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

East side of what? Manhattan? There were certainly bears on the east side of the Sierra long before you were born.

Back when I first started going up Mt. Whitney in 1992 I could leave a big ice chest on the front seat of my truck with no problem. No rangers cited me and no bears broke into my truck. I never seen any other vehicles broken into either. We didn't have to take bear canisters on overnights. There was NOT a bear problem.
Then in the late 90's to early 00's vehicles started getting broken into and they started citing people (with good reason) for leaving ice chests in their vehicles. I think they brought down "problem" bears from Yosemite.
But yeah, I can remember when there were no bears in the Eastern Sierra.

"The only good bear, is a Chicago Bear" :-D

OK, I guess we've established that there were no bears in the Eastern Sierra prior to 1992. I'm sure the ones I thought I saw were just large dogs.

Did they look anything like this? <a href="/wiki/Image:ChihuahuaPrue.jpg" class="internal" title=""></a>
<div class="thumbcaption">(Just trying to help.)

Pretty close. That guy certainly looks like he could tear open an SUV in search of a meal.

If you can supply a .wav file of its growl, I'll know for sure.

(Bob -- please leave that picture up!)

Yeah, they tried to use pepper spray on him but it didn't work. I think he's used to eating spicy food.

And as far as the .wav file is concerned, you don't want to hear it. It will give you nightmares.

I once saw a mountain lion in Whitney Portal area as well.

<img src="http://www.dbeyr.com/w...; width=400>

Too many portal pancakes and fries.

Y'all crack me up...

Hi Any chance we could link the speed records, water topics and poop debate with this thread, ah looks like we are going back to work now and are making the companies great profits on the tech investments of late, Great to see the humor on this board. Thanks Doug

Hah, It appears we all had a great summer foward focused on Whitney and perhaps the humor is a way for us to wind down a great summer (except for the winter die hards). Heck, by next March most of us will be forward looing again re-hashing all the details and logistics of doing Whitney again. Yep, if we have another earthquake in between, we will be debating whether Whitney rose 3 feet or sank 5 feet.

never seen 1

Table of mountain lion behavior and an appropriate human response:
http://users.frii.com/mytymyk/lions/pumadfn.htm

More advice on preventing attacks:
http://www.montana.edu/news/1080255606.html

Early studies on mountain lion activity in Yosemite:
http://www.yosemite.org/naturenotes/Puma.htm
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,988956,00.html

Some of the concepts for dealing with mountain lion threats are shown in this video of an actual encounter with a big cat. Look for the following points in the video:

1) The cat became aggressive when the potential victim started moving away.

2) The attack was thwarted when the potential victim maintained eye contact, didn't give ground, and tried to appear larger.

big cat encounter

Mountain Lion attacks are rare. When the National Park Service posts a trail closure due to a hazard it does so to protect both Park users and, as in this case, a lion who plays an important role in the eco system. The closing of an area to allow space between human and lion is a good idea. If the lion is old and not able to hunt effectively it may turn to easier prey. In this case, backpackers kneeling down to well, kneeling down to do just about anything. A lion will stake out a path where prey passes by. The lion will lie in wait in cover next to the game or human trail. When the prey is vulnerable and unaware of the lion, the lion attacks with a strike of its dominant forearm ( the striking arm) and knocks the prey down. The lion then clamps its jaws down on the throat or head of the prey and applies maximum jaw pressure and pulls the prey back into cover until the prey stops fighting back, kicking, etc. The prey's neck can be broken or the prey will suffocate and or die from blood loss. The lion will then feed and or protect the kill from other predators and feed later. A good information site from the California Department of Fish and Game is:
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/news/issues/lion/lion_faq.html

And from the National Park Service:

http://www.nps.gov/archive/yose/wilderness/bsafety.htm

Healthy respect for keeping distance between lion and humans is a good idea. It would be great to get a photo of a lion in the Yosemite backcountry, but not at the expense of having a mishap where the lion or the human would be killed or injured.

From the latest Yosemite Daily Report:

Mountain Lion Activity in Yosemite Valley --
At least three mountain lions are active in Yosemite Valley and are displaying natural lion behavior. The Wildlife Office and Protection Rangers are continuing to monitor their activity. The Ahwahnee Meadow and Valley Loop trails have been reopened. Lions are a normal and important part of the natural surroundings we enjoy while in Yosemite National Park, but the presence of lions, especially near developed areas, requires that we take precautions.
Keep children close to you. Do not allow them to run ahead or lag behind on the trail.
Hiking or running alone is not recommended. A walking stick can be a useful defense.
If you encounter a lion, shout in a low voice and wave your arms or hold your coat open. Your goal is to make yourself look as large and threatening as possible. Maintain eye contact with the lion, and do not crouch down. Throw sticks or rocks at the lion. NEVER RUN. Pick up or restrain small children to keep them from panicking and running. If a lion attacks, FIGHT BACK!
Report all mountain lion sightings to the Park's Dispatch Office at 379-1992.
Attack from a mountain lion is still an extremely unlikely event, but use of the above recommendations can further reduce the chances of injury, and allow us to more safely share the park with these spectacular animals. (T. Seher - 9/27/06)

Story about wild jaguars roaming around the Southwest:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/10/science/10jaguar.html?_r=1&8dpc&oref=slogin

Assuming the worst case scenario, (lion on your back) and your alone.Reaching for mace and somehow you manage to spray the lion with success.I find, it would be almost imposible not to gag yourself with the same pepper cloud because of how close you are.Reaching for a pistol and somehow shooting the cat which is clung to your back would be almost impossible.A knife within reach seems to have little affect as well.

What about a stun gun?You could keep it on you in a holster just like a pistol or pepper spray.If you manage to get it out and use it ,would this be an effective approach?And because the lion is touching you, would you be in danger of being shocked as well?Knowing that you could recover from the stun gun if this is true, might not be a bad idea.What do you guys think?

I think it's a great idea! Next time I'm hiking with Richard..and I feel like we are being stalked..I'm gonna zap him with the Tazer. That should put him down and out for at least 3 or 4 minutes..plenty of time for me to beat feet down the trail while cat starts eating him.

Excellent idea..!

-Chris

PS - Not to mention I can probably outrun him since his hiking boots are falling apart.. :snicker:

You kids and your computers crack me up; but I am as old as my tongue and a little bit older than my teeth and I don't sleep in the snow anymore. But I do remember stock on the summit of Mt. Whitney and a time when there were no black bears living at the portal. Mountain lions have allways been on the eastern escarpment but the black bear was relocated by the FS in the 60's.

"Mountain lions have allways been on the eastern escarpment but the black bear was relocated by the FS in the 60's." I wonder why the FS did that?

When I camped at Whitney area a couple times around 1970, there weren't any bears that I knew of. I guess they hadn't spread out to Whitney area yet. I was pretty fearful of them back then. After all, there were these big furry monsters that could come up to your sleeping bag in the middle of the night and kill you. Right? But later my friends and I went into bear country on the western side. Back then the official advice was to hang your food from trees. Before we first went into bear country, I was the only one in our group that heard about having to hang your food. When we were getting our gear together for the trip, I mentioned to one of my buddies that I brought some rope for bears. He said, "Rope for bears? What are you going to do with it, tie them up?"