dog running back at full speed right between his legs with a bear hot on its tail.

Three hi school boys riding into Gardner Meadows to check on some cows, we were about 6 miles in.  Dan was in front, I was in the middle, Virg was in the rear riding a mare with a new colt following.  We had stopped to let the colt suck, I was looking up the trail talking to Dan who was turned back talking to me, Virg was turned in the saddle watching the colt.  The trail had a sharp bend in front of us but I could see it farther up.  Here come Brownie (dog) just as hard as he could run, a bear 20 feet behind him, they disappeared in the corner as I yelled "here comes a bear", by that time the dog was under the horses, the bear almost had him, Dan got a glimps of the bear, Virg never seen it, the bear got scared in the middle of the action and went over the hill.  I don't know how but we were all still in the saddle, this all happened in less than a couple seconds.

[boneaddict]

Nice     Are those the Imes brothers?

[Idabooner]

Yes

[jstone]

Why don’t they shoot the cat. You see this stuff and people don’t shoot?

[Jonathan_S]

Ask Idabooner about his cow dog running back at full speed right between his legs with a bear hot on its tail.

Three hi school boys riding into Gardner Meadows to check on some cows, we were about 6 miles in.  Dan was in front, I was in the middle, Virg was in the rear riding a mare with a new colt following.  We had stopped to let the colt suck, I was looking up the trail talking to Dan who was turned back talking to me, Virg was turned in the saddle watching the colt.  The trail had a sharp bend in front of us but I could see it farther up.  Here come Brownie (dog) just as hard as he could run, a bear 20 feet behind him, they disappeared in the corner as I yelled "here comes a bear", by that time the dog was under the horses, the bear almost had him, Dan got a glimps of the bear, Virg never seen it, the bear got scared in the middle of the action and went over the hill.  I don't know how but we were all still in the saddle, this all happened in less than a couple seconds.

  most surprising part is that nobody got thrown.

[boneaddict]

Why don’t they shoot the cat. You see this stuff and people don’t shoot?

85% of the valley is filled with californicators, anti gun, ........

[Ironhead]

Why don’t they shoot the cat. You see this stuff and people don’t shoot?

85% of the valley is filled with californicators, anti gun, ........

Sure has changed up there, reminds me of the Sun Valley area in ID.

[boneaddict]

Very similiar.   

I never thought it possible, but they had a woman’s march up there with many in the crowd wearing the pink p.... hats.   

[Ironhead]

Wenatchee had a Trump Impeachment Rally, pretty sad to see it change before your eyes. Cant imagine how bad it is for the generations before us.

[jstone]

That’s crap

[jstone]

Going to ruin East side of the state

[bigmacc]

Why don’t they shoot the cat. You see this stuff and people don’t shoot?

85% of the valley is filled with californicators, anti gun, ........

..

 ....They don't like seeing folks who wear camo or orange and they love anything that cuts down on the amount of it that they see which includes cougars, bears and especially wolves, pretty much anything that will keep deer hunters out of there, that valley has went totally sideways as more and more of the old guard leave. Sun Valley, Aspen, here it comes and I don't think its far off. Well bone, there are a few of us that remember a much different Methow than what it is now .....Doesnt surprise me a bit that the cougar wasn't killed, a friend of mine over there was dang near lynched when his grandson killed one a few years ago(legally with a tag), they brought it back to their place discretely in the back of a truck, parked in their field a dropped the tailgate to get some pictures of the cat when all hell broke loose coming from a bunch of folks that have property around them, "how dare they", "animal killers", "savages", etc. etc. etc. My buddy said someone yelled at them "BAMBI KILLERS" and my buddy replied "YEP, IT WAS"

[bigmacc]

Just remembered another story, to show how things have changed in the Methow concerning this kind of stuff. back in the60,s or 70,s a rancher I knew over there had killed a lion under an addition he had built off of an old shop, when he went in to retrieve it and pull it out he came across 6 or 7 different collars, some had names on them and a couple did not. He contacted a few of the owners that were legible from the tags and he hung some on a board at a business in Winthrop with his phone number. He ended up being a hometown hero for awhile for killing that cat, crap, if I remember right a lot of folks named their first born after him and wanted a 3 day weekend to be put in effect in honor of him including parades and fireworks ... Like I said earlier, now days you want to pretty much keep it to yourself, that valley is filling up with more and more people that are anti everything that hunters stand for or enjoy.

[wolfbait]

Why don’t they shoot the cat. You see this stuff and people don’t shoot?

85% of the valley is filled with californicators, anti gun, ........

..

 ....They don't like seeing folks who wear camo or orange and they love anything that cuts down on the amount of it that they see which includes cougars, bears and especially wolves, pretty much anything that will keep deer hunters out of there, that valley has went totally sideways as more and more of the old guard leave. Sun Valley, Aspen, here it comes and I don't think its far off. Well bone, there are a few of us that remember a much different Methow than what it is now .....Doesnt surprise me a bit that the cougar wasn't killed, a friend of mine over there was dang near lynched when his grandson killed one a few years ago(legally with a tag), they brought it back to their place discretely in the back of a truck, parked in their field a dropped the tailgate to get some pictures of the cat when all hell broke loose coming from a bunch of folks that have property around them, "how dare they", "animal killers", "savages", etc. etc. etc. My buddy said someone yelled at them "BAMBI KILLERS" and my buddy replied "YEP, IT WAS"

Seriously agree. Leave the wild life alone!!!!! Yes learn how to live on there land!!!!! I'm a dog owner you can bet my dogs are on leaches at all times when in public!!! Seriously people wake up!!! None of the wild life should be killed!!!! Bears Cougars Coyote's Wolf's ect..... The first thing a human wants to do is go shoot the wild life.... No leave the wild life alone!!!!! Like what has been said before Learn how to live and walk in the woods!!! This is there land you are intruding!!!! Kim Harlow

https://bb.methowvalley.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9154&start=10

Going to be a shocker when cougars etc. run out of deer, which isn't too far off...Shredded spandex

[Twispriver]

This isn't anything new - lions have been eating pets on the valley floor since there have been pets on the valley floor. It's more frequent now because there are more people and pets and social media spreads the word so we hear about it. The Methow Valley is full of urban transplants that buy or rent a postage stamp lot and the first thing they do is get themselves a couple of dogs that they let out every day to "to go for a run". Free range dogs are a relatively easy target for cats and I believe that some learn to target them.
Fish and Wildlife will kill some cats in the valley this winter, like they did last winter and the winter before that. Others will be killed by homeowners and licensed hunters may get a few that have taken up residence in sheds and under porches.
I agree that sooner or later a lion is going to go after one of those spandex covered skinny skiers, they'll track and kill the lion but unless the victim is the son of daughter of a prominent politician I don't expect anything will change in lion management.

[Jingles]

What hasn't been posted or made very public is the same day the dog was killed another person, a close friend of mine, had a BIG cougar slam into his sliding glass door on his deck after his dog at 2:30 in the afternoon. just a little over 2 miles from where the dog was killed. in the Rendevouz area. Tracks measured 6 inches across and from the leading edge of the front track to the trailing edge of the trailing track while running from one very upset home owner frightened wife was over 8 feet. I tracked it for over 2 hrs until it was to dark to see tracks without light. Back at it at 0900 the next morning for another 3 hrs only to discover it spent the night under another houses deck further up the hill. Gammie that came to the house said they had over a doz calls about cougars in the past 48 hrs, left me to do the tracking so he could respond to another cougar / human encounter.

[bigmacc]

What hasn't been posted or made very public is the same day the dog was killed another person, a close friend of mine, had a BIG cougar slam into his sliding glass door on his deck after his dog at 2:30 in the afternoon. just a little over 2 miles from where the dog was killed. in the Rendevouz area. Tracks measured 6 inches across and from the leading edge of the front track to the trailing edge of the trailing track while running from one very upset home owner frightened wife was over 8 feet. I tracked it for over 2 hrs until it was to dark to see tracks without light. Back at it at 0900 the next morning for another 3 hrs only to discover it spent the night under another houses deck further up the hill. Gammie that came to the house said they had over a doz calls about cougars in the past 48 hrs, left me to do the tracking so he could respond to another cougar / human encounter.

Thanks for "the rest of the story" Jingles 

I have been saying for awhile that the Methow is becoming a powder keg with the populations of lion, bear and wolves skyrocketing and with the growing human population(residents and visitors) that its just a matter of time before its not pets that are getting attacked but eventually humans. That valley is basically a "big box" thats about 40 miles long with mountains on each side and as more predators populate and their natural prey numbers(mule deer) plummet next on the list is livestock and pets then human encounters will happen. It really is a matter of time. I know when I,m  there during my wanderings my head is constantly on a swivel, it used to be on one looking for deer, now its on one to look for things that are looking for me. When I was a kid my dad used to say "theres nothing in this valley thats gonna get you.... there just isn't enough of them....they are few and far between....heck, just seeing one is a treat" etc. etc. etc...............Sadly, I CANNOT tell my kids or grandkids that nowadays. I used to run all over those hills for hours and hours armed with my Red Rider BB gun, I would not recommend that over there these days.

[HighlandLofts]

I live 40 miles north of Sewer City Seattle, i refuse to go there, lynnwood, Bellvue. To many liberals there for me plus all.of the tent cities everywhete and the open drug sales and use.
Not my kind of place.

[mountainman]

Nice     Are those the Imes brothers?

Visited with Virgil an Pearl a few weeks back. Lots of good stories👍
Dale and I have a few to tell too!

[pianoman9701]

Wenatchee had a Trump Impeachment Rally, pretty sad to see it change before your eyes. Cant imagine how bad it is for the generations before us.

Just like our rights. 

[wolfbait]

Friend of mine who hikes the Golden Doe quite often, went two days in a row last week, the second day he crossed over onto the same area he had walked the day before and found a cougar on his trail, he said the cougar followed him for along ways before cutting off onto some deer.


As has been said, there are many uneducated people in the Valley when it comes to predators, they cuss at deer for getting in their garden and praise predators like the wolves etc. for killing those terrible garden wreckers.
And of course they idolize WDFW and the fake environmentalists like CNW etc..

The Valley is full of meat eaters and there aren’t many deer left to eat, but there are plenty of cross country skiers, and snowshoers etc.. It’s just a matter of time, anyone with half a brain can see the writing on the wall. The question is, how many times will the uneducated blame these attacks on the people, cougar/wolf protecting den- verses mismanagement of the predators?

[bigmacc]

I remember my dad telling stories of when he was young of his time spent in the Methow. During the summers when he was around 10-15 years old great grandma and grandpa would spend the summers over their scouting, hiking and fishing, living in a big wall tent for basically a couple months(this was during the 30,s and 40,s). My dad would spend a month or so over there every summer, he would hike all over those hills by himself armed with a pocket knife, one year when he was 12 grandpa and him went up around Bluebuck to look for deer, they got separated and dad got lost, he pretty much did everything wrong he later told us, he didn't stay put and stay in the area till they came for him, he just kept on walking. He said he was following a group of deer over ridge after ridge until he figured out, OH-OH. Well a day and a half later after sleeping under a big blow down for a couple hours and traveling miles and miles he was found by a couple as he was walking down a road in the Davis Lk area. He wasn't scared but he was hungry, he had started hitting skid roads and just kept following them down hill. He was never in doubt he would be found and was never scared or worried about anything "getting" him, there just wasn't anything around in numbers enough TO be scared. He told stories of summers over there of him and a buddy at 11,12 years old or so, they would put old stove pipe over their legs that would cover their legs from their feet to up above their knees, they would go up in the hills above Pearrygin Lk, Ramsey, Bear creek and some times grandpa would take them down around Benson and Beaver creeks. They would be armed with baseball bats and burlap bags, they would wander back to camp at the end of the day just before dark or grandpa would pick them up on an old dirt road at a pre determend spot. They would have bags full of rattle snakes and grandpa would drive them down to Bridgeport to an old Indian friend of my grandpas, he would buy the snakes from them to make hat bands, belts etc. He wandered those hills from one end of the valley to the other, putting on litterly hundreds and hundreds of miles on foot over his 80 year history in that valley, he said he never felt threatened, scared or even concerned in fact many times he was only armed with a pocket knife, until one year in the 90,s he was over there in late November about 5 miles from the nearest road counting deer. There was about a foot of snow on the ground and after spending a couple hours back in this area he headed back out, on his way out he came upon 2 sets of cougar tracks in his tracks, he felt very "uneasy" to say the least.  He said (at that time) in over 50 or so years and hundreds of miles of wandering that valley he had only seen 1 cougar, in fact he would say it "was a treat" to see one. After that incident with the tracks, up until he passed a couple years ago he always carried a sidearm when doing his wandering in the Methow, also during that time(about 15 years) he seen 7 cougars, think about that, 1 in 50 years,.....7 in 15. Times have changed in the Methow concerning predators, anyone wandering in those hills nowadays should be very prepared...

[Jingles]

Friend of mine who hikes the Golden Doe quite often, went two days in a row last week, the second day he crossed over onto the same area he had walked the day before and found a cougar on his trail, he said the cougar followed him for along ways before cutting off onto some deer.


As has been said, there are many uneducated people in the Valley when it comes to predators, they cuss at deer for getting in their garden and praise predators like the wolves etc. for killing those terrible garden wreckers.
And of course they idolize WDFW and the fake environmentalists like CNW etc..

The Valley is full of meat eaters and there aren’t many deer left to eat, but there are plenty of cross country skiers, and snowshoers etc.. It’s just a matter of time, anyone with half a brain can see the writing on the wall. The question is, how many times will the uneducated blame these attacks on the people, cougar/wolf protecting den- verses mismanagement of the predators?

All one has to do is look at the Methownet Bulletin Board and you can see the changes in the mind set of the people now inhabiting the Valley has changed in regards to predators and how "we are invading their space" so we should accept the results of having encounters with them. 

This is going to sound cold, mean and probably socially unacceptable but I hope the cougars get a couple of these skinney skiing, wolf and cougar loving, flower sniffing, bunny loving, granola eating, Prius driving, tree hugging idiots. If not a cougar maybe one the Grizzly bears they want brought in I think that would be SWEET JUSTICE

[Hillbilly Zen]

Friend of mine who hikes the Golden Doe quite often, went two days in a row last week, the second day he crossed over onto the same area he had walked the day before and found a cougar on his trail, he said the cougar followed him for along ways before cutting off onto some deer.


As has been said, there are many uneducated people in the Valley when it comes to predators, they cuss at deer for getting in their garden and praise predators like the wolves etc. for killing those terrible garden wreckers.
And of course they idolize WDFW and the fake environmentalists like CNW etc..

The Valley is full of meat eaters and there aren’t many deer left to eat, but there are plenty of cross country skiers, and snowshoers etc.. It’s just a matter of time, anyone with half a brain can see the writing on the wall. The question is, how many times will the uneducated blame these attacks on the people, cougar/wolf protecting den- verses mismanagement of the predators?

I live next to the golden doe unit and had that happen to me last year.  My trail was picked up not 50 yards from the house and I was followed for about half a mile.  I tracked that cat the next day and crossed a second set of prints, clearly from a second cat, going down to the river.  The cougars and bears are tripping over each other.  When my kids want to play outside i rip off a few (30) rounds and run the dogs out first.  Wonder what the Methow net bulletin board people think of that.  There’s some good people out here though Jingles, who haven’t lost their minds.  Even some of us newer families.  I’ve met plenty of people who have come to the Methow from other rural parts of America and we just tend to stay off the local bulletin board because it will only make us crazy bickering with the urban coastal crowd.  Stay safe out there.

[bigmacc]

Kind of adding on to my story above I guess but I also had an experience with the "tracks in my tacks"  like my dad had and some on here have had. It was after my dads run in, I think it was about 2000 or 2001, me and a buddy were in the Methow counting, we were in an area about 3 miles in and about 6-8 inches of snow was on the ground, neither of us was armed(has not happened since) and once we got to the draw we were going to watch we sat under a couple big trees about 200 yards apart for about 4 hours. We counted about 170 deer and wanted to get out before dark so we met up at about 2 o'clock to start hiking out. We made it about 1/2 mile down the trail when we crossed drag marks, cougar tracks and blood in the snow, the path crossed our trail and tracks and went down hill into a small draw. We looked at each other as the hair stood up on our necks, we immediately looked around and listened, we stood there for probably 4-5 minutes just listening. We walked out with both our heads on swivels, every sound and movement seemed magnified, very uneasy feeling. We got back to the truck and during conversation wondered when that could have happened and if we were being followed or trailed until a deer made it self known to the cat and the gears were shifted. Needles to say, like I said earlier, I have not went on hikes etc. in that valley not being armed since that encounter. Also like I said before, like my dad, I have wandered all around the Methow for over 60 years and up until that incident I had no concerns and myself had only seen one cougar, since my incident, about 20 years ago, I have seen at least 8, (a couple more could have been cats, but I could not positively verify) and 4 of those were seen in a 3 day time frame a few years ago, I think I told that story on here before. Like some are saying, including myself, its going to have to take some very unfortunate run-ins with humans before they finally decide this predator explosion in the Methow has crossed a line, like some folks I know over there have said, "other animals, domestic or not and a plummeting deer herd are just cannon fodder for the beloved predators". ........And yes,  I started having a cougar tag in my backpocket a couple years ago after seeing a cougar about 100 yards from me, with no tag! I ended up running into a couple guys on my way out and they had a tag, they went into the area where I told them where he was and killed him

[Skyvalhunter]

You would probably be lucky to see 2 deer there now.

[bigmacc]

You would probably be lucky to see 2 deer there now.

Your close Sky, my son and I went to that same spot 2 years ago, the second weekend in November and seen 5 deer

[Bango skank]

You would probably be lucky to see 2 deer there now.

Your close Sky, my son and I went to that same spot 2 years ago, the second weekend in November and seen 5 deer

At some point people are going to realize that cougar and bear is the best quality hunting in the state, and the meat is good too.  We all need to start learning to call predators, because soon it will be the only hunting worth getting a tag for in this state.  Thanks wdfw!

[zwickeyman]

Bango's right

I was talking to my son in Lousiana last night and told him the same thing. If you want to come and hunt WA it should be for Bear or Cougar.

I wouldnt pay out of state here for Deer or Elk

[Jingles]

Well guess the town of Winthrop must be in Cougar habitat  as cougar seen today on Perry Street just before dusk, which for those that don't know is in the Heckendorn area just south of downtown Winthrop.

Guess that explains why no deer have been in the yard for the last week.

[bigmacc]

Well guess the town of Winthrop must be in Cougar habitat  as cougar seen today on Perry Street just before dusk, which for those that don't know is in the Heckendorn area just south of downtown Winthrop.

Guess that explains why no deer have been in the yard for the last week.

I heard of that also, must not be enough deer left in the hills, now they are coming after the town deer

Hey Jingles, didn't they kill a lion under the bridge there in town a year or two ago?

[Jingles]

Well guess the town of Winthrop must be in Cougar habitat  as cougar seen today on Perry Street just before dusk, which for those that don't know is in the Heckendorn area just south of downtown Winthrop.

Guess that explains why no deer have been in the yard for the last week.

I heard of that also, must not be enough deer left in the hills, now they are coming after the town deer

Hey Jingles, didn't they kill a lion under the bridge there in town a year or two ago?

Yes it was killed in the barn over by the Winthrop Trailhead after it killed a deer in the corrals and dragged it under the bridge I believe it was 3 years ago though

[Jingles]

Latest update
Cougar killed in town under what used to be the old Trading Post Book store, now called the wine Shed. Have another one with pictures taken last night kitty corner to my place 1 block from school bus stop. Still these flower sniffers still feeling sorry for the cougars and how we (humans) are invading their territory

[mountainman]

Cougar make their way into town every year, even back in the 60's and 70's, when hounds were used to hunt them and pursuit only. Easy pickings with pets. But yes, more cougars, more common. Bring back the hounds👍

[wolfbait]

Cougar make their way into town every year, even back in the 60's and 70's, when hounds were used to hunt them and pursuit only. Easy pickings with pets. But yes, more cougars, more common. Bring back the hounds👍

True, but back then Did WDFW relocate problem cats, from my understanding the cougar killed under the wine shed had been relocated twice. 

[wolfbait]

Young cougars captured in Winthrop

https://methowvalleynews.com/2020/01/23/young-cougars-captured-in-winthrop/?fbclid=IwAR0fPxyB6b9Y36Iit6zP8OrmzjGk2v-T5d2Bnh6REUSJXBFibjjKj4MppJE

[wolfbait]

Friend of mine who hikes the Golden Doe quite often, went two days in a row last week, the second day he crossed over onto the same area he had walked the day before and found a cougar on his trail, he said the cougar followed him for along ways before cutting off onto some deer.


As has been said, there are many uneducated people in the Valley when it comes to predators, they cuss at deer for getting in their garden and praise predators like the wolves etc. for killing those terrible garden wreckers.
And of course they idolize WDFW and the fake environmentalists like CNW etc..

The Valley is full of meat eaters and there aren’t many deer left to eat, but there are plenty of cross country skiers, and snowshoers etc.. It’s just a matter of time, anyone with half a brain can see the writing on the wall. The question is, how many times will the uneducated blame these attacks on the people, cougar/wolf protecting den- verses mismanagement of the predators?

I live next to the golden doe unit and had that happen to me last year.  My trail was picked up not 50 yards from the house and I was followed for about half a mile.  I tracked that cat the next day and crossed a second set of prints, clearly from a second cat, going down to the river.  The cougars and bears are tripping over each other.  When my kids want to play outside i rip off a few (30) rounds and run the dogs out first.  Wonder what the Methow net bulletin board people think of that.  There’s some good people out here though Jingles, who haven’t lost their minds.  Even some of us newer families.  I’ve met plenty of people who have come to the Methow from other rural parts of America and we just tend to stay off the local bulletin board because it will only make us crazy bickering with the urban coastal crowd.  Stay safe out there.

I agree, I have met several newbies in the last ten years that understand the predator issue in the Methow, not all are brainwashed into believing the WDFW/CNW etc. "We moved into their territory" BS.