Just To Keep The Lion Discussion On The Real Side...

[Tim Smith]

They do attack sometimes, especially children. You shouldn't let them go unsupervised into woods or be without an equalizer when they're around.

I've been to that lodge and was actually thinking of visiting the Chisos Mountains this week.

http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_t3#/video/us/2012/02/07/dnt-mountain-lion-attack.kosa

[Justin Spencer]

They do attack sometimes, especially children. You shouldn't let them go unsupervised into woods or be without an equalizer when they're around.

I've been to that lodge and was actually thinking of visiting the Chisos Mountains this week.

http://www.cnn.com/v...ion-attack.kosa

That's why I make sure my 6 and 8 year olds are heavily armed when walking up and down our driveway!

[Feathers and Fins]

A lion took my son captive one time. After numerous phone calls we came to an arrangement. I would allow him to return the boy in exchange for constant updates of where the quail coveys were. I understand the Lion Whisper spent years after trying to help the lion get over the trauma my boy caused him.

[skeeter]

"They do attack sometimes, especially children." ? Better do a few searches on adult attacks by Mountain Lions out West! It ain't just limited to children like this traumatized little guy. There are recorded adult fatalities and it's an admitted growing problem as they expand their range and population and humans enter their territory more often. Since they are no longer regularly hunted, they have lost or are losing their fear of man if they ever had any at all. All the whining on here about not shooting these apex predators reveals Midwesterners' unfamiliarity with the true nature of these big cats. Admire them from a distance all you wish but if they decide to come after you, you will never know they are there until it's too late. No, I'm not foolishly advocating shooting them on sight like some keyboard jockey is undoubtedly going to reply, but their presence is going to change the way we use our outdoors resources. They are opportunistic predators and, yeah, I had an encounter with one about 150 years ago when I was 8 and living in Ojai, CA. You have no idea how being stalked will change your opinion.

[Tim Smith]

"They do attack sometimes, especially children." ? Better do a few searches on adult attacks by Mountain Lions out West! It ain't just limited to children like this traumatized little guy. There are recorded adult fatalities and it's an admitted growing problem as they expand their range and population and humans enter their territory more often. Since they are no longer regularly hunted, they have lost or are losing their fear of man if they ever had any at all. All the whining on here about not shooting these apex predators reveals Midwesterners' unfamiliarity with the true nature of these big cats. Admire them from a distance all you wish but if they decide to come after you, you will never know they are there until it's too late. No, I'm not foolishly advocating shooting them on sight like some keyboard jockey is undoubtedly going to reply, but their presence is going to change the way we use our outdoors resources. They are opportunistic predators and, yeah, I had an encounter with one about 150 years ago when I was 8 and living in Ojai, CA. You have no idea how being stalked will change your opinion.

Skeeter I'm out among these cats almost every week. I've been tracking them in hopes of getting a picture since October and I've been over all the statistics and I'm fully aware of the risks so lets pack away the superior knowledge card and look more closely at facts. The number of attacks on children is vanishingly small and the number of attacks on adults is vastly smaller than that. Statistically, your chances of being hurt barely exist. Big Bend has 300,000 visitors a year every year for the past 30+ years. There are less than 10 recorded attacks (if memory serves) in all that time and it's one of the worst sites for mountain lion attacks in the whole nation. We've been through this. You're right there are more attacks recently but it's probably statistically the same as it ever has been per number of exposures to risk. More people are in the woods these days.

The exceptions don't prove the rule but yes I agree that you have to be ready for them on the very slight chance you find a hungry one like this one was and yes it changes how you use the woods. When I'm in the woods with my daughter where predators are around I'm prepared.

You should be too.

[Justin Spencer]

Love it Tim, your a bad, bad boy!

[Feathers and Fins]

Dam so much for a fun smartass thread.... Skeeter I grew up in So Cal. I hunted turkey and quail in the San Bernadino, Los Angelas and Cleavland National forrest. I have been Stalked by a couple of them! But paying attention to your surroundings and you will normally know the cats there and once you locate them and the easy meal scenerio if over they loose interest.

Ive seen them often while hunting and as I have said before its a honor and privledge to have seen them. The Media make far more out of the cats then what the truth is. Truth is simple with the amount of human intrusion into their range attacks will happen, no diffrent the Bear attacks and Shark attacks. We are not a viable prey source or there would be far more attacks. When one happens the Media Blows it out of proportion and strikes fear into people.

My favorite comparrison to animal attack vs Media is the movie JAWS it instilled a fear of sharks in people and people of the water right after the Movie came out. Alot of sharks died because of that movie and I know people have gone out to kill cats after an attack, not the cat who did the attack but any cat. They have far more to fear from us then we have from them.

[Trout Commander]

I knew there was no point in reading beyond here:

...they have lost or are losing their fear of man if they ever had any at all. ...

[Smalliebigs]

http://www.thefullwiki.org/List_of_fatal_cougar_attacks_in_North_America

There has been 17 actual recorded fatal attacks on humans since 1970 in North America.There were only 5 actual recorded fatal attacks from 1970 all the way back to 1890. Fatal attacks seem to be on the rise and how many attacks have there been that were not fatal or not recorded??? who knows???

I don't think we should shoot them onsite but, we should be able to deffend ourselves if at all possible. Cougars are a very beautiful animal and gets my respect anytime. I lived near Idaho Springs, CO in the early 90's and the attack on that poor kid running on his high school cross country team's course right on campus was grizzly to say the least. There were pics in the news of the scrapes on the hill side ajacent to the track where the kid was trying not get dragged into the brush by the cougar.He was an 18 year old kid who was quite heathly, not a child.the Boy went missing and it took two days two find him.When he was found only a short distance from the track, the cougar was still feeding on him and gaurding his body. I'm not that worried about cougars in Missouri, just leary, when you see first hand accounts up close of a kid geting wacked like that it does make me give them a lot of respect.

[Justin Spencer]

http://www.thefullwi...n_North_America

There has been 17 actual recorded fatal attacks on humans since 1970 in North America.There were only 5 actual recorded fatal attacks from 1970 all the way back to 1890. Fatal attacks seem to be on the rise and how many attacks have there been that were not fatal or not recorded??? who knows???

.

Read what you just wrote and tell me that .407 deaths per year due to lion attacks is a reason to get concerned. If you spend much time outside something else will kill you long before a mountain lion, especially in Missouri.

Hot dogs kill 77 children each year, so you would be better served by not feeding your children hot dogs and letting them hike in mountain lion country.