[pct-l] Mountain Lion Encounter

[Scott Williams]

Hey Betty, and welcome to the PCTL.  There's no better way to get involved
than asking a question.

As scary as some of the recent encounters have been, and my own brush with
a lion was for me, remember that actual mountain lion attacks are extremely
rare.  You've got a much greater chance of being struck by lightening on
trail (an occurrence that is almost yearly in Yosemite alone) or get swept
away in a swollen Sierra stream, (also a regular tragedy) than you do of
being stalked or attacked by a mountain lion.  So, don't get too paranoid
about that happening.  That being said, if you are one of the rare cases,
you'll hate that you didn't prepare for it in advance.

All that's been said in this thread so far is great advice.  Act like a
predator, not prey. In a stalking situation, make eye contact and lots of
noise and don't run!  I wouldn't worry about hurting the animal, I'd throw
anything I could get my hands on at it, rocks, sticks, anything at hand.
 Remember, if you aren't able to scare it away before it attempts an
attack, whether you survive the attack or not, it is a dead lion.  The
authorities will track it down and kill it.  That's way worse than the
injury you might cause in attempting to scare it away.

In that line, what I mentioned on Muk Muk's blog is that she may want to
consider carrying bear spray.  We carried it from the Wind River Range
north to Canada last year on the CDT and I've carried it in Alaska and B.C.
whenever I've hiked or kayaked in grizzly country.  After talking to many
rangers and a few attack survivors, I've come to the conclusion that
carrying it is actually an ethically right decision, for the bear/lion and
the wilderness in general.

As much as I hated the initial implementation of bear can laws in the
Sierra, many years ago, the change it has brought about in high country
bear behavior has been and is still worth the extra weight and
inconvenience to the hiker.  Backpackers and our yummy backpacking food
hanging like plums in the trees of Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon had
become a regular staple for many bears in the 50s, 60' and 70's.  They had
moved from their usual low country summer foraging to living in the high
country just to get the backpacker pickins'.  Normally there is not enough
food at timberline to support a full season of bear activity.  Since the
advent of bear cans however, they've moved back down in elevation for most
of the season, where they're supposed to be, and the few bears who hike up
high, don't stay long.  Feast on the early frozen winter animal kills and
then move on down.  I spoke to the bear specialist at Yosemite 4 years ago
and learned that there was only one bear living in the Yosemite high
country that year.  That's great for all us backpackers and great for the
bears.

Bear Spray is a similar recent addition to the gear you may want to
consider.  I'm not in favor of requiring people to carry it like bear cans,
but the more often a stalking predator gets a shot of capsicum in its eyes
and lungs, the less often that creature will ever think of humans as prey.
 A bit of intense discomfort to the animal and you may not just have saved
your own life, but that of the bear or lion.  With bear spray we become
kind of like skunks out there.  Some dogs will chase a skunk more than
once, but most need just one dose and they leave the little striped guys
alone.

The rangers I spoke to from the Winds north last year all concurred that is
it a very effective deterrent and much better than shooting a bear who can
still maul or kill you before your well placed rounds kill the bear.  It
almost immediately blinds and chokes the attacking critter and they just
charge off into the brush.  Even if you get dosed too, you'll survive.  I
did in Army gas training years ago.  It is painful, but not lethal.

On my second to last day on the CDT last year I was hiking alone in Glacier
NP through a ridge of very high and thick thimbleberries, ripe and
delicious.  So, along with eating as many as I could pick on the fly, I was
singing at the top of my lungs so as to give any local grizz a warning.
 Just up trail I caught a glimpse of 3 young men stopped in the trail and
one of them says loudly, "Thank God it's a human."

They were from Wisconsin and had just spent a horrible hour dealing with a
large stalking male grizzly.  They were terrified.  On a side trail, a
short distance from where we were, they had come upon the bear sitting and
eating berries in the middle of the trail.  They had backed off and waited,
but the bear didn't move.  When it eventually lurked off into the berries
they had hiked on past only to have the bear come right back into the trail
and follow them at times only 10 feet behind the last in line.  It had cut
the switchbacks in order to keep up with them and just kept popping out of
the bushes and had them scared to death.

I noticed that one of them had bear spray and I asked why he hadn't used
it.  He said it hadn't actually attacked them, so they hadn't deployed the
spray.  I advised them to use it in future as this was clearly too close
for comfort with a grizzly and sounded like stalking behavior.  Needless to
say, I sang all the more loudly and took the safety off my can of bear
spray for a few miles.

When I reached Goat Haunt, I informed the backcountry ranger of the
encounter and he immediately dropped what he was doing and grabbed his
rifle and rubber bullets and bear spray and headed out.  He said they
absolutely should have used their spray as this is becoming a deterrent for
many of the park's bears and basically teaching them to stay away from
humans.  He was going back up into the canyon to do just that with the
rubber bullets.

We are hiking and living ever closer to some of the most magnificent
predators on the continent, and if carrying bear spray will make you feel
safer, carry it by all means.  It isn't very heavy, and if you actually
have a chance to use it, you can console yourself that not only did you
possibly save your life, but also maybe the life of the predator who may
think twice before stalking a human next time.  Ethically it's a good call,
but given the rarity of encounters on the PCT, and my own propensity to
jettison any extra weight, I probably wouldn't carry it there myself.  I'll
be packing it next week in the Winds however and don't mind the little
extra weight just knowing I'm doing the right thing.

Good luck and don't get too paranoid.  You're waaayyy more likely to be
hurt on a freeway or right outside your house than you are on the PCT.

Shroomer




On Wed, Jul 24, 2013 at 10:05 AM, <lilacs007 at yahoo.com> wrote:

> My cat will pounce and stalk if I run.
>
> Not to get too political but I believe there is some kind of agenda behind
> making these lions so "feared".
> Reminds me of Sea World and their claim that orcas will "play" with a
> human (and kill it) when orcas are naturally feared hunters. But they make
> money...
>
> Has anyone seen u tube videos of domestic cats and mountain lion
> interaction? I'm trying to find the video but my phone is terribly slow
> (hiking in Michigan)
>
> Some lion wandered into a yard and was having a moment w/ domestic cats on
> the side of a glass door. I think they even "touched" paws! (over glass)
>
> I'm not discounting anyone's fear though. I have one of spiders. Dad was
> bitten by brown recluse and old boyfriend by black widow. I spider proof my
> bedroom like there is no tomorrow. And those are not "big cats" :)
> " I watch my own cats at home and see this
> behavior. Even though the bug, laser dot, or toy has stopped moving, they
> are still interested in it, and will immediately resume the chase or play
> as soon as it moves."
> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile
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