Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board mountain lions

Here is a link to mountain lion attacks in CA. I recall the one in the local San Diego mtns since I frequently visit them.

http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/lion_attacks_ca.html

It appears that in most cases, these attacks occur in areas that are close to populations and when their natural food supply has been affected. In the sierras, there is plenty of roaming area and plenty of food. Hence, there is likely a reduced risk compared to open lands near cities.

More references at http://www.cougarinfo.org/.

The first three of the following pages are chronological. The third page runs through August, 2006.

http://www.cougarinfo.org/attacks.htm
http://www.cougarinfo.org/attacks2.htm
http://cougarinfo.org/attacks3.htm
http://cougarinfo.org/attackex.htm

To, rjp82, says "encountered more lions then i can remember" Where have you seen so many lions? With all the combined years of the message board readers it seems quite rare for somebody to see one, let alone "more than can be remembered" I hope to see one someday, but hopefully not as i go down its throat!

Maybe the guy has a short memory.

Anyone have a good link to somewhere that has some sort of map of California or the U.S. showing areas that are known to be frequented by cougars (i.e. mountain lion territory)?

Map? I think you can use a map of Califirnia with the downtown portion of San Francisco blacked out. :-)

Ain't that the truth. A friend of mine was on the 280 freeway driving through just south of Serramonte when she had to avoid a ML darting across the freeway!

Ximphony, There's a map of mountain lion habitat in California on this web page http://www.dfg.ca.gov/keepmewild/lion.html . It's not too detailed but it shows that it consists of about half of California. I think a good rule of thumb is, where there are deer, there are mountain lions.

Our housing tract in Orange County is surrounded by mountain lion habitat. There's a wildlife corridor that's in the space between our tract and the next tract where radio-collared mountain lions have been tracked a few times a year, according to my former neighbor who was a fire captain. I've never seen one in the 17 years that I've lived here and occasionally hiked in the local hills. They roam between the Cleveland National Forest and Chino Hills State Park. Like going to different restaurants for deer. They seem to have a good life.

Here's a quote from http://www.395.com/index.shtml?/generalinfo/mtlion.shtml
"There is a far greater risk, for example ' of being struck by lightning than of being attacked by a mountain lion." That's probably true for bears too. So, like the case of bears, one should be careful but not too fearful.

One last thought came to mind. When we are hiking in bear country, we carry food in our packs which is plenty of motivation for bears to attack us for our goodies, but such attacks are extremely rare. As far as the chance of occurrence of an attack is concerned, the situation seems to be similar for the case of mountain lions.

AlanK:
Thanks for the great links. I'm heading to REI tonite for gear so I'll pick up a little pepper spray as well.
-Laura

HikerLaura, It seems that mountain lions don't give you a chance to use pepper spray and if you use it when one is on your back trying to kill you, and you are somehow able to spray it, it probably would ignore it.

Here's an account of a mountain lion attack from one of AlanK's links,
"When she began to scream, the others rushed to her assistance. "They heard her scream, 'Get it off me. Get it off me,'" said Brian Naslund, acting lieutenant for Kern County with the DFG. Maciejewski used a knife to stab the mountain lion twice in the shoulder, but it had little effect, Naslund said. Quirino or Marsh went to get help while Maciejewski and the remaining hiker threw rocks at the animal. "They hit it in the head a couple of times with the rocks, it let her go," Naslund said."

We've learned how to be careful with bears without carrying pepper spray, and it would be better to learn how to be careful of mountain lions if you are going into an active mountain lion area. Also note that pepper spray may work in some cases with bears because they don't sneak up on you from behind like mountain lions.

Although the accounts of mountain lion attacks in AlanK's links are terrifying and interesting, note how few they are and how many people go hiking and how much of California is mountain lion habitat.

Old indian trick:

Paint two dots on the back of your head.

Thanks for the map Bob- that was exactly what I was looking for

(You're welcome Ximphony.)

For those who are interested in a gadget to protect themselves from mountain lions, I have to confess that I've been holding out on you. Two new ones have come on the market.

One is an automobile style airbag that you put in your back pack.

Another is the Garcia Lion Cannister that you crawl into and there's a porthole to see out of and holes for your arms and legs. Like bear cannisters, it was tested at a mountain lion enclosure in a zoo and was found to be effective. Not only was the mountain lion not able to get into it, when the test subject entered the enclosure, the big cat cowered in a corner and upchucked a hairball. Be sure you keep a coin handy for when you want to get out.

BobK:
If that cannister is made out of titanium I'm all over it... ;-) Your humor rocks!
OK, so I'll not get the pepper spray. I think relying on my poles would be the best option.
Of course, this is like saying I'm going to be attacked by a shark when I'm out paddling, so while it's on my mind, it's not consuming my thoughts!
-L

Magg,
Call it bad luck or good eyes. I grew up going to the Central Coast mountain range at all times of the year and still do. After 30+ years of being in those mountains from Hollister down to the Tejon Ranch area I really can't recall how many Lions I have seen. I rememeber seeing Lions as far back as 1970 or so, sprinting through Almond orchards west of Paso Robles. That area has always been heavily populated with deer and is predominately private property. It seems that with the protection of Lions and the explosion of the wild pig population on the west side Lions have thrived. Of course, this has also been the case on the eastern slope of the Sierras and to some degree the western slope. I would say the eastern side population growth has to do with it being a winter range of the deer herd. In any case, a couple of years ago (my last sighting) we had a Lion come out of the brush and simply sat there watching us from a bit over 100 yards as we were glassing some wild boar (that he was probably eyeing as well).

Bob K - I like the airbag approach. I'm sure by design it would also deploy upon a sudden change in altitude, serving two critical purposes... Hey, someone should sell these to the new extreme sports athletes - specifically the freestyle motorcycle guys - and gals.

The Lions were there first.. We are just visitors.. Slow ones..

With painted eyes on the back of our heads.....

OK -one more thought. Employ both state of the art ML MMWT protection devices Bob has graced us all with. Does images of the Michelin man hiking Whitney come to mind???? But not knowing if he is coming.... or going....

Interesting topic. I saw two that were about to get examined at CSUB for a biology class when I was in college. They had been shot in the Tejon ranch. Haven't seen one yet in the wild. While hiking in the vicinity of Tohmo Kani, a Kawaisu indian village in the Tehachapi mountains, a docent pointed out some tracks to me. She told me and I've heard many times that it was unwise to hike alone. I'll be dammed if I'm going to stop hiking just because I can't find a hiking partner on any particular day! Although as of recent I've had several hikes with pleasant company, more often than not I end up going solo. I make it a habit when I'm alone to carry a pistol and I was delighted to see that Norman Clyde of all people did as well. The exception for me of course would be in the vicinity of a state or national park where that sort of thing is outlawed. In those cases I take a big dagger. When hiking with others who are considerate to not let one member of the group get seperated, I feel little or no need to carry protection. I have found with only one exception that my hiking companions felt a little better knowing that I had some kind of protection just in case. Ironically my friend who objected usually got well ahead of me when he was feeling better so hiking with him was like hiking solo. I know the odds of an attack are extremely remote, however to have the mindset that it can never happen therefore there is no need to even consider protecting yourself is foolish in my opinion. This became clear to me after the attack in the San Diego area with the mountain bikers a few years back and even more so after the attack in Kern county near Johnsondale shortly afterward. Some people I talked to years back told me how they took a group picture while hiking on a tour of Little Petroglyph canyon in China Lake. After they got the pictures back they noticed that they were being observed by a mountian lion on a cliff 20 feet above them. Currently I'm reading a book about the history of the California Grizzly bear and it tells how the indians would say that if a mountain lion encountered a grizzly in combat, the lion would win most or all of the time. Yikes!

Rafael...

I twat I twa a Puddy tat! Tweety bird

The actor William Holden once remarked that while he regularly hiked in African jungles unarmed and unafraid, he was always armed and afraid while walking alone in America's larger cities.

Remember when there were no bears on the East Side? Bad forest management once again.