Apex predators and Millenials...

[MarinePMI]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/05/19/cougar-attack-in-washington-kills-1-biker-injures-another.html

Smh...I think this meme covers my thoughts on this event...

 

[pmclaine]

....but if we had a draft some of the betas might just be brought, kicking and screaming mind you, into the world of the alphas.

 

[MtnCreek]

A dude wearing spandex riding a bicycle is not a biker.

 

[MarinePMI]

A dude wearing spandex riding a bicycle is not a biker.

Apparently...in Seattle it is.

 

[...]

i love the people who claim "Man is the top of the food chain"......because you instantly know they have never spent any time in the real outdoors.....where there are actual predators.

humans are slow, weak, thin skinned, have no natural weapons, and we turn into idiots when scared.......its truly amazing weve made it as long as we have.

mans only benefit is we can make and use tools......put us in a situation where we dont have or cant make tools, and we are about as dangerous as a woodchuck.

you go into the woods, stay vigilant, and carry a gun.

 

[abizdafuzz]

Apparently...in Seattle it is.

Hey now, quit talking about @1J04 like that...those PNW guys are special lol

 

[Bullfroggy]

you go into the woods, stay vigilant, and carry a gun.

Exactly.
I read several articles on this incident, and one thing I heard repeatedly was, "They did everything they were supposed to do..." (in reference to conventional wisdom when confronted by a predator). How'd that work out for them? I don't know all the details, and I wasn't there, but I can't help but think that a handgun would have tipped the scales in their favor - especially when given advanced warning of the cougar's presence (something not all victims of big cat attacks get). Some of the reader comments made my head hurt...

 

[j-huskey]

What a nice kitty, here kitty kitty kitty, oh fuck..... crunch, crunch.

 

[Redmanss]

Mattis didn't say that, Tomi Larhen did. It was millennials serving under him slaying Iraqis by the thousands that dubbed him "Maddog".

 

[Veer_G]

Hey now, quit talking about @1J04 like that...those PNW guys are special lol

Yes, indeed, they are!

 

[Alphatreedog]

Instead of killing the Cougar they shoulda bought it a steak dinner and a beer .

 

[CMP70306]

And this is why you don't travel through nature in the pacific NW without a weapon, they have Grizzlys, mountain lions and wolves which are the top three predators on the continent. Hell on the east coast all we have some bears or larger than average coyotes and I still carry my .44 or .45 when I hit the woods.

Swinging your bike at a mountain lion just shows him how slow you are and how high he has to jump over said bike. All I can say is that it's a good thing we don't have any actual big cats in this country (with the exception of the ocassional AZ jaguar) or way more "outdoors folks" would get eaten.

 

[1J04]

More and more Cougar sightings every year since we can't run hounds anymore. Vigilant is an understatement, especially when you're 'cougaring' around in the timber trying to be as slow and quiet as possible. Cougars n Bears don't like being surprised. And don't forget to look up from time to time. Buddy some years ago walked right under a tree'd Cougar. Said he bout shit himself. I could well imagine.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

As I've said elsewhere, and I'll say it here. Holler it with me, guys:

"Ban all mountain bikes."

If it saves just one child, it's worth it.

I don't know why we ALL aren't shouting this from the rooftops. Time to get the word out there, eh? And by simply making things illegaler, that'll take care of the problem.

And for the Sheldon's of the room, that's sarcasm, right there.

 

[EddieNFL]

i love the people who claim "Man is the top of the food chain"......because you instantly know they have never spent any time in the real outdoors.....where there are actual predators.

humans are slow, weak, thin skinned, have no natural weapons, and we turn into idiots when scared.......its truly amazing weve made it as long as we have.

mans only benefit is we can make and use tools......put us in a situation where we dont have or cant make tools, and we are about as dangerous as a woodchuck.

you go into the woods, stay vigilant, and carry a gun.

Ability to reason may play a small part....but not all humans are blessed with that gene. Those are called prey.

 

[W54/XM-388]

Sometimes as in the Legends of the Fall movie, it's your turn to get to die a good death, hopefully bringing a new pet with you as an escort to the next world.

 

[1J04]

Sometimes as in the Legends of the Fall movie, it's your turn to get to die a good death, hopefully bringing a new pet with you as an escort to the next world.

Makes sense.

 

[j-huskey]

Sometimes as in the Legends of the Fall movie, it's your turn to get to die a good death, hopefully bringing a new pet with you as an escort to the next world.

Good flick. One of my favorites. Especially when the foreman cracks the guy with that sharps buffalo gun.

 

[Flyingbullseye]

Mattis didn't say that, Tomi Larhen did. It was millennials serving under him slaying Iraqis by the thousands that dubbed him "Maddog".

Well actually it was the last half of the Gen X-ers that did the bulk of the fighting, millennials are fairly new to the war. Those millennials that are serving I'll give them the respect due but its relatively calm now compared to what it was over 10+ years ago.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

How about a couple of Mountain Bikers vs. emaciated cougar....

Love that the one dude abandoned his buddy and ran into the woods... (there's braveheart for ya) and he was the one who got killed and eaten.

Here's some news for you Seattle butt-pirates... if you mountain bike in cougar country... you better be 2a supporters. Because otherwise... one of you might get eaten when you abandon your buddy... to get eaten.

Cougar 1.... butt pirates 0. Shame they put down the mountain lion. He was just doing what he was bred to do. Winnowing the herd of the sick, the weak, and the unfit. Should have killed them both.

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[Rthur]

Against the big cats IDK if a guy has a 50% chance even packing a pistol.
Sneaky bastards, killing machines.
Had a bud trapping out west several years ago.
He and his partner had just split up to run their trap lines.
Partner hears a gun go off knowing he hadn't reached his traps yet checks up.
Cougar had attacked from the rear and missed the neck bite by a little angle.
Bud draws 22 mag and pulls trigger, dunno how many times and he didn't say.
Kills the cat and goes into shock.
Partner finds him and drags his ass to help.
Scars are impressive, all four of them.


R

 

[sirhrmechanic]

I have housecats... two of which are Savannah's. Hybrid African cats. They are predators. Also loving, smart, affectionate... awesome cats.

At 15 pounds... either could do serious damage. Now multiply that by 10. Cats are, to use the thread title, apex predators. That includes humans. A .22 against a big cat? Good luck. In Africa, big cats are targets for .600 Nitro's. Because they are... apex predators.

Again.. mountain bike in Cougar Country... without at least a short-barreled 20-gauge? Then you have a chance to die. A small one. But don't come whining if a cougar %$#@ing eats you. Because... you deserve it.

Cats are awesome. In part because they will eat us cold with no remorse. That's why we love them.

Cheers,

Sirhr

 

[Redmanss]

Well actually it was the last half of the Gen X-ers that did the bulk of the fighting, millennials are fairly new to the war. Those millennials that are serving I'll give them the respect due but its relatively calm now compared to what it was over 10+ years ago.

Not to split hairs, but millennials are typically classified as born '81-'96, putting the early part of the generation at 20 y/o when 9/11 went down, and 22 when Iraqi Freedom launched. Half of active duty enlisted are <25 y/o, so that generation were the dominating generation occupying the ranks of Privates-Sergeants from the beginning of GWOT to the end of the surges in both main theaters, and are now the senior enlisted and field grade officers with some even eying retirement. My anti-armor section I took into Afghanistan in 2001 had three members who were born in the '70s, me and my two heavy weapons squad leaders, the rest were happy to pull into European ports were they were finally legal to drink.

I bash on that generation too, but that's mostly directed at hipsters and pansexuals. Skinny jeans do not belong on a male's body. Ever.

 

[2ndamendfan]

 

[onepointsixklicks]

Millennial here in WA. Went elk hunting last year during muzzleloader season, had an "echo" to my steps early one morning heading into the stand. Made me on edge that day. Next morning found a cougar staring at me from the bottom of my stand after it spooked a couple spikes that ran into the clearing and I had left my glock 20 in my pack at the bottom of the stand. Thank the powers that be that my muzzleloader went off in the wet weather and that I hit. I'll be keeping that sidearm with me at all times now. Pic because "or it didn't happen" and face blacked out because I would probably have a tough time getting a job in this state if this got around too much with my identity. She was just a small two year old around 100 pounds but still enough to give me the shakes up close and personal. Just my 2 cents.

Edit: Just wanted to let you all know that not all of us PNW millennials are lilly-livered but I'll admit a fair amount of us are.

 

[Rthur]

These screams are true terror:


R

 

[gatorbait308]

do not under estimate the bob cat either. the first time I saw one in the powder snow in the u.p. of MI. silent stalker sharp eye'd with bionic hearing. all I did was blink and she locked on to me eye to eye at about 30 yrds. away. felt the hair on my body push all my winter hunting clothes away. something about looking a cat in the eyes on their own turf, looked a tiger in the eyes at this little walk through zoo in birch run area, he, she, it, was inside a chain link cage about 30 yrds. away also, those tiger eyes look through you like an x-ray watching your heart beat real time, so there I stand, top of the food chain,no gun, just standing looking eye to eye with nothing but a chain link fence cage between my life and his natural born instinctive power, that is one impressive,humbling, shit your pants moments when you realize you aint jack shit without big guns. the size of a tiger up close is scary to say the least. it's fucking massive, the head, body, and those paws, as it walks back and forth slowly looking straight through you. needless to say my wife, grandson and I left the area, seeing them on them on the t.v. is a joke, in the eye, you literally feel like a helpless little mouse.

 

[...]

the Man eaters of Tsavo should be a required read for anyone in cat country...



between these cats....and the alien predators from the Schwarzenegger film.........ide take my chances with the aliens

 

[MtnCreek]

Makes sense.

I was worried where that was going. For some reason, I kept watching anyway. :-D

 

[CMP70306]

the Man eaters of Tsavo should be a required read for anyone in cat country...



between these cats....and the alien predators from the Schwarzenegger film.........ide take my chances with the aliens

Read that book and a couple others about the man-eating tigers and leopards in India, the end of the 19th and early 20th century were interesting times.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

OnePointSix, I'm glad to hear that it wasn't you, but "a guy you used to know of" that this happened to. Heck of a story.

 

[BoilerUP]

Millennial here in WA. Went elk hunting last year during muzzleloader season, had an "echo" to my steps early one morning heading into the stand. Made me on edge that day. Next morning found a cougar staring at me from the bottom of my stand after it spooked a couple spikes that ran into the clearing and I had left my glock 20 in my pack at the bottom of the stand. Thank the powers that be that my muzzleloader went off in the wet weather and that I hit. I'll be keeping that sidearm with me at all times now. Pic because "or it didn't happen" and face blacked out because I would probably have a tough time getting a job in this state if this got around too much with my identity. She was just a small two year old around 100 pounds but still enough to give me the shakes up close and personal.

She just wanted to teach you to drive with the fear.

 

[Va_Gentleman]

do not under estimate the bob cat either. the first time I saw one in the powder snow in the u.p. of MI. silent stalker sharp eye'd with bionic hearing. all I did was blink and she locked on to me eye to eye at about 30 yrds. away. felt the hair on my body push all my winter hunting clothes away. something about looking a cat in the eyes on their own turf, looked a tiger in the eyes at this little walk through zoo in birch run area, he, she, it, was inside a chain link cage about 30 yrds. away also, those tiger eyes look through you like an x-ray watching your heart beat real time, so there I stand, top of the food chain,no gun, just standing looking eye to eye with nothing but a chain link fence cage between my life and his natural born instinctive power, that is one impressive,humbling, shit your pants moments when you realize you aint jack shit without big guns. the size of a tiger up close is scary to say the least. it's fucking massive, the head, body, and those paws, as it walks back and forth slowly looking straight through you. needless to say my wife, grandson and I left the area, seeing them on them on the t.v. is a joke, in the eye, you literally feel like a helpless little mouse.

Several times I would be walking out at night to the cabin and hear those bitches on the ridge... makes your hair stand up like Shaggy on the intro to Scooby Doo...

 

[ArmyJerry]

This generation has been fighting two wars for 16 years and getting wounded in horrendous fashion and killing in epic fashion, kicked more doors in and face shot more mother fuckers than any other war we been in, with two hands tied behind their back by ROEs while being led by rat fuck officers (Field grade and above) have not bitched one bit. I'll take them over my own generation any day.

the Vietnam generation, cried like little pussies and commie pinkos that they are while hanging on campus (except for the ones that did their duties) then waged a PR campaign of leftism that we are paying for today. Frankly I hope the generation before mine and mine dies like McCain for what they did to our country.

 

[EddieNFL]

the Man eaters of Tsavo should be a required read for anyone in cat country...



between these cats....and the alien predators from the Schwarzenegger film.........ide take my chances with the aliens

Read this about 30 or 40 years ago. Amazed Patterson survived.

Capstick wrote a volume on maneaters that was pretty interesting.

 

[Dirty D]

I rode my MTB from Rock Springs to New River AZ yesterday on the Black Canyon Trail (27 miles) and saw large cat prints in the sand and mud on 3 different dry stream beds. You need to educate yourself on mountain lion feeding behavior before you head off into the wilderness.

 

[Dewey7271]

You go in wild places, swim in the ocean and such you have voluntarily entered the food chain. Amazing how few people figure that out.
Big cats or big bears up close and personal are fearsome. Fuckers look at you like you owe them money.

 

[pmclaine]

You go in wild places, swim in the ocean and such you have voluntarily entered the food chain. Amazing how few people figure that out.
Big cats or big bears up close and personal are fearsome. Fuckers look at you like you owe them money.

We go down Cape Cod every summer.

The area has become very "Fishy".

If Im not in the water trying my luck Im in my chair with a set of binos scanning the shadows that swim the shore line.

All Ive seen is the 8-10 foot long gray seals and a fin I believe to have been a Moa or a Yellowfin but we have been called from the water and the tagging boat usually works the beaches were we swim - Wellfleet.

Its only a mtter of time before someone get chomped out there. a few years ago a guy had his foot tasted and last year a paddle boarder lost his board. Guns are kind of tough to keep at the ready when you are treading water.

 

[Dewey7271]

Yep. Saw this on sharks at Cape Cod. Actually pretty interesting.
https://bnqt.com/2018/04/05/great-white-shark-ecotourism-off-cape-cod-is-a-growing-concern/

 

[Va_Gentleman]

We go down Cape Cod every summer.

The area has become very "Fishy".

If Im not in the water trying my luck Im in my chair with a set of binos scanning the shadows that swim the shore line.

All Ive seen is the 8-10 foot long gray seals and a fin I believe to have been a Moa or a Yellowfin but we have been called from the water and the tagging boat usually works the beaches were we swim - Wellfleet.

Its only a mtter of time before someone get chomped out there. a few years ago a guy had his foot tasted and last year a paddle boarder lost his board. Guns are kind of tough to keep at the ready when you are treading water.

Saw a Great White Breach a Seal right outside Orleans.... I was like DAMN!!!! Nope, no way... Get my 50BMG out of the kit and put me on the MAST...

 

[Sean the Nailer]

....gonna need a bigger boat!

 

[2ndamendfan]

So a couple of years ago I find the most remote place I can. It is almost 3 hours from the nearest gas station. And that town does not have any emergency services or retail stores. Those are another hour away. I talk my wife in to spending the night after a couple day visits. We do some exploring on the ATVs, make a fire, cook some food and watch the stars. My wife said she had never seen the milky way before. We go to sleep in a very nice tent that I had just bought.
We normally camp in a trailer, but this location would beat the shit out of a trailer. The last 20 miles takee well over an hour to travel.
At 2 am we are awaken by a pack of coyotes about 300 yards away or so. With in seconds they were just outside the tent.
My wife who is no pussy was unnerved, not terrified but not calm either. I sat up, listened and I have to say I was on edge a bit. Of course I had a gun (AR15) but did not feel like shooting holes in my new tent.
I grabbed the keys to my truck and hit the horn button on the remote. They stayed about 200 yards away after that.
In the morning looking around, there was dog shit on the top of the south east tent stake.
It was awesome. I have been trying to get back out there but it is no small task. You are 100% on your own. I have been out there for 3 days and not seen another human.
There were 4-5 and in my mind I was thinking "they are afraid of humans". But a thin piece of canvas was our only barrier. All the food was in the truck FYI.

 

[buffalowinter]

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[buffalowinter]

Father-in-laws photo 5 SFG(A)

 

[Veer_G]

All the food was in the truck FYI.

Uh, no, no it wasn't.

 

[MrSmith]

Makes sense.

My father did this as a kid. One of his favorite stories on himself. Late '30's in hills of West, by God, Virginia. The pig ran under the porch. He still has the scar and I've sat, with he and my Grandpa, on that porch.

Thank you,
Mr.Smith

 

[Threadcutter308]

Kudos guys, all of your recent posts/responses have been hugely enlightening/entertaining. Bully for you, please continue

 

[jbuck88]

I have to admit. I've been stalked by a cougar before and it was the absolute more frightened I've ever been in the woods. Most frightening was running a boat in Alaska and having a deckhand get washed across the deck and under some machinery. I thought he went overboard.

I was fishing a river when I was a teenager and started walking to my truck. The trail was about a half mile long, it ran along the river bank and through the brush. Anyways about halfway out my hair stood up and I started looking around. Another hundred yards and the damn cat screamed at me. I threw the fish in the general direction and took off. Since then I've seen a couple while working in the woods doing survey work.

I carry 100% of the time while in the woods now and I'm still not sure I would stop a cat attack if it was motivated. If anyone has every tried to deal with feral cats, they have to be one of the toughest animals I've ever seen. Now multiply that by 20.

 

[Sean the Nailer]

As I've lived in B.C. for about half my life, and I've slept under the stars and in tents throughout the province, I can honestly say I like the sound of coyote's as well as wolf packs in the middle of the night.

That's living.

I don't recommend grizzly-bear hunting when you're by yourself though. I've done it, but I don't think I'll do it again. Same goes for prospecting, and panning/sluicing in the river. My claim was a good 2 1/2 hours from town, driving,,,, but it was a good 45 minute hike to the truck to begin with.

Gotta watch what you do. And know your place.

 

[ZiaHunter]

A couple of years ago we were on a elk hunt outside of Nogal, NM. My friends son had a cow tag and dropped one right around dusk. Snow on the ground and damn cold so we quickly quartered it and threw it in the back of the pickup and headed back to cabin to get some warmer clothes and finish dressing the carcass. Once done we hung the quarters over a corral gate cross member about ten feet off the ground. Went inside to eat and came back out the corral to check some things. Shine a light on the quarters and two big cat eyes are reflecting back at us from on to of the crossbar about ten feet away. Quickly retreated to the cabin and knocked down a couple of whiskeys to settle me down. A little to close for comfort. Trapper took out the cat a few weeks later.