California Cougars

[Vonz90]

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/02/ ... -pets.html

[Steamforger]

I was expecting something different.

[Denis]

I was expecting something different.

These are not the MILFs you were looking for...

[D5CAV]

I've done a lot of hiking and hunting in the mountain and pacific time zones, and I've never encountered a puma. I saw a grizzly once, from a comfortable distance.

I'm eagerly awaiting the proliferation of wolf packs. Reintroduced into Wyoming about 30 years ago by treehuggers whose knowledge of wildlife came from Disney animations, wolf packs have been seen now in Utah, Nevada, Idaho and California.

Given that their fecundity is almost as high as wild pigs, I'm surprised and disappointed that they're not in Yosemite dining on the occasional unarmed tourist. While Vernal Falls is lethal, a tourist has to go to mindbogglingly stupid extremes to be killed by it. We need more wolves to thin the herd further. Vernal Falls only claims the bottom rung of epsilon sub morons. I blame my rural brethren for too much SSS action on wolves.

Wolves are an order of magnitude more dangerous than pumas. The same soccer moms who won't let their children have a play date with my daughter because I have a dangerous house (guns locked in a safe or on my person) might have a revaluation of dangerous when their precious little red riding hood becomes wolf chow.

On the positive side, if these soccer moms don't begin to appreciate force multiplier tools, then the wolves will continue to thrive and the average IQ of the human race will begin to increase again.

[Denis]

Wolves: I've been hunting in a few places in Germany where I was warned not to shoot the "grey dogs". Unfortunately, I didn't see any, though I would have loved to. There is reliable information that they are coming back to colonise wilderness and rural areas in eastern and central Europe, and there were even recent sightings close to Paris. When domestic dogs start do go missing and deer become nocturnal, that is a sure sign the grey dogs are back.

[Vonz90]

I've seen cougars twice in the wild. Both times here in Missouri (both times while the Department of Conservation was swearing up and down that there were no cougars in MO). I have seen their tracks on a couple of occasions as well.

The second time I saw one was hunting on my sister's place, I heard it moving and was trying to move up on it (thinking that I was hearing a squirrel) and then saw it tear up the hill. I had a shotgun so no big deal if it got bad ideas.

The first time I saw one I was fishing next to a river and it came walking buy between me and the the corn field. No CCW then so the most dangerous thing I had was a treble hook. It did not seem to notice me, but I decided to stop fishing for the day.

The map leaves out a few sightings that I know of, but one of the dots is rather close to my house.

http://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/wildl ... on-reports

[BDK]

Wolves: I've been hunting in a few places in Germany where I was warned not to shoot the "grey dogs". Unfortunately, I didn't see any, though I would have loved to. There is reliable information that they are coming back to colonise wilderness and rural areas in eastern and central Europe, and there were even recent sightings close to Paris.

Frankly, that's a bit unnerving. European wolves are the villains of fairy tales for a reason. We had wolves in MT without any real issues

[MarkD]

A FB friend put something up with a picture of a wolf and a husky, and asked why we kill one and love the other.

I wanted to reply that huskies don't ordinarily kill livestock, pets and people while wolves do, but decided it wasn't worth the FB shit storm that may have ensued. Of course there was a comment from someone who'd found a wolf pup and adopted it, and made it into a very nice pet. No doubt, our family dogs are all descended from wolves. Go pet the next one you see in the wild and report back if you survive.

[Cobar]

From what I understand the wolves become a problem when food is scarce. Starving anything can be dangerous. An organized pack of starving wolves....

[Netpackrat]

Friend of mine grew up in CA and said he was hunting in the hills behind his neighborhood once, and found he was being stalked by a cougar. He and his dad did their best to keep the local population of them and the coyotes somewhat in check, and away from the neighborhood. Said one of the neighbors caught an inkling of what they were doing, and said something to him in complaint... My friend's response was more or less, "Nice cat you got there, be a shame if something happened to it, which is the alternative."