Watch your back .....

[Mark Kranhold]

Very cool story David. I have always wanted to see a cat in the wild. Hopefully i will see one some day...on good terms!!

[Jgoding]

I don't see why people get so freaked out. Attacks are rare and food sources around our urban areas seem pretty good. I've seen kills in my neck of the woods (on the American), but never any cats. I did find a headless mallard neatly tucked under a large bunch of annual grass last year which was kind of weird too but I did find two bucks killed last year (just the bones left) and another that was tucked away in a brushy cove that had passed in early velvet but didn't seem eaten on or wasn't eaten on that much.

I can't say what the cat population is but flyfhrman isn't wrong in some areas and he never said turkey populations were being decimated. Try hunting the eastern sierras (mulies) etc... and see how many deer you run into. The brother ran into one a couple years ago when we were quail hunting a WU ranch area. The owner says theres a brownish colored one around this year that he would love pictures of as well, which was funny because he didn't like us reporting a normal colored one around but I guess a brown coated one is ok in his eyes.

[Hairstacker]

Well, I certainly don't freak out about it, and in fact, have never given them any thought when fishing in the wild. I've only been lucky enough to see one years ago when I approached a warmwater pond north of Stanford U.

I have gotten an impression based on anecdotal news reports that they seem to have gotten more aggressive in certain areas over the last decade based on encounters with homeowners in housing developments that border wild areas.

In any event, I still figure the majority of 'em are much more afraid of me than vice versa. To be honest, though, I have recently given the potential risk, however remote, some thought as I've contemplated taking my 3-year old daughter fishing in certain remote areas, given her small size.

[Tony Buzolich]

Those neatly stashed bodies of various dead animals are more than likely future meals for whoever put them there, and in this case a big cat. Because of the abundance of animal life around the river a cat may not always be hungry at that moment, but, he is an opportunistic hunter and a chase reflex for him is always on. If he should come upon an opportunity, he may kill whatever it is and eat it later. That's normal cat behavior.

Now, here's the scary part. If you're snooping around curiously looking at one of these dead animal stashes the owner may think you're trying to steal his dinner.

A few years ago my son and I were at the bottom of a canyon near the Gualala when we heard some loud screaming. We froze and listened again as the screaming continued several more times. We moved forward a short ways and found a fresh deer kill just as a cat was backing off a few feet in the tall grass. Not wanting a confrontation we backed off the opposite direction. That was HIS dinner.

Another time we went out calling varmits after dinner in the dark. My friend Vince said it was great fun and my son would like it because you never know for sure what is going to come out of the bushes. We set up along an old dirt road, sat quietly for a few minutes to let things relax, and then gave couple of blows on a dying rabbit call. Shortly, we could hear something coming toward us as footsteps broke dry madrone leaves on the ground. Closer the steps came then stopped. My son, with only a half-dead flashlight, shined it on the area of noise, only to be face to face with a COW!

We continued on down the road toward a small pond and set up again. Repeat of the call and then listen. Something stirred in front of us but this time only a small fox. Another call and this time we could hear leaves crushing again. We're standing in the pitch black dark in front of our Jeep as we make these calls. Soon the crunching leaves quit and Vince tells my son to turn on his light. No more than 15'-20' right in front of us is the largest pair of green eyes we've ever seen. This cat had come in on us thinking it was an easy dinner and since he's the apex predator he could take it away from whoever had caught it. The cat started to growl and scream obviously pissed off that we weren't what he thought was an easy dinner. He backed off into the darkness still screaming until we could no longer see his eyes with our half-dead flashlight. We had enough for that night.

[1flyfisher]

No there is no point to the story, don't let it upset you.

^^^is there a point to that story?
according to dfg there have been 17 attacks, 6 of which were fatal in CA since 1890.

For some perspective lightning has killed 28 people in CA since 1959 according to the NWS. Pet dogs have killed 69 people in the last 50 years in CA as well.

Human's encroach into cougar territory. 6 fatalities in one hundred years isn't exactly staggering. Since this whole thread is based of anecdotes, it seems like every once in a while someone is in the wrong place at the wrong time. I think there's a lot more to be worried about then getting chomped by a mountain lion. My 2 cents.

[briansII]

You know I have a hard time taking this argument far when you mention deer populations and wild turkey populations being "decimated" by mountain lion predation. Both deer and turkey populations seem to be ample to say the least around our neck of the woods. I'm sure that there are a lot more lions than we tend to see, but at this point in time I'm happy to have them in the balance.

As for lions being a threat to people, sure there's always that chance that an attack could happen, but a very slim one. I for one have never felt the need to try and eliminate all "potential" risks from life, I'm sure that each and every one of us who goes out fly fishing is taking several other much bigger risks to harm than what the lions pose to us. And yes lions are very shy of humans in general; *if* they can help it, you wont ever see them.

On a personal note, we actually had a mountain lion on our property the first year we bought it. I actually saw it as a blessing really, kept all the deer at bay and out of our garden. Unfortunately once the lion realized that we had moved into her turf, she left... and we've been hassling with deer ever since.
JB

This was several years ago, but I heard, and read how the mountain lions were effecting our local deer population. The local population was declining at a relatively fast rate. They attributed the decline to predation by mountain lions. Not just our local populations, but populations to the south of us as well. A quick google search came up with this.

http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publication.../mtnlions.html

http://www.aws.vcn.com/mountain_lion_fact_sheet.html

http://mountainlion.org/publications...ton%201978.pdf

There is a lot of other "stuff' on mountain lions and deer populations, but I only scanned a few links. By the way, while I do think ML predation has effected the local deer population in a negative way, I really have no knowledge about it outside of this range.

briansII

[Jet]

Joey and I were fishing the Upper Sac and hiked into the Gibson area. We fished for a few hours and on our way out I noticed some tracks along the shore. I said man that's a big dog but upon closer inspection there were no claw marks. I try to make sure he's in sight all the time except he does not follow the rules. I recently purchased a smaller bottle of bear spray to carry in my vest if we head deep into the woods. Should work on cats, bears and rednecks.

Jet

[Kevin Goding]

I used to never worry about lions til I walked by one 4 years ago. I still don't worry too much, as that one didn't try to eat me. I was quail hunting some lava draws in the burney area, ther were some cows in an open spot below me with young calves. I then heard something get up behind me and start running, it sounded big, but I could not see it through the manzanita. It cut across an opening about 15 feet away, and it took a second to register what had just happened. It was a a rather large male mountain lion, and I had literally walked right by it, withing 2-3 feet I'm sure since it was laying on the rim of the lava draw that I was walking on.

Since then I have found one dead one, and a few years prior to the above incident in the Forest Hill area found another dead cat. Both seem to have died from old age, as their teeth showed a lot of wear, and there weren't any broken bones indicating bullet damage. I had to resist the urge to take the skulls as trophies, since possessing that stuff is illegal.

[Ed Wahl]

Hey Kevin, what kind of dog are you running on quail?

Ed

[Scott V]

Hey Ed, you should have seen the covey we flushed while walking to the surf the other week, had to be about 30 - 40 birds. It was just like the time at Slinkard, it scared the poop out of me since it was so close.